He can if he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
The first step after entering into contract on a home is to hire a home inspector and have him or her use their knowledge and their testing meters to determine your future home’s condition. You “trust” that if they’re in the business that they know what they’re doing, don’t you?
Well, that’s not always the case. Some inspectors just don’t know as much as they should about “how things work” or they don’t know local building codes or they allow their PERSONAL preferences to interfere with how they judge a home. Then if you ask for repairs (remedies) of those items noted in the inspection report, it can set the stage for disagreements with the seller. If those disagreements can’t be resolved, the Purchase Contract may fall apart and you won’t get the home you wanted so much.
Here’s some examples that I’ve experienced over the years where an inspector’s errors cost or nearly cost the trusting buyer from buying their home: 
- The inspector said the sump pit was too shallow and should be redone to make it twice as deep as it was and that a new deeper pump needed to be installed. This was on a 2-year old home, built by a major builder, within city limits, that would have had a city inspection for the occupancy permit. A check with the city zoning department confirmed that the pit was OK because the depth is determined by the type of pump installed. In this case, it was a short post pump which allowed for a less deep pit. The city determined there was nothing wrong with the pit or the pump. The inspector just wasn’t up-to-date on the newer building trends nor on city codes.
- The inspector said the gas fireplace didn’t work because he wasn’t able to light it. In this case, the seller
seldom used the fireplace so the gas wasn’t filling the line. The inspector tried to light the pilot as soon as he turned it on, rather than waiting a few minutes for the line to fill with gas. (It was July so the inspector should have ‘assumed’ that it had been a few months since it was used.) The seller countered by letting the line sit for awhile before trying to light it, then I took a photo of the burning fireplace with date/time stamp to prove that the fireplace worked IF one knew what they were doing. This same inspector was unable to open the lockbox and called me to tell me that MY lockbox didn’t work. I immediately drove to the home to investigate and learned that the inspector didn’t know he had to update his keypad in order to have the lockbox allow entry. DUH!
- On an older home, the inspector said that it should be rewired to put in GFCI outlets. While GFCI outlets are now code, they weren’t a number of years ago. It’s not required to bring an older home up to today’s code (UNLESS new wiring is being done). The inspector should have told the buyers that while GFCI outlets offer a measure of safety, they were not required due to the age of the home meeting the codes at the time it was built.
- The inspector said that the exterior wood trim at the home’s corners and around the windows, should be mitered rather than butted. This was on a 3-yr old home in a new tract subdivision, priced at $200K. As long as the butted ends are kept painted, this is purely a cosmetic issue. Few buyers of tract homes would want to pay the extra cost to have sub-contractors mitre and caulk wood trim. This Purchase Contract fell apart because the buyer insisted that the seller remove, replace, and mitre all the wood trim on the home. The sellers refused to rebuild the home.
- Same inspector and same home as above, said the 3 steps leading from the back door to the ground (that were made of treated lumber) should be power-washed, sanded, and stained. These steps are required by city code for builders to get occupancy permits. The buyer insisted that the requested work be done. The sellers were so mad at the wood-trim request that this cosmetic request just added
“fuel to the fire”.
- The inspector said that wider, commercial-grade gutters should be installed on one section of the home because he thought that the standard residential gutters wouldn’t be able to handle rain run-off … no proof of that … just his opinion. Seller contacted a commercial gutter installer who investigated and basically said the inspector was … well, I won’t write in here what they REALLY said.
Inspectors are hired to judge or determine a home’s health, safety, or structure issues. They are not to give their personal opinion of a neighborhood’s desirability, the home’s price, any cosmetic issues (like carpet condition), or inject their personal preferences for the home’s amenities (like counter-top style).
Also, if the inspector is recommending that too many things should have a “professional” inspection, a red flag – or at least a pink one – should go up. You’ve hired this inspector to be your “professional”. You’ll need to ask yourself if calling in a specialist (like an HVAC company, roofer) really seems warranted or if the inspector is merely saying this to cover his liability. Yes, I know that’s a tough call, but listen to what he/she says and SHOWS you, then decide for yourself.
As a buyer, you should attend the home inspection so you can personally be there to watch how thoroughly the inspector does his/her job, to ask questions on routine homeowner maintenance, and don’t be hesitant to challenge if you begin to feel the inspector isn’t quite up-to-speed on their knowledge. For instance, in the sump pump example above, even though you may not know anything about sump pumps, you should still be able to use deductive reasoning that (1) it’s a fairly new home, (2) built by a major builder who knows the codes, (3) and it would have been inspected by the city for occupancy permit, (4) so why would the city sign off on an improperly installed sump pump? Don’t be afraid to ask the inspector questions such as this.
Naturally, there are times when the inspector’s findings are serious enough to warrant not purchasing a home. But then again, there are inspectors who just aren’t knowledgeable and it would be a shame for this type of inspector to cause you to lose your favorite home.
Keep an open mind!
Be sure to read these articles:
Inspectors in Ohio aren’t licensed
Types of home inspections you can have done
New Builds Need Inspections, too.
Copyright © 2007. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.
