What Home Inspectors Don't Do / What they should not do

I came across an interesting post today.
It was titled
What Home Inspectors Don't Do
By Tim Obrien

In this article it is asserted that a home inspector will not do the following:

• Inspect any system or structural element that is not readily accessible.
• Offer professional services beyond the inspection itself
• Evaluate the strength, adequacy, effectiveness, or efficiency of any system of component
• Conduct specialized inspections.
• Estimate the cost of operating any of the property systems
• Evaluate anything that's not installed
• Evaluate structures that aren't attached to the home
• Inspect common areas of Condos or Co-Op

How about we change this article to What Home Inspectors Should not do.

First and formost when searching to hire a qualified home inspector you need to identify which association or organization the inspector or their company are part of. There are many different inspection associations out there and each of them has a Standards of Practice that the inspector needs to adhere by to maintain his status in the association.
This is no different than your Realtor, Doctor, Lawyer, or other professional following thier associations approved Standards of Practice.
Now let's take a moment to identify the points made up above.

Do not inspect areas that are not readily accessible.
If the area is not readily accessible then it possibly also is not very safe for the inspector to access, or would require moving some items around to gain access to. A home owner would not be very happy if some of thier items accidently got broken because an inspector is moving stuff around to gain access to areas. A simple way to correct this issue is make sure all areas are accessible before the inspector arrives.

Offer professional services beyond the inspection itself.
Some of the examples given in the article included but were not limited to: Septic System, Mold, Radon, Lead, Chimney. Many inspectors do offer what are refered to as Ancillary services. These services are typically an add on to the initial home inspection. Federal and State laws will dictate as to wether an inspector needs to be licensed or certified before they can offer each of these services.

Evaluate the strength, adequacy, effectiveness, or efficiency of any system of component.
We must remember that a home inspector is a generalist. This means that they are not experts in every area of the structure. A home inspector is specifically educated to be able to properly identify the component and wether or not it is functioning as designed. A home inspection is designed to give the client a comprehensive look at the condition of a structure to be able to make an educated buying decision.

Conduct specialized inspections.
This leads back to the previous comment about offering professional services beyond the inspection. While you will be able to find some home inspectors that will offer to inspect specific parts of your home. Plumbing inspection, Roofing inspection, Chimney inspection. A detailed inspection of a specific component is probably best left to a licensed certified professional, or an inspector that is adequately versed in that specific area. Each of these professions spend countless hours honing thier craft and keeping updated on the specifics of thier industry. For a home inspector to be 100% on each of these would mean several lifetimes of education and study.

Estimate the cost of operating any of the property systems
A home inspector is not a fortune teller we can not adequatly predict how much money each year it will take to run your AC or Heat, neither can a certified HVAC technitian.

Evaluate anything that's not installed
This one to a home inspector is just common sense. Say you have a empty property inspected that has window air units. The inspector checks them and says they are working fine. Sometime after the inspection the property owner decides he wants the window units and replaces them with different ones that do not work as well. Now the inspector said they work fine, the client wants to know why they don't, and the seller is keeping quiet. A home inspection is a snapshot in time of the stucture as it was at the time of inspection.

Evaluate structures that aren't attached to the home
If a structure is not attached to the home then it is not part of the home inspection. Inspectors will offer to inspect these additional structures for an additional fee. Many times these structures have their own electrical supply and or pumbing that is seperate from the main structure and needs to be evaluated as its own stand alone system.

Inspect common areas of Condos or Co-Op
Common area should be part of the condo associations responsibility. You can ask your inspector if they will review with the association any known issues with the common areas of the structure, and the association should have that information readily available to the potential buyer as part of a disclosure of the property. A buyer has no specific athority over the condition of common areas of a condo or Co-Op and having an inspector evaluate these areas brings very little results in the end.

While we consitantly see articles such as this point out all the things that home inspectors supposedly do not do, keep in mind that a home inspector has a valued purpose and is a generalist.

I like to think of a home inspector as a General Phyiscian. Your general Physician can help to identify that there is a problem with your eyes, but only a referal to Optomitrist can determine as to what level of sight loss you have.

John Harrison
Harrison Home Inspection LLC