Plumbing Inspection in Chicago, IL
21% of owner-occupied homes in Chicago 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 Chicago sits near the middle, with 21% 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 Chicago moved in
At an ordinary rate of turnover, the housing here divides fairly evenly between homes inspected in the last few years and homes that have not been looked at since the previous sale, whenever that was.
| Owner households in Chicago | Share of all owners |
|---|---|
| Moved in 2021 or later | 6% |
| Moved in 2018–2020 | 14% |
| Moved in 2010–2017 | 26% |
| Moved in before 2010 | 53% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038 (tenure by year householder moved into unit), 2023 release. Universe: 1,140,118 occupied housing units, of which 519,666 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
Wells, pumps, pressure tanks, storage tanks and filters are excluded by both standards. On a property with its own supply, the equipment feeding the whole house sits outside the inspection carried out on it.
Source: InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice; ASHI Standard of Practice.
What it is required to cover
The fixtures are a live test rather than a look. InterNACHI requires the inspector to run the water at every faucet, flush every toilet, and check that every sink, tub and shower drains; ASHI requires functional flow and functional drainage. If a fault shows up in ordinary use, this is the part of the inspection that finds it.
The rest of what an inspector must do is set out here. It is shorter than the excluded list and it is the half that tells you what a finding is worth.
What to do about it
Read the exclusions in your own report before the findings. The findings say what was looked at; the exclusions say what you still do not know, and only one of those two lists gets attention.
The published standards settle most arguments: excluded, covered, and the separate instruction for everything past the building.
Other Illinois towns we route in
- Park Ridge 18% of owners moved in since 2018
- Wheaton 21% of owners moved in since 2018
- Winnetka 22% of owners moved in since 2018
- Northbrook 19% of owners moved in since 2018
- River Grove 11% of owners moved in since 2018
Checking a plumber in Illinois
Checking a credential in Illinois
Illinois licenses are issued by the Illinois Department of Public Health, Plumbing Program, 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. Not only inspection items: Chicago gets routed whatever is needed.
Call (888) 764-3501