This is the one you buy because you want to know. A licensed electrician goes through the system that already exists and reports on its condition — no permit involved, no certificate at the end, and no obligation to have anything fixed.
What gets looked at
The panel and its breakers, grounding and bonding, the service entrance and meter base, the type and condition of accessible branch wiring, receptacle and switch condition, GFCI and AFCI coverage, and smoke and CO alarm coverage.
What cannot be seen without opening walls is not seen, and an honest report says so rather than implying completeness it cannot have.
What you get
Written findings with photographs, ranked by urgency rather than presented as an undifferentiated list. The ranking is the useful part: a homeowner handed twelve defects with no priority has been given a bill, not information.
Anything you want repaired is quoted separately, and the findings are yours to take to another contractor.
The three things that share this name
A home inspection covers the whole building as a generalist, usually during a purchase, and frequently ends with "recommend evaluation by a qualified electrician" — which is this.
An ESA inspection is statutory, covers work just completed under a permit, and produces a certificate. Only ESA can do it.
This one is a licensed electrician assessing an existing system in depth. If someone has asked you for a document, establishing which of the three they meant should happen before anything is booked.
When it is worth it
Buying an older property, an insurer or lender asking questions, owning a house of a certain era and preferring to know while it is a planning problem, or planning to add a large load and needing to know what the system can take.
The next question
What happens during an ESA inspection?Related terms
- ESA inspectionAn inspection by the Electrical Safety Authority that closes a permit on work just completed, ending in a Certificate of Inspection. Only ESA can issue one.
- Knob-and-tubeWiring used in houses built before roughly the 1950s, with no ground wire and cloth-and-rubber insulation that hardens and crumbles with age.
- Double-tapTwo wires jammed under a single breaker terminal designed for one. It works until the connection loosens and starts heating.