Home Inspection - CAVEAT EMPTOR

A casual acquaintance of mine started a conversation with me about his recent home sale. He had just had his home inspection and he said he had saved himself some money as there was some items he had been prepared to fix but had not been picked up. John thought I might even be the home inspector that would be inspecting his house but lucky for him, he ended up with a couple of young home inspectors.

The main item they missed was the leaking skylight which was surrounded by curled shingles. John had touched up the paint on the inside of the skylight which explains why the inside of skylight did not alert the young home inspectors to the leak. I questioned John why they had not picked up the leaking skylight and curled shingles on the roof and he replied," You can't see the shingles from the ground." These inspectors did not have a ladder high enough to reach the roof so did not do a complete inspection. I personally carry three ladders for my residential inspections and have a 40 foot ladder for my apartment building and commercial inspections and I arrive in a truck, not a VW.

The only loser on this particular deal was the home buyer, ironicly the person who paid to ensure that he was protected. The seller came out ahead because he was expecting to pay for the repairs needed, but missed by the home inspectors, and the home inspectors really lucked out because they got paid full price for a service they did not fully perform.

So the moral of the story is, "Caveat Emptor" Buyer Beware

Remember an educated consumer is a smart consumer.