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Plumbing Inspection in Durham, NH
23% of owner-occupied homes in Durham 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
23% of owners in Durham 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 Durham 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 Durham | Share of all owners |
|---|---|
| Moved in 2021 or later | 5% |
| Moved in 2018–2020 | 18% |
| Moved in 2010–2017 | 34% |
| Moved in before 2010 | 43% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25038 (tenure by year householder moved into unit), 2023 release. Universe: 2,901 occupied housing units, of which 1,891 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
Fire suppression and sprinkler systems are outside the inspection. In a house that has one, the system most likely to matter in an emergency is the one nobody was asked to look at.
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.
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
Two categories are worth chasing before you exchange: water somewhere it should not be, and anything the report could not see the end of. Both are open-ended, and open-ended is what moves a price.
The published standards settle most arguments: excluded, covered, and the separate instruction for everything past the building.
Other New Hampshire towns we route in
Checking a plumber in New Hampshire
Checking a credential in New Hampshire
The authority is the New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, Mechanical Safety and Licensing Board. New Hampshire licenses plumbers but publishes no online licensee search, so verification means contacting the office directly.
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, Durham reaches a contractor through us.
Call (888) 764-3501