Licensed Professional Engineering Home Inspector in Phoenix (Tolleson: foreclosure, sex offenders)

[CroceAZ]

Hi everyone. My names Matt
My fiance and I just purchased our first home in Tolleson AZ this week and are looking for recommendations on a "Licensed Professional Engineering Home Inspector" in the Phoenix Metro area.

If anyone has any recommendations as to who i should use and what your experience was with them i'd really appreciate it.


Thanks!

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by CroceAZ

Hi everyone. My names Matt
My fiance and I just purchased our first home in Tolleson AZ this week and are looking for recommendations on a "Licensed Professional Engineering Home Inspector" in the Phoenix Metro area.

If anyone has any recommendations as to who i should use and what your experience was with them i'd really appreciate it.


Thanks!

Why would you need an "engineering" home inspector? FWIW, home inspectors don't generally go beyond a "visible" inspection - they don't look behind drywall, disassemble things, pull up carpet etc.

If you're looking at potential structural problems you would probably want a civil/structural engineer - but a report from them isn't likely to give you information about anything but structural integrity...

[maverick974]

I too just moved here. When my home was purchased I hired a home inspection and while he did find some things that were a concern, he certainly didn't do anything more than a visual inspection and not much in the report was more informative than stuff I could have found myself or would have found anyway once moved in.
My advice is to hire a contractor. He can usually tell you more about the structural stuff, electrical, plumbing, etc. than most home inspectores and I'm guessing they would be cheaper as well.

[CroceAZ]

I've read the Professional Engineering inspectors are State regulated and licensed and also required a bachelors degree rather than a certification (which only requires a high school diploma in some states, source listed below)

With the home being a foreclosure and our first property purchase i'd feel a lot more comfotable and have peice-of-mind knowing im having it inspected by someone more than qualified rather someone who could of obtained thier license from an online course.


Source: http://www.inspectamerica.com/Home_I.../why_p_e_.html
http://www.inspectamerica.com/Home_I...ome_buyer.html

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by CroceAZ

I've read the Professional Engineering inspectors are State regulated and licensed and also required a bachelors degree rather than a certification (which only requires a high school diploma in some states, source listed below)

With the home being a foreclosure and our first property purchase i'd feel a lot more comfotable and have peice-of-mind knowing im having it inspected by someone more than qualified rather someone who could of obtained thier license from an online course.


Source: Why P.E.
First Time House Buyer Home Inspection

That site only lists two firms in the phoenix metro area. I'm not sure I'd be 100% onboard with the idea of hiring an engineer for a home inspection - the inspection can really only include visible areas - and I'd really doubt they are going to be able to do much more than any other home inspector as far as the "engineering" of the house goes.

If there are broken trusses, cracked stucco, misaligned doors, etc they might have more insight as to the cause, but it's all just guessing until you peel the walls back, and no seller I know is going to allow that.

I don't use home inspectors for that reason - the inspection is only visual, and very general, with pages of exclusions. The inspector will tell you how old your water heater and heat pump are, but they won't hook up a set of gages and tell you the refrigerant level, nor will they open the unit up & tell you about the haggled DIY wiring inside the unit. A home inspection is better than nothing if you have no knowledge of a homes systems, but it isn't going to offer any protection at all for things that aren't clearly visible.

[jbiggs]

Originally Posted by CroceAZ

I've read the Professional Engineering inspectors are State regulated and licensed and also required a bachelors degree rather than a certification (which only requires a high school diploma in some states, source listed below)

With the home being a foreclosure and our first property purchase i'd feel a lot more comfotable and have peice-of-mind knowing im having it inspected by someone more than qualified rather someone who could of obtained thier license from an online course.


Source: Why P.E.
First Time House Buyer Home Inspection

If I recall correctly AZ is one of the states that require home inspectors to be licensed and insured. Also if I recall correctly AZ does not require licensed engineers to be insured.

I hear a lot of people using licensed engineers to perform their home inspections. I have also heard from these people that the engineers did nothing more than the home inspector would do. After all as pointed out the inspection is a visual one for the most part. Most states require a license to slap gauges on a heating and cooling system and even a licensed engineer can not perform that function with a heating and cooling license (re the example above).

