Documenting a Pre-Sale Repair for the Buyer's File
Why this matters
When a seller agrees to repair something the buyer's inspector found, the repair is only half the job. The buyer's agent will ask for proof it was done, done properly and done by someone accountable, usually a few days before closing and usually in a hurry. A shop that sends a bare invoice line ("repair leak, complete") gets a second visit request, a re-inspection fee charged to its customer, or a buyer who walks into the closing still unconvinced. A shop that sends a clean packet gets the job closed, and its name lands in the buyer's file as the company that did it right, which is where the buyer looks the first time something breaks. This article builds that packet.
The packet
Nine items. Not every repair needs every one, but every packet answers whether each applies.
PRE-SALE REPAIR PACKET
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1 Cover sheet: address, job no., dates, the finding
repaired (quoted from the report), who ordered it
2 Itemized invoice: labor, parts, paid or due
3 Photos: before, during, after; dated and labeled
4 Permit no. and final result, or no-permit basis
5 Readings or tests that prove it works
6 Equipment and materials: model, serial, data plate
7 Warranty: labor terms + transfer; maker's terms +
registration status
8 Lead-safe record if pre-1978 and the rule applies
9 Not done: anything excluded or found and left
The steps
1. Quote the finding you are repairing, word for word, on the cover sheet. Copy the line from the inspection report or the repair addendum (the signed amendment to the purchase contract listing what the seller will fix). The reason: the buyer's agent will check your packet against that line, not against your description. Skip it, and you will describe what you did while they look for what they asked for, and any gap between the two reads as an unfinished repair.
2. Itemize the invoice so the work is readable. Separate labor from parts, name each part, and state whether it is paid or to be paid at closing. A buyer reading "repair, complete" cannot tell a patch from a replacement. Skip itemizing and the buyer's side assumes the cheaper of the two. Who pays and when is set at intake; see related: Getting Paid at Closing Without Getting Stuck.
3. Shoot before, during and after, and caption each one. The "during" photo is the one shops skip and the one that matters most: it shows what is now hidden behind drywall, under shingles or inside a cabinet. Each photo carries a date and a caption naming what and where ("new drain section, tub to stack, from below"). Skip "during" and the only proof of the concealed work is your word.
4. State the permit position, either way. If the work needed a permit, include the number and the final inspection result and date, or a printout from the building department's portal. If it did not, write one line saying so and why ("like-for-like repair of a drain section; no permit required by the local building department for this scope"). The basis matters because permit thresholds are set locally and vary widely. Skip it and the buyer's agent asks "was this permitted?" two days before closing, which is when that question is most expensive. See related: Open Permits and Unpermitted Work in a Sale.
5. Prove it works with a reading, not an adjective. A pressure test held, a flow test, a voltage and polarity reading, a draft test, a water test on a roof. Write the value and the method. "Tested, OK" proves nothing to someone who was not there. Skip it and a buyer's re-inspection is the first test anyone records.
6. Record what went in. Model and serial of any equipment, a photo of the data plate, and the material type for anything else (pipe material and size, shingle line, breaker type). It answers the buyer's warranty questions later and the next tech's questions sooner.
7. Put both warranties in writing, with their transfer terms. Your labor warranty: its length, what it covers, and in plain words whether it passes to the new owner at closing. The manufacturer's warranty: its length, whether it requires registration, whether you registered it and in whose name, and whether it transfers. Many equipment warranties shorten or lapse if not registered within a set window, so register in the owner's name if the seller asks, and tell the buyer the registration step on transfer. If you sell equipment with a written warranty to a consumer, the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act sets disclosure rules for that warranty, and state law adds its own. Skip the transfer line and the buyer learns at the first failure that the warranty stopped with the seller.
8. Decide whether the lead-safe rule applies, and record it either way. For work in a pre-1978 home that disturbs painted surfaces, EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule (40 CFR 745 Subpart E) requires a certified firm and renovator unless the job falls within the minor repair exception, which covers disturbing no more than 6 square feet of interior painted surface per room or 20 square feet of exterior, and does not apply if prohibited practices are used. Some states run their own authorized program in place of EPA's, with their own forms. When the rule applies, the firm keeps its records for 3 years after the work (40 CFR 745.86), and a copy of the key records belongs in this packet. Skip it on a pre-1978 house and the packet is silent on the one question a buyer with a small child will ask.
