Home Inspectors, How Do They Sleep At Night??

tzzzz216

I was called out on a service call yesterday to install a new w/c ,when i was finished, The customer ask me to look at his water heat they wanted to know how it looked ?? What i found was a joke who ever put it in and i hope not a plumber , the water heater had a garden hose and clamp it to the relief line,which sets right next to the washing machine . Heres the sad part they just bought the house a month ago and Paid !!! a home inspector to inspect there house, How did he let this go by like that?? Do they even have any idea what kinda of burns this can cause ??
I corrected the problem for them and ran it full size out 3/4 and used hard copper, I suggested to the homeowner to forward the bill to the home inspector!!

Try to send these jobs overseas!!

Aceinstaller

It seems more and more of these would be inspectors are taking their 2 week class and opening a home inspection these days.

I've never seen a city inspector overlook anything quite that obvious in my time, but these stupid home buyer inspectors just take a class and get a license. When they should be ensuring homes are up to code or need repairs, creating work for us, they simply walk around a house and collect a check.

Bjd

One of the guys that waork for me brought me over to his sisters condo to do a looksee on a hot air furnace, you know ground floor unit with the furnace in a closet on the belconey.
Any how we went and look at it, funny thing who ever put the furnace in put it in upside down, they needed a counterflow unit.

Insepector said he never noticed it.

BJD

CGofMP

When we bought our homew the seller had already had a home inspection. A couple sheets with 3 action items. Looked great!

I paid the 300 bucks and had someone *I* paid come in.

The guy was GREAT. He was a former GC and the grey hair and practiced eyes found 26 pages of things to note (not that all were that bad but there was a LOT more detail and many things that the other one totally missed).

I would reccomend him again in a heartbeat.

There are only 2 things that we have found in 2 years of living there that he did not.

Not perfect but not bad.

The first inspection was a joke that bordered on false advertising.

__________________
Memorable Places - My little home on the web
Member of the White Knights Of Contractor Talk

firemike

Sad part is in many states, home inspectors don't need any type of licensing or testing - just print up some business cards and bingo! - you an inspector. I did a service call for a homeowner a couple years ago on a home that an inspector had done, gave the H/O a list if items that needed repair.

Items such as a trim board loose outside, washing machine hose kinked, faucet dripping, etc. Made no mention of the steel-web floor truss that the top chord was completely notched through to install the toilet flange for the first floor toilet, or the orange extension cord that was hard-wired into the panel for the "new" central vac system, or the wall plug (not even GFI protected) and small flat-screen TV over the tub. (Not a bad idea if you think about it...but-)

H/O said not to do anything about what I noticed because the "professional inspector" didn't find fault with them, just fix what was "wrong" on the report. Gotta wonder...

bassmaster

Most inspectors do not even see the little things, they just come in, take a quick look at the foundation (ya no cracks-ok) windows look ok, box has breakers, roof looks alright, ok that will be 600.00 please.

__________________
A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work !

BASSMASTER

kenvest

not only that, the contracts they make you sign in this state pretty much takes all the burden off the inspector as the contract states that they aren't responsible for things they missed. this goes for the termite guy too...

most of the troubles i see are related to the real estate agent knowing the inspector and recommending them for the gig because "he can get it done quickly and i trust him"

i've seen people get very burned by this and they have no recourse...

MJW

My bro-inlaw is one of these guys. He has a checklist he goes by and does a somewhat thorough job. It takes him a few hours. On the other hand, he has no construction experience before he started doing this. He is certified, but it is not needed in MN. Anyone can do this, charge for it, and get away with it. It's not really making any money IMO, but to me it is the newest scam out there. I hope this doesn't last long.

nadonailer

On the other hand, one of my best buddies does this full time and is very knowledgable. He's a GC who used to run really large projects, so he knows a lot about virtually everything. He's so good and thorough that a lot of realtors won't use him any more, they call him 'the deal killer' around here
He's got some great stories!

Which brings up a joke:
Q: "how can you tell when a realtor is lying?"

A: "their lips are moving"

Anyway, it is too bad these guys don't have to be licensed in some way, the service they can potentially provide is very valuable!

__________________
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid”.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Inspector

I have and will only perform home inspections with a narrative style report. The Checklist variety is too vague and does not serve the customer well. Unfortunately the RE agents just love the checklist style and I have heard so many times "Now....don't find anything..." from them. It is a lousy relationship but unfortunately the homebuyer, unless educated, will listen to the RE agents about the quality of the home. I have found so many more problems with new homes than older homes and most new home buyers are not even cognizant of
the troubles they will eventually have.

