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Re: Pre-listing inspection liabilities?
"what scenarios could I expect?"
The same scenarios if you missed something on a "normal" inspection and someone called you upon it.
ASHI in Michigan has a "Review by Peer" program. Half a dozen experienced ASHI inspectors inspect a home as a team for 2 hours. Notes are taken of all the faults found. The team prioritizes the list of faults. They are sorted into items that every home inspector should find and report. That becomes the standard for that house. Candidates are given the same amount of time to inspect the house as the team had. They are allowed to use any and all of their normal tools and aids. They are given a couple of hours to review their notes and prepare for a presentation to the team. The candidate presents his report orally to the team. The team asks questions and the candidate has the opportunity to access his notes.
The interesting part is every inspector has areas they are weak and strong. As a team, there is an eggspert for every topic. Overall the team is more experienced than an individual. During the discussion to determine which faults should be found by the candidates, each team member fights for his area of strength. The final list when reviewed objectively is a good and fair inspection.
The candidates who take this challenge must have performed at least 100 inspections. Most have 5+ years and are generally held in high regard by peers. The fella who wrote the licensing laws for our state 12 years ago, took the challenge recently. He scored 42 out of 100. Most candidates do not pass the challenge.
All that to say, every home inspector will find something different than the previous one. Some has to do with training, experience, judgment, distraction, and time. My goal is to find all the defects that would cost $100 or more to repair. I hope I find all the defects but know that I will not. I make judgment calls on the severity of defects and some make the report, and some do not.
I follow a routine to limit that amount of items I forget to inspect. Sometimes I am talking to the client about the defect and forget to write it down. Other times I intend to come back and investigate further and don't. Hopefully I get all the big stuff and most of the little stuff.
I performed a pre-listing yesterday. I told the seller I was going to miss things. I set the expectation that while there is a state mandated minimum standard, inspectors can and do exceed that standard. Depending on how much they move past a visual inspection and more towards a technically exhaustive inspection, they may find additional items.
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