The buyer's clock is running. Get the roofline checked.

From the ground, the cap and the crown sit at a distance. Inside, you get the firebox and the damper. Past that, you are guessing.

The Level 2 is how you stop guessing.

A seller who has not seen the flue cannot say much about it. A seller with a report can.

We start on the roof. Cap, crown, flashing, chase cover. We look at the metal and the seams, because sea air works on them first.

Then the camera goes down the flue. That video scan, plus whatever attic and crawlspace we can enter, is what makes it a Level 2. A Level 1 stays with what is visible and reachable.

NFPA 211 recommends a Level 2 at a sale or transfer. It does the same after a chimney fire, after an earthquake, and when a home changes fuel.

A seller who orders it first has an answer in hand.

You receive the report and photos on inspection day, and you decide who else sees them: your agent, the buyer's agent, the buyer.

Say the report lists something the standard would not accept as it stands. That item needs fixing before the fireplace is used. The buyer might want the seller to pay for it, or to bring us back for a second look. The two sides and their agents decide that. Contracts and law are outside what we do.