Building Inspectors Forum

[ddawg16]

Just came across the below forum......

Home Inspectors Forum

Considering how often we are asking questions that relate to building codes...this seems like a good site....

 

[Norcal]

A home inspector is not a building inspector.....

 

[banzaitoyota]

and home inspectors are not held liable for their job. Another point:
Home Inspectors get the majority of their work from Real Estate agents; how many callbacks do you think they get if they find defects and spoil the sale?

 

[GarageEnvy]

and home inspectors are not held liable for their job. Another point:
Home Inspectors get the majority of their work from Real Estate agents; how many callbacks do you think they get if they find defects and spoil the sale?

Exactly! I deal with home inspectors all the time and in California there are no licensing requirements. The home inspector trade is a complete free-for-all. There are very good inspectors who will take several hours and do a good job. They're getting pushed out of the business by the guy who does a 30 minute inspection and hands out a checklist.

A good inspector is worth their weight in gold. It's just hard for the average homeowner to know who they are getting.

 

[Zeke]

A lot of home inspectors voluntarily join an professional association such as the American Society of Home Inspectors. I am not a home inspector and am not endorsing the ASHI I think they try to raise the bar for their trade.

As such, many of them know a lot about codes and what to cite vs. not cite beyond the dripping faucet. I would encourage hiring a 3rd party HI, not one referred to by the seller's Realtor. Or would that be a 4th party?

 

[ddawg16]

Sorry about the misleading title....brain fart.....typing fingers and brain do not always work in sync.....

I was more interested in this site for it's references to building codes and why some things are the way they are.....

As soon as I have more time, I want to browse some of the threads to see if I can get a gist of what the most common problems they see.

 

[banzaitoyota]

John, I hear what you are saying; my point is that if you shell out money shouldnt there be some accountability for the money you spent? In the majority of the cases there isn't.

I rently sold a property and paid a respectable sum for a stamped engineers letter stating that the underpinning work met HUD codes; the buyers appraissor had not a clue what the letter meant! Their appraissor had to be educated as to what HUD allowed for underpinning on a manufacured home had to be built too in order to meet underwriting requirements.

 

[Cuda]

Oh that's easy. Most common problem.....stupidity....same like you see at the cops job.

I'd say more ignorance than stupidity. That and a "I just want to get the job done and over with" mentality, that more often than not leads to shoddy work and inferior materials.

 

[oldwino]

and home inspectors are not held liable for their job. Another point:
Home Inspectors get the majority of their work from Real Estate agents; how many callbacks do you think they get if they find defects and spoil the sale?

At least in California, and I suspect most of the country, "Building Inspectors" from the city, county, ? are also not liable. If your house burns down because they "missed that", too bad, it's on you. Between plan check fees (having a tech check to see if your registered, licensed architect, engineer, or other design pro's did their work right), to the actual inspection fees, a hell of a revenue stream for local government's.

Just my $0.02 worth (inflation adjusted to $0.012475)

 

[slghmmr88]

I had to take 90 hours of classwork, pass the national test, I do need to look up and see how many CE hours I need for next years renewal, Takes me approx. 4 hours on 1500 sq ft. residence not including putting together my report later to have uploaded so buyer can download off the website next day. I am hired by the buyer, and mostly by referral from the buyers agent, been averaging 100 to 140 pictures per inspection on 1500 feet, killed 2 sales this year, have been told to not take so long (by the buyers agent) but thanked profusely by the buyer on the bad homes. I don't kill the sale just present the condition of the home at that particular time (think snapshot). Many of the realtor I work with don't know I inspect (cause I get more work from them on repairs and remodels.) And no I will not even discuss doing any work on a house I have inspected within a year and turn down inspections on houses I work on, at least with a year. I know all states are different and the requirements for OK have increased and will probably continue to do so.

 

[Norcal]

Here are a couple more home inspector, HI sites.

http://www.inspectionnews.net/home_inspection/

http://www.nachi.org/forum/

 

[ddawg16]

At least in California, and I suspect most of the country, "Building Inspectors" from the city, county, ? are also not liable. If your house burns down because they "missed that", too bad, it's on you. Between plan check fees (having a tech check to see if your registered, licensed architect, engineer, or other design pro's did their work right), to the actual inspection fees, a hell of a revenue stream for local government's.

Just my $0.02 worth (inflation adjusted to $0.012475)

Lets make sure we understand the two different 'inspectors'.....

