All of us on base have had the door tags saying book your appointment for the DOD inspection but not many of us know what that means or what to expect. Well, I was lucky enough to get one of the first appointments which means you get the inside scoop. The first thing to know is that this is not a Balfour Beatty inspection and is actually being planned and executed by the Military Housing Office and the third party contractor.

This third party inspection team was hired by the Department of Defense to assess all military housing. This is a 28 month process that will inspect all 55,000 privately owned houses and 15,000 government owned properties that began in Texas in mid-June. I was talking with our inspector while he looked around and he told me that this was his fourth base since the inspections started.

We are all used to the annual preventive maintenance check that housing does each year to check fire alarms and other quick checks. For this inspection they are going much more in depth.

The inspector arrived at our house in our preset two hour window. He first asked us if we had any ongoing issues with the house that he could assess. After our initial talks, he began to look through the house. He started with the kitchen and looked at all baseboards, the plumbing of the sink and all appliances. He spent about 30-45 minutes in the kitchen alone, taking pictures of all the nooks and crannies around the room.

From there he moved on throughout the house. Checking the HVAC system, the lights, outlets, and vents. He checked both up and downstairs and ensured he got pictures of everything. He then proceeded outside, checking the siding, roofing, water sources and general upkeep of the yard.

A few tips for when they come to your house:

1. You have to be home for the entire inspection.
2. Move anything that is blocking their way to your HVAC system.
3. Be honest with anything you’ve noticed about your home. This is not to criticize housing but to help work on housing improvements.
4. Offer them water; they are working hard and long days to get all these inspections done.
5. They will check your alarms so any small children or pets that are not good with loud noises should play outside for that time of the inspection – we were warned when he was about to test them so I could take my son outside.
6. This is not a fast pass through. The inspector was at my house for nearly two hours so be prepared to hang out for a while.
   All in all, the inspection is very easy to get through.