Ron...

You are preaching to the choir here! I don't think anyone on this board does not think that IR scans is not a good thing when doing a home inspection.

But I think what you are missing is that is it not required when doing a visual inspection. That is why the SOP's call it visual.

The house you refer to in you post with the missing insulation is a good example of why not to use a IR scan. The seller now is legally bound to disclose to every potential buyer that there is missing insulation. You are not making any friends with the local RE agents in my opinion. I've been a deal buster lots of times but I have never made a house impossible to sell without the seller having to lie! Just my 2 cents...