Rodent Home Inspections:How should you handle signs of rodent infestations or damage in your home inspections?

Quick Summary: As a home inspector, you may encounter evidence of rodent infestations or damage in crawlspaces and attics. Though outside your scope, reporting evidence helps protect your clients from health, safety, and financial risks. InspectorPro shares eight tips for protecting your inspection business while reporting potential rodent infestation.

Mice, rats, chipmunks, squirrels, and (an honorable mention to the rodent-adjacent) bats: These critters need shelter. If your client has their eye on a house that’s older, vacant, near water or agriculture, or full of structural gaps, they might find that the dark, isolated spaces of that house are already occupied. 

Rodents can also surprise home inspectors like you who traverse those dark spaces for a living. If rodents have taken up residence in the attic, crawlspace, or even the kitchen cabinets, those signs may be visible during a home inspection.

But encountering a possible rodent infestation during a home inspection doesn’t make it a “rodent home inspection”—not as a standalone or add-on service, anyway. If home buyers or sellers are asking for “rodent home inspections,” they’re likely contacting a pest control business, not a home inspector.

Some inspectors may consider rodents part of their ancillary pest inspections. As WIN Home Inspection of Springville advertised in a Facebook post, this means looking for signs of rodents or termites to ensure a “safe, clean, and critter-free” home. (Note, this is not the case in states like California, where pest inspections exclusively look for signs of wood-destroying organisms.)

If rodent home inspections are outside your scope, should you report evidence of rodent infestations or rodent damage? What should these reports consist of? What types of rodents do inspectors tend to encounter? And how can you protect your clients from rodents without exposing yourself to unnecessary risk?

We answer these questions and more.

Why do inspectors report possible rodent infestations if it’s outside their scope?

Section Summary: Despite being outside their scope, many inspectors choose to report possible rodent activity out of financial, health, and safety concerns for their clients.

In many states, pest inspections are a licensed trade. If you aren’t properly licensed to conduct pest inspections, like wood-destroying organism (WDO) inspections, then you may not be licensed to advertise or perform specialized rodent home inspections. 

Still, that shouldn’t stop you from warning your clients if you see signs of possible rodent damage or infestations during an inspection. In our claims experience, most legal and licensing professionals recognize home inspectors’ right to make general observations about pests—even in states with separately licensed pest inspectors. But when you do report possible signs of pests, you should note in your report that a pest inspection is outside the scope of a standard home inspection. Also, refer your clients to a licensed pest control expert and avoid trying to identify the type of rodent.

In fact, while some inspectors think it may be safer to avoid commenting on pests, case law and claims show you may incur more liability from saying nothing at all. Reporting potential evidence of rodents and rodent damage can help clients make more informed decisions and protect them from health and safety risks. In turn, this helps you protect your business and your reputation.

Financial Concerns

Matthew Skiba of Seahawk Inspection Services, LLC in North Carolina is a licensed home inspector and WDO inspector. Rodents don’t fall under either scope. But he feels strongly that every client should have the knowledge to investigate a possible infestation before buying a home or walk away. He gained that perspective when an inspector declined to report rodent droppings in his own home. 

While treating his home’s surprise infestation, Skiba saw firsthand the damage rodents can cause and how expensive that damage can be. Today, he aims to give his clients the information he didn’t have. That way, they aren’t left with a financial burden they aren’t prepared to carry.

“I always remember that experience I had as a buyer and wishing that my home inspector would’ve brought it to my attention. Because I ended up having to deal with it on my own, which became sort of expensive,” Skiba said. “Some inspectors may be scared of killing a deal over something that they’re not required to report on, which is totally legitimate. I don’t personally have that fear. In my experience as a home inspector, reporting on rodent contamination and potential rodent activity has led to a better overall reputation [for my business].”

Health Concerns

Besides wanting clients to have all the facts before purchasing, inspectors will also report evidence of rodent damage or infestations for health and safety purposes.

What are the health risks associated with a rodent infestation?

According to the CDC’s guide to wild rodent infestations, rats, mice, chipmunks, and other rodents carry several bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases. Some common rat and mice infestation health risks include Hantavirus, Lyme disease, and Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS). These diseases can spread from breathing in air that’s contaminated by rodent droppings, urine, and saliva, by eating contaminated food, or by coming in contact with infected ticks, fleas, and mites, the CDC’s guide says.

