Licensed HOME INSPEctor – Internachi Certified – serving dublin & peterborough NH
I spent over twenty years building NH homes. Now I inspect them.
Comprehensive home inspections in Peterborough, Dublin, and the surrounding Monadnock region.
Water & Radon Testing – Thermal Imaging – Reports in 24 Hours
Why My Background Makes Me More Useful as a Home Inspector
I owned and operated a design-build contracting business for more than twenty years, and that business is still active today. I’ve framed houses, renovated old buildings, repaired structural damage, installed septic systems, dealt with water intrusion, rebuilt failed assemblies, and opened enough walls to know that what you see from the finished side isn’t always a reliable indication of how something was put together. When I find a problem, I’m interested in more than naming it — I want to understand what appears to have caused it, whether it looks isolated or connected to something larger, how much weight it deserves in the context of the rest of the house, and what addressing it properly would actually involve. Sometimes the answer is straightforward; sometimes there’s enough uncertainty that an engineer, electrician, chimney professional, HVAC contractor, or another specialist should take the next look. Either way, my job is to give you useful context instead of a long list of defects and no sense of which ones matter.
My construction knowledge is current, too. I still build and renovate, so I’m working with contemporary materials, methods, and building science while spending plenty of time in houses built long before any of that existed — and after twenty-plus years of opening walls, I can say with confidence that most of what’s back there was somebody’s reasonable idea at the time. I don’t bid on work at homes I’ve inspected for at least twelve months afterward, so there’s no repair pitch waiting at the end and no incentive to make a finding sound bigger or smaller than it is.
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 is a licensed home inspector, and she’s on most jobs with me. 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, and 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 stop looking as closely as the house actually deserves. Two of us covers roughly twice the ground in the same appointment, so the house gets the attention it actually needs and nobody’s afternoon gets wrecked.
Inspecting Homes in Peterborough and Dublin
Peterborough and Dublin sit next to each other, but they don’t necessarily have the same houses. Peterborough still feels like a real working village — old mixed-use buildings downtown, multifamilies, places that have changed hands and purposes more than once. Head outward and it turns rural fast: farmhouses, additions stacked on additions, private wells, septic systems, wooded lots, and houses tucked into the land in ways that make drainage part of the inspection instead of scenery.
Dublin is its own thing, with a fair number of genuinely well-built older houses mixed in among the ordinary farmhouses. I’ve inspected some that were kept up beautifully enough to make me feel a little underdressed, and I’ve inspected “renovated” houses where I needed a minute just to locate the original structure. Beautiful finish work tells you the owner cared; it doesn’t tell you what the wiring in the attic looks like or how the boiler’s holding up. And the reverse holds too — an old house doesn’t have to be modernized into submission to be a good one. I care a lot more about condition than I do about polish, and I’m pretty good at sorting out the difference.
Renovation, Restoration, and the Places Where Old Meets New
This is one of the parts of an inspection I enjoy most, and where my knowledge gets its exercise. A lot of homes in both towns have grown gradually rather than being built once and left alone — a kitchen wing, then a porch, then a garage, then living space above the garage, then a renovation that tried to tie the whole thing together. Every transition like that raises questions worth answering: how the newer framing is supported, where the roof drainage went after the addition went up, whether the old exterior wall was properly incorporated into the new space, how the heating system got extended, what happened to the wiring when rooms changed use, and whether the flashing actually manages water or just looks finished.
I can’t see through walls during an inspection, but houses leave evidence — framing patterns change, floors move, rooflines intersect, materials stop and start, moisture follows gravity, and wiring and plumbing eventually have to emerge somewhere visible. Years of building and repairing houses makes those clues easier to read. Sometimes what I find is genuinely concerning, and sometimes it’s an old repair that looks unconventional but has been doing its job perfectly well for fifty years — both deserve to be described accurately rather than lumped together as “issues.”
