Annual Home Checkup
Handis annual home checkup is the once-a-year fifty-point visual walk of a Seattle-area house — exterior, interior, attic visual, crawlspace visual, mechanical room, roof from the ground or a ladder, every gutter and downspout, foundation perimeter, every accessible plumbing fixture, deck and rails, smoke and CO detectors — from $350 for a standard 2,500 sq ft home. The checkup is inspection-only. No repairs happen during the visit beyond observation. You get a dated photo report and a prioritized punch list sorted by urgency — now, this season, this year, eventually — with each recommended repair quoted at member labor rates for a follow-up visit. The same tech runs the visit each year so the report is genuinely comparable year-over-year, with last year's photo report open next to today's walk.
Service
What Does the Annual Home Checkup Include?
The annual home checkup is a once-a-year visual walk of the whole house, organized as roughly fifty discrete inspection points across the exterior, interior, attic, crawlspace, and mechanical room. The tech blocks two to three hours for a standard home, walks the points in order, photographs each one, and writes a paragraph per zone plus a prioritized punch list. The visit is inspection-only — no repairs happen on the visit beyond observation. Anything the tech recommends is quoted at member labor rates for a follow-up. The standard checkup covers five zones on a home up to 2,500 sq ft.
Exterior Walk
Roof checked from the ground with binoculars and from a ladder where access is safe (shingle condition, flashing, vent stacks, ridge), every gutter run and downspout, fascia and soffit, exterior siding and paint, exterior caulk seams, foundation perimeter for cracks and grading, deck and rails, hose bibs and exterior outlets, weatherstripping on every exterior door, window glazing visible from outside.
Interior Walk
Every accessible plumbing fixture (kitchen and bath sinks, toilets, tubs and showers, supply valves under each fixture), water heater base for leaks or signs of past leak, exposed water heater connections, range hood, dryer connections, visible drain lines under sinks. Plus a walk of every room for water-stain ceilings, soft spots in flooring, window operation, and door swing.
Attic & Crawlspace Visual
Standard checkup: attic and crawlspace each get a visual through the access hatch — insulation depth, vapor barrier visible from the hatch, any obvious water staining, any visible rodent activity. Detailed tier upgrades both to an actual walk-in or crawl with a headlamp and a moisture meter — vapor barrier condition, exposed plumbing, joist condition, pier blocks, insulation coverage, ventilation paths.
Mechanical Room & Electrical Panel
Furnace cabinet exterior (filter age, visible flue connections, thermostat reading), water heater (age tag, base, T&P valve, expansion tank if present), sump pump status (manual run-cycle), main shutoff valve operation, electrical panel cover (visual inspection only, no cover removal — panel work routes to an electrician), accessible GFCI test on outlets we can reach, smoke and CO detector test on every accessible unit.
Photo Report & Prioritized Punch List
Roughly fifty dated photos with one-line captions, one per inspected point, organized by zone. A short paragraph per zone written by the tech describing what looked normal and what got flagged. A prioritized punch list ranked by urgency — now (do this month), this season, this year, eventually — with each item carrying a recommended repair scope and a rough labor estimate at member rates. Report lands in your inbox the same day as the visit.
How the Annual Home Checkup Works
Five steps every Handis annual checkup runs through — schedule a two-to-three-hour visit at the same week each year, walk the exterior in order, walk the interior and mechanical, build the photo report and punch list, and quote the recommended repairs at member rates.
Schedule a Two-to-Three-Hour Visit
Once-a-year visit booked at the same week each year so the photo report is genuinely comparable year-over-year. The tech blocks two to three hours for a standard home (longer for bigger homes and detailed-tier attic and crawlspace inspections).
Walk the Exterior in Order
Roof from the ground or a ladder, gutters and downspouts, fascia and soffit, exterior siding and paint, exterior caulk seams, foundation perimeter, deck and rails, hose bibs and exterior outlets, weatherstripping on every exterior door, window glazing visible from outside. Each point gets a dated photo on the tablet.
Walk the Interior and Mechanical
Every accessible plumbing fixture, water heater base, sump pump, attic visual through the hatch (or full walk on the detailed tier), crawlspace visual through the hatch (or full crawl on the detailed tier), mechanical room, electrical panel cover (visual only), GFCI test on accessible outlets, smoke and CO detector test. Each point photographed.
Build the Photo Report and Punch List
Roughly fifty dated photos with captions organized by zone. One paragraph per zone written by the tech. A prioritized punch list ranked by urgency — now (this month), this season, this year, eventually — each item carrying a recommended repair scope and a rough labor estimate at member rates.
