The Building & Home Inspection Tools Checklist – What’s in Your Belt?

As a building or home inspector, having the right tools in your belt is essential for a smooth, efficient inspection. These tools help you find potential problems and inspect safely.

So, what exactly should be in your building inspector’s toolkit?

Being thorough means being prepared. Make sure your building inspector toolkit includes these tools.

• Home Inspector Tools
• Electrical Testers
• Moisture Meters and Thermometers
• Gas Detectors
• Safety Tools
• Helpful Extras

Building codes and standards change over time and vary from town to town. Whatever codes apply where you work, you need the right tools to do the job well.

Here’s a good selection of building and home inspection tools that will help you complete a thorough inspection safely:

Home Inspector Tools for Mobility and Visibility

Whatever specific area or issue you’re inspecting, you need to be able to get to it and to see it. These are the tools that help you do that:

1. Flashlight

Your flashlight is your bread-and-butter tool. Many inspectors want an LED flashlight with a brightness of at least 200 lumens. Choose a model with adjustable brightness so you can still get good photos in dark spots, and bring a backup battery.

A sturdy flashlight belt ring will make sure you always have your flashlight handy. You may also want to carry a smaller, pocket-sized flashlight as a backup and for when you might have to maneuver into tiny spots.

2. Telescoping Adjustable Mirror

This lets you see into areas you can’t easily reach.

3. Telescoping or Articulating Ladder / Small Ladder

Both of these types of ladders are valuable because they can fold down to fairly short lengths, making them easier to walk around with and less likely to scratch or ding walls and furniture.

A telescoping ladder generally collapses the shortest, to about three feet on some models. An articulating ladder doesn’t fold down quite as short, but it’s more flexible: a telescoping ladder can only extend, while an articulating ladder can also be set up as an A-frame.

Whichever type you choose, make sure it reaches the highest point you’ll need and locks securely into position.

4. Tool Belt and/or Vest

Make it easy to carry everything and keep your hands free. You can carry more in a vest, but some inspectors find a vest too bulky for crawling around.

If you do go with a vest, make sure it has pockets in a variety of sizes, including some large enough to hold a moisture meter or infrared thermometer. The pockets should also have secure closures, like zippers, since hook-and-loop closures can open on you.

Electrical Testers

This is one area where the cost of the tool is probably a good indicator of its quality.

5. AFCI/GFCI Tester

A tester that only checks ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection may not be enough, especially in newer buildings, which often also have arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) protection. A tester that checks both AFCI and GFCI protection covers more of what you’ll see.

6. Voltage/Current Indicator

This simple tool confirms whether wires or devices are energized. Depending on what types of buildings or homes you regularly inspect, you may need more than one as different indicators are built for different voltage ranges.

Some low-voltage models detect roughly 20 to 90 volts, while others with broader ranges go as high as 1,000 volts.

False positives are a risk with voltage indicators, since they can pick up static electricity, so it may help to choose one with a higher low end to its range.

For example, you can find voltage indicators with a 90 to 1,000-volt range or a 200 to 1,000-volt range. If you don’t need to detect lower voltages, the 200 to 1,000-volt model may serve you better.

You also want to check if the voltage indicator you’re using measures both AC and DC voltage types. There are voltage indicators that also include a GFCI tester. This may be a good dual-purpose tool, but it depends on your needs. The combination voltage indicator/GFCI tester doesn’t usually test AFCI as well.

Moisture Meters and Thermometers

These are tools that help you uncover potential problems that aren’t otherwise easily found.

7. Infrared (IR) Thermometer or Camera

Both tools reveal surface temperature differences. Unexpected temperature differences can point to air leaks, excess moisture, heat loss, or missing insulation. At the very least, they quickly show you which areas need a closer look.

It’s important to note that an IR thermometer and IR camera aren’t the same tools; an IR thermometer provides a spot check while the IR camera creates an image of a much larger area. If you’re using an IR thermometer, you need to understand its distance-to-spot ratio, which tells you what surface area it’s actually measuring based on how far away you’re standing from the area being measured.

An IR camera lets you see temperature changes across a much larger area as you move around. With an IR thermometer, if you stand too far away, you may miss temperature differences in smaller but important spots. The bigger challenge with an IR camera is that it takes more training to use properly.

Whether you use an IR thermometer or IR camera, you need to make sure you understand how to adjust it to account for emissivity. Emissivity describes how efficiently a surface gives off thermal radiation.

Accounting for emissivity matters because different surfaces can throw off your readings. Some low-end IR thermometers don’t let you adjust for emissivity at all, which limits their usefulness.

A quality IR thermometer or IR camera is a valuable tool for spotting potential problems in areas that are hard to reach.

