home inspector serving hanover NH and the upper valley
I spent over 20 years building homes in NH. Now I inspect them.
Comprehensive home inspections in Hanover, NH and the Upper Valley.
Call / Text: (802) 289-0025
Radon & Water Testing – Thermal Imaging – Reports in Under 24 Hours
Why My Background Makes Me More Useful as a Home Inspector
I’ve spent my whole life building things. I owned and ran a design-build contracting firm for over twenty years, and I’m still running it today. That means writing the bids, hiring and managing the subcontractors, handling the hard conversations when something went wrong, and standing behind the finished product. Because the firm is still active, what I know isn’t frozen in the past — materials and methods move quickly, and I’m working with the current ones.
That matters here specifically. A lot of what I see in Hanover isn’t original construction. It’s renovation layered on renovation, some of it excellent, some of it done fast. Knowing how the work is done today is what lets me tell the difference between updating done to a real standard and updating done to look finished. A kitchen that photographs beautifully and a basement that doesn’t are frequently the same house.
A good inspection isn’t a tally of defects. It’s a way to understand the property as a whole — what’s solid, what needs attention, and what’s worth knowing before you commit. I’m as interested in what’s been done right as in what hasn’t. I don’t believe in frightening people for no reason, and I don’t believe in soft-selling problems that deserve attention.
When I find something, I can give you context beyond the observation: what it appears to be, what it may mean, and what kind of response is realistic. Not exact costs from a visual inspection, but enough to understand what you’re actually buying.
I also don’t perform contracting work on homes I inspect for at least 12 months after the inspection. No repair pitch, no conflict of interest.
Two Licensed Inspectors, One Appointment
Most of our inspections are done by two licensed inspectors. My wife and business partner Kayla has been building alongside me full time for years and we inspect together on most jobs. She’s meticulous and thorough, and two people never quite see the same house — every inspection we do together is better for it.
Every house is different, sometimes wildly so. A village house that’s been renovated through four owners and a farmhouse out toward Etna are not the same job, and neither one tells you much about the next place down the road. What stays constant is the patience available. Past a certain point, everybody standing around a house starts wondering when the inspector will be done, and a solo inspector who walks into a property needing more time than that has two options: run long, or quietly stop looking at things.
Two of us covers roughly twice the ground in the same appointment. The house gets the attention it actually needs, and nobody’s afternoon gets wrecked.
Homes in Hanover and the Upper Valley
Hanover is home to Dartmouth College, and its real estate market reflects that. Property values in the Hanover area are among the higher ones in New Hampshire, demand tends to be steady, and the buyer pool includes faculty, staff, medical professionals, and relocating families who are often purchasing quickly in an unfamiliar market. In that kind of environment, a thorough inspection matters more, not less.
Hanover’s residential neighborhoods have a mix of older and newer construction. Properties close to the Dartmouth campus and downtown tend to be older — late 19th and early 20th century homes, colonials and capes that have been updated through multiple cycles of faculty and staff ownership. These properties often have significant renovation history, and the quality of that work is not always consistent. Newer finishes over older infrastructure is a pattern I see regularly in high-value college-town markets.
Away from the core, the surrounding areas of Etna, Hanover Center, and the rural roads heading toward Lyme and Norwich include older farmhouses, country homes on larger lots, and properties that have been in continuous use for generations. These rural properties typically have private wells and septic systems, and their maintenance histories vary. The Upper Valley winters are real — freeze-thaw cycles affect foundations, driveways, and exterior elements in ways that accumulate over time.
High prices in Hanover can create a false sense of security. An expensive house is not automatically a well-maintained one. A property that has been through many academic-tenure ownership cycles may have deferred maintenance that accumulated during years when owners were focused on other things. And renovations done in a hurry to sell before a sabbatical are not always done to the same standard as work done by someone planning to stay.
Hanover also sits adjacent to the Vermont border. White River Junction, Norwich, and Thetford are a short drive away, and buyers in this region often consider properties on both sides. I can inspect on both sides of the river.
What I Look For During a Hanover Home Inspection
A home inspection covers the visible and accessible parts of the house: roof, exterior, foundation, basement or crawlspace, electrical panel, visible wiring and receptacles, plumbing, water heating, heating and cooling systems, attic insulation and ventilation, interiors, windows, doors, stairs, decks, porches, attached garages, and the general safety and condition of the home.