9. List what you did not do. Anything excluded from the scope, and anything you found and did not fix, in a separate section. This is the line that protects you most. A buyer who later finds a second problem cannot say you hid it if your packet named it. Skip it and the buyer's agent assumes the whole system was gone through.
Worked example: the leak above the kitchen
A 1962 house. The buyer's inspection report reads: "Active leak observed at hall bath tub drain. Staining on kitchen ceiling below, moisture meter elevated. Recommend repair by a licensed plumber." The repair addendum, signed with 9 days left before closing, says the seller will have it repaired by a licensed plumber with "receipts and documentation provided to buyer."
Hazards first, because the work is overhead and wet. The stained ceiling has a light fixture 2 feet from the stain. Water and a live fixture in a wet ceiling are a shock hazard, so the tech switches off that circuit at the breaker, proves the fixture dead with a voltage tester, checked on a known live outlet before and after, and tags the breaker before touching the ceiling. The ceiling paint dates from before 1978, so it is presumed to contain lead unless tested: the opening is cut with the area contained under plastic sheeting, the cut surface is misted, no power sanding or dry sweeping, debris goes straight into a bag, and the tech wears a respirator under the shop's respiratory protection program, because lead dust is an inhalation hazard that gloves do nothing about.
The work. The tech opens a 2 by 4 foot section of kitchen ceiling, 8 square feet, finds a cracked tub drain shoe and a failed slip joint, replaces the drain assembly from the tub to the trap, and fills and holds the tub for 15 minutes with no leak at the new joints. The meter at the stain reads elevated, as expected, and will be rechecked after drying.
Item 8 decides itself. 8 square feet of interior painted surface is over the 6 square foot exception, so RRP applies in full. The shop is a certified firm and the tech is a certified renovator; the pre-renovation pamphlet went to the seller before work began, and cleaning verification was done and recorded at the end. Had the opening been 2 by 2 feet, 4 square feet, the exception would cover it, and the packet would carry a one-line note saying so with the measurement, still worked lead-safe.
The packet goes to the seller and the listing agent 2 days after the repair, for forwarding:
- Cover sheet quoting the report line exactly, job number, repair date, ordered by the seller through the listing agent.
- Invoice: labor, drain assembly, ceiling opening and patch as separate lines; paid by the seller.
- Five photos: the stain, the opened ceiling showing the cracked shoe, the new assembly from below, the fill test, the closed and patched ceiling.
- No permit required for a like-for-like drain repair in this jurisdiction, as confirmed by phone with the building department, with the date and the clerk's first name.
- Fill-and-hold test, 15 minutes, no leak; moisture recheck scheduled after drying.
- Drain assembly material and size.
- Labor warranty one year, transfers to the buyer at closing with no action needed. No manufacturer warranty registration applies.
- RRP: firm and renovator certification numbers, pamphlet acknowledgment, cleaning verification record.
- Not done: ceiling paint and texture match left to the seller's painter; the tub's overflow gasket was worn but not leaking, noted and not replaced.
What would change it. If the drain line had been replaced back to the stack, the local building department might have required a permit, and item 4 becomes a number and a final inspection date, which may not fit inside 9 days; the shop should say so on day 1. If the house were 1985, item 8 is a single line. And if the buyer's agent had asked for an independent re-inspection, the packet is what the re-inspector works from, and item 9 is what keeps the worn gasket from becoming a new demand.
How to check a packet before it goes
Hand it to someone in the office who was not on the job and ask five things, answered from the packet alone: what finding was fixed, what is now hidden and what proves it, was a permit needed, how do we know it works, and what happens to the warranty at closing. Any question they cannot answer is a missing item. Then check the photo captions against the photos, because a caption naming the wrong room is the error a buyer's agent finds first.
References
- EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, 40 CFR 745 Subpart E, including the minor repair and maintenance exception and recordkeeping (745.86), or your state's authorized program.
- Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. 2301 and following, for written warranties on consumer products.
- Your local building department's permit requirements for the repair scope.
- See related: When a Home Inspector Flags Your Recent Work
- See related: Getting Paid at Closing Without Getting Stuck