Bats, though not technically rodents, get an honorable mention for health concerns. Bats can pose a health hazard not just for the diseases, bacteria, and parasites they carry, but also for their guano, or feces.

“Bat guano, it’s very, very toxic. And when you have that, a lot of the time you’re also going to have mold,” said Ryan Bergami of Bergami Building Inspections in New York.

Ames was once inspecting a very old house in New York when he realized the attic was full of bat guano. Though the buyers saw a bat fly by, they proceeded to buy the house—only to get rabies shots shortly after when the husband woke up with a possible bat bite. 

His inspection didn’t stop them from buying. But by encouraging them to consult a professional for a bat abatement quote, he at least knows he protected them from walking in blindly. 

“Too many buyers consider the home inspection to be just one of the hurdles you have to get over to get a house. They don’t realize how fundamentally important it is to understand what you’re buying and know what you’re in for,” Ames said.

Safety Concerns

In addition to protecting clients from potentially dangerous diseases and allergic reactions, rodent home inspection evidence can look out for the structural safety of the house. 

As R.J. Home Inspections says in their blog, pests like rodents enter houses either by exploiting or causing structural damage. Their front teeth never stop growing, which triggers a constant urge to gnaw. They’ll gnaw on electrical wires, wood, plastic, metal, and furniture, as well as burrow through walls, ceilings, and floors, writes Dave’s Pest Control. Rodent damage to insulation, wiring, and ductwork can create fire hazards, lower property values, attract other pests, and threaten the property’s structural integrity, Skiba and Dave’s Pest Control reported.

By informing clients about possible rodent activity, you can help them make informed decisions about their home and their family’s wellbeing.

What does a rodent inspection consist of?

Section Summary: Documenting evidence of possible rodent activity consists of a brief warning to clients, photos, and recommending a pest control specialist. Do not act as an exterminator or pest control specialist yourself, and don’t diagnose or say anything specific.

If you find evidence of rodent damage or infestations, but you aren’t performing a pest control rodent home inspection, what can you do?

Focus on what you can see, use written disclaimers, and mention it verbally.

Document observable evidence.

Focus on what you can see. For example, you might see damage or defects that indicate rodent activity, like a hole in the HVAC duct, destroyed insulation, or chewed wires. You might also see or smell evidence of rodent activity or traffic, like droppings or carcasses. If the signs point to a possible rodent infestation, many inspectors will photograph that evidence and make note of it in their report. 

Use written disclaimers.

Keep your reporting general and encourage them to consult a pest control specialist who can determine the extent of the rodent activity. Inform them, too, that a pest inspection is outside the scope of a standard home inspection, if you are not licensed to perform pest inspections, and if a license is required in your state. A written disclaimer in your report could look something like this:

“There appear to be signs of a pest infestation within the house. This is not a pest inspection, which is beyond the scope of the current home inspection, and we cannot identify the exact nature or extent of the pest infestation. We recommend you hire a qualified pest specialist to evaluate the entire house and remediate the infestation.”

Consider mentioning it verbally.

Like Larry Ames of Ames Inspection Services in New York, you might give clients a verbal heads up that there appears to be a pest issue and they should hire a licensed pest professional.

“ I don’t think it’s right not to bring it to their attention,” Ames said. “ If I ran into something really major, I would say, ‘You really need to consider talking to an exterminator about getting this under control if you take this house.”

What does a rodent inspection not consist of?

If you’re a friendly neighborhood home inspector who wants to provide a courtesy notice about rodents, don’t take on more liability than necessary. 

In other words, don’t say anything definitive or act like a pest control specialist or exterminator. This includes not trying to identify the type of rodents or if a rodent infestation is currently active, and not taking steps to trap, exterminate, or block access points yourself. Refer them to the specialist and let that specialist take the repair and remediation advice off your hands.

You don’t want to diagnose issues yourself or scare the client, Josue Rosas of  Advantage Inspection Services in Arizona said. Your job is to inform and provide resources so they can figure out the extent of the issue and make an informed decision.