Rural Properties, Wells, Septic Systems, and the Site Around the House
Outside the village centers, the site starts mattering just as much as the building. Long driveways, wooded lots, ledge, slopes, retaining walls, drainage swales, outbuildings, and wood-burning equipment are common enough around here that they’re simply part of the inspection. Drainage deserves particular attention — Dublin rises sharply toward Mount Monadnock, and both towns have plenty of properties built into or below the surrounding grade. Water moving across a site finds the easiest route downhill; sometimes that route was planned well, and sometimes it ends in the basement.
A lot of properties in both towns are also on private wells and septic systems, which I want to be upfront about: I don’t inspect the well or septic system itself, and I’m not a licensed NH Septic Evaluator. What I do offer is private well water testing — bacteria, nitrates, arsenic, radon in water — run through a lab, so you know what you’re actually buying into before you own it. If you want the septic system evaluated, I can point you to a couple of people I trust for that.
What I Look For in a Peterborough or Dublin Home Inspection
The exterior and roof. Roof surfaces, flashing, chimneys, gutters, siding, trim, windows, doors, porches, decks, stairs, and railings, along with how the ground is graded around the foundation.
Structure. Foundation walls, framing where it’s visible, sills, posts, beams, and floors — including how additions and older sections tie into one another.
Water. Grading, roof drainage, foundation penetrations, stains, efflorescence, rot, and any signs water has been getting in more than once.
Heating and cooling. Furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, distribution, and venting, including wood or pellet stoves backing up the primary system.
Electrical. Panels, service, visible wiring, outlets, fixtures, and grounding — I open accessible panels and inspect them closely.
Plumbing. Supply lines, drains, water heating, fixtures, and visible leaks.
Attics, insulation, and crawlspaces. Ventilation, insulation, framing, and evidence of moisture. I do my best to get into accessible attics, basements, and crawlspaces as part of every inspection.
Diagnostic tools. I use thermal imaging, moisture meters, and electrical testing equipment throughout the inspection where they add useful information.
Radon & Water Testing
Radon testing is available with home inspections throughout Peterborough, Dublin, and the Monadnock Region, and most of my clients choose to include it. Radon levels vary dramatically from one property to the next, and you can’t reliably predict a concentration based on the age of the house, the foundation type, how dry the basement looks, or what somebody down the road tested at — the only useful answer comes from testing the property itself. I use continuous electronic radon monitors that record readings throughout the test period and produce a complete report at the end.
Private well water testing is also available and particularly relevant in Dublin and the rural parts of Peterborough. I offer several lab testing panels depending on the property, lender requirements, and how much information you want, including bacteria and nitrates along with arsenic and radon in water. When radon and water testing are bundled with the home inspection, the combined price drops by $100. You can inspect every accessible inch of a house and still have no idea what’s dissolved in the well water or what the radon concentration is — that’s what the testing is for.
What to Expect the Day of the Inspection
When I arrive, I like to spend a few minutes getting oriented before getting into details — I’ll look at the lot, walk the exterior, and get a general sense of the building and site, and I’m happy to hear any history you or the agent can share. Once I’m underway, I generally prefer to inspect without someone following me through every room. A thorough inspection takes sustained concentration, particularly in an old, renovated, or complicated house where something I see in the attic might explain something I noticed an hour earlier in the basement.
What I strongly encourage is joining me at the end. I’m not being antisocial by asking you not to trail me room to room — I am just able to give the inspection more focus when I’m not also trying to be a good host, and you’ll get a far more useful explanation once I’ve actually seen the whole property. We’ll walk through the important findings, I’ll show you what deserves your attention, and I’ll put it into context instead of just reading defects back to you off a list. If you can’t attend in person, that’s no problem; I’ll follow up by phone and go through it with you. It’s part of what you’re hiring me for, and I want to make sure you get the fullest value from your report.
