Don't get burned by shoddy home inspection - MSNBC - InspectionNews

Brian Hannigan · #1 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 03:50 PM

InspectionNews has just found the following information that might be of interest to you:

Don't get burned by shoddy home inspection
MSNBC - 26 minutes ago
By Herb Weisbaum Youâ€™d have to be a fool to buy a house without having it inspected first. The challenge is to find a competent home inspector who can give ...

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fritzkelly · #2 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 05:32 PM

First article I've seen that mentions NAHI instead of ASHI.

Kevin Luce · #3 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 10:12 PM

"“There are a lot of people out there doing this who honestly don’t know what they’re doing,” says Alan Mooney, President of Criterium Engineers in Portland, Maine. His company has offices in 35 states and has been doing home inspections since 1957."

Home inspections since 1957? I wonder how many home inspections he was doing the first 20 years? No standards, continuing education classes or anything else.

There was a construction company that did home inspections when construction was slow. He did home inspections for many years until licensing came around. I guess he didn't want to put the time or money into getting licensed. Likely because he didn't do enough each year to justify it.

Bruce Breedlove · #4 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 10:25 PM

Quote:

One more thought. Considering how much money is on the line, I would urge you to consider having two inspections. Hire a general home inspector and a structural engineer. The structural engineer might spot things the other inspector missed.

Better yet, have one inspection using a general home inspector who is also a structural engineer.

Rick Hurst · #5 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 11:27 PM

Why not just hire an investigative news team since their so damn smart about everything.

Matt Fellman · #6 (**permalink**) 08-02-2007, 12:08 AM

These stories always catch my eye, of course, since it's my profession. It's a constant reminder of what a gap there is between us and a lot of the general public. We have this clear cut definition of the service we offer and no matter what we say, write or make them read they try to 'hi-jack' our service into what they want it to be, not what we claim to offer or what is a practical business model.

Everybody wants a guarantee or warranty of some type. The amount of money that would cost from an insurance company would be staggering.

I think the side of this coin that gets missed all too often in this debate is the number of great home inspections that get performed and the number of happy or, dare I say, even ecstatic homebuyers from their HI experience. Of course, that doesn't make for very sexy news so it would never get talked about.

How did we all end up doing this anyway? We must be crazy....

Bruce Breedlove · #7 (**permalink**) 08-02-2007, 01:17 AM

Several things go unreported in articles like this:

How did the buyers select their inspector?

Did their Realtor recommend only one inspector?

What did the buyers pay for their home inspection?

Did they shop around for the cheapest inspection they could find?

Did they base their choice of home inspector on price only?

Did they interview their home inspector to find out his background, training, experience and professional affiliations?

Did they ask the inspector how long his inspection may last?

Did they ask the inspector what kind of report he will issue?

Did they ask for a sample report from the inspector?

Did they ask the inspector how many inspections he does in a day?

Did they ask the inspector for references?

Did they read the inspection agreement (including limitations, statement the inspection and report are not a warranty or a guarantee, and damages for missed items are limited to the inspection fee) before the inspection?

Did they read the report before buying the house?

Were the "missed items" clearly visible at the time of the inspection or were they uncovered during renovation?