Is a crawl space inspection free?

The in-home pre-quote inspection is free, because it is the first step of producing a written quote rather than a service being sold. A licensed home inspection, the whole-house kind ordered during a sale, is a paid service and the inspector sets the fee. No typical Seattle-area figure for that fee is published on this site, so none is quoted here; ask the inspector directly, and ask whether the crawl space is inside the base fee or priced separately.

What is the difference between a home inspection and a contractor inspection?

A home inspection establishes conditions, and in Washington the inspector is deliberately not required to determine causes, repair methods, materials or costs. A contractor inspection exists to produce exactly those four things, because it ends in a bid. They answer different questions, and a homeowner who orders one expecting the other ends up frustrated with a report that was correct all along. See crawl space problems in a home inspection .

How do I check the inspector or contractor?

They are checked in two different places. A contractor doing crawl space work in Washington must be registered with the Department of Labor & Industries, and L&I’s Verify lookup shows the registration, bond, insurance and any lawsuits against the bond. A home inspector is licensed separately, by the Department of Licensing. How to verify a Washington contractor walks through the L&I lookup and what to check on the record beyond "active".

Will an inspector go into a wet or very low crawl space?

Not always, and that is by the rules rather than by preference. Washington’s home inspection standards say the inspector need not enter a crawl space that would have to be dug out, has an access opening smaller than 18 by 24 inches, or has less than 18 inches of headroom under the joists or 12 inches under the girders, and need not enter a flooded one. If a report says the space could not be entered, that is information, not an omission.

The report says "moisture present". What do I do with that?

Treat it as an observation and nothing more. It has not established where the water comes from, whether it is seasonal or permanent, how long it has been happening, or whether anything has been damaged. What narrows it down is wood moisture content readings at more than one point rather than air humidity alone, knowing whether the soil is covered, and checking the water meter with every fixture off. Then the scope follows from the cause.

How often should a crawl space be inspected?

For a homeowner's own check, twice a year covers most homes around Seattle: once in early fall before the rains arrive, and once in spring after the wet season ends, with a mid-winter look after the first major storm if the house has any history of water. Most of what matters can be seen from the hatch with a flashlight. A free in-home inspection is for when one of those checks turns something up, or when nobody has opened the hatch in years. The seasonal crawl space checklist sets out what to look at each time and what warrants a call.

Do I need an inspection before selling?

It is not required, but a crawl space finding discovered by the buyer's inspector during the option period is negotiated under time pressure, and one you already have a written scope for is not. If the buyer is financing with an FHA or VA loan, the appraiser can require conditions corrected before the file closes , on a clock you do not control. Selling a house with crawl space repairs covers what is worth fixing first.

Crawl Space Inspection in Seattle, WA

Two different things get called a crawl space inspection in Washington, and only one of them is free. What each one covers, what an inspector is looking at under a Puget Sound house, and how to check whoever is doing it.

Free Inspection

Crawl space encapsulation, repair, and waterproofing across the Seattle metro, starting with a free in-home inspection and a no-obligation quote.

19 service areas covered

free inspections

Verify any contractor's registration: Washington L&I

Overview

What a Crawl Space Inspection Actually Covers

Last updated November 11, 2026

Two different things get called a crawl space inspection, they produce different documents, and only one of them is free. Sorting out which one you want is most of the work.

A free pre-quote inspection is what most people mean. Someone opens the hatch, goes in with a light and a camera, works out what is wrong, and comes back with a written scope and a price. That is the visit the free inspection request books. It is free because it is the opening move of a written quote, not a service anyone is selling you.

A Washington home inspection is a different instrument entirely. It is the whole-house inspection ordered during a sale, performed by a home inspector licensed by the Department of Licensing, and your crawl space is one section of a much longer report. The state's standards of practice require the inspector to enter and move through the crawl space where it is readily and safely accessible, inspect the visible foundation, posts, beams, joists and subfloor, look for signs of flooding and moisture penetration, and report wood rot, pest-conducive conditions and a missing or inadequate vapor barrier over an earth floor. What the inspector is not required to determine is the cause of a problem, or the methods, materials and cost of correcting it. An inspector who is qualified and willing may say what type of repair is needed; the rule makes that optional, not required.

