Electrical Inspection Checklist: What a Licensed Electrician Checks, Area by Area

You are about to buy a house, or you are standing in one right now, and you want to know whether the wiring is going to cost you money after closing. This electrical inspection checklist gives you the same order a licensed electrician works in, area by area, with two answers for each: what the electrician looks for, and what you can check yourself on a walkthrough.

Use it free. Print it, take it to the showing, test what you can. When you find something, or when the general inspector writes "recommend evaluation by a licensed electrician," that is the point where a real evaluation pays for itself, because it turns a vague note into a finding with a rating and a repair price you can put in front of the seller.

If your option period is already running, skip ahead and call us to book the inspection. Tell us the address and your deadline, and we will tell you on the phone what the visit covers.

How to use this electrical inspection checklist on a walkthrough

Bring a phone charger or a small plug-in night light. That is the whole tool kit. A plug-in tester from a hardware store is helpful but not required. You are looking for things that are visible, things that do not work and things that feel wrong, such as heat, buzzing or a burning smell. You are not opening anything. Never remove a panel cover or an outlet plate in a house you do not own; that work belongs to a licensed electrician, and in a house that is still the seller's property it is not yours to open.

Write down what you find by room. A list that says "bedroom two, outlet by the window, dead" is far more useful to the electrician than "some outlets don't work." Take photos. They help the electrician plan the visit and they help your agent ask the right questions.

Service and panel: where every electrical inspection starts

Power enters the house from CPS Energy through an overhead service drop or an underground lateral, passes through the meter and lands in the main panel. A problem here affects every circuit in the house, so the electrician starts here and so should you.

What the licensed electrician checks:

• The mast, weatherhead and service drop clearance where the service is overhead, and the meter base for rust, gaps and signs of water entry.
• Panel brand and model. Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco equipment carry documented concerns about breakers that may not trip, and both raise questions with insurers.
• The panel interior with the dead front removed: bus condition, scorch marks, melted insulation and breakers that are loose on the bus.
• Double taps, meaning two wires under a breaker terminal made for one.
• Breakers matched to the wire size they protect, and breakers that are listed for that panel.
• Service size compared with the loads in the house, which matters if you plan to add an EV charger, a pool or a large air conditioner.
• Working clearance in front of the panel, and a panel location that is allowed, which rules out clothes closets and bathrooms.

What you can check yourself: find the panel and read the brand on the label inside the door. Look at the outside of the cover for rust, scorch marks or a cover held on with missing screws. Open the door and see whether the circuits are labeled. Put your hand flat on the cover; it should not feel warm. Listen for buzzing. Outside, look at the meter and the mast for a loose or leaning pipe.

If the label says Federal Pacific or Zinsco, read our guide to Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels in San Antonio before you negotiate. For the overhead parts, our post on the meter loop, mast and weatherhead explains which pieces belong to the homeowner and which belong to CPS Energy.

Grounding and bonding: the part of the checklist you cannot see

Grounding gives fault current a safe path so the breaker trips. Bonding ties metal systems together, such as water piping and gas piping, so they cannot sit at different voltages. When either is missing or wrong, the house can look fine for years until something fails.

• The grounding electrode conductor from the panel to the ground rod or other electrode, and its connection.
• The neutral to ground bond in the main panel, and only there. A bond in a subpanel is a common error.
• Bonding to metal water piping, and to gas piping where it is required.
• CSST yellow flexible gas line, which needs proper bonding to reduce the risk from lightning.
• Grounding at the receptacles, tested outlet by outlet.

You cannot verify grounding by looking. What you can do is note any yellow flexible gas line in the attic or at the water heater and mention it to the electrician. Our guide to CSST gas line bonding explains why it matters in a lightning-prone part of Texas.

Branch wiring: what the walls are hiding

Branch wiring runs from the panel to every outlet, switch and light. The type of wire and its condition decide a large share of what an older house will cost you.

• Wire type: modern copper cable, aluminum branch wiring, cloth-sheathed cable, or knob and tube in the oldest homes.
• Aluminum branch circuits, common in homes wired in the late 1960s and early 1970s, checked at the devices for heat damage and correct connections.
• Splices outside of junction boxes, open boxes without covers and cable run loose across attic walkways.
• Signs of amateur additions: mismatched cable, extension cords run through walls, and circuits that do not appear on the panel directory.
• Damage from rodents or from other trades, such as cable crushed by ductwork.

What you can check yourself: look in the attic from the hatch with a flashlight, without climbing in. Note loose wires, open junction boxes and any cable that looks like fabric. Look at the wiring at the water heater and the HVAC unit in the garage. Ask the seller's agent what year the house was built and whether it has ever been rewired.

If you suspect aluminum, our guide to buying a house with aluminum wiring walks through the repair options and how buyers handle it in a negotiation.

Receptacles, GFCI and AFCI protection

Outlets are where most buyers find their first problems, and where most electrical shocks happen. The electrician tests every receptacle that can be reached, not a sample.

• Polarity and grounding at each receptacle, with open grounds and reversed hot and neutral recorded by location.
• Two-prong outlets, and three-prong outlets installed on wiring that has no ground.
• GFCI protection in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, laundry areas, outdoors and other wet locations, tested by tripping it.
• AFCI protection on the circuits that call for it, and whether the existing breakers trip when tested.
• Loose receptacles, cracked faces, burn marks and outlets that are warm under load.
• Tamper-resistant receptacles where newer work calls for them.

