Licensed and Insured – Internachi Certified – Serving Walpole nh
I spent 20 years building homes in NH. Now I inspect them.
Comprehensive home inspections in Walpole and the Connecticut River Valley.
Call / Text: (802) 289-0025
Radon & Water Testing – Thermal Imaging – Reports in 24 Hours
Why My Background Makes Me More Useful as a Home Inspector
I’ve owned and run a contracting business for more than two decades, and it’s still running today. I’ve planned the jobs, written the bids, hired and managed the trades, dealt with building officials, and stood behind the work once it was finished. Framing, finish carpentry, site work, renovations, repairs. I’ve opened up walls I wished I hadn’t, chased water back uphill to find where it was actually getting in, rebuilt decks that looked fine until somebody pulled the trim off the ledger, and replaced sills that had been going quietly for thirty years while the siding over them got painted twice.
That’s the loop a builder runs: find the problem, then work out what it would really take to fix it. Run it enough times and it stops being something you do and turns into how you look at a building.
An inspection asks a different question than a repair does, and I keep the two separate — I’m not there to fix anything, and I don’t put prices on repairs. But when I’m in a cellar looking at a damp corner and a stained sill, the questions come from the repair side. Is this normal for a house of this age sitting on ground like this, or is it something else? Does the water have somewhere to go, or has it been finding its way in for years? Does this line up with what I saw at the grade outside, or does it point somewhere I haven’t looked yet?
Plenty of inspectors can identify a defect. Fewer have spent years fixing them, and that shows up in what gets explained to you rather than just listed.
I also don’t perform contracting work on any home I inspect for 12 months after the inspection. No repair pitch, no conflict of interest, no reason to shade a finding in either direction.
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 on Main Street and a farm property with three outbuildings 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 Walpole
Walpole is one of the cultural anchors of this part of the Monadnock Region. Burdick’s, Walpole Grocery, Pete’s Stand, Walpole Creamery, Tractor Supply, the rail trail, Alyson’s Orchard — a town where you can buy a world-class chocolate torte and a hundred feet of fencing in the same afternoon, and where the farms are still working farms even as property values have climbed. You’ll find one sitting right alongside some of the more expensive houses in the area, often on the same road.
I live one town over, in Alstead, and that mix is the thing I’d tell anyone buying here to pay attention to. Properties range from old farmhouses that have been in continuous use for generations to newer high-end construction, and the two can sit a quarter mile apart with completely different inspection priorities. The older farm properties usually come with outbuildings, barns, and additions built across different decades, each with its own materials and methods. And the expensive houses near the river or with river views aren’t automatically newer or better cared for — the same questions about renovation quality and neglected maintenance apply no matter what a place costs.
Walpole also sits low against the Connecticut River, which creates a real microclimate. Flowers and foliage here often run a couple of weeks ahead of Alstead, despite being only a few minutes away. It’s all uphill from the river to the ridge, and that same elevation difference changes how moisture and freeze-thaw move through foundations and crawlspaces. I look at a riverside property differently than one a few hundred feet higher up.
Outside the village, private wells and septic systems are the norm. With the town’s farming history, older properties sometimes carry leftovers from past farm use — old wellheads, abandoned septic systems, buried tanks, and outbuildings nobody has looked at closely in years.
What I Look For in a Walpole Home Inspection
Foundations, and what the site is doing to them. Stone, brick, block, and poured concrete, often more than one under the same building. Settlement and movement, mortar deterioration, water entry, and the condition of sills, posts, and beams where wood meets masonry — usually the first place an old house gives out. On the lower, riverside properties I spend extra time on moisture patterns and drainage, because there’s a lot of water moving through this ground.
Water, from the roof down. Roof coverings, flashing, valleys, chimneys, gutters, grading, and where the runoff actually goes. Then cellars and crawlspaces: staining, efflorescence, rot, sump systems, and the evidence that water has been in before. A stone foundation can be damp seasonally and still perform fine, which is a different situation from water coming in every spring.
Electrical. Panels, service, grounding, visible wiring, outlets, and fixtures. Older houses here often carry several generations of work, some of it added a circuit at a time and some abandoned in place when the service was upgraded. I sort out what’s unsafe, what an electrician should evaluate, and what’s simply old and working.
Heat and chimneys. Boilers, furnaces, heat pumps, mini-splits, and the wood stoves backing many of them up. Venting, clearances, hearth protection, flue condition, and distribution. Age matters less than how the equipment has been used and maintained.
Plumbing. Supply, drains, water heating, fixtures, and visible leaks, plus where the pipes run, whether they’re protected from freezing, and what the different eras of pipe in the building add up to.
Attics, insulation, and ventilation. Coverage, air sealing, venting, and any staining, frost, or rot on the underside of the sheathing. Houses tightened up over the years sometimes solved a heating bill and created a moisture problem, and the attic shows it first.
Additions, and how they were joined on. Farm properties in particular tend to grow over generations. Roof intersections, foundation changes, framing connections, altered drainage, and differences in settlement all say something about how carefully each phase was attached to the last. Some of that work was permitted and done to a standard. Some wasn’t.
