Frequently Asked Questions

An InterNACHI certified, Florida licensed and insured inspector from High Tide Inspections. The person who walks your roof is the person who writes your report, and you can call and have any finding explained by someone who actually saw it.

We are InterNACHI certified, Florida licensed and insured, and hold certifications for wind mitigation, roof inspections and 4-point inspections. Behind the credentials is 20+ years of construction and renovation experience, which is the part that matters most in the field — knowing how a house was actually built tells you where to look when something is wrong.

Yes. Florida licenses home inspectors at the state level, and High Tide carries both the license and insurance. If your lender, agent, or insurance carrier needs documentation on file before the inspection, ask when you book and it will be sent over.

St. Augustine, at 234 Nesmith Ave. That location is central to the Northeast Florida service area, which is why coverage runs comfortably from the Duval beaches south through Flagler and Volusia and west into Clay and Putnam counties.

High Tide Inspections is an established Northeast Florida inspection business with a 5.0 star rating across 68 Google reviews. We bring 20+ years of construction and renovation background to the work, which predates the inspection business itself.

Yes, and realtor clients are a meaningful share of the work. Agents tend to care about three things: that the inspection happens inside a tight contingency window, that the report is clear enough that a buyer does not panic over cosmetic items, and that findings are explained in a way that keeps a deal moving. All three are deliberate features of how these reports are written.

It depends on the inspection type, the size and age of the home, and whether it sits on a slab or over a crawl space. A full home inspection typically runs $300 to $675; insurance inspections like wind mitigation and 4-point are considerably less. Call 904-806-7679 with the address and square footage for a firm number rather than a range.

Yes, and you usually should. A wind mitigation and a 4-point performed on the same visit cost meaningfully less than two separate trips, because the travel and setup happen once. If you are buying an older Florida home you will likely need both anyway — doing them alongside the full inspection is the efficient path.

Payment is due at or around the time of the inspection, before the report is released. You will be told the exact amount when you book, not after the work is done.

Pricing scales with square footage, because a 4,500 square foot home genuinely takes longer to inspect properly than a 1,400 square foot one. The quote you are given at booking reflects the actual home, so there is no surprise adjustment afterward.

For most of the Northeast Florida service area, no. Properties at the far edge of the range may carry a modest travel adjustment, and if that applies to your address you will be told at booking rather than discovering it on the invoice.

Investors and realtors who send regular work should call and discuss it directly. Volume arrangements are handled case by case rather than through a published discount table.

You are welcome, and attending is genuinely useful — seeing a condition in person explains more in thirty seconds than two paragraphs of report text. If you can only make part of it, come for the last portion, when findings get walked through. Attendance is not required, though; the report stands on its own.

A full home inspection usually runs two to four hours depending on size, age and condition. Wind mitigation and 4-point inspections are much shorter, often under an hour. An older home with a crawl space and a complex roof takes longer than a ten-year-old slab home of the same square footage.

The attic, the electrical panel, the water heater, the HVAC equipment, under-sink areas, the crawl space where one exists, and every room including garage and exterior. Blocked access is the single most common reason something goes uninspected. Clearing stored items away from the panel and the attic hatch before the visit is worth the ten minutes.

Yes, and this matters more than people expect. Water, power and gas must be on to test the systems that depend on them. An inspection performed on a home with the power shut off leaves the electrical system, HVAC, water heater and every appliance untested — which usually means paying for a second visit.

Where it is safe and the roof can bear it, yes — walking a roof reveals things no ground-level look will. Where pitch, height, material fragility or weather make it unsafe, it is inspected from a ladder at the edge, from the ground with optics, and from inside the attic. The report states which method was used, so you always know what the finding is based on.

Heavy rain and lightning stop roof access, and forcing it is both unsafe and produces a worse inspection. If weather prevents part of the inspection, that limitation is stated plainly in the report rather than glossed over.

Usually. Tell the deadline up front when booking and it gets weighed against the calendar honestly — you will hear a straight yes or no rather than a maybe that leaves your client exposed.

By being accurate about severity. Reports separate genuine defects from normal wear and cosmetic items, because the fastest way to kill a workable deal is a report that presents a loose toilet handle with the same visual weight as a failing roof. Buyers deserve the truth about both — including when something is not a real problem.

Yes. A pre-listing inspection moves discovery before the offer instead of after, which lets a seller repair on their own schedule and pricing rather than under a buyer's deadline. It removes most of the leverage a surprise finding would otherwise hand the other side.

Yes, and it is worth pushing clients toward it. New construction inspections are most valuable at pre-drywall, when the structure is still visible, and again at the 11-month mark before the first-year builder warranty expires. A municipal code inspection is not the same thing as an inspection performed on the buyer's behalf.

Yes. A buyer who understands a finding negotiates rationally; a buyer who only sees alarming words in a PDF often does not. That conversation usually helps the transaction.

Across St. Johns, Duval, Clay, Flagler, Volusia and Putnam counties — so an agent working St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Palm Coast and Daytona Beach does not need a different inspector per market.