What you can check yourself: plug your charger or night light into every outlet you can reach. Press the test button on each GFCI outlet; it should click off and the button should reset. Look for outlets that wobble in the wall or have brown marks around the slots. Count the two-prong outlets.

For what the buttons and breakers actually do, read GFCI and AFCI outlets explained. When a tester shows an open ground, our post on the open ground outlet meaning and fix covers the repair choices.

Switches, lighting and ceiling fans

• Switches that are warm, crackle or have scorch marks, which often point to a loose connection or an overloaded dimmer.
• Light fixtures with bulbs larger than the fixture is rated for, a common cause of brittle wire in the box above.
• Recessed lights in contact with insulation that are not rated for it.
• Ceiling fans hung from boxes that are not rated to carry a fan.
• Three-way switches that do not work from both ends.

What you can check yourself: flip every switch and note the ones that do nothing. Touch the switch plates after the lights have been on a while. Run each fan on high and watch for wobble. Look at the bulb wattage label inside fixtures where you can see it.

Kitchen and appliance circuits

Kitchens carry the heaviest everyday loads in the house, and remodels done without a permit often show up here first.

• Dedicated circuits for the refrigerator, dishwasher, disposal, microwave and range where they are expected.
• GFCI protection on countertop receptacles.
• The range and dryer receptacles: three-prong versus four-prong, and whether the cord matches.
• The water heater and HVAC disconnects, wire size and breaker size against the equipment nameplate.
• Signs of overload, such as a breaker that trips when two countertop appliances run together.

What you can check yourself: test every countertop outlet and the GFCI buttons. Ask whether the kitchen was remodeled and whether a permit was pulled. Look behind the range or dryer if you can see the receptacle.

Every item on this list is part of one visit. Our electrical inspection service covers the whole house in a single appointment, and you can book it here with the general inspector's report attached so the electrician reads it before arriving.

Smoke and CO alarms

• Smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside sleeping areas and on each level.
• Hardwired alarms that are interconnected, so one sounding sets off the rest.
• Alarm age. Smoke alarms carry a manufacture date on the back and are meant to be replaced on a schedule the manufacturer sets.
• Carbon monoxide alarms where the house has gas appliances, a fireplace or an attached garage.

What you can check yourself: press the test button on each alarm and see whether the others sound with it. Count the alarms against the bedrooms. Our guide to smoke detector placement shows where they belong, and our smoke and CO detector service handles the replacement when they are missing or old.

Exterior, garage and attic

• Exterior receptacles with GFCI protection and in-use covers that close over a plugged-in cord.
• Exterior lights and fixtures sealed against water.
• The air conditioner disconnect, its condition and the breaker size against the unit nameplate.
• Pool, spa and hot tub circuits, bonding and GFCI protection.
• Garage receptacles with GFCI protection, and any workshop wiring added later.
• Attic wiring: open junction boxes, cable run across walkways, damage from pests and connections at attic fans.
• Detached buildings and their feeders, including how they are grounded.

What you can check yourself: test the outdoor GFCI outlets, check that the covers close, look at the disconnect by the AC unit for rust and a missing cover, and look up into the attic from the hatch. If there is a pool, ask when the equipment was last serviced.

Pools and spas carry their own rules. Our post on pool and hot tub wiring rules in San Antonio covers what the electrician looks for.

What a buyer can check versus what needs a licensed electrician

Your walkthrough catches what is visible and what does not work. It cannot tell you what is behind the panel cover, whether the grounding is real, whether a breaker will trip or whether a warm outlet is a loose connection or a failing device. Those calls need a licensed electrician with the cover off and a meter in hand.

• You can check: panel brand, visible rust and scorching, dead outlets, GFCI buttons, warm plates, switch function, alarm tests, missing covers, attic from the hatch.
• The electrician checks: panel interior and bus, breaker fit and sizing, double taps, grounding and bonding, wire type at the devices, polarity and open grounds, AFCI function, load against service size.

The general home inspector covers part of the second list as a screening, and that screening is worth having. The electrician's evaluation goes deeper on the electrical system alone and ends with a repair price, which is the piece you need to make a decision inside your option period.

Found three or more items on your walkthrough? That is usually the point where the visit pays for itself. Call us with your list and we will tell you on the phone which items need an electrician and which you can let go.

The offer: the full checklist as one flat-priced inspection

Wattsmith Electric is a veteran-owned electrical contractor licensed by TDLR (TECL 41806). We run every area on this checklist in one visit and deliver a written report: findings by area, each with a recommendation and a rating of Safety, Repair or Maintenance, labeled photos placed beside each finding, and a priority action plan. A Texas licensed master electrician signs it in our app, and it carries a certificate of completion that shows the document has not been altered. You receive it by text and email.

The price is set in our published book before anyone calls us. For a home purchase, the full evaluation is the Real estate electrical inspection task, from $399. That is one flat price, it includes the signed report, and you approve it before the electrician arrives. Starting price. Your tech confirms the final number on site before any work.

Because every repair we do is priced from the same book, any finding in the report can be quoted as a flat price too. That gives you a number to take to the seller instead of a guess. If the repair needs a permit, we pull it through the San Antonio Development Services Department and meet the inspector, so you do not have to manage any of it.

See the price book on our pricing page, then book the inspection. Schedule it early in the option period so the report and the repair prices are in your hands while you can still negotiate.

If you are the agent, send this checklist to your buyer before the showing, and read our page for real estate agents working with an electrician. We take the call, schedule around the option period and send the report to whoever the buyer names.