First, you have the "Home Inspector"....this is the guy that the potential home buyer gets to inspect the house prior to closing. As slghmmr noted, a good inspection report can save a buyer from buying a bad house...

Then we have the "Building Inspector".....this is the guy that works for the city or county and inspects projects as they are under construction.

I am currently in the process of adding on a 2-story addition to my house. We just completed plan check and pulled all of our permits.....

I personally think LA county has it's **** together.....at least building and safety does.

The architect I used is good...real good....before he was drawing on paper, he was swinging a hammer building houses....has been in business for years....on this go-around with plan check, the checker went through the drawings in great detail. As anyone would expect, an architect is going to reuse drawings...especially things like notes.....it's the same from job to job, on the address changes. Well, this checker read everyone of those notes and found a few 'typos'....and found a couple of incorrect dimensions.....my architect was impressed with the detail of checking.

When it was all done...plan check was about $1200.....all the permits cost about $2000. But, I am pretty confident that my addition is not going to fall down....and...when it's all down, my existing house is going to be a lot tougher than before. If the 'big one' hits...I think I'll be just fine.

Regarding "Building Inspectors". I like the ones the county has. They take the time to explain things to me....if I have a question and they don't know the answer, the find out. A few years ago when I was doing the kitchen, I had a question about my vaulted ceiling. Because it was not real clear how I was explaining it on the phone, the guy said he would come out and have a look. Next day he stopped by...spent 5 min looking at what I was doing....suggested one change and went on his way.

Some people think the permit fees are just a money maker for cities and counties....I don't agree....I think the money is worth knowing that something is built right.

Disclaimer.....there is an issue with one of the cities here....inspectors were taking bribes....those inspectors are now looking for jobs.....the funny part....they took a total of less than $6K to look the other way....I'm glad LA County is not that way.....

 

[Rickstir]

slghmmr88, that is best avitar I have ever seen. Well played.

 

[theoldwizard1]

My son bought a repo a couple of years ago. Let me just say, they cannot inspect what they can not see. Like the bad wiring (extension cord) behind dry wall and the covered rotten floor joist under the bath tub.

Sadly the <10 year old roof started to leak after a torrential downpour due to improperly installed bathroom vent. Roofers coming next week to strip the shingles and replacing all of the roof decking (the inspector did say it was spongy).

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Since you brought up "Home Inspection" I'll repeat my story here, that I posted the other day in the "Electric Plug Noise" thread started by dolfans

Charles

About 1987 I bought a tiny little cracker box of a house (all brick however) for myself. First house. I was moving stuff in and my parents stopped by to see the place. My mom swore up and down that she could hear a sizzling in one of the rooms. Dad and I blew it off, but after they left, I decided to start pulling electric outlets in that room (she thought it was coming from an outlet (none were in use). Of course, the romex strings from the breaker to one outlet, to the next and then the next and so forth, so you could have something plugged in another room drawing current thru an outlet with nothing plugged into it.

Well, I discovered two things. 1) I had aluminum wiring, and 2) some of this wiring was burning up at the outlets.

Mom was right, she did hear a sizzling and it was the wire burned 6 inches up the romex from the receptacle.

Worse than that, I found one other receptacle that had burned wire. The "home inspector" had found a couple of receptacles that the hot/neutral were reversed. He had come back after the inspection to "fix" this and a stiff Moen kitchen faucet cartridge. Well, on the ones he changed the wire on, was one of the burned ones. I found good wire on the burned side and burned wire on the unburned side of the receptacle!!!!!!!! He had found the burned wire and swapped them and didn't tell anyone!!!!!!!! I cut the romex off and left it attached to the terminals, and dropped it off at the real estate agent (who had recommended him).

Even worse........ this "home inspector's" full time job (7 days on, 7 off) was as a fireman for the city.

 

[Falcon67]

We paid $250 for a full bore inspection on the house we decided not to buy. It was well worth it as the inspector was very diligent and had building experience. Uncovered several things. On the repo house that we did buy, we did not pay for an inspection. The house was "as is" and it didn't matter what was screwed up, the VA was not going to fix anything. I just went over it real hard and we later found a couple of issues but they were not anything that would have shown up in an inspection. Oddly, I did find a couple of the same issues that the inspector found on the other house.

 

[GarageEnvy]

I rently sold a property and paid a respectable sum for a stamped engineers letter stating that the underpinning work met HUD codes; the buyers appraissor had not a clue what the letter meant! Their appraissor had to be educated as to what HUD allowed for underpinning on a manufacured home had to be built too in order to meet underwriting requirements.