Why that distinction costs people money: a report line reading "moisture present in crawl space" is a complete and correct home-inspection finding. It establishes a condition, on one date, and nothing else. It is not a diagnosis and it is not a quote. Homeowners routinely read it as though it were both, get three bids for three different jobs, and cannot work out why the bids disagree. What each inspection finding does and does not establish goes through the common report lines one at a time.

So: buying a house, you want the home inspection, and then a pre-quote inspection of whatever it flags. Already own the house and something under it is wet, cold, or smells, and the free in-home inspection is the one that ends with an answer and a number.

“Free” means the visit is paid for by the work it finds

Nobody is donating an hour under your house. The cost of these visits is recovered from the jobs that come out of them, which is ordinary trade economics rather than a trick — but it has one consequence worth carrying into the appointment: the person diagnosing the problem is the person who would be paid to solve it.

That matters less than it sounds for whether you have a problem. A crawl space diagnosis is mostly observation, and a competent contractor looking at standing water and a torn barrier is generally right about what they are seeing. Where the incentive shows up is in the size of the recommended scope. Replacing a failed vapor barrier and encapsulating the whole assembly with a dehumidifier can both be defensible answers in the same crawl space, and they are several thousand dollars apart.

Four questions cost nothing and move the conversation from a pitch to a diagnosis:

What did you rule out, and how? A plumbing leak ruled out by checking the meter with every fixture off is different from one ruled out by looking around.
What is the smallest thing that would fix the problem I actually called about? There is almost always an answer, and it is worth hearing even if you go on to buy more.
Which line items solve a problem I have, and which prevent one I might get? Both can be worth buying. They are not the same purchase.
What happens if I do nothing for a year? Rot and active water get a real answer here. Some findings get an honest “not much”.

If you want a diagnosis with nothing attached to it, that is a thing you can buy: a licensed home inspector for the condition report, or a structural engineer where framing, posts or settlement are the question. Washington bars a home inspector and their firm from being paid to repair anything on a building they inspected for a year afterwards, which is the point: paying for an opinion is the only reliable way to get one from someone with no scope to sell.

What a free crawl space inspection should leave you with

Whoever goes under the house, the visit is only as useful as what you are holding when it ends. At a minimum that is:

Photographs of what was found, including the moisture source and any damaged framing, not just a verbal description.
Measurements: the square footage and the clearance, because both drive the price of every scope that follows.
A stated cause for any moisture — plumbing, grading, downspouts, groundwater — and how the others were ruled out.
A written, line-item, no-obligation quote that names materials as specifications, so a second contractor can price the same work.

To get the most out of the visit, clear the path to the hatch, note when water or smell shows up (after storms, all winter, only in summer), and mention any closing date. Request a free inspection and we'll follow up to schedule it.

Signs to Watch For

Signs You May Need a Crawl Space Inspection

A musty or earthy smell coming up through floor vents, baseboards, or the stairwell
Floors above the crawl space are cold in winter with the heat running
Standing water, or soil that stays soft and muddy between rain events
Visible insulation hanging down, or lying on the ground
Rodent droppings, nesting material, or shredded insulation near the access hatch
Floors that flex or bounce underfoot, or doors that have started sticking
A home inspection report that flagged the crawl space without saying what caused it
You are listing the house, or under contract, and want to know what a buyer will find
Nobody has opened the hatch in the years you have owned the house

Seattle Context

Why a Crawl Space Inspection Matters in Seattle

A crawl space inspection around Seattle is mostly a moisture investigation. At Seattle Tacoma Intl AP the 1991–2020 normal is 39.34 inches of precipitation a year, 75.4% of it falling between October and March, so a crawl space that looks dry in August has not been tested yet. Five things get looked at, roughly in this order, because each one changes what the next one means.

