A home inspection booking request form
A home inspection is booked against a deadline the buyer did not set: the inspection period in their contract. The request has to capture that date, the property, its size and age, and who will let you in, so the inspector can say yes or no on the first reply.
What should home inspectors ask first?
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What is the property address, or at least the city and ZIP code? | It tells you whether it is in your service area and how far to drive. |
| What kind of property: a house, a condo, a townhouse, or a multi-unit building? | Property type changes what is inspected and how long it takes. |
| Roughly how many square feet, and when was it built? | Size and age set the price and the time on site. |
| When does the inspection need to be done by? | The buyer’s deadline decides whether you can take it at all. |
| Do you want anything beyond a standard inspection, such as radon, a sewer scope, or a pool? | Add-ons change the price, the equipment and the time. |
| Who will let the inspector in: you, your agent, or the seller’s agent? | Access is where bookings fall through on the day. |
If an answer would not change what you do next, leave the question out. Each extra question is one more reason for someone to stop before they finish.
Which answers come back too vague to use, and what do you ask next?
The answers that cause a phone call are rarely missing. They are present and too loose to act on. A narrower follow-up, asked straight away while the person is still there, usually settles them. Offering likely answers shows the person the level of detail you need.
| What comes back | The follow-up that settles it |
|---|---|
| “Next week.” | What is the last day the inspection can be done under your contract? |
| “It’s an older house.” | Do you know roughly the year it was built, or the decade? |
| “The usual inspection.” | Is there a basement, a crawl space or a pool, and does it have a septic system? |
Follow up once per gap, then move on. If an answer is still unclear after one follow-up, flag it for whoever picks the request up rather than pressing.
When is a call or a visit still the right move?
A buyer’s first home inspection often comes with questions that are easier to answer on the phone, and some will want to talk before they book. The request still decides the booking, and the inspector arrives knowing the size, the age, the add-ons and who has the key.
How do you set this up from the Appointment request template?
Acquainto has a Appointment request template to start from. After you sign up, open Browse templates, pick Appointment request, and it lands in the editor as a draft you can change before anything is published.
This template is close to the job. It asks who the appointment is for, an email and a phone number, whether the person has been before, a day and a time of day, and branches on that first-visit answer. For inspections, change “who it is for” to the property, replace the first-visit question with buyer, seller or owner, and add the size and age, the deadline, the add-ons and the access questions.
To see it from the other side, answer a demo built from the questions on this page. It is a demo: your answers come to Acquainto, not to a business, so leave out real names and contact details.
Acquainto runs it as a short written conversation instead of a form. It:
- asks a follow-up when an answer is incomplete, and asks for clarification when one is vague;
- uses a structured choice where precision matters and open conversation where detail matters;
- shows the person every answer before it is sent, so they correct their own mistakes;
- hands back one clean value per question, delivered to your own systems by webhook.
The person answering needs no account, and nothing has to be scheduled. Start free trial, see how it works, or compare plans.