Guides
The findings pages answer what something is. These answer how to navigate it — the soil, the process, and the transaction. Three sections, each with a pillar that is worth reading before the guides beneath it.
The three sections
Foundations in North Texas
Why the soil moves, what movement does to a slab, and who is qualified to say whether it matters.
Foundations in North Texas
5 guidesWhy the soil moves, what movement does to a slab, and who is qualified to say whether it matters.
Why North Texas soil moves, and what that means for a house
The mechanism, from the mudstone up: what smectite clay does with water, why the ground wets down cracks instead of soaking in, and why two elevation surveys taken in different seasons can both be right.
Drought, irrigation and the foundation watering myth
What the AgriLife guidance actually says about watering a foundation, what it deliberately does not say, and why inconsistency does more damage than dryness.
When you need a structural engineer, not an inspector
The boundary between an observation and a determination: what the Texas Standards of Practice permit an inspector to say, what an engineer adds, and the specific findings that justify escalating.
The Texas inspection process
5 guidesWhat a Texas inspection is by rule, what the report form means, and where the licence boundaries sit.
The REI 7-6 Report Form, Explained
Every inspection of a substantially complete one-to-four family home in Texas is reported on the same TREC form, and the box marked D does not mean what most buyers think it means.
What TREC’s Standards of Practice Require, and What They Exclude
The Texas Standards of Practice set a floor, and three defined terms inside them do more limiting than the exclusion lists do.
The Option Period, and When to Schedule the Inspection
The termination option moved out of Paragraph 23 several form revisions ago, and the ancillary services buyers need most are the ones that take longest to schedule.
Buying and budgeting in DFW
5 guidesUsing an inspection well: reading findings proportionately, and knowing what is ordinary for the era.
Why inspection findings cost what they cost
Cost on an inspection finding is set by scope, access and restoration far more than by the defect itself, which is why comparable quotes are rarely comparable.
Repair, monitor, or walk away: a decision framework
A three-way framework for reading a DFW inspection report, with an honest account of what is ordinary for each build era and what genuinely justifies terminating.
Negotiating after the inspection
What a Texas inspection report is for, why line-by-line demands fail, and the difference between a safety item and a wish list in a post-inspection negotiation.