1. Water, and where it is coming from

Standing water is the finding that changes everything, and the first question is never "how do we seal it" but "where is it from". A plumbing supply or drain leak is the cheapest cause to rule out and the one that rewrites the whole scope. After that: downspouts discharging at the foundation, negative grade, a failed area drain, groundwater rising through the soil in the wet season, or a perimeter drain that has failed or was never there. An inspector who tells you the cause without checking the meter with every fixture off has skipped a step. Note also that a wet crawl space is one of the conditions that can make a space inaccessible to a home inspector — a report that says less about a flooded crawl space than a dry one is not a worse report.

2. The ground cover

What is on the ground, whether it is intact, how far it reaches and how the seams are lapped. Washington’s R408 requires a vented crawl space to have a ground cover of 6-mil black polyethylene or an approved equal, lapped 6 inches at the joints and extended to the foundation wall. A sealed crawl space asks more: a continuous Class I vapor retarder with sealed seams, carried at least 6 inches up the stem wall and sealed to it. A torn sheet laid loose decades ago is a different finding from no ground cover at all, and leads to a different scope. Vapor barrier installation is the narrow fix; encapsulation is the whole-assembly one.

3. Insulation

Sagging batt, wet batt, batt on the ground, or none at all. Wet fiberglass is a symptom rather than the problem: insulation gets wet because of item 1, and replacing it without fixing item 1 buys you a few winters. The inspector should record how much insulation is there before anything is removed, because utility rebates turn on it: Puget Sound Energy’s floor insulation rebate depends on the depth of the existing insulation, and Snohomish County PUD’s on its R-value. Rim joists get their own look, for condensation along the perimeter.

4. Pests

Rodent runs, droppings, nesting material shredded out of the insulation, and the entry points that let them in. This matters to the scope well beyond the mess: contaminated insulation is handled and disposed of differently from clean material, which is what crawl space cleaning covers, and the exclusion work is separate again. Wood-destroying organisms are a further separate inspection: a Washington home inspector who is not also a licensed structural pest inspector may report rot and conducive conditions but may refer to insects only in general terms.

5. Structure

Rot at the sill plate and rim joist, fungal growth on the underside of the subfloor, rusted hangers, sagging or bouncing floors above, and the condition of posts, piers and beams. In an older house this is where the expensive findings tend to live, and Seattle has a lot of them: 30.1% of the city’s housing units were built before 1950, by the Census Bureau’s estimate. The census does not record foundation type, so that describes the housing stock, not how many of those houses sit over a crawl space.

One Washington specific worth knowing before anyone recommends sealing: a sealed crawl space here is not just a liner and a dehumidifier. Washington’s R408.3 allows one only with a sealed Class I liner, a radon system built to the code’s radon appendix, and continuously running exhaust at 1 cubic foot per minute for every 50 square feet of floor. King and Snohomish counties are in EPA’s lowest radon zone and are not on the state’s list of high-radon counties, but the radon system is required for any unvented crawl space in the state. Closed vs vented crawl spaces covers the code text.

Process

How a Crawl Space Inspection Works, Step by Step

Request the visit

Send your ZIP and a short description of what you are seeing through the free inspection form, and we follow up to schedule the in-home visit. Say up front if there is active water rather than a longstanding damp smell, and flag any closing date.
The inspection itself

The crawl space is entered and photographed, the five areas above are checked, and the moisture source is identified rather than only its symptoms. Ask to see the photographs, not just hear them described.
Written scope and quote

You receive a written, no-obligation, line-item scope: what is being installed, over what square footage, to what specification, and what it costs. No verbal-only quotes. If the visit produced a diagnosis you disagree with, this is the document a second contractor can price against.
Compare before you commit

Two quotes for the same house that describe different work are not really comparable. Run them through the bid checker, or work back through what the inspection actually established before deciding which scope is right.

Pricing Factors

How Much Does a Crawl Space Inspection Cost?

The free in-home inspection costs nothing: it is the first step of producing a written quote. A licensed home inspection is a paid service, the inspector sets the fee, and the crawl space is one section of the report; no typical Seattle-area fee is published here because none has been sourced. Inspections for wood-destroying organisms, radon and mold sampling are separate again, each with its own specialist and its own fee.

