Purchasing a home is a monumental moment in a person's life, but it's also an incredibly stressful period of time. The often lengthy process isn't close to done until a home inspection is completed, however, and this can further complicate matters. During a home inspection, an inspector is evaluating every aspect of the home. There's bound to be defects that need to be repaired — adding to the total cost a homebuyer is about to spend. According to a nationwide analysis of 50,000 home inspection reports by Repair Pricer, a pricing tool and service that translates home inspection reports into accurate repair estimates to help Realtors and homebuyers, more than 1 million repairs were needed across 50,000 homes; the average home required more than $11,000 in repairs. Related: Insurance coverage for driveways, garages and gardens

Identifying cracks in the foundation

Cracked bathroom tiles, a leaking pipe in the basement or an HVAC system that needs an update are all defects a homebuyer might find on their inspection report. Repair Pricer found that there are 10 common home defects nationally that an inspection report might list. If you're in the process of purchasing a home and see any of these defects on your home inspection report, don't be alarmed — they're very common. The important thing to have is as much readily available information as possible before you commit to any potential home. With this in mind, here are the 10 most common home defects and their repair costs across 50,000 home inspection reports, courtesy of Repair Pricer. Related: 12 most affordable metro areas for Gen Z homebuyers

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Denny Jacob

Denny Jacob is an associate editor for NU PropertyCasualty360. Contact him at [email protected].

Coverage & Policy Issues
Personal Lines
Catastrophe & Restoration
Personal Lines
Loss Control
Public Sector Risk