Nevada Inspection Contingency Guide

You signed a Nevada Residential Purchase Agreement, your earnest money is in escrow, and the clock is ticking. The inspection contingency, often called the due diligence period, is the most important window of your entire transaction. This is when you confirm the home is actually worth what you offered, and when you have the strongest leverage to renegotiate, ask for repairs, or walk away with your deposit intact.

In Las Vegas, the heat, the dust, the hard water, and the desert soil all create inspection issues you would not see in other markets. This guide walks through what the contingency actually does, the standard 10-day window, what to inspect on a Las Vegas home, and how to handle the negotiation that follows.

What the inspection contingency actually does

An inspection contingency is a clause in your purchase contract that gives you a defined period of time to investigate the property and decide whether you still want to buy it on the agreed terms. During this window, you can hire any inspectors you want, review their findings, and then choose one of three paths: accept the property as-is, ask the seller to address issues, or cancel the contract.

The most important word in that paragraph is cancel. If you exercise your cancellation right correctly and within the window, your earnest money deposit comes back to you. Outside the window, your leverage drops sharply and your deposit may be at risk. For a refresher on how the deposit works, see our post on earnest money deposits in Nevada.

How it fits into the GLVAR contract

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) Residential Purchase Agreement is the standard form used across the valley. The inspection contingency is one of several buyer protections built into that contract, alongside the appraisal contingency and the loan contingency. We break the whole document down in our guide to what is in the GLVAR Residential Purchase Agreement.

The 10-day due diligence window

The GLVAR contract defaults to a 10-calendar-day due diligence period that begins the day after mutual acceptance. Calendar days, not business days. Weekends and holidays count. If you accept the contract on a Friday, your clock starts Saturday morning.

Ten days sounds like plenty until you actually start scheduling. Inspectors in Las Vegas get booked solid during busy seasons, and specialists like sewer scope crews and pool techs often need a few days of lead time. A realistic 10-day timeline looks like this:

1. 1
   Days 1-2: Book everyone

   Schedule the general inspector and every specialist (AC, pool, sewer, roof). Vegas calendars fill fast in summer.

2. 2
   Days 3-5: Inspections happen

   Walk-throughs are completed and written reports land in your inbox within a day or two of each visit.

3. 3
   Days 6-8: Triage and quote

   Read the reports, get repair quotes for anything significant, and decide whether to ask for repairs, a credit, or a price reduction.

4. 4
   Days 9-10: Submit and decide

   File your written request through escrow, or deliver a cancellation notice if the deal will not work. Do not let the clock lapse.

You can negotiate a longer period in your offer if you know you will need more time, for example if you are buying a custom home or a property with a well and septic. Build that into the offer up front rather than asking for an extension later. Our walkthrough on how to write a Nevada home offer covers how to set those terms.

What to inspect on a Las Vegas home

A general home inspector is your starting point, not your finish line. They will give you a broad overview, but Las Vegas homes have specific systems that benefit from a specialist's eye.

• General home inspection

  2-4 hours, electrical, plumbing, appliances, attic, structure. Attend the walkthrough.
• AC and HVAC specialist

  Vegas summers push 110-115°F. A licensed tech checks refrigerant, compressor amps, and unit age.
• Pool and spa inspection

  Pressure-test plumbing, evaluate pump and heater, check for plaster cracks. Hire someone separate from the general.
• Sewer scope

  A $150-300 camera inspection that catches root intrusion, bellies, and partial collapses in older lines.
• Roof inspection

  Tile roofs hide failing underlayment. Have a roofer walk it and check flashing around HVAC penetrations.
• Termite and structural

  Wood-destroying organism reports are required by VA and FHA. Add a structural engineer if cracks are flagged.

General home inspection

Expect 2 to 4 hours on a typical single-family home, with a written report delivered within a day or two. The inspector will look at electrical, plumbing, appliances, windows, doors, attic, and visible structural elements. Plan to attend the walk-through at the end. You will learn more in 30 minutes with the inspector pointing at things than you will reading the PDF later.

