House Detective is a television program on HGTV from 2008–12[citation needed], based on an original concept proposed by nationally syndicated home inspection columnist Barry Stone.
In its original format, the program featured two home inspections per half-hour installment.
In a typical installment, a young couple foolishly purchase a house without requesting a home inspection and experience problems.
The problems were revealed in a fashion calculated to maximize drama and opportunities for puns (usually related to the occupation(s) of the home owner(s)).
In the end, the condition of the house nearly always turned out to be better than feared, and the featured homeowner would rally to the cause of fixing the problems.