Which inspection you are buying : The pre-quote in-home inspection is free. A licensed home inspection is a paid service priced by the inspector, and the crawl space is one section of it.
Accessibility : A home inspector in Washington need not enter a crawl space with an access opening under 18 by 24 inches, less than 18 inches of headroom under the joists or 12 inches under the girders, or standing water. A space that cannot be entered cannot be fully seen.
Whether a specialist is needed : Wood-destroying organisms, radon, and mold sampling are separate inspections by separate specialists, each with its own fee.
What the inspection leads to : Inspection findings translate into scopes with published ranges: vapor barrier $3,400 to $4,675, drainage $4,025 to $7,175, mold remediation $1,600 to $4,025, full encapsulation $10,650 to $13,000.
Square footage and clearance : The same variables that drive repair cost also drive how long an inspection takes and how much of the space actually gets seen.

See the full Seattle-area cost guide

After the Visit

What a written estimate should contain

An estimate is not a contract, and Washington law says little about either. What it does require is a disclosure: on a house of four or fewer units, once the bid or contract price reaches $1,000 the contractor has to give you the state’s notice to customer before work starts, with the registration number and bond, and the bid checker walks through it against the document in your hand. Nothing specifies what an estimate must contain. That gap is why two bids for the same crawl space so often cannot be compared at all.

Six things make an estimate comparable. Ask for any that are missing before you get a second quote, because the second contractor should be pricing the same thing:

The square footage being priced. Without it there is no price per square foot, and price per square foot is the only way two differently-scoped bids can be set side by side.
Materials as numbers, not adjectives. Liner thickness in mils, insulation R-value, pump horsepower and switch type, pipe diameter, membrane product. “Heavy-duty vapor barrier” is a description, not a specification, and two contractors using that phrase may be 14 mils apart.
Where the work stops. How far up the stem wall the liner runs, whether piers are wrapped, which elevations the drain covers, where the discharge goes. Most disputes after the fact are about an edge nobody wrote down.
Exclusions, in writing. The common ones are drainage, rodent sanitising, mold remediation and rot repair — each of which can appear later as a change order. What each published range includes and excludes is the list worth reading the estimate against.
The findings the price rests on. Which conditions were measured and which were inferred: wood moisture content at more than one point, relative humidity, a water-meter check with the fixtures off. A scope built on measurements survives a second opinion; one built on impressions may not.
Which items are code and which are preference. A ground cover over exposed earth is required by Washington’s R408. A dehumidifier in a vented crawl space is a choice. Both may be right for your house; only one of them is not optional.

One practical test: a single total with no line items cannot be reduced a line at a time. If the number is more than you want to spend, an itemised estimate lets you drop or defer something specific, and a lump sum leaves you with nothing to negotiate except the whole job.

Before You Sign

Getting a second opinion

A second opinion is worth the fortnight it costs when one of these is true: the recommended scope is much larger than the problem you called about; the quote is the first and only one you have; the diagnosis and the fix do not obviously connect to each other; the total sits well outside the published range for that service; or you were asked to sign during the inspection itself.

It is usually not worth it for small single-scope work where the finding is plain and the number is in range — bare soil and no barrier, priced at the going rate, does not need adjudicating.

How to get a useful one. Give the second contractor the same information, not the first one's conclusion. Opening with “another company says I need encapsulation” sets an anchor, and the most common outcome is a bid built to beat that number rather than an independent read of the crawl space. Describe what you have seen, let them look, and compare afterwards.

When the two bids differ mainly on price, the cheaper one is often simply a smaller scope — read the exclusions. When they differ on the diagnosis, that is the more serious disagreement and the one worth spending money to settle: a paid home inspection or, where framing is in question, a structural engineer gives you a reading from someone with no work to win.

One more thing is worth doing here. Before hiring either firm, check that each holds an active L&I contractor registration — the lookup takes a couple of minutes, and the record shows the bond and any lawsuits against it. The bid checker sets out what else Washington requires a contractor to give you.