Reports Written to Be Used
After the inspection, you’ll receive a digital report with photographs, explanations, and practical information about the conditions I observed. I don’t write reports just to document that every component was looked at — the report should help you understand which findings deserve immediate attention, which need further evaluation, which belong in future planning, and which are ordinary maintenance. Older houses especially benefit from that kind of proportion: a 150-year-old home can generate an intimidating report if every imperfection is treated like a crisis, and that doesn’t make the inspection more thorough, it just makes the report less useful. At the same time, age and charm aren’t excuses for serious structural problems, unsafe electrical work, active water intrusion, failing masonry, or badly executed renovations. My job is to tell those two things apart as clearly as I can, and to give you a report you can use during negotiations, share with a contractor, and come back to after closing when you’re deciding what to tackle next.
What Does a Home Inspection Cost in Peterborough or Dublin?
Pricing starts at $500 for homes under 1,000 square feet. A standard inspection from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet is $600, with larger homes increasing in $100 size tiers. Homes over 3,500 square feet, multifamily properties, and estates are quoted individually.
Homes built before 1950 carry an additional fee because they typically take longer to inspect. That does not mean older homes are inherently worse. It means there are usually more generations of materials, systems, repairs, additions, and alterations to understand. That distinction matters particularly in Peterborough and Dublin, where a house can look wonderfully cohesive today while containing several very different periods of construction underneath.
For a firm price, reach out with the property specifics. I’ll confirm the inspection price and any testing before anything goes on the calendar.
Serving Peterborough, Dublin, and the Monadnock Region
We serve Peterborough, Dublin, and surrounding Monadnock region communities including Jaffrey, Keene, Rindge, Troy, Fitzwilliam, Marlborough, Swanzey, Richmond, Hancock, Greenfield, Sharon, Temple, and nearby towns. We also serve other areas including Nashua, Milford, Concord, Manchester, Bedford, and Salem.
See the full service areas list for all towns we cover in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Schedule Your Peterborough or Dublin Home Inspection
If you are buying a home in Dublin, Peterborough, or the surrounding Monadnock area, I would be glad to help you understand what you are looking at before you move forward.
Call / Text: (802) 289-0025 connect@resonanthomesnh.com
How much does a home inspection cost in Peterborough or Dublin, NH?
Pricing depends a number of factors, though it starts around $500. The scheduling tool builds out your quote for you as you input the specifics of your property and the type of services that you are looking for. If you are interested in a full complement of services for your property, please contact me via email, phone, or text, and I’ll create a custom bundle price to save you money.
Do you inspect historic or antique homes in Peterborough and Dublin?
Yes, and it’s something that I really enjoy doing. Both towns have a strong concentration of older and historic homes, and inspecting them well requires understanding how they were originally built and how they’ve likely been altered since. My contracting background, including hands-on restoration work, is particularly useful on these properties.
What should I look for when buying a renovated home in Peterborough or Dublin?
Pay close attention to the transition points between old and new work — where an addition meets the original structure, where updated systems tie into older ones, and where finishes might be covering issues that predate the renovation. A quality home inspection can help identify whether the work behind the walls matches the quality of what’s visible.
Can I get radon and water testing done at the same time as my home inspection in Peterborough or Dublin?
Yes, and both are highly recommended. I offer radon testing and water testing alongside a standard home inspection, which is convenient for properties on private wells or in areas where radon is a known concern in this part of New Hampshire. Contact me for a custom quote if you choose to bundle both services with your home inspection.
Should I get a pre-listing inspection before selling my home in Peterborough or Dublin?
It’s worth considering, especially in these markets where buyers and their agents tend to scrutinize condition closely. A pre-listing inspection lets you know what a buyer’s inspector is likely to find before you’re negotiating under pressure, giving you more control over how issues are addressed or disclosed.
How is a home inspection different from an appraisal?
A home inspection evaluates the physical condition of the property — its systems, structure, and visible defects. An appraisal determines the home’s market value for lending purposes. They serve different functions and are usually performed by different professionals.
Do you inspect homes for investors or non-owner-occupant buyers in Peterborough and Dublin?
Yes. I work with investors evaluating properties in both towns, with a focus on major systems and the overall condition of the property. I don’t bid work on homes I inspect, so there’s never a conflict of interest or incentive to find more — or less — than what’s actually there.