“I don’t hide anything, but I also let them know they want to look into getting a good company to take care of them,” Rosas said.

What are common signs of rodent infestations?

Section Summary: Signs of rats or mice in the house often include rodent droppings, nests, carcasses, grease marks, scurrying sounds, poor smells, and urine stains.

It’s much more common to see, hear, or smell signs of activity than to cross paths with a living animal. 

“I did a house one time that was in pretty bad shape. The person who lived there had kept a lot of cat food and chicken feed and stuff inside a particular room. Rats had gotten in there, and obviously they’re attracted to that food source. I could tap on the wall and hear them scurrying around in the ceiling,” Skiba said. 

But don’t let your guard down; rodent home inspection encounters tend to happen in dark, less traveled areas like crawlspaces, attics, and basements, writes Scott Home Services, LLC in Colorado.

What are the signs of rodent infestation?

Common signs of rodent damage or infestations include:

• Rodent droppings.
• Nests or burrow holes in attic insulation, sometimes with live babies in the nests, Skiba said.
• Rodent highways or tunnels in the insulation, as Halo Inspections shows in their Facebook video.
• Carcasses.
• Brown or black streaks or scuffs, known as rodent streak or grease marks, Bergami said. They develop from years of rodents rubbing oils and dirt onto high-traffic surfaces, making the surfaces darker, he said. They’re often found on wiring or on floors near stored items.
• Scurrying sounds.
• A distinctive garbage-like smell, Bergami described. 
• Mouse urine color stains.

“ When we have rodent nesting and they pee and urinate and all that, the staining on the ceiling will become this yellow, cloudy nastiness. And if it’s really, really bad and you shine a flashlight on it, you might see this sparkly sheen to it. It’s just the urine bleeding through,” Bergami said. “A lot of people will go, ‘I don’t know. That stain’s been there forever.’ Well, it’s not a roof leak. It’s rodents.”

9 Tips for Managing Risk Against Rodent Home Inspection Encounters

Section Summary: InspectorPro shares nine ways to document evidence of potential rodent activity safely. These include putting your safety first, approaching hotspots slowly, wearing PPE, clarifying your scope, reporting and marketing carefully, learning about rodents, taking photos and videos, and getting proper pest insurance endorsements.

Rats and mice don’t wait for an invitation. Your risk management tactics shouldn’t wait, either.

If you have a gnawing suspicion that tiny troublemakers have moved into the house before your clients, take steps to protect yourself, your clients, and your business from harm. Follow these nine tips from us and your fellow home inspectors.

1. Prioritize your safety.

You’re used to navigating the dark, cramped, uncomfortable spaces that even homeowners don’t dare enter. But that doesn’t make your personal safety any less important.

On the contrary, Duane Vanderpluym of Vanderpluym Home Inspection, LLC in Arkansas and Ames remind inspectors to put their safety first. Whether you see live rats in the crawlspace or the attic is dangerously hot on a summer afternoon, don’t be afraid to say “No.”

“ Your safety is not worth any amount of money,” Vanderpluym said. “ If it’s unsafe, don’t bulldog in there. Because one day you will get hurt.”

“If there’s a little bit of rodent droppings, that’s normal and expected. But if there’s an attic with a lot, don’t go up there because it’s not gonna be healthy,” Ames said. “And rodent droppings, especially bats’ [guano], are a biohazard. The standards of practice, I’m sure in every state and everywhere, don’t require you to put yourself at risk to inspect a home. You have every right and the responsibility to yourself and your family  to protect yourself while you’re doing your work.”

2. Approach slowly.

Wise men say only fools rush in. This applies to wildlife hotspots like attics and crawlspaces, too. 

To help you decide if a crawlspace or attic is safe, approach slowly. Take a second to shine a flashlight from the entrance and look and listen for signs of activity, like rodent droppings or rodent damage. If you don’t feel safe, consider an alternative inspection method, Ames and Bergami suggest.

“ I won’t go into a space that has a lot of rodent droppings.  Unless you have a respirator mask and are completely suited up, you just track that stuff around and it’s an unacceptable risk,” Ames said. “I’ll use a pole camera or take pictures from a distance. I have a 50x telephoto camera, so if I have good lighting, I can get very good pictures that I can blow up on my big screen monitor and see pretty much anything I want.”

