Contact your home inspector.
There may come a time when you find something wrong with your house after you move in that makes you upset or disappointed with your home inspection.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
Intermittent or Concealed Problems: Some problems can only be discovered by living in a house. They can’t be discovered during the course of a few hours, even with a home inspection. Sometimes problems are hidden inside walls, under floors, and above ceilings. Some roofs and basements only leak under certain conditions. And some problems are hidden beneath carpet or behind furniture and storage items.
No Clues: These problems may have existed at the time of the inspection, but there were no clues as to their existence.
Home inspections are based on the past performance of the house. If there are no clues of a past problem, it’s not fair to think we should be able to predict a problem in the future.
Minor Things: Some say home inspectors are inconsistent because no two reports are the same. This is true. Sometimes small things get overlooked because they’re small, but the major defects should be found no matter what.
Contractor’s Advice: A common source of disappointment and bad advice comes from subcontractors. Contractor opinions often have nothing to do with home inspection guidelines. Don’t be surprised when three roofers all say the roof has a few more good years left after we say it needs to be replaced, and vice versa.
Last-Man-In Theory: While we often give the most prudent advice, alot of contractors avoid doing the work. This is because of the last-man-in theory.
This theory states that the last man to touch something gets the blame if something goes wrong later.
For example, if he’s the last person to work on the roof, he gets blamed if the roof leaks, regardless of the actual cause. So, instead of conceding to a small repair with greater liability, he pushes for the whole roof to be replaced for more money and a lower likelihood of callback.
Most Recent Advice Is Best: The last-man-in theory has more to it. It also suggests that homeowners tend to believe the last piece of expert advice they get, even if it contradicts previous advice.
As home inspectors, we’re often the first-man-in so our advice ultimately gets dismissed later.
Why Didn’t We See It? Last-man-in contractors have the luxury of saying, “I can’t believe you had this house inspected and the inspector didn’t find this problem.” There are several reasons for this:
Most don’t understand a home inspection and make claims that upset homebuyers based on opinion, instead of fact.
Conditions during The Inspection: It can be difficult to remember the conditions inside the house during the inspection. It’s easy to forget if it was snowing, the basement was packed with boxes, if the air conditioner was tested, etc. This means it’s impossible for 3rd party contractors to know what the circumstances were when the inspection was performed.
The Wisdom of Hindsight: When a problem manifests, it’s easy to use 20/20 hindsight. Anyone can say the basement gets wet when there is 2 feet of water on the floor. Predicting the problem is a different story.
A Longer Look: If we spent 30-minutes under the kitchen sink or 45 minutes disassembling the furnace, we’d find more problems. But, the inspection would take several days and cost thousands more.
The Family Doctor: We’re generalists, not specialists. And just like the difference between your family doctor and an oncologist, we must know as much as we can about every system in your home, but not everything about one.
For example, the heating contractor will have more heating expertise than we do. That’s because we have heating, plumbing, structural, electrical, etc. expertise.
An Invasive Look: Problems often become apparent when carpets or plaster are removed, fixtures or cabinets are pulled out, and so on. A home inspection is a visual examination. We don’t perform invasive or destructive tests.
Not Insurance: A professional home inspection protects you from buying a money pit, but it doesn’t mitigate all risk. That’s why a home inspection should NOT be considered an insurance policy. The premium you’d have to pay for a policy with no deductible, no limit and an indefinite policy period would be considerably more than the fee we charge.
This is a lot to take in and this discussion is not meant to make excuses for any items that are blatantly missed. In those cases, the inspector is responsible should take responsibility for the oversight.
However, inspectors are not psychic, cannot see through walls, and cannot predict problems in the future.
This means you owe it to yourself to understand the limitations of the inspection process before you order one.
