A standard home inspection checks the water heater, the pressure, and the visible plumbing, and says nothing about what is dissolved in the water itself. Lead from a 1970s service line, nitrate in a well, PFAS from a site two miles upstream: none of it appears in an inspection report, and all of it is measurable for a few hundred dollars inside a normal escrow window. Water is one of the few things about a house that changes what your family consumes daily, and it is testable before you commit.
Why the Inspection Does Not Cover This
Inspectors assess systems they can see and operate. Water chemistry needs a laboratory, so it sits outside the standard scope, the same way sewer-line video or radon measurement does: available, valuable, and ordered separately. Buyers who want it have to ask.
What to Test, by Property Type
- City-water homes: plumbing metals are the story. Lead and copper enter between the main and the tap, and the home’s plumbing era sets the risk; pre-1986 construction warrants the test with no other prompting. A metals-and-chemistry panel such as KELP Essential Home ($199) covers it.
- Well homes: the well is an unmonitored water system changing hands, and a documented panel protects both parties. KELP’s Real Estate Well Water panel ($199) reports ten metals, chemistry, and key inorganics; ask your lender early which parameters they require, and our complete well guide covers what the numbers mean.
- Near industry, airfields, or military sites: add PFAS. Check the area’s record first; a detection nearby is a strong reason to test before waiving contingencies.
Concerned about contaminants in your water?
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Order a Water Test →Fitting It Into Escrow
Lab panels report in 5 to 7 business days, which fits a standard inspection contingency if the kit is ordered when the offer is accepted rather than after the inspection. Sample the kitchen cold tap, first draw where lead is the concern, and keep the report with the transaction documents; a dated lab result is useful on either side of the negotiating table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a home inspection include water testing?
No. Standard inspections cover visible plumbing and mechanical systems, not water chemistry, which requires laboratory analysis ordered separately. Buyers on wells should treat a water panel as a standard contingency item; buyers on city water with older plumbing have nearly as strong a case.
How long does water testing take during a home purchase?
Mail-in lab panels report in 5 to 7 business days from the lab receiving the sample. Ordering the kit at offer acceptance puts results inside a typical inspection window with days to spare.
Who pays for water testing in a home sale?
It is negotiable like any inspection cost. Buyers typically order and pay as part of due diligence; sellers of well properties sometimes test proactively, since a documented recent panel answers the question before it is asked.
Sources: EPA private wells guidance; KETOS KELP panel specifications from ketos.co, checked August 20, 2026.
