Every luxury home buyer gets a standard home inspection. Very few get a smart home inspection. Here’s why that’s a mistake — and why these two inspections complement rather than replace each other.
What a Traditional Home Inspection Covers
A licensed home inspector evaluates the structural and mechanical systems of a property: foundation, framing, roof, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service. They check code compliance, safety hazards, and visible defects. They are required by law to be licensed and follow established standards.
What they explicitly do not cover: smart home technology, AV systems, control systems, or network infrastructure.
What a Smart Home Inspection Covers
A smart home inspection evaluates the technology systems in a property — the systems a standard inspector is neither trained nor equipped to assess:
- Control systems (Crestron, Savant, Control4) — version, serviceability, source code status
- AV and home cinema — age, condition, remaining useful life
- Network infrastructure — enterprise vs consumer grade, security posture
- Security cameras — credential status, remote access vulnerabilities
- Power conditioning and energy infrastructure
Why You Need Both
In a $5M Beverly Hills property, the standard home inspection might identify a roof issue worth $50,000 in negotiating leverage. The smart home inspection might identify a control system without source code, a security camera network with unknown remote access, and consumer-grade networking — representing $75,000 in additional remediation costs that the traditional inspector never touched.
Both inspections protect you. Neither replaces the other. A comprehensive buyer’s due diligence process includes both.
The Foresight Buyer’s Red Flag Report ($299, instant delivery) is the smart home inspection. It complements your traditional inspection — not replaces it.