Plumbing Inspection in Richmond, IN
Richmond turns over at about the national middle: 21% of its owner households arrived in 2018 or later. Common enough that most people know somebody who has had a report, rare enough that few have read the exclusions in one.
The one-paragraph answer
21% of owners in Richmond bought in 2018 or later, an ordinary rate. Ordinary is where the usual mistake happens, which is assuming the inspection covered the plumbing: the buried lateral is excluded by both published standards.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038.
When Richmond moved in
With turnover near the middle, roughly one owner in five or six arrived recently. For everyone else the last time the plumbing was examined by a third party was whenever they bought.
| Owner households in Richmond | Share of all owners |
|---|---|
| Moved in 2021 or later | 7% |
| Moved in 2018–2020 | 14% |
| Moved in 2010–2017 | 26% |
| Moved in before 2010 | 52% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038 (tenure by year householder moved into unit), 2023 release. Universe: 18,639 occupied housing units, of which 11,981 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
ASHI asks for the predominant material of the water service, distribution and drain-waste-vent pipes to be described. Predominant is an honest word for a house that has been altered more than once, and it is not a complete answer about any single run.
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.
Ten minutes of reading covers it: what nobody was required to look at, what they were, and the drain run that is a separate instruction altogether.
Other Indiana towns we route in
Checking a plumber in Indiana
Checking a credential in Indiana
Indiana licenses are issued by the Indiana Plumbing Commission, Professional Licensing Agency, 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: Richmond gets routed whatever is needed.
Call (888) 764-3501