Sales rarely collapse over one big finding. They stall on a report full of small items nobody got round to, and on a seller who learns what is wrong at the same moment as the buyer.
Here is what plumbing actually contributes to that, roughly in order of how often it appears.
Clear these before listing
Cheap, visible, and they set the tone for the entire inspection. A buyer who walks into a property where faucets drip and sealant is black assumes the things they cannot see are worse.
- Running toilets. Flagged on almost every report. A fill valve.
- Dripping faucets and mixers. A cartridge.
- Leaks under sinks. The cabinet nobody opens.
- Slow drains. Cleared and, if they have been slow a while, inspected.
- Sealant and grout around tubs, showers and countertops. Reads as neglect whatever the truth is.
- Loose or rocking toilets. Usually shimming and a new seal.
- Missing or seized shut-off valves. Inspectors note these, and buyers’ contractors quote for them.
- Water heater basics — missing drain pan, absent expansion tank, improvised relief discharge. Installation shortcuts from a previous owner become the current owner’s report item.
Most of that is one visit and does more for the feel of an inspection than anything else available.
Establish these before listing
Expensive, invisible, and the ones that actually threaten a deal.
Cast-iron drains in anything built before the mid-1970s — common across Coral Gables, Miami Beach, older Coconut Grove, North Miami and Hialeah.
Galvanized supply in the oldest properties.
Any history of slab leaks in single-story properties on slab.
The important thing about all three is that an inspector reports what is visible. They cannot say whether the pipe has actually failed, and buyers reliably assume the worst.
Cast iron in particular fails unevenly — horizontal runs under a slab go first, vertical stacks often have years left. Having the line inspected before anybody negotiates a credit is frequently the difference between a small number and a large one, because it converts “the drains are cast iron” into “these two sections have failed, the rest are sound”.
If it has failed, the seller wants to know that too, in writing, before a buyer’s contractor puts their own figure on it.
Managing a report against a deadline
A contingency period is not a deadline for starting work. It is a deadline for the work being done, documented and accepted — and documentation often takes longer to move between parties than the repair takes to carry out.
So: get the list out early, get a straight answer about what fits, and move documentation as each item clears rather than all at the end.
Where the list is longer than the period allows, the options are usually to prioritize what the buyer actually cares about, or to credit rather than repair. Both are legitimate. What is not legitimate is agreeing to a list that cannot be done and discovering it in the final week.
What to ask a contractor
- Which items are actually yours? Reports mix trades. A contractor who claims all of them is one you will be managing rather than relying on.
- Which of these are defects and which are conditions? Not everything on a report needs doing, and the seller should hear that from somebody not paid per item.
- Will you document it so it can be forwarded? Vague invoices re-open closed items.
What an inspector writes down, and what a buyer reads
An inspection report is a list of observations, not a list of faults, and it is written defensively — the inspector records what is visible and declines to say what it means. A buyer reads it as a list of problems, and a buyer’s agent reads it as leverage.
That gap is where money moves. The same line of text costs a seller very differently depending on whether it is resolved before the report or after it.
The items that reliably appear on Miami reports, and what each one actually is:
- “Evidence of past leaking at supply connections.” Usually a stain under a sink from a connection replaced years ago. Costs almost nothing to establish and frightens buyers disproportionately.
- “Cast iron drain lines noted; condition unknown.” The inspector cannot see inside and will say so. Left alone, the buyer’s contractor puts their own number on it.
- “Water heater exceeds typical service life.” Age is read off the label whether or not the unit is working.
- “No visible shut-off at fixture.” Cheap to fix, and it appears on nearly every older property.
- “Slow drainage observed.” One line, many possible causes, and the ambiguity is what costs the credit.
Fix, establish, or disclose
Three responses, and choosing the right one per item is the whole skill.
Fix what is cheap and unambiguous. Angle stops, a running toilet, a missing shut-off, sealant. These cost less than the credit that will be asked for them.
Establish what is expensive and unknown. A camera survey on a cast-iron property, in writing, dated before listing, converts an open question into a known quantity. A known quantity is negotiated once. An open question is negotiated by the other side’s contractor.
Disclose what you are not going to do. A seller who names a fault and prices it keeps control of the number. A seller who leaves it to be found has given that control away.
The order matters too: establish first, because what comes back decides which of the other two the expensive items belong in.