Roof inspection
An inspection pays for itself when it answers a decision, and Broward houses generate more roof decisions than most: tile whose condition cannot be read from the shell, flat sections hiding water between layers, coastal metal failing invisibly, and permit histories with gaps. A documented answer to « what is actually up there » is the least expensive part of every one of those conversations.
When it earns its price
Before buying, above all. The gap between tile with fifteen years of membrane left and tile at the end of it runs to tens of thousands, and a general home inspection does not make that distinction — nor does it pull the permit history that tells you whether the « new roof » in the listing was a replacement or a recover. Before the rainy season, on any ageing covering: the June downpours will find every marginal detail, and finding them in April costs less in every currency. And at the age thresholds — twenty-five on tile, twenty on boom-era shingle, any age on a flat section showing blisters.
What gets checked
On the roof: what each section actually is and what is under it; granule loss and slope-to-slope ageing on shingle; slipped, cracked or patched tile and the membrane evidence at the eaves; blistering and ponding traces on flat sections; every valley and what it carries; flashing at walls and penetrations; and — decisive on the eastern blocks — the state of every piece of metal, from drip edge to fastener heads.
Off the roof: the attic, where ventilation balance, duct condensation and deck staining tell their stories; and the paper, where the permit record dates the last true replacement and flags the undocumented work. In this county the paper trail is part of the roof, and an inspection that ignores it answers half the question.
What the report is good for
A written report converts impressions into decisions. For a buyer it prices the largest hidden number in the purchase. For an owner it puts a season on the work — quotes gathered in the dry months against a fixed scope, instead of August panic against a leak. And for any jurisdiction question — the 25 % rule, product approvals, permit gaps — it is the document that lets you ask precise questions and recognise precise answers. Three bidders pricing one written scope is how quote comparison is supposed to work.