Venting properly......

ct plumber

Home inspectors are guys who couldnt make a living in the trade because they are retards,when buying a home take the time and pay the money to bring each trade in,these guys should have to carry a lic in every trade to become an inspector.

LNG24

@ CT,

Ignorance is Bliss. How many hack plumbers do I know...more than hack Home Inspectors. To bash an entire field for no reason is pitiful. I deal with more home inspectors in a year than most of us on here will ever come across. I know some whom I would never recommend and then I know others that I would pay to inspect any home I was buying. Its the same thing with contractors, sub and every other trade I deal with.

There are both good and bad people in every trade. I support licensing in all fields because though small, it does help some.

Lets face it, when it comes to having a bad overall image, contractors are constantly being all grouped together and there are many that I would trust my life with. Generalizing does nothing but spread unsupported hatred.

__________________
Larry
www.Lexie-Rides.com
www.SportTouringGear.com
St. Lawrence Properties

Anti-wingnut

I completed recently a rather extensive remodel of a commercial space. The contractor who had worked on earlier phases was a well respected residential contractor, who is now a well respected home inspector. What I found

1) All wall were built of 1/2"DW, instead of the required 5/8"
2) No partition walls tops were attached to the the building structure. All fits were interference only. In our seismic area, we are required to have positive attachment, and generally make allowance for roof deflection. This also was not done
3) All doors were hollow core, something not done in commercial spaces.
4) No bathrooms met ADA
5) The dishwasher drained into the parking lot
6) One important fire door was a hollow core door with a piece of sheet rock glued to it
7) All ceramic tile in the bathrooms was placed by this contractor such that there was a huge hump at each toilet, and it was almost impossible to level and shim the toilet
8) All wiring was done in romex, even though our city does not allow romex for such uses
9) No permits were drawn, and no plans were submitted. This is on a job in excess of 12,000 sq ft
10) The owner loved him, because he because he had to be right - he was an inspector. When the owner said "I don't care how we do it, as long as we do it as cheap as possible", he did that.
11) Emergency exit signage was cardboard painted red, with arrows magic markered in.
12) Beams and headers were all threaded to the ceiling steel, without any engineering
13) Wall were built within 1" of fire sprinkler heads, and the contractor did not deem it worth the added expense of moving the heads, even though code requires 6" of space
14) He is a instructor of home inspectors

ct plumber

Like i said,there guys who couldn't make it in the field,like it or not its the truth,as far as hack plumbers there a dime a dozen,just like thiving brokers,lets face it sales people weither it be cars or homes are hacks in there own way too.

LNG24

Must be wonderful in yoru world...glad I am in mine

__________________
Larry
www.Lexie-Rides.com
www.SportTouringGear.com
St. Lawrence Properties

ct plumber

It sunny here in my world.

Static Design

I had a building inspector tell me the exterior walls had to be framed out of pressure treated 2x4's.....

__________________
Will do autocad/ 3d work for food.
SD on facebook... click here

ct plumber

Stuff like this just proves everyone's point,these guys wouldn't do half the stuff themselves if they were doing the work,because they feel they have the power to bark orders they do,they couldnt amount to anything in the trade,so they move on to a home inspector or building inspector.

I love my world

alsunrunner

I deal with plenty of inspestors most are down to earth and no one is perfect they usually know a bum job thats when they get tough. Then there are the complete jerks they are not happy unless they make you asweat I had 1 inspector who was mad at the world as soon as he showes he's pulling out nails on the hurricabe strapping to measures them, I have a nail gun thats designed for simpson strapping and this dopy inspector made a big fuss, I had to show Simpsons documents and he finaly shut the f%^$ up.

Archania

I have dealt with this a lot too. I worked in a real estate office, and we would get these done all the time. The thing I hate most is that they have their a$$ covered, so that they have zero liability for anything. That, and for most people, its just big red flags about "problems" that really arent that bad. Like electrical stuff- Saw one the other day, and the report said it had substandard breakers because it had a Zinnsco panel. Well yea they arent great, but the house is 50 years old! Do you expect everything to be new? Now the people think they have to re-wire the whole house because the other agent brought an electrician in that is hungry for work! Or, another one- the water pressure isnt great in another house from the late 40's. Yea, it has galvanized pipes, is the seller going to re-pipe it? (mind you it was WAY better by me simply cleaning out the aerators on the faucets) Come on! And yes, everyone takes the inspectors word like it is the final word...