AC and HVAC specialist

This is the inspection most Las Vegas buyers skip and most regret. Summer high temperatures push 110 to 115 degrees, and an AC unit that limps through a mild April showing can fail spectacularly in July. A licensed HVAC technician will check refrigerant levels, compressor amperage, capacitor health, ductwork, and the age of the units.

Replacement of a single 4-ton unit in the valley typically runs $8,000 to $14,000 in 2026 dollars, and many Vegas homes have two units. Knowing whether you are inheriting a 15-year-old condenser on its last legs is worth every penny of the specialist fee.

Pool and spa inspection

If the home has a pool, hire a pool inspector separate from your general inspector. They will pressure-test the plumbing, evaluate the pump and filter, check the heater, look for cracks in the plaster, and assess the equipment age. Pool repairs in Nevada can run from a few hundred dollars for a new pump motor to $30,000 or more for a full replaster and tile job.

Sewer scope

A camera inspection of the main sewer line from the house to the city tap is one of the cheapest and most valuable inspections you can buy, typically $150 to $300. Older Vegas neighborhoods have cast iron or clay pipe with root intrusion, bellies, or partial collapses. A full sewer line replacement can easily cost $5,000 to $20,000.

Roof inspection

Tile roofs are common in Vegas, and from the ground they almost always look fine. A roofer will walk the roof, check the underlayment age, look for cracked or slipped tiles, and inspect flashing around vents and HVAC penetrations. The tile itself often outlasts the underlayment, which has a 20 to 30 year life in our UV exposure.

Foundation, termites, and other extras

Newer construction in growth areas like the southwest, Skye Canyon, and Cadence has occasionally shown post-tension cable and slab issues. If your general inspector flags cracks, get a structural engineer out. Termite inspections (technically wood-destroying organism reports) are required by most VA and FHA loans and are smart for any buyer.

How to read an inspection report

Inspection reports are long. A 200-page PDF is normal. Do not panic at the page count. Most of those pages are photos and boilerplate. Focus on three categories:

• Safety items: anything that could hurt someone, like exposed wiring, missing GFCI outlets near water, gas leaks, or non-functional smoke detectors.
• Major systems: roof, HVAC, electrical panel, plumbing, foundation, and water heater. These are the expensive things to fix later.
• Active leaks or damage: anything wet, anything growing, anything actively breaking.

Cosmetic issues, normal wear, and end-of-life appliances are usually not worth fighting over unless you stack them up as part of a broader negotiation.

How to renegotiate after findings

You have three main tools, and you can mix them.

Request for repairs

You ask the seller to fix specific items before closing. This sounds tidy but has a catch: the seller picks the contractor and the quality. They are motivated to do the cheapest fix that closes the file. For anything significant, most experienced buyers prefer a credit instead.

Price reduction

You ask the seller to lower the purchase price. This is clean and simple. The downside is that the lower price also reduces your loan amount, which means a smaller change to your monthly payment than you might expect.

Closing cost credit

Often the strongest play. The seller credits you cash at closing, typically capped by your lender at 3 to 6 percent of the purchase price depending on loan type. You then choose your own contractors and fix things on your timeline. This also frees up cash you can put toward the repairs without depleting your reserves. Learn more about how funds move at closing in our post on how escrow works in Nevada.

Walking away during the contingency

If the inspection turns up problems you cannot live with and the seller will not budge, you can cancel. In the GLVAR contract, you do this by delivering a written cancellation notice to the seller through escrow before the inspection period expires. Done correctly, your earnest money is released back to you within a few days.

Do not let the deadline lapse while you are still negotiating. If you need another day or two, ask for a written extension before the period ends. After the deadline, the contingency is gone and your leverage drops to almost nothing.

Bottom line

The Nevada inspection contingency is the buyer's best friend. Use the full 10 days, spend the extra money on Vegas-specific specialists, focus your negotiation on the items that actually matter, and document everything in writing through escrow. A good inspection period saves buyers tens of thousands of dollars. A rushed or skipped one costs the same.

This is general information, not legal advice. Draft a Deal is a software service, not a law firm. Real estate transactions involve meaningful legal and financial consequences — consult a Nevada-licensed attorney or real estate broker before acting on anything you read here.