The exterior and the site. Siding, trim, windows, doors, porches, decks, stairs, railings, grading, and drainage across the lot. On rural properties, driveways, culverts, and where water runs in a heavy rain are part of how the building performs.
Garages, barns, and outbuildings. An attached garage is part of a standard inspection. Barns, detached garages, workshops, and agricultural structures are optional add-ons, quoted based on what’s there. On a Walpole farm property they’re often the buildings with the most expensive problems in them, usually because attention went to the house first.
I also provide seller’s inspections and home maintenance inspections.
Radon Testing
Radon is worth taking seriously anywhere in this part of New Hampshire. The granite bedrock under the whole region drives it, and there’s no way to judge it by looking at a house — a clean, dry, recently finished cellar can test high while a place down the road tests low.
I offer radon testing as an add-on using continuous electronic monitors, which log readings across the full test period rather than producing a single number without context. Elevated levels can almost always be mitigated. The inspection window is the right time to find out.
Water Testing
Outside the village center, most properties are on a private well, 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 this area, with no taste, smell, or color to warn you. Radon in water is worth testing on a well property too.
I handle 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 give you a quote for your particular needs. Tell me what you want covered and I’ll price it before we book.
Septic is separate work. I don’t hold a NH Septic Evaluator license, so I’ll note visible conditions and tell you if something deserves a closer look, but the system itself needs a licensed evaluator — and on an older farm property, where there may be more than one system in the ground and not all of them on a map, that evaluation is worth arranging rather than skipping. I work with a couple of excellent evaluators and I’m glad to connect you.
Water and radon testing can be bundled with the inspection for a reduced combined price.
Who Is Buying in Walpole
For buyers. People are usually drawn here by the same things that make it a good place to live — the farms, the river, the village, the fact that it’s a real town rather than a bedroom community. A thorough inspection helps you understand what you’re actually buying, separate from what makes the town appealing. 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 I’ll show you what we found. Afterward you get a detailed digital report with photographs and written explanations, 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 surfaces issues before a buyer’s inspector does, which gives you control over timing and over how things get addressed. That’s worth the most on a property with outbuildings or a long history of improvements, where a buyer’s inspector unfamiliar with the type may flag something as alarming that’s actually normal.
For investors. On older farm properties and houses with outbuildings, I focus on the systems and structures most likely to affect what a project will cost and how complicated it gets. I won’t produce a renovation budget from a visual inspection, but I can tell you where the real issues are.
For realtors. The inspection support page for agents covers scheduling, turnaround, communication, and what my reports look like inside a transaction.
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 extensive systems or multiple structures.
Homes built before 1950 carry an additional fee for the added time involved, which around Walpole covers a good share of what’s for sale. Barns, detached garages, and other outbuildings are quoted based on what’s on the property — tell me what’s there 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.
A Practical Inspection Report
You’ll have the report within 24 hours of the inspection, with photographs, 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 be useful after the appointment is over. Something you can share with a contractor, revisit during a negotiation, or refer back to once you own the property and are deciding what to tackle first.
Serving Walpole and Nearby Communities
We inspect in Walpole, North Walpole, Westmoreland, Chesterfield, Spofford, Charlestown, Alstead, Langdon, Acworth, Marlow, Gilsum, Surry, Keene, and Claremont, along with Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Westminster, Rockingham, Putney, Brattleboro, Springfield, Chester, and Ludlow on the Vermont side.
If you don’t see your town, ask — the answer is usually yes. For the full list of areas covered, see the Service Areas page.
Schedule Your Walpole Home Inspection
If you are buying a home in Walpole or the surrounding Southwest New Hampshire area, I would be glad to help you understand what you are looking at before you move forward.
Call or text: (802) 289-0025
Email: connect@resonanthomesnh.com
Frequently Asked Questions About Walpole Homes
Is radon testing necessary for homes in Walpole, NH?
Yes. The granite bedrock common throughout this part of New Hampshire makes radon-in-air testing worth doing on nearly any property, and homes on private wells should also be tested for radon in water.
Do you inspect older farm properties with barns or outbuildings?
Yes. Walpole has a strong agricultural history, and many properties include barns, sheds, or other outbuildings — sometimes built to a different standard or era than the main house. Evaluation of these buildings is something I recommend, though they are beyond the scope of the standard home inspection. Please talk to me about what needs you have for your property, and I’ll be happy to give you a custom quote.
Does a higher-value home in Walpole mean fewer issues?
Not necessarily. Price reflects location and demand as much as condition. High-value properties, including those near the river, can carry the same deferred maintenance or renovation-quality questions as any other home.
Do you test private wells and septic systems?
Yes, and no. Water testing and septic evaluation are common needs outside Walpole’s village center, where private systems are standard. I offer a full range of water testing options. I do not hold a NH Septic Evaluators license, though I can help you coordinate with a couple excellent evaluators that I work with.
Also see: Home Inspections · Investor Inspections · Realtor Inspection Support