When you finally find the home of your dreams on a lake or beach front, it’s important to have professionals assess all aspects of the property. You get a home inspection, a pest inspection, and you want a fair appraisal, but when you’re purchasing waterfront property, a specialized marine inspection is as important as the primary home inspection.

What Is a Marine Inspection?

A marine inspection focuses on the accessory structures that are built over the water. If the property you’re hoping to purchase comes with a dock, a seawall, or a boat lift, it’s important to know about the structural integrity of those amenities.  A marine inspector has specialized training and skills to evaluate the quality of the structures that connect your home to the open sea.

Why Is a Marine Inspection Necessary?

While a home inspector may be willing to look at waterfront structures, specialized marine inspection services know more about what they need to look for to ensure the integrity of permanent structures that are built in water. The house may be perfect, but if the seawall is compromised or the dock is rotted, you could end up spending a lot of extra money to correct these problems on your own later.

Once a marine inspector has assessed your property, they will provide a full report that you can use when negotiating the sale price on your new home. If the marine inspector also has a contracting background or contacts, they will be able to help you understand what sorts of corrections are necessary and provide a cost estimate, further increasing your bargaining power.

Just like you wouldn’t want the pest control inspector to give you tips on correcting the electrical problems in your new home, it’s important to trust specialists with specialized elements of the property that you hope to buy. A marine inspection may seem like an extra expense at the moment, but it could save you a lot of hassle and money down the road.