8. Moisture Meters

An IR thermometer or camera can show you unexpected temperature differences, but it can’t tell you what’s causing them. That’s where a moisture meter comes in: it tells you whether there’s excess moisture.

There are two basic types of moisture meters: pin and pinless.

A pin-style meter inserts two little pins into the material and runs an electric current between them.

A pinless meter doesn’t make holes in the building material, and its larger scanning area assesses much more of the material than the current between a pin meter’s two pins.

Another advantage of a pinless meter like the Wagner Meters Orion^® 950 is its relative measurement mode, which lets you compare moisture in non-wood materials such as drywall. For concrete, use a concrete moisture meter like the C555.

Some moisture meters, like the Orion line from Wagner Meters, can take readings in tight spots where you can’t see the display. A press-to-hold feature lets you lock in the reading so you can read it after you pull the meter out.

Not all handheld moisture meters have this feature, so consider it if it matters to you. It also helps when you’re documenting readings.

Gas Detectors

Different dangerous gases require different detectors. No matter how sensitive your nose is, it can’t reliably detect low levels of combustible gases, and it can’t detect odorless gases at all. Your nose is free, but decent gas detectors are worth the investment.

9. Combustible Gas Detector

This tool detects small amounts of combustible gases. There are many types, so do some research before you buy one. For example, how sensitive is it?

Which gases can it detect? Some detect different gases only after you swap out a component, while others detect several gases without any adjustment.

Also, consider the battery life and reach of the detector you buy. Many of the portable gas detectors come with a flexible probe that you can use to get into awkward or tight spaces. These probes are often 10 to 20 inches long.

10. Carbon Monoxide Detector

Your nose is no help in detecting carbon monoxide (CO), a toxic gas that combustion appliances can release when they aren’t working or venting properly.

Don’t confuse a CO analyzer with a CO alarm. A CO alarm monitors for the gas over time and should be installed in a home or building, like a smoke alarm.

The CO analyzer you bring with you measures the actual CO concentration, in parts per million (ppm), so you can check combustion appliances and their venting.

Safety Tools

There’s no point inspecting a building for safety issues if you can’t keep yourself safe while you do it. Here are some critical tools for your own safety.

11. Respirator

Crawl spaces and attics can expose you to mold spores, dust, insulation fibers, and other airborne hazards, and some particles are carcinogenic. A basic dust mask may not be enough protection for these spaces, which is why many inspectors use a respirator.

There are half-face and full-face respirators, and different models and cartridges protect against different hazards, so make sure yours covers your needs. Respirators can feel awkward until you get used to them, but they’re worth it.

12. Safety Glasses or Goggles

You never know what might be sticking out in a crawl space or attic, so protect your eyes. Safety glasses are also good to wear when inspecting mechanical or electronic objects, including electric panels, as sparks can fly unexpectedly.

Goggles will provide greater protection since they create a sealed bubble around your eyes. If you wear prescription glasses, make sure you get prescription safety glasses or goggles large enough to encompass your regular glasses.

Some new versions of safety glasses may also include LED lights to provide extra lighting in your desired direction.

13. Electrical Gloves

Wherever you wear safety glasses for electrical work, consider electrical gloves too. They’re heavy and can get hot, but they can also save your life.

Make sure your gloves fit well so you can work comfortably, and choose rubber insulating gloves that meet ASTM D120 or IEC 60903 and are rated for the voltages you may encounter.

14. The Right Shoes

Depending on what you’re inspecting, you may need different shoes or boots. At the very least, your shoes should have good traction and resist chemicals and oils.

You may also want shoe covers (and a spare pair) for dirty or muddy areas, so you don’t track dirt through the rest of the house or building.

If you inspect roofs, bring roofing boots.

Helpful Extras

Here are some tools that you might find helpful exactly when you need them:

• 15. Pen knife
• 16. Tape measure
• 17. Level
• 18. Water pressure gauge
• 19. Smoke pen
• 20. Telescoping magnet to pick up anything small you may have dropped in an awkward spot
• 21. Compass
• 22. Simple toolkit in case you need to unscrew anything to get a closer look

There’s an App for That

Finally, building inspection software can be useful and convenient for both you and the property owner.

Several companies have developed building inspection software, so do your research before selecting one.

Here are some common features you’ll want to make sure to have:

• Fully mobile and accessible on a variety of devices
• Has customizable inspection templates and reports
• Extensive photo capabilities, including photo editing and tagging
• Includes voice recorder
• Allows for hand-drawn maps and sketches

With so many tools on the market, balancing cost and necessity can seem overwhelming at first. With the tools above, you’ll be well equipped and prepared without spending a fortune on tools you don’t need.

Shop Orion Moisture Meters

Last updated on October 9th, 2026