Sorry for the brief off topic response but just as an FYI HUD manufactured housing foundation requirements are compiled in a specific book that is several hundred pages and reads like an engineering textbook. All appraisers must certify they have the competency to complete the job. That means geographical expertise and technical expertise. If they don't they have to disclose their lack of knowledge to the client prior to accepting the job, take steps to gain the knowledge and disclose what they did. I've got 20 years experience and 17 as an FHA approved appraiser and I wouldn't touch a manufactured house for the very reason of understanding the foundation requirements. I know of one appraiser who does them and I refer all of it to him. What you describe would have the appraiser in deep trouble with both HUD and the state licensing agency. Also, it is very common for an appraiser to require a certification from an engineer.

 

[blkhonda1991]

Since you brought up "Home Inspection" I'll repeat my story here, that I posted the other day in the "Electric Plug Noise" thread started by dolfans

Charles

About 1987 I bought a tiny little cracker box of a house (all brick however) for myself. First house. I was moving stuff in and my parents stopped by to see the place. My mom swore up and down that she could hear a sizzling in one of the rooms. Dad and I blew it off, but after they left, I decided to start pulling electric outlets in that room (she thought it was coming from an outlet (none were in use). Of course, the romex strings from the breaker to one outlet, to the next and then the next and so forth, so you could have something plugged in another room drawing current thru an outlet with nothing plugged into it.

Well, I discovered two things. 1) I had aluminum wiring, and 2) some of this wiring was burning up at the outlets.

Mom was right, she did hear a sizzling and it was the wire burned 6 inches up the romex from the receptacle.

Worse than that, I found one other receptacle that had burned wire. The "home inspector" had found a couple of receptacles that the hot/neutral were reversed. He had come back after the inspection to "fix" this and a stiff Moen kitchen faucet cartridge. Well, on the ones he changed the wire on, was one of the burned ones. I found good wire on the burned side and burned wire on the unburned side of the receptacle!!!!!!!! He had found the burned wire and swapped them and didn't tell anyone!!!!!!!! I cut the romex off and left it attached to the terminals, and dropped it off at the real estate agent (who had recommended him).

Even worse........ this "home inspector's" full time job (7 days on, 7 off) was as a fireman for the city.

i would love to know why the "home inspector" was opening outlets and fixing things, both of which are not part of an inspectors job description.

 

[idoine in toronto]

When I sold my home in California the buyer hired a home inspector recommended by his agent. Not a problem until I read the inspectors report that clearly had major errors in it. The inspection company had what looked like electronic comment software that the inspector could select pre-written, yet generic comments to produce a report. The problem was none of the issues noted existed in the home (but a few others did) and when I when I contacted the inspection company and talked with the person responsible for the report he eventually admitted that he hadn't even been to the house and based his report on the photos from the sales listing and the general age of other homes in the neighborhood. The red flags were things like "old and worn roof shingles", it had a brand new roof, "windows in need of repair", again new windows and "foundation not bolted" and of course this was also not the case. He agreed to come and do a real inspection but the buyers had already given the report to their mortgage co and it became a real pain to unravel.

I do believe good inspections are valuable, but the industry needs more regulation as the cheap, quickie inspectors will drive the credible inspectors out of the business.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

i would love to know why the "home inspector" was opening outlets and fixing things, both of which are not part of an inspectors job description.

1987, no certifications, no licensing, nothing. Anyone with a extension ladder, electric outlet tester, a short hose for flushing water heater tanks, a flashlight and a clipboard was (and still is) qualified to do home inspections. There is no "job description".

Charles

 

[Steves32]

Up front- I'll say my brother is a home inspector.

Then I'll say home inspectors are a waste of time & money in most cases.
Perfect example is a job I looked at today. We are bidding a new HVAC install & it needs a panel upgrade (old 6 breaker Zinsco POS) Home was bought 4 months ago & they had a home inspection. I'm checking the panel- mast head exits side wall in stucco & from there, 2 of the 3 leads go up through the edge of a patio roof & plywood sheeting & are pinched between a plywood seam. Nice.
She called her realtor & the inspection company. Tough **** on her. Inspection company is not liable for anything missed on report. How the hell do you miss that?

 

[kdtjb]

and home inspectors are not held liable for their job. Another point:
Home Inspectors get the majority of their work from Real Estate agents; how many callbacks do you think they get if they find defects and spoil the sale?

Building inspectors aren't liable either.