KeptGuides
What to ask for after a home inspection
Ask for safety, function, and hidden-cost findings, each with its own dollar figure; skip cosmetic wear and routine maintenance items.
Updated · By 
Ben Sikes
What is reasonable to ask for after a home inspection?
What's reasonable to ask for: findings that are a safety hazard, findings that stop a system from doing its job, and findings that hide a cost you didn't see at the price you offered. Price each one with a dollar figure. Skip cosmetic wear and routine maintenance: sellers expect those left alone, and asking for them anyway makes your real line items look like a wish list instead of a repair request.
The four-bucket sort for your report
Before you sort, know what the report's severity words mean: see how to read a home inspection report. Go down your report's findings one at a time and sort each into one bucket.
| Bucket | What qualifies (checkable from the report alone) | Goes on the list? |
|---|---|---|
| Safety | The report describes a risk to a person right now, or a missing safety part (missing GFCI, a gas relief line that doesn't reach the floor) | Yes, with a dollar figure |
| Function | The report describes a system that isn't doing its job right now, with no person-safety wording attached (a roof no longer shedding water, HVAC not heating) | Yes, with a dollar figure |
| Hidden cost | The report's own wording says or implies today's small, visible sign turns into a bigger, different repair if you wait (water pooling at the foundation, efflorescence, corrosion with no other defect attached) | Yes, with a dollar figure |
| Cosmetic or maintenance | Scuffed paint, worn caulk, a system near but not past its normal life | No |
A finding goes in exactly one bucket. If it reads as more than one, use the highest-ranked match: Safety outranks Function, and Function outranks Hidden cost.
International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)'s Standards of Practice draw this same line: a "material defect" is a safety risk or a real impact on value, while a system merely "near, at, or beyond the end of its normal, useful life is not, in itself, a material defect," and inspections don't cover "aesthetic concerns... cosmetic defects" at all (nachi.org/sop.htm).
What do three real findings look like once you sort them?
These three line items are from the public sample memo on Kept Inspect's (usekept.com) home page, modeled from labor hours at metro trade wages plus materials, adders, and tax.
| Finding | Bucket | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Replace roughly 140 sq ft of cracked, lifted asphalt shingles and underlayment, rear roof slope | Function: roof no longer sheds water reliably | $1,439 |
| Replace 14-year-old 50-gallon gas water heater; add expansion tank, drain pan, code-compliant relief line | Safety: the relief line stops short of the floor, the one wording that names a risk to a person. The missing drain pan and the fitting corrosion are why the same line is priced this high, not separate safety flags | $2,375 |
| Extend 3 downspouts to discharge 4+ feet from the foundation, with splash blocks | Hidden cost: the finding itself is minor, but the report calls water at the foundation "the most common cause of a damp basement or crawlspace" | $293 |
\* Source for all three: Kept sample memo, usekept.com (see Sources below).
Each line carries one bucket and a number, not a description flagged "needs attention."
Why does a dollar figure beat a list of complaints?
"$1,439, modeled from labor and materials for 140 sq ft of shingle replacement" gives the seller something to accept, counter with their own bid, or challenge on the method. "Roof damage" gives them nothing to respond to. Attach a sourced figure to every line, not a round guess, and the whole request reads as a repair request instead of a list of complaints.
What should stay off your list?
Cosmetic items (paint scuffs, a loose cabinet hinge, worn caulk) and normal maintenance (an aging roof still shedding water, a water heater inside its expected life with no active fault) stay off your list. Per InterNACHI's own standards, a system near or past its normal useful life "is not, in itself, a material defect," and inspections exclude cosmetic defects from what gets reported in the first place (nachi.org/sop.htm). If a finding isn't a safety issue, doesn't stop a system from working, and doesn't hide a cost, it's a note for after closing, not a line on your ask.
How much can you negotiate after a home inspection?
Size it from your own report, not a round number that feels fair. Add up the priced cost of every safety, function, and hidden-cost finding on your sorted list, the same way the three sample findings above add to their own total; that sum is your starting ask, not a number picked to seem reasonable. For findings that aren't formula-priced (foundation structural movement, a whole-house repipe, regrading and drainage correction, and similar), get a contractor quote before you set that line's number: see how to get repair estimates during the inspection period. If your priced list ends up dominated by large, uncertain findings like these, that is a different question than negotiating a repair: see when to walk away after a home inspection.
Is $10,000 a lot to ask for?
It depends on what's on your report, not on the round number itself. Kept's public sample memo prices 27 findings on one inspection report for a combined total of $13,760 (modeled), so a $10,000 ask sits below what a single fully-loaded report can total once every safety, function, and hidden-cost finding is priced. What makes an ask defensible is not its size against a round number: it is whether each line traces to a finding on your report with a dollar figure and a source attached, the same way the sample memo's 27 lines do.
Should you ask for repairs, a credit, or a price reduction?
The same dollar total can be asked for three different ways, and which one fits depends on the finding, your lender, and your timeline. See repairs vs. credit vs. price reduction for how to pick.
How does a credit actually reach you at closing?
If you ask for a closing cost credit instead of a repair, the mechanics (where it shows up on your closing disclosure, lender limits, what happens to money you don't use) are covered in how a repair credit works at closing.
How do you word the request?
A request with scope and a dollar figure on each line is harder to wave off than a paragraph of concerns. For copyable wording built around your sorted list, see the buyer repair request letter template. Once you know what to ask for, put it on the formal document: see repair addendum after a home inspection.
What if one finding on your report is the big one?
Some findings need their own answer before they go on your list: what a primary source says about the hazard, what published prices say the fix costs, and who to call. Each of these has its own guide.
- Foundation crack
- Federal Pacific panel
- Aluminum wiring
- Polybutylene pipes
- Galvanized pipes
- Double-tapped breaker
Get your repair-cost memo before your inspection window closes, usually under 4 hours: try Kept.
Sources
- InterNACHI Standards of Practice (as of 2026-09-19)
Cost figures are modeled from public wage and materials data unless a line says observed. Kept is accountable for the numbers on this page, and corrections go to support@usekept.com. How we price.