Quote the Recommended Repairs at Member Rates
Anything on the punch list you want done gets quoted at member labor rates for a follow-up visit. Nothing is done on the checkup visit itself beyond observation — that is what keeps the inspection unbiased and the visit time predictable. The same tech can run the follow-up repairs, or you can take the report to any contractor of your choice.
Annual Home Checkup Pricing
Final pricing depends on home square footage, story count, and the inspection tier (standard visual vs detailed attic and crawlspace walk vs single-story safe roof walk). Multi-property bundles available. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us the home size, age, and whether you want the detailed attic and crawlspace tier. We will quote the checkup.
Why Seattle Homeowners Book Handis for the Annual Checkup
Most homeowners do not know what they are ignoring until something fails. The annual checkup is the inverse — a structured, comparable-year-over-year walk that surfaces what is happening on the house before the failure. A fascia softening behind a gutter that overflowed three winters. A water heater quietly past its service life. A crawlspace vapor barrier that has been torn for two years. A CO detector with a dead sensor that the chirp-test missed. We do not do the repair on the visit — that is the point. The walk is unbiased, the report is dated, and the punch list is yours to schedule on the timeline that fits the budget. Take it to any contractor; we will quote anything you want at member rates.
Inspection-only, by design
The tech who walks the checkup is not also the tech bidding the repair on the same visit. That separation is the whole point — the inspection is unbiased because nobody is incentivized to find more work. Anything recommended is quoted at member labor rates for a separate follow-up; you can have Handis do the repairs, or take the report to any other contractor. Most checkup customers do a mix.
Same tech every year so the report compares year-over-year
Each annual-checkup customer gets assigned a primary tech who runs the visit and carries the notes forward. By year two the tech opens last year's photo report next to today's tablet and walks the deltas with you. By year three the report becomes a real maintenance timeline for the house. Continuity is the value — a stranger walking the house from scratch each year misses the trend.
Fifty points covered the same way every year
Same checklist, same order, same photo style — exterior first (roof, gutters, fascia, siding, caulk, foundation, deck, hose bibs, exterior outlets, weatherstripping), then interior (every accessible plumbing fixture, water heater base, sump, attic visual, crawlspace visual, mechanical room, electrical panel cover, GFCI test, detectors). The repeatability is what makes the report comparable.
Punch list prioritized by urgency, not by tech preference
Each item on the punch list is ranked by urgency — now (this month), this season, this year, eventually — based on real PNW failure timelines, not what the tech wants to upsell. A soft fascia is urgent; a slightly dated water heater is this-year; a vapor barrier with a small tear is eventually. The ranking lets you budget the year, season by season.
Insured, background-checked, transparent scope
Every Handis handyman carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening before the first job. The checkup is explicitly NOT a state-licensed home inspection (which is regulated by Washington and is the right product for a pre-listing or buyer's inspection); it is a thorough handyman walk-through written up in photo-report form for ongoing maintenance planning. That distinction is on the report.
Estimate
Tell us the home size, the rough age, the story count, whether there is a crawlspace, whether there is a sump pump, and whether you want the standard hatch-visual or the detailed walk-in attic and crawlspace tier. We send back a clear estimate for the annual checkup.
Customer Reviews
Recent annual home checkup reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
Bought a 1939 Wallingford bungalow in September. Booked the annual checkup in October before the rains. The fifty-shot photo report basically became our winter project list — three repairs to schedule before December, four for spring, two for next summer. The tech ranked them by urgency. Felt like we got an inheritance manual for the house.
1957 Magnolia rambler. The checkup caught loose roof flashing around the kitchen vent stack, photographed it from a ladder, recommended we get a roofer up before the wet season. We did. Sealed it that November. No leak. The annual visit caught a thousand-dollar problem before it became a ceiling repair.
Four rental properties across Tacoma and Federal Way. Booked all four checkups the same week. Four photo reports in my inbox by Friday — each with its own punch list, sorted by urgency. Made budget planning for the next year trivial. Same tech ran all four so the reports are formatted identically.
We knew we were three to five years from selling. Wanted a baseline checkup to map the deferred maintenance before we listed. Two and a half hours, fifty-point report, prioritized list, every item with a rough cost estimate. We are working through the list season by season. The eventual buyer will see a stack of completed Handis visit reports.
Third year of the checkup on a 2002 Kirkland craftsman. Same tech each time — he opens this year's report next to last year's, walks the deltas with me. The roof he flagged year one is now fixed. The crawlspace insulation he recommended year two is in. Year three has three new items. The continuity is the whole point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the Handis annual home checkup — pricing, scope, what is included, comparison to a state-licensed home inspection, and follow-up repairs.