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Perhaps someone with knowledge of CO will speak up, but I heard from a friend that is going to school to BE a home inspector that CO does not require any training for that trade. In my state there is a licensing class and a required apprenticeship. Did this guy's report show any affiliation or training with a trade group?
Many Home Inspectors will carry combustible gas detectors with them for testing and verification. Unfortunately these detectors will also alert on other materials such as pipe thread sealers (pipe dope) as well as other materials. Some will even alert on extremely high levels of Carbon Monoxide (CO), way more than needed to kill and as such should never attempted to be used for that.
so, the inspector the buyers used today seemed very nice- my husband was home working in his office and this inspector was great about updating him on his findings and educating him. We'll see what ultimately comes out in the report and what differences there are from the first report.
Was the Home Inspector working for you or the buyer? From your description above it appears this second Home Inspector has violated any confidentiality requirements with his own client!
The buyers were not present, nor was their realtor until the very end so yes- he was talking to my husband about his findings. As I mentioned several times before, we are more than willing to take care of true issues they may find (especially if there was really a gas leak!! I had my plumber here on Sat who did several tests and did not find one) or credit them for fixing them if they are concerns. In my opinion, the inspector should be working WITH the buyer- after all, why would someone pay all that money if they really didn't want the house?
Was the Home Inspector working for you or the buyer? From your description above it appears this second Home Inspector has violated any confidentiality requirements with his own client!
Interesting point...
In my own sales... I have a line item that requires copies of all inspection reports generated during the listing... irregardless of origination.
In my experience, it's not a matter of an inspector being a deal killer or working against the seller or being overly critical. It's really a matter of good inspector/bad inspector. Many inspectors I've worked with just don't know squat about houses. They say things that are flat out wrong. I can't tell you how many times an inspector has pointed out a problem and then someone who actually knows what they're talking about (plumber, electrician, etc) looks at the exact same thing and says everything is perfect.
I fully endorse the use of home inspectors. What I don't endorse is taking everything on the report as gospel.
Mike- EXACTLY. This is my fourth home. It wasn't that he found things (some things I expected, like our furnace needs cleaning, we have some aluminum wiring, some caulking,etc), it was that some things were just downright NOT true and they were written as gospel. Or, he made a general statement like, "GFCI is needed in all wet areas (kitchen, bath, wetbar...)"versus saying "GFCI is not present in the powder room and needs to be installed" the powder room is the only place where GFCI is not installed and his "example" was read as fact when we have done was is required. And his stupid comment about our window wells.
The housing stock in my area is old... lots from the 1920's... some even older.
The last time I had a buyer's inspection he came from an area where the homes are newer and new... almost nothing older than the mid 80's
He kept commenting on how old the house is... as are all the homes in the entire neighborhood...
The report came back and and was 25 pages on a 1,000 square foot home on a 40 x 60 city lot...
We went line by line and he conceded all of the items were code compliant at the time of construction... which is all the city requires in just about every case unless you find something like natural gas lighting in a Victorian.
Each room had a single outlet and a light switch, the service was original 30 amp, the original windows were a 2" narrower then the new code, the plumbing had good pressure and volume and it is galvanized... all the outlets were two prong, the heater was 20 gallons, the furnace was a floor furnace, the back door didn't have a mark for temper glass in the window, the garage door didn't have safety springs.
The findings were correct... it was just the way it was written and I wouldn't have had a problem had the report mentioned subsequent code changes are not retro-active...
The Chief Building Official of my City has stated items not altered and maintained in good condition and meeting code at the time of construction are not required to be updated or modified to conform to more recent code... in other words they are Grandfathered.
As to condition... the home was in excellent condition... inside and out... it was like a time capsule going back 75 years.
Ultrarunner- same thing- it is a 1969 ranch. We've renovated most of it and it has new systems but at the end of the day ,its a 43 year old house. In his summary, he has the boxes checked as both Satisfactory- but also checks "repairs needed"... like in his stupid window well thing- "satisfactory" but someone also "repairs needed"- so which is it?? It's not a new home!
I would not be a happy camper if I found out the inspector I hired was sharing information with the seller.
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