Plumbing Inspection in Boulder, CO
20% of owner-occupied homes in Boulder have changed hands since 2018. That is an ordinary rate, which makes the ordinary mistake more likely: assuming the inspection covered the plumbing.
The one-paragraph answer
Turnover in Boulder sits near the middle, with 20% of owner households arriving in 2018 or later. The figure that actually matters is in the standards of practice: a home inspection covers what is visible and operable, and the buried sewer lateral is not.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038.
When Boulder moved in
A middling turnover figure is the least informative kind, which is its own useful fact: it means you cannot infer much about any particular house from the town, and the report on the one in front of you is the only evidence that counts.
| Owner households in Boulder | Share of all owners |
|---|---|
| Moved in 2021 or later | 6% |
| Moved in 2018–2020 | 13% |
| Moved in 2010–2017 | 29% |
| Moved in before 2010 | 51% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038 (tenure by year householder moved into unit), 2023 release. Universe: 54,241 occupied housing units, of which 28,905 are owner-occupied. This counts when the CURRENT occupant moved in, so it measures recent moves as a share of the housing stock — not a rate of sales per year.
What the inspection will not cover
Both standards exclude septic and other sewage disposal or wastewater treatment systems. The inspector confirms that the fixtures drain; the run leaving the building is not part of the job, and it is the most expensive thing on a property to be wrong about.
Source: InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice; ASHI Standard of Practice.
What it is required to cover
Both standards cover the interior drain, waste and vent system, and ASHI asks for the predominant material of the service, distribution and DWV pipes to be described. A report naming one material is describing the majority of the house, not every run in it.
What is actually covered — because silence in a report means one thing about a covered system and something completely different about an excluded one.
What to do about it
If you are selling, establish it before somebody else does. The same finding is worth more to a buyer who discovered it than to one who was told.
Both standards are public. Start with the exclusions, then the obligations, and read the sewer scope separately — it is ordered on its own for a reason.
Other Colorado towns we route in
- Parker 29% of owners moved in since 2018
- Lyons 18% of owners moved in since 2018
- La Salle 23% of owners moved in since 2018
- Wheat Ridge 24% of owners moved in since 2018
- Pine 13% of owners moved in since 2018
Checking a plumber in Colorado
Checking a credential in Colorado
Colorado licenses are issued by the Colorado State Plumbing Board, Division of Professions and Occupations, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.
Inspection report in front of you?Read us the plumbing lines and nothing else — we do not want the document. We will route you to a contractor covering your area who can quote the items on it, and you are never charged by us. Report or no report, Boulder reaches a contractor through us.
Call (888) 764-3501