Common Issues

See all crawl space problems and what causes them

More Crawl Space Repair

Related Crawl Space Repair Services

Areas We Cover

King County

Snohomish County

All 19 service areas

Sources

Washington home inspection standards and licensing, the R408 ground cover and sealed crawl space rules with the radon appendix and county list, EPA radon zones, the utility rebate conditions, NOAA precipitation normals and Census housing age, and the contractor disclosure rule cited above.

Washington State Department of Licensing (via Washington State Legislature), Chapter 308-408C WAC — Home inspectors: standards of practice (As amended by WSR 26-15-037, effective August 7, 2026) Checked November 10, 2026

What a Washington home inspection is required to cover at a crawl space, and what it is not. WAC 308-408C-010: an inspection uses visual observation, simple tools and normal controls, is not technically exhaustive, and the inspector is a generalist who identifies conditions that may need a specialist. WAC 308-408C-030(1): inspectors are not required to determine the strength, adequacy, effectiveness or efficiency of a system or component, the causes of any condition or deficiency, the methods, materials or estimated cost of repairs, or future conditions; (2) nor to comment on compliance with codes; (3) nor to report wood destroying insects or environmental hazards including mold; (18) nor to enter flooded crawl spaces. The same section says an inspector who is qualified and willing may specify the type of repairs to be made. WAC 308-408C-070: the inspector enters and traverses crawl spaces where readily and safely accessible, inspects visible foundations, posts, piers, beams, joists and subfloors and looks for signs of flooding and moisture penetration, probes where deterioration is suspected, and reports all wood rot and pest-conducive conditions, but need not enter a crawl space that requires excavation, has an access opening under 18 by 24 inches, or has less than 18 inches of headroom under joists or 12 inches under girders. WAC 308-408C-100: reports the presence and functionality of sump pumps when visible. WAC 308-408C-150: reports missing or inadequate vapor barriers in crawl spaces with earth floors and missing insulation where visible, and need not determine the thickness or R-value of insulation below floors. WAC 308-408C-050: the pre-inspection agreement must say the inspection does not include mold, asbestos, air quality or other environmental issues unless agreed in writing. WAC 308-408C-020(8): for one year after an inspection, the inspector and the inspector’s firm may not repair, replace or upgrade components of that building for pay. Also: the reason any item normally inspected is excluded must be stated in the report (030); the report may not be disclosed without the client’s approval (020(10)); and conditions beyond the inspection are referred to a specialist (070).

Note: The Washington verb in 030(1) is “determine”, and the rule permits an inspector to specify repairs. It does not bar a repair recommendation; it makes one optional.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.280.020 — Home inspectors: licensure required Checked November 10, 2026

That since September 1, 2009 nobody may work or advertise as a home inspector in Washington without a state license.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.280.190 — Home inspectors: structural pest inspector Checked November 10, 2026

That a home inspector who is not also a licensed structural pest inspector may refer in the report only to rot or conditions conducive to wood destroying organisms, and must refer the identification of, or damage by, wood destroying insects to a licensed structural pest inspector.
Washington State Legislature, WAC 51-51-0408 — Section R408, Under-floor space (Washington State Residential Code, amended by WSR 23-23-104) Checked November 10, 2026

What Washington requires under a house: ventilation at 1 square foot per 300 square feet of under-floor area; 6-mil black polyethylene ground cover with joints lapped 6 inches, extending to the foundation wall, which may be omitted where the crawl space has a concrete slab floor at least 2 inches thick; vent coverings with a least dimension of no more than 1/4 inch (corrosion-resistant wire mesh at 1/8 inch), and operational louvers permitted; ventilation reducible to 1/1,500 where a Class I vapor retarder covers the earth, with a radon vent built to Appendix AF required where ventilation is below 1/300 or operable louvers are installed. Vents may be omitted only where both numbered conditions of R408.3 are met: a continuous Class I vapor retarder lapped and sealed 6 inches, extending 6 inches up and sealed to the stem wall, with an Appendix AF radon system; and continuously operated mechanical exhaust at 1 cfm per 50 square feet. R408.8 is not adopted in Washington.
Washington State Building Code Council (via Washington State Legislature), WAC 51-51-0332 — Section R332, Protection against radon Checked November 10, 2026