That’s the checklist version. The real value is understanding what those findings mean in the context of the house you’re buying.
In Hanover, that context can vary quite a bit. Some homes are older village houses that have been renovated, expanded, and reworked over multiple ownership cycles. In those homes, I pay close attention to how cleanly newer work was integrated with the older structure and mechanical systems. A kitchen or bath renovation can look sharp on the surface while the basement, attic, wiring, plumbing, or framing underneath tells a more complicated story.
I also look carefully at drainage, basement moisture, roof runoff, grading, and foundation conditions. Around the Upper Valley, water management is a major part of understanding a house. A damp basement, poorly directed gutter discharge, marginal grading, or signs of repeated water entry can say a lot about how the property has been maintained and what future repairs may look like.
For homes outside the village center, the inspection often widens beyond the house itself. Rural Hanover and nearby Upper Valley properties may include private wells, long driveways, drainage issues, barns, garages, additions, wood heat, older chimneys, and outbuildings. Those features are not afterthoughts. They are part of the property, and they can carry real maintenance and repair costs.
I’m also watching for the recurring issues that show up in older New Hampshire and Vermont homes: sloped floors, tired framing repairs, wet basements, old electrical work, plumbing transitions, aging heating systems, marginal attic ventilation, questionable deck construction, and layers of repairs done by different people over different decades.
The goal is not to make every older house sound scary. The goal is to help you understand what is normal age, what is poor maintenance, what is unsafe, and what may become expensive if it is ignored.
Radon Testing
New Hampshire has among the highest radon levels in the country, and it has nothing to do with the age, price, or condition of a house. It’s a soil gas, and the only way to know is to measure it in the house you’re buying.
I offer radon testing as an add-on using continuous electronic monitors, which log readings across the full test period rather than producing one number without context. Elevated levels can almost always be mitigated. The inspection window is the right time to find out.
Water Testing
Properties in Hanover village are generally on municipal water. Out toward Etna, Hanover Center, and the rural roads, private wells are the norm, and a home inspection tells you nothing about what’s in the water. Arsenic occurs naturally in New Hampshire bedrock and turns up in wells throughout the region, with no taste, smell, or color to warn you.
I offer laboratory testing covering bacteria, arsenic, lead, nitrates and nitrites, hardness, pH, and the other standard parameters. If you want something beyond that — radon in water, PFAS, or anything specific to the property or your lender’s requirements — I can arrange it at additional cost. Tell me what you want covered and I’ll price it before we book.
A septic system is a separate matter. I’m not a septic evaluator, and a home inspection doesn’t include one. I’ll note visible conditions and flag anything that concerns me, but the tank, distribution, and leach field need someone licensed for that work — and on a rural property here, that evaluation is worth arranging rather than skipping. I’m glad to refer you to people I trust.
Water and radon testing can be bundled with the inspection for a reduced combined price.
Who Is Buying in Hanover
For buyers. A lot of people buying here are new to the area, deciding quickly, and committing a large amount of money to a house they’ve walked through twice. A thorough inspection closes some of that gap. I’ll ask you to join me near the end for the walkthrough, where we can stand in front of the actual foundation, boiler, panel, or repair and talk about what it means. Afterward you get a detailed digital report with photographs and written explanations of what we found, and if you can’t be there, the report stands on its own and I’m glad to go through it by phone.
For sellers. A pre-listing inspection lets you find out what a buyer’s inspector will find while you still have time and control over how it’s handled. That’s worth the most when you’re selling on a schedule set by something other than the house.
For investors and buyers planning real work. I focus on the major systems, structure, moisture, safety concerns, and the conditions that most directly affect what a project will involve. I won’t produce a renovation budget from a visual inspection, but twenty years of running construction gives me a useful sense of where the real problems are.
For realtors. The inspection support page for agents covers scheduling, turnaround, communication, and what my reports look like inside a transaction.
A Practical Inspection Report
You’ll have the report within 24 hours of the inspection, with photographs, clear explanations, and findings organized so you can tell what’s significant from what’s routine.
Safety issues and major defects get direct attention. When something needs a specialist — a structural engineer, an electrician, a plumber, a chimney professional, an HVAC contractor, a septic evaluator — we say so, and we say why.
