Every system and component in a building will have a typical life expectancy. Some items and units may well exceed those expected life spans, while others may fail much sooner than anticipated. An inspector may indicate to a client, general life expectancies, but should never give exact time spans for the above noted reasons. Inspections that take less than two hours typically are considered strictly cursory walk-through inspections and provide the client with less information than a full inspection. The national organizations provide guidelines for inspectors to perform their inspections.
All inspectors provide clients with reports.
The worst type of report would be an oral report. This type of report does not protect the client and also leaves the inspector open for misinterpretation and liability. Written reports are better and come in a variety of styles and formats. Pure Narrative report Inspectors differ on what they consider the best type of report. Some prefer one over the other.