Where the radon appendix applies. R332.1: to buildings constructed in the high radon potential (Zone 1) counties of Table AF101(1), and also to all buildings constructed using the unvented crawl space method of Section R408.3, in any county.
Washington State Building Code Council (via Washington State Legislature), WAC 51-51-60101 — Appendix F, Radon control methods (AF101 and Table AF101(1)) (WSR 07-01-090, effective July 1, 2007) Checked November 10, 2026

The high radon potential counties and what follows from being one. Table AF101(1) lists seven Washington counties: Clark, Ferry, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Skamania, Spokane and Stevens. King and Snohomish are not in the table. AF101.1: unvented crawl spaces are not permitted in any high radon potential county, and in other areas the appendix applies to any structure built with an unvented crawl space under R408.3.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Map of Radon Zones — Washington Checked November 10, 2026

That King and Snohomish counties are in Zone 3, EPA’s lowest of three radon categories (predicted average indoor screening level below 2 pCi/L); Zone 2 is 2 to 4 pCi/L and Zone 1 is above 4. Washington’s Zone 1 counties are Clark, Skamania, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille and Spokane. A low zone does not remove the Appendix AF radon vent that WAC 51-51-0408 requires where crawl space ventilation is reduced or the crawl space is built unvented.

Note: EPA states the map must not be used to decide whether an individual home needs testing, and that every home should be tested regardless of zone. A county-level prediction says nothing about one building.
Puget Sound Energy, Weatherization rebates Checked November 10, 2026

The PSE amounts and conditions this site quotes: floor insulation at $2.50 per square foot up to $5,000, in a site-built home built 1989 or before with 0 to 4 inches of existing insulation, finished to R-30 or a full joist cavity, where existing insulation may not be removed to qualify and the thermal boundary may not be moved; floor air sealing at $0.20 per square foot up to $400; duct sealing and insulation up to $1,000 per home, duct sealing only up to $550; that the customer must use PSE electricity or PSE natural gas as the primary source of space heating and live in a single-family home of four units or fewer or a manufactured home; that the work must be done by a PSE Recommended Energy Professional or Trade Ally, who takes the rebate off the invoice; that self-installed work does not qualify; and that the rebate cannot exceed the price of the work.

Note: PSE states that this is a tariffed service that can change or end without notice, and the page gives no program year. The page lists no rebate for a ground cover, vapor barrier, dehumidifier or drainage. It still says a federal tax credit may be available; the IRS says that credit ended for work after December 31, 2025.
Snohomish County Public Utility District No. 1, Weatherization Rebates Checked November 10, 2026

The Snohomish PUD amounts and conditions this site quotes: insulation at $1 per square foot for customers with electrically heated homes, where floor insulation must go from R-11 or less to R-30; duct sealing in a single-family home at $5 per linear foot up to $450; that the customer must own a single-family or manufactured home, or a townhouse or condominium in a building of up to four attached dwellings; and that the work must be done by a PUD registered contractor, who includes the rebate in the bill.

Note: The page states no cap on the insulation rebate and no end date. It lists no rebate for a ground cover, vapor barrier or air sealing.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals (1991–2020) — Annual/Seasonal and Monthly (normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020, normals-monthly-1991-2020) Open dataset Checked November 10, 2026

Every precipitation figure in the Seattle-metro climate and housing dataset: annual and monthly precipitation normals, the October–March total summed from the monthly normals, the average number of days per year at or above 0.10, 0.50 and 1.00 inches, and the completeness flag and years of record NCEI publishes alongside each value, for the eight stations within 15 miles of a served city with at least 20 years of record (Snoqualmie Falls, Landsburg, Monroe, Tacoma #1, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle Sand Point, Renton Municipal Airport and Everett Snohomish County Airport). Pulled through the NCEI data access service on 2026-11-10.