The report is written to still be useful after the appointment. Something you can hand to a contractor, revisit during a negotiation, or come back to once you own the place and are deciding what to tackle first.
What Does It Cost?
Pricing follows the size of the home. Condos and homes under 1,000 square feet are generally $500, and 1,000 to 1,500 square feet is $600, stepping up by $100 per size tier from there. Homes over 3,500 square feet are quoted individually, as are multi-family buildings and properties with unusually extensive systems or multiple structures.
Homes built before 1950 carry an additional fee for the added time involved. Barns, garages, and outbuildings are quoted based on what’s there, so tell me what’s on the property when you reach out.
Radon and water testing can be added to any inspection, and bundling both saves $100 off the combined total. For a firm number, use the online scheduler or send the address, square footage, year built, and any add-ons you want included. I’ll confirm pricing before anything goes on the calendar.
Serving Hanover and Nearby Communities
From Hanover, I serve nearby communities throughout the Upper Valley, including Lebanon, Enfield, Lyme, Orford, Norwich VT, White River Junction VT, Windsor VT, Bradford VT, Woodstock, Littleton, and nearby towns on both sides of the Connecticut River. I am licensed to inspect homes in both New Hampshire and Vermont, so I regularly work with buyers comparing properties across the state line.
See the full Service Areas page for more towns I cover throughout western New Hampshire and eastern Vermont.
Schedule Your Hanover Home Inspection
If you are buying or selling a home in Hanover or the Upper Valley, I’d love to have a conversation to see how I can support your process. Feel free to call, text, or email to connect with me. If you’re ready to book, and prefer to do so online, you can do that from the link below.
Call or text: (802) 289-0025
Email: connect@resonanthomesnh.com
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I know about buying an older home near Dartmouth or downtown Hanover?
These houses have usually been updated through several ownership cycles, and how well that was done varies a great deal. Newer finishes over older infrastructure is the pattern I see most often here. It doesn’t mean the house is a problem — it means the visible condition isn’t a reliable guide, and the inspection is where you find out what’s underneath.
Does a high price mean a Hanover home is well-maintained?
Not necessarily. Price reflects location and demand. A house can carry years of postponed maintenance, or a renovation done quickly to get it listed, regardless of what it’s selling for. If anything, the higher the number, the more it costs to be wrong.
How long does the inspection take?
That depends on the house. Size, age, condition, outbuildings, and add-ons like radon and water testing all change the answer. What I can tell you is that two licensed inspectors cover roughly twice the ground per hour, so a property gets the time it needs without the appointment dragging on. Ask when scheduling if you’d like me to give you my best estimate of timing for the particular property.
How fast do I get the report?
Within 24 hours of the inspection. Buyers here are usually working under a tight inspection period, and a report that shows up after your decision is due isn’t much use.
Do you test the water on rural properties?
Yes. Properties out toward Etna, Hanover Center, Lyme, and the surrounding roads are generally on private wells, and I offer laboratory testing covering bacteria, arsenic, lead, nitrates and nitrites, hardness, pH, and the other standard parameters. If you want something beyond that — radon in water, PFAS, or anything specific to the property or your lender’s requirements — I can arrange it at additional cost.
Water testing can be added to your inspection via the online scheduler, or reach out if you’d like to discuss specifics before booking.
Do you inspect septic systems?
No. A septic evaluation is separate work requiring a licensed evaluator with their own equipment. I’ll note visible conditions and tell you if something concerns me, but I won’t guess at the condition of a tank or leach field I can’t see. On a rural property here I’d strongly recommend arranging that evaluation during your inspection period, and I’m glad to refer you to people I trust.
Can you inspect barns, garages, and outbuildings?
Yes, when they’re included at scheduling. Tell me what’s on the property when you book so the quote and the time estimate account for the whole place. On rural properties these buildings are frequently where the expensive problems are hiding.
I’m relocating and can’t attend the inspection. Is that a problem?
No, and it’s common here. The report is written to stand on its own, with photographs and explanations that give context rather than just naming defects, and I’m glad to go through it with you by phone afterward. Attending the walkthrough is useful when you can, but it isn’t required to get a thorough inspection. Provided there’s adequate cell signal or wifi at the house, I can also frequently do a video walkthrough if you prefer.