“ If I have to put a full suit to go into a space, I try not to go in there often. Most of the time we’ll be able to see if we have a problem from the insulation condition and smell from an access point. But I do keep a full suit in my truck just in case,” Bergami said.

If you adjust your inspection methods, be sure to document why your access was limited, how you inspected the area differently, or if you skipped something altogether. 

3. Gear up.

Some rodent home inspection encounters teach a lesson. Some are just traumatizing. Unfortunately for Vanderpluym, one experience was both.

“ I go in the crawlspace, and there’s insulation between the floor joists  and plastic on the dirt. As I was crawling on that plastic, I kept hearing something scurrying,” he said. “I thought, ‘I hope that’s not a snake.’ So I would tap the plastic as I went. Well, I came to realize that the scurrying wasn’t under the plastic. It was coming from up above. So I tapped the floor joists and about a dozen rats came jumping out of the installation and landed all around me and took off.  That ended the inspection.  Now I wear coveralls and a mask.”

What’s one important lesson we can glean from Vanderpluym’s experience? Don’t go into common rodent hangouts, like crawlspaces, without personal protective equipment for home inspectors (PPE). It’ll minimize contact with not just rodents and rodent droppings, but also what they attract, like snakes and feral cats.

“ I always wear things [like] a mask and gloves, usually a cover suit, in pretty much every crawlspace I get in,” Skiba said. “I carry a small hand rake I use to move stuff out of the way. And I guess if I had to defend myself, I would use that. Another thing to consider is that rats are prey for snakes. And snakes can smell the rats’ pheromone trail.  If there is a crawlspace or an attic, but probably more likely a crawlspace, that has had long-term rodent activity, snakes are an issue.”

“Always wear gloves,” Rosas said. “That’s pretty much the best practice of staying safe. You don’t wanna touch anything because we don’t know what those critters have and what kind of diseases they might be carrying.”

4. Make your scope clear.

If you’re reporting a possible rodent presence as a courtesy, help your clients understand that you are not providing a pest or rodent home inspection. 

Keep your comments vague and avoid identifying a rodent infestation with certainty. For example:

“Inspector observed signs of potential rodent activity.”

Not:

“Inspector discovered an active and widespread rat infestation.”

In your report, consider reminding them that you aren’t licensed to identify, treat, or determine the extent of possible rodent infestations. Also remind them that a pest inspection is outside the scope of a standard home inspection. Then encourage them to consult a qualified pest specialist for more information. 

Refer again to the sample language we provided above:

“There appear to be signs of a pest infestation within the house. This is not a pest inspection, which is beyond the scope of the current home inspection, and we cannot identify the exact nature or extent of the pest infestation. We recommend you hire a qualified pest specialist to evaluate the entire house and remediate the infestation.”

Or learn from Skiba’s example:

“ Indications of rodent activity in the attic were observed at the time of the inspection. Inspector could not determine if it’s an active infestation. … Client is advised that this is outside the scope of a standard North Carolina home inspection, but it’s included for client awareness. Further evaluation by a qualified pest control contractor is recommended.”

Like Rosas, you might also explain your scope and limitations before the inspection starts. This can be a great opportunity to answer their questions and set clear expectations.

“ We try to let them know beforehand what to expect. That way there’s no misunderstandings on both ends,” Rosas said. 

5. Watch where you report.

Documentation is just as important as reporting. 

When performing ancillary pest inspections, add a pest addendum to your inspection agreement.

Also, do your due diligence to ensure you’re reporting your ancillary pest inspection findings in the right places. You don’t want to miss out on regional standards because you’re following advice from someone whose inspection region operates differently.

Bergami recommends using the National Pest Management Association’s NPMA-33 form for ancillary pest inspections. Though the NPMA-33 was designed for wood-destroying insects, he uses it for rodent comments, too. He believes separating his ancillary pest comments makes it easier for clients to navigate his findings, which looks more professional and helps him separate his risk.

