5 Biggest Mistakes in Home Inspections

I saw a great article on BankRate about the 5 biggest mistakes in Home Inspections Here are some highlights with my own insight:

#1 Not having New Construction Inspected. Amen to that. I have a whole section on my website called the Hall of Shame that shows prospective clients what we find. I am sure with the slowing of new construction things will improve but builders are also being pushed to the brink so quality can still be an issue.

#2 Choosing an inspector for the wrong reasons. The first question a phone inquirer makes is How Much and we expect that but we get some who are calling us because they don't want to use the inspector the Realtor recommended. This is usually because a friend or Consumer Experts say don't use the Realtor recommendation. This is so wrong on many levels: who is in the best position to see the quality inspectors? Realtors. Who is going to know who delivers the best reports? Realtors. Who is going to get sued if there is a bad inspection? The inspector and the Realtor! The Realtor has a vested interest in making sure the client get the best inspection possible. Most I know give out several names which is fine with me.

#3 Not attending the inspection. If your out of town I totally understand but if your too busy your making a big mistake. Also some inspector's say come at this time and I will go over everything with you. Your spending hundreds of thousands of dollars - wouldn't you want to know everything? Secondly if the client is walking around with me they will see the rooms that are packed with stored stuff and I can explain why a can't inspect areas I can't see.

#4 Not following inspectors recommendations. My #1 priority is making sure the home is safe to occupy. New smoke dectectors, adding carbon monoxide detectors and replacing ancient furnaces are all part of what I recommend to ensure no one gets hurt. Several years ago I spoke to the father of a client who was informing me that I was going to be sued for everything because his daughter and grand kids where in the hospital for Carbon Monoxide poisoning. I was able to recall the home (it was a HUD special) and ask it they had ever replaced the furnace or installed a CO detector as I had recommended. He got real quiet and said he didn't know. I found out later from the Realtor that they redone the kitchen and blown the budget on that. Having been in business many years I get to see homes I have previously inspected when they are being sold again. Our reporting system will automatically flag us to a "repeat" address. Although I am doing a new inspection I will review the old report afterwards as a comparison and most frequently the issues are not fixed. So what happend? Did the buyers take a price concession and live with the issue? Probably....

#5 Expecting your inspector to be psychic (and have X-ray vision) Realtors we need your help here. We are not pefect and no inspection will get 100% of the defects. I explain to my clients that my goal is to find big issues and have been very successful in achieving that goal (and having satified clients). What I hear from folks who are talking about past inspections are what was missed. Not having been their the only question I usually ask is "why/how do you think they missed it?" In most cases the issues weren't found until after they were in the home for several weeks.

Happy Holidays

Rick Bunzel, CRI
Pacific Crest Inspections
Licensed Home Inspector #312
ASHI Certified #249557
NAHI Member of the Year 2008
NPSAR Affiliate of the Year 2006-2007
WWW.PacCrestInspections.com
360-588-6956
Fax 360-588-6965
Toll Free 866-618-7764

Mentoring Matters