Note: A normal is a 30-year statistic for one instrument at one point, not a value for the surrounding city. NCEI publishes a completeness flag with every value and this site republishes it, because a station with 20 years of record and one with 29 are not equally strong evidence. Seattle Boeing Field has 19 years behind its annual normal and is not published.
United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates — Year Structure Built (B25034) and Median Year Structure Built (B25035) (ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates, tables ACSDT5Y2024.B25034 and ACSDT5Y2024.B25035) Open dataset Checked November 10, 2026

The housing-age columns for the 19 Washington cities in the Seattle-metro climate and housing dataset: total housing units, median year built with its published margin of error, and the shares of units built before 1980, before 1960 and before 1950, each summed from the B25034 decade buckets per Census place GEOID. Pulled through the data.census.gov table endpoint on 2026-11-10; for every place the ten buckets were summed and checked against the table total.

Note: Survey estimates carrying sampling error, not a census of buildings. They cover ALL housing units in a place, apartments included, rather than single-family homes — and the ACS does not ask about foundation type, so nothing here identifies which units have a crawl space.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.114 — Disclosure statement required; prerequisite to lien claim Checked November 11, 2026

That a contractor working on four or fewer residential units must give the customer the statutory NOTICE TO CUSTOMER disclosure before starting work once the bid or contract price totals $1,000 or more, keep the signed copy three years, and cannot maintain a lien claim under chapter 60.04 RCW without proving the customer received it.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business Checked August 20, 2026

The official Washington register: registration status, bond, workers compensation account standing, and lawsuits filed against the bond.

Sources last checked between August 20, 2026 and November 11, 2026; the date beside each one is when it was last opened. Where a figure comes from a document that is revised on a schedule, the edition or version is named above so you can confirm it against the current one yourself.

Questions, Answered

Crawl Space Inspection FAQs

: The in-home pre-quote inspection is free, because it is the first step of producing a written quote rather than a service being sold. A licensed home inspection, the whole-house kind ordered during a sale, is a paid service and the inspector sets the fee. No typical Seattle-area figure for that fee is published on this site, so none is quoted here; ask the inspector directly, and ask whether the crawl space is inside the base fee or priced separately.
: A home inspection establishes conditions, and in Washington the inspector is deliberately not required to determine causes, repair methods, materials or costs. A contractor inspection exists to produce exactly those four things, because it ends in a bid. They answer different questions, and a homeowner who orders one expecting the other ends up frustrated with a report that was correct all along. See crawl space problems in a home inspection.
: They are checked in two different places. A contractor doing crawl space work in Washington must be registered with the Department of Labor & Industries, and L&I’s Verify lookup shows the registration, bond, insurance and any lawsuits against the bond. A home inspector is licensed separately, by the Department of Licensing. How to verify a Washington contractor walks through the L&I lookup and what to check on the record beyond "active".
: Not always, and that is by the rules rather than by preference. Washington’s home inspection standards say the inspector need not enter a crawl space that would have to be dug out, has an access opening smaller than 18 by 24 inches, or has less than 18 inches of headroom under the joists or 12 inches under the girders, and need not enter a flooded one. If a report says the space could not be entered, that is information, not an omission.
: Treat it as an observation and nothing more. It has not established where the water comes from, whether it is seasonal or permanent, how long it has been happening, or whether anything has been damaged. What narrows it down is wood moisture content readings at more than one point rather than air humidity alone, knowing whether the soil is covered, and checking the water meter with every fixture off. Then the scope follows from the cause.
: For a homeowner's own check, twice a year covers most homes around Seattle: once in early fall before the rains arrive, and once in spring after the wet season ends, with a mid-winter look after the first major storm if the house has any history of water. Most of what matters can be seen from the hatch with a flashlight. A free in-home inspection is for when one of those checks turns something up, or when nobody has opened the hatch in years. The seasonal crawl space checklist sets out what to look at each time and what warrants a call.
: It is not required, but a crawl space finding discovered by the buyer's inspector during the option period is negotiated under time pressure, and one you already have a written scope for is not. If the buyer is financing with an FHA or VA loan, the appraiser can require conditions corrected before the file closes, on a clock you do not control. Selling a house with crawl space repairs covers what is worth fixing first.

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