A home inspection is an examination of the condition of a house and all of its systems; plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, etc. A home inspector only is concerned with the one home that they are inspecting.   An appraisal is only partly concerned with the home being appraised. The appraisal is an opinion of how much the home would sell for if it were on the market today and this is done by comparing it (the home being appraised) to other similar homes in the greater area. An appraiser only looks at the surface of the systems in the home being appraised but spends a much larger amount of time evaluating the multiple homes being used as comparable sales and listings.