Palatine covers a lot of ground and a lot of eras. There is post-war housing near the older centre of the village, large subdivisions from the 1960s through the 1980s, newer condos and townhomes built around the Metra station, and — importantly — unincorporated pockets on the edges where houses run on private wells and septic systems. Which of those you are buying changes the inspection substantially.
Book your Palatine home inspection — pick a time online in about two minutes. Weekend inspections available.
We are a licensed Illinois home inspection entity (License 451.001520). Every inspection includes thermal imaging at no additional charge, and your full photo report arrives within one business day.
Know whether you are inside the village
This is the first question to settle in Palatine, and buyers routinely get it wrong because the mailing address says Palatine either way. Unincorporated parcels are served by private wells and septic fields rather than municipal water and sewer, which adds two separate specialist inspections to your timeline and two systems whose failure is expensive.
We inspect the visible plumbing and the pressure tank, and we will tell you what we can see. We do not test well water or inspect septic systems — those need their own qualified inspectors, and you should book them at the same time you book us, because their turnaround is often slower than the inspection period allows.
The subdivision cohort
The bulk of Palatine housing came out of a twenty-five year building boom, and houses built in one window tend to fail on one schedule:
- Aluminum branch-circuit wiring in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s homes, needing connections rated for aluminum at every device.
- Polybutylene supply piping toward the later end — gray flexible plastic with a history of fitting failures and the insurance questions that follow.
- Hardboard and composite siding swelling at the bottom course and behind gutters.
- Cedar shake roofs, characterful and expensive to replace properly.
- Original mechanicals at or past design life — we photograph data plates so you get real ages.
Water on flat ground
Much of Palatine is flat with heavy clay soil, so drainage is engineered rather than natural. The failures are ordinary and cheap to fix if caught: downspouts discharging at the foundation, a sump discharge looping back to the wall, a drainage swale filled in by an owner who wanted a level yard, no battery backup on a pump serving a finished basement. We check that the sump actually cycles rather than just noting one exists.
Radon
Radon is common across northern Illinois — this is glacial till, and elevated readings are ordinary rather than exotic. Illinois requires sellers to disclose what they know but does not require anyone to test, so a blank disclosure means only that nobody has looked. We are IEMA-licensed and test with continuous monitors rather than charcoal kits, which gives you hour-by-hour data instead of one averaged number — the difference matters when a result lands near the 4.0 pCi/L action level and you have to negotiate on it.
Common questions
How do I find out if the property is unincorporated?
The village and the county can both confirm it, and the listing usually hints at it — a well and septic almost always means unincorporated. Settle it before you write the offer, not after.
Can you inspect on a weekend?
Yes. We do not schedule evenings.
What the inspection does not include
A home inspection is a visual, non-invasive evaluation of the systems accessible on the day of the inspection. We do not open walls, move stored belongings, dismantle equipment, or predict how long a component will last. We do not inspect septic systems or test well water. Both are common in the unincorporated areas around here, and both need a separate specialist — arrange those early, because their turnaround can be slower than your inspection period allows. We also do not perform the structural engineering analysis some findings call for. A sewer scope needs an accessible cleanout; standing water or an inaccessible line limits what the camera can show.
We do not perform repairs, sell remediation, or take referral fees. We measure and interpret; you decide what to do about it.
What the inspection covers: every inspection we perform in Palatine follows the same scope. See our home inspection services and what each one covers — pre-purchase, pre-listing, new construction, condo and multi-unit — plus in-house radon, mold, and sewer scope testing.
Nearby areas we inspect: Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Schaumburg. If you are looking in more than one area, the same inspector and the same scope apply to all of them.
Schedule a Palatine home inspection
Book your Palatine home inspection online. Tell us the address and whether you want radon, mold, or a sewer scope added, and we will confirm the time and what the inspection will cover.