What I find interesting is that somebody with supposedly an advanced degree and license such as an engineer would do home inspections in the first place? Are they not able to get a job as an engineer? Were they fired from their last job for incompetence and can't get another with another firm? If they have a degree and an engineering license then why don't they start their own engineering firm? Most of these home inspectors don't make much money at all where even a decent and competent engineer makes more in one hours consultation work than the home inspector makes for the whole inspection.

Makes a person really wonder just how good the engineer really is or isn't if they stoop to the level of performing home inspections? Obviously with that link you provided that engineer has to resort to cutting down the home inspectors to attract home buyers for jobs.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by CroceAZ

I've read the Professional Engineering inspectors are State regulated and licensed and also required a bachelors degree rather than a certification (which only requires a high school diploma in some states, source listed below)

With the home being a foreclosure and our first property purchase i'd feel a lot more comfotable and have peice-of-mind knowing im having it inspected by someone more than qualified rather someone who could of obtained thier license from an online course.


Source: Why P.E.
First Time House Buyer Home Inspection

Some excerpts from their site:

3. Be Sure To Obtain A Written Home Inspection Report

Be sure that your home inspection report will be a detailed written report, not a hand written checklist that is given to you at the end of the home inspection. A checklist may be void of details and may not provide all of the information and engineering advice first time home buyers need.

Licensed home inspectors provide a computer generated full report of their findings, along with pictures, and they go through the full inspection with the client. No licensed home inspector just hands someone a written checklist.

2. You Should Expect

You should expect an easy to understand detailed written home inspection report; look for the Licensed Professional Engineer's P.E seal at the end of the home inspector's report.

You should expect the home inspection engineer to provide the answers to any questions you may have regarding the report.

You should expect the engineer's door to be open for answers to future questions.

3. You Should Not Expect

You should not expect the home inspector to offer to repair, for a fee, any uncovered defects (that would be a conflict of interest and may erode confidence you may have in the home inspector's findings).

You should not expect the home inspection engineer to comment on conditions that are not visible.

That appears to be the same thing that the licensed home inspectors provide. Except for the P.E. seal.

Buyers should use the inspector they are comfortable with, and have as many types of inspections as necessary. From what I read on that site, and from my experience with licensed home inspectors, I don't see any difference in the service they're offering.

However, I am just offering information. I am not providing advice on the type of home inspectors to use.

[nightnurse613]

Additionally, a home warranty is always a good idea.

[SloCoChef]

Hi - for what it's worth - I had a home inspector from two of the valley's favorites per my realty contacts... The first tore the place to shreds.........anyone that finds THAT much wrong on a pure visual - well I guess he knows his job.... I didn't buy the home.

I switched companies for the second prospective home purchase and his was a cake walk leaving me to wonder the value of doing it at all.... aka I found more things visually than he did for sure.

So the first one saved me from a disaster - the second one was good to hear as I fully intend to buy the place - a foreclosure. I'm hoping to buy in an established neighborhood built in the late 1960's - the places are standing 40 years later and looking good ... no matter the aluminum wiring, the plumbing of the day, the use of asbestos etc... At some point (and I'm there) you throw in the towel and just 'deal' --- as long as nothing 'major' comes back on a basic inspection. You can look up termite records and other things online such as sex offenders etc... due diligence is exhausting sometimes.... But the house is standing - has a semblance of a roof and sound walls.......... I'm in - I hope!

[Will Work For Money]

To everyone going back and forth about engineers vs. home inspectors vs. contractors: I've lived in Arizona (mostly in the Phoenix-metro area) for 36 years, and I can honestly say that of all 7 home inspectors I've used, 13 contractors (licensed), and 3 engineers -- along with more than 17 painters, plumbers, electricians, "handymen" and so on -- not one has been able to find glaring defects, not one has wanted to address issues I was willing to pay them to address and others who said they were willing and able to make repairs never returned my calls. So what I've concluded is that no one in Arizona actually wants to work, not even for the 3 months when it's cooler. No wonder all the jobs in the U.S. are going to China. At least they will work.