“Fill out the proper forms and you’ll be good. I believe it will strongly make that home inspector’s business better by providing better documentation for inspection reports and more legitimate documentation,” he said. 

6. Educate yourself.

Bergami and Skiba recommend finding ways to learn more about rodent activity before your first rodent home inspection encounter. Even if most of that knowledge doesn’t go in your reports, it can give you the confidence to know what you’re seeing and how to better guide your clients.

Skiba, for example, has learned a lot by watching YouTube videos from channels like Twin Home Experts, a team of experts who perform rodent exclusion services. These videos have taught him about rodent infestations in plumbing, roof, and attic systems, as well as rat behavior, entry points, and how to keep them out.

“ My recommendation for younger inspectors is just continue to learn,” Skiba said. “You should learn about rodents and rodent activity because you’re going to encounter them sooner or later, and then you can decide as a professional how you handle that. But at least having the knowledge base to be confident in what you’re seeing and understanding the implications is certainly helpful, just make you a better inspector overall.”

Bergami has a childhood friend who went into the pest control business. He appreciates being able to send photos to his friend and ask questions about what kind of rodent activity he might be seeing.

“ You can learn a lot more just by asking questions with people that are professionals in their trade than just going online,” Bergami said. “It’s nice to have an actual resource that you can just call up. I encourage every inspector out there to have resources in each individual trade, so they have someone to go to to ask questions. I’ve even referred to my pest company friends when I built our inspection reports and we fill out our pest inspection reports.”

7. Take photos and videos.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video might be worth 1.8 million. That’s probably how Rosas felt when he caught a video of an aggressive rat chewing on his camera during a sewer scope inspection. There are some things your clients are better off seeing for themselves.

That’s why it’s essential to document problem and non-problem areas. Photos and videos from inspection day can illustrate plainly what rodent evidence you observed. Alternatively, if clients ever accuse you of neglecting to report signs of a bad mice infestation, photos can support that such evidence was not visible to you during the inspection. 

In either case, documentation creates a defensible, clear record of what you observed.

“ I take hundreds of pictures on each inspection. It has helped me explain myself and put things to bed several times, where it’s like, ‘I can’t be responsible for whatever condition you’re dealing with today, but that was not the case when I was there eight weeks ago or whatever the case may be. And here’s the evidence,’” Skiba said. “I’ve found that with well-documented, professional explanations, people understand that something changed between when Matt was there and us moving in.”

8. Don’t market what you don’t offer.

Although inspectors are typically fine to report evidence of possible rodent activity, diagnosing or treating a rodent infestation could put your inspection business at risk.

“In Texas, the diagnosis, treatment, proposal for, or suggestion for treatment falls under the Structural Pest Control Service and requires a pest control license. Unlicensed activity can and does result in serious fines,” said Brian Greul of GreenLight Inspections in Texas. “Most home inspectors are not properly licensed for pest control. Even those who do WDI inspections are not qualified (required by TREC) or licensed (required by TDA) to comment on rodents and wildlife.”

Before you decide to inspect for rodents, consider what those pest inspection services will involve and if they’re permitted under your current licenses. Offering a standalone “rodent home inspection?” Then you might need a separate license through the Department of Agriculture, depending on your state. 

Additionally, take caution with how you market those services. Be careful not to advertise anything that sounds like a pest control rodent inspection. Your clients won’t be too happy if your marketing doesn’t match up with reality.

9. Have a pest inspection endorsement.

Rodent home inspection encounters can happen anywhere, at any time. Rodent, bat, and termite home inspection claims are particularly common in this industry, too. 

If a well-intended courtesy comment literally comes back to bite you or your client, like in our case study where a homeowner was bit by bats, having inadequate coverage could leave you to face a claim solo.

For the ultimate peace of mind, be proactive and ask your insurance provider about a pest inspection endorsement. 

No Room for Rodents (or Risks)

There’s nothing Mickey Mouse about protecting your inspection business.

At InspectorPro, we’re here to prevent coverage gaps from gnawing at your hard-earned reputation. We offer the InspectorPro Bundle so you can buy endorsements for the eight most popular services (including pest inspections), all for a lower price.

Interested in our bundle? Fill out a contact form to get in touch with our team.