Building inspection report contents: what to include and why

A building inspection report is not a longer roof report. It covers ground conditions, the external fabric, the roof, the internal finishes and a note on services, and it has to be clear about what you looked at, what you could not reach, and what the reader should do about it. Get the structure right once and every report after that is faster to write and harder to argue with.

What follows is the running order we see working on site, with the wording that tends to survive a disagreement.

Start with scope, not findings

The first page after the cover should say what the inspection was, not what you found. Date, weather on the day, who was present, the property address and a short description (age, construction type, number of storeys, occupied or vacant).

Then the limits, stated plainly:

• visual and non-intrusive, from accessible areas only
• no furniture moved, no floor coverings lifted, no services tested
• roof inspected from ground level with binoculars, from a ladder at eaves, by drone, or from the roof surface — say which
• areas not inspected and why (locked plant room, no loft hatch, no safe access to the flat roof)

Weather matters more than people expect. A dry spell hides leaks, and a report written after three dry weeks should say so. If you were on site during rain, record that too: live water ingress is the strongest evidence you will ever get, and it belongs in the scope section as well as the defect.

Grounds and site

Work from the boundary inwards, because most damp problems start outside the building.

Cover ground levels against the damp proof course, drainage gullies and whether they run, paths falling towards or away from walls, retaining walls, trees and their distance from foundations, and the state of boundary walls and fences if they are in scope. Note raised patios bridging the DPC — it is one of the most common causes of internal damp at skirting level and it is cheap to describe and expensive to ignore.

External fabric

Elevation by elevation, named consistently: front (north), rear (south) and so on. Keep the same naming in the photographs so the reader can follow.

For each elevation: walls and finish (brick, render, stone, cladding), pointing condition, cracking with width and direction, render cracks and hollow areas, windows and doors including frame condition and seals, lintels, sills, airbricks, and any movement. Describe cracking properly — "diagonal crack to render above the ground floor window head, approximately 3mm, stepped" is useful; "some cracking" is not.

Rainwater goods sit here or under the roof section, your choice, but pick one and stick to it. Gutters, downpipes, joints, falls, staining on the wall below, and whether the downpipe discharges into a gully or onto the ground.

Roof

The roof usually carries the biggest numbers, so it gets its own section with its own photographs. Covering type and approximate age, slipped or broken units, ridge and hip mortar, verges, valleys, flashings and abutments, chimneys and their flaunching, flat roof coverings and upstands, and any solar or plant fixed through the covering.

Inside, the roof void if you can reach it: timber condition, sarking or felt, insulation depth and coverage, ventilation at eaves and ridge, daylight showing, water staining and whether it is active or historic. Historic staining with dry timber around it is a different grade to a wet timber with a drip under it, and the report should say which you found.

If you already run roof-only work, keep your grading consistent across both products — our notes on roof survey categories explain how the Cat 1/2/3 split works in practice.

Internal finishes

Room by room, in a fixed order, so nothing gets skipped. Ceilings, walls, floors, joinery, windows from the inside, and any damp readings taken with a protimeter (record readings, not just "high").

Say where you could not see. "Floor covered throughout with fitted carpet; subfloor not inspected" is a line that saves arguments later.

Services: noted, not tested

This is where reports go wrong. You are recording what is present and visibly obvious, not certifying anything.

Write what you can see: consumer unit type and apparent age, visible wiring condition, boiler make and age if the plate is readable, radiators, visible pipework, water stop tap location, meter positions, and any obvious hazard such as exposed conductors. Then the line that must appear: services were not tested and no comment is made on their condition, performance or compliance. Recommend the relevant specialist inspection where the age or appearance suggests one.

How to grade defects

Three categories is the sweet spot for most firms. More than five and the reader stops trusting the difference.

Category	Meaning	Typical wording
1	Urgent or safety related	Repair now; risk of injury or rapid worsening
2	Needs attention within 12 months	Budget and plan; monitor in the meantime
3	Maintenance or minor	Address during normal upkeep

Two rules make grading defensible. First, grade the defect, not the room — one bad lintel in a tidy room is still a Cat 1. Second, write the consequence, not just the condition: "mortar fillet to the chimney abutment has failed; water is tracking into the roof void and staining the bedroom ceiling" tells the reader why the grade is what it is.

Use the same colours every time and put the key on the first page of the findings.

Presenting costs without quoting

Indicative costs help the reader act. They also create risk if they read like a quotation. Keep them as ranges, label them clearly as indicative and exclusive of access, VAT and anything found once work opens up, and total them at the end so the reader sees the scale.

Split the total by category. A client with £1,400 of Cat 1 and £6,000 of Cat 3 is in a very different position to the reverse, and the summary table is where that lands.

If you also price the work, the report and the quotation should be separate documents with separate figures. The report says what is wrong; the quotation says what you will charge to put it right.

What the disclaimer has to say

Short, specific and in the report, not just in your terms of business. The essentials:

• the inspection was visual and non-intrusive on the stated date and conditions change
• no parts were opened up, lifted or dismantled, and concealed areas were not inspected
• services were noted but not tested
• no comment is made on legal title, boundaries, planning or building regulations compliance unless specifically instructed
• costs are indicative budget figures, not a quotation or a tender
• the report is for the named client and their professional advisers only

Add the limits you actually hit that day. A generic disclaimer covers less than one that says "the rear flat roof was not accessed; no ladder footing available on soft ground".

Photographs and numbering

Every graded defect gets at least one photograph, numbered to match the text. One wide shot for location and one close shot for the defect. Mark up the close shot — a circle or arrow removes the "which crack?" conversation entirely.

If you are building this structure into a template, our building inspection reports page shows how the external, internal and roof areas sit in one document with a shared grading key, and Team plans let you set your own category names, colours and definitions.

The summary nobody reads last

Put a one-page summary at the front: three or four sentences on overall condition, the Cat 1 items listed, and the total indicative cost. Most clients read that page and the photographs, then go back for detail when they need it.

Pick one running order and use it on every job, then your reports stop being written from scratch. If you want to test the structure on a live survey, the 14-day trial includes five reports and you can take your own notes and photographs straight into it.