Avoid The Money Pit With A Good Home Inspector

1. Experience:
It takes a full time home inspector at least 50 inspections to develop the eyes, ears and nose for hunting down problems. Part-time home inspectors simply don’t have the time in the field to develop that radar. Always ask how many inspections the inspector performs yearly and how long theyhave been doing home ispections. A quality full time home inspector conducts between 300 to 400 inspections annually – blind inspectors conduct 50 to 100 inspections annually. Performing 300-400 inspections each year requires many referrals, by previous clients, lenders, real estate agents and others — so there is a much greater chance the inspector is not blind!

2. Education & Training:
Being a contractor is very dissimilar from being a Professional Home Inspector. Home Inspectors are responsible for evaluating all of the systems and components of the home — not just one portion, but literally thousands of components . To be able to provide a competent evaluation of all of these elements takes formal education and training. Did the inspector attend one of the top home inspection schools like The American Home Inspectors Training Institute (AHIT) or Inspection Training Associates (ITA)? Or, did he complete a correspondence course, or worse have some inexperienced person show him how to inspect?
When the inspector completed their formal education did they complete a comprehensive training program where they completed 40 to 50 home inspections with a qualified professional in the field? Or did the inspector learn on the job at the Buyers expense? If the inspector is a one-man business, then who is checking the quality of the inspector’s work? Engineering and technology in today’s home is becoming more complicated all the time. Comprehensive continuing education and training is necessary!

3. Certifications:
While certifications are certainly important, it’s the combination of Experience, Education and Training that make the difference in the competency of your next home inspector. Certifications let the world know tha the inspector can pass a test not that they can inspect a home correctly. We all know people who are certified for one thing or another that we wouldn’t use under any conditions. There is simply no substitute for experience and in the field training.

4. The Inspection Report:
The top home inspectors in today’s market don’t generate handwritten reports. A professional inspector will render a combination checklist/narrative report. Technology dictates that you should expect to receive a full-color report on site, with digital color photographs of the problems discovered during the course of the inspection. The report should provide “Summary Pages” with detailed categories like Major Concerns, Safety Issues and Deferred Cost Items, etc.The report should never contain repair costs or plans of action for repairs. Professional home inspectors inspect — they don’t repair! An inspector that also does repairs should always be avoided due to the conflict of interest that are inherent in that situation. Always ask for a sample of an inspection report so you’ll know what you can expect for your time and money. After all,you are the client!

5. Years In Business:

Is the inspection company locally owned and operated or are they some far away faceless corporation where no one is monitoring and evaluating the quality of their inspectors performance? If you are dealing with a multi-inspector firm, how long has the inspection company been in business and are they locally owned? Does the inspection company have qualified employees serving as customer service representatives to schedule appointments and provide good customer service.

6. Ask For Refferals:
Quality Professional Home Inspectors ask their client’s to submit comment cards upon completion of the inspection. They will also want to know what they are doing right, as well as what might need improvement. If the inspector will not provide client referrals, you probably want to consider someone else!

Avoid The Money Pit With A Good Home Inspector

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