Home Inspections
Home inspections are a critical step in the home selling and buying process, yet studies have found that home buyers spend less time inspecting their future home than they spend grocery shopping for one week! Just as it is important to have a mechanic check out a used car, it is equally important to have any home inspected by a professional building inspector.
Only by being armed with a thorough home inspection, can a buyer make an "informed" buying decision.
Home sellers are required to disclose everything that affects value and desirability of their home. A professional home inspection is the best way to ensure that this disclosure covers everything, leaving no surprises post-sale that might land you in a dispute or even in court.
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Home Inspections – What Is Involved?
Homes should be inspected from the “sub-area” (basement/foundation) through the roof. Quality home inspections will address the following:
• Property Site: Includes sidewalks, driveways, fences, site drainage, and other features.
• Building Exterior: Includes siding, decks, windows, and other features.
• Roof Covering: Includes flashings, gutters and downspouts and chimney.
• Building Interior: Includes appliances, floors, walls, ceilings, doors, fireplaces, garage, and other features.
• Electrical: Includes the main and sub panels, circuit wiring, and other features.
• Plumbing: Includes the drainage piping, water supply lines, water heater, and other features.
• Heating and Air Conditioning: Includes the system and ducting.
• Attic Space: Includes the framing and insulation.
• Foundations and Crawlspace: Includes ventilation, moisture infiltration, and other features.
In short, a home inspection is a visual inspection of all the major components within the home. It should also be an operational inspection of the appliances, heating and air conditioning systems, plus plumbing and electrical systems.
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Licensing of Home Inspectors
Home inspectors are not required to be licensed in California. Anyone can claim to be a home inspector; therefore it is very important that you make the right choice.
Selecting a Qualified Home Inspector
A good inspector is like your family doctor.
A good way to characterize a home inspector is to classify him/her as a general practitioner. If an inspector observes an area of concern, s/he would traditionally recommend hiring a specialist for a more detailed analysis. As an example, if a hillside home is showing signs of settling or movement, the inspector would normally recommend contacting a soils or structural engineer for a more in depth evaluation as to the cause of the movement.
What factors should you consider when selecting a home inspector?
Inspector Credentials: Because there are no licensing requirements for home inspectors in California, anyone can call himself or herself a home inspector. There are a number of home inspector schools that make you a "certified home inspector" after 1-2 weeks of training. Many franchises also offer a big name and fancy reports or brochures but little in the way of training. If you can pay the bucks, you can buy the image or the title. NBI's inspectors are required to perform a minimum of 200 training inspections prior to their first solo inspection. Ask these questions when interviewing an inspector:
- How many inspections has he or she performed?
- What training did she or he receive?
- What is his or her past construction experience?"
Put simply, who would be a better inspector? One who performs 10 inspections a month, or one who performs 60 to 70 per month?
Conflicts of Interest: Inspectors who also do corrective work to fix the problems they find have an inherent conflict of interest. Ask this question:
Does the inspector perform corrective work on the homes he inspects?
Most home inspection trade organizations absolutely forbid inspectors from performing corrective work on the homes they inspect because of this built-in conflict of interest. Our trade association, CREIA, recommends that you never hire an inspection company that performs corrective work on the same homes they inspect. Doing so could cost you thousands of dollars in extra repairs.
Size of Company: Many home inspectors are one-man operations working out of their homes. Others are small independently owned and operated franchises. The questions to ask are:
- How many inspectors are employed?
- How long have you been in business?
- Are you financially strong enough to stand behind your inspection if there is a dispute?