Houses Don’t Fail Home Inspections; Inspectors Do! ©

What is an inspector?

An inspector should be an experienced, well trained and qualified individual who is hired to give you the home buyer, an opinion about the condition of the house that you intend to buy. But an inspector doesn’t need a license, and nothing in the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors Act (a private members bill) prevents anyone from calling themselves a home inspector or performing home inspections regardless of their knowledge, experience, qualifications or lack thereof.

In contrast, most legislation that licenses professionals, such as doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, engineers, and Realtors™, requires that the professional hold a license to practice. Engineers are required to limit their practice to fields within the area of their expertise, and can be disciplined for various infractions of competence and ethics. Disciplining can range from public embarrassment to fines, and in the extreme, loosing the license and therefore the career. Although engineers are regularly disciplined and their story published in the Engineering Digest and on-line, I have yet to hear of a home inspector who was disciplined by the Ontario Association.

What does an inspector do?

During the inspection visible defects are to be identified and discussed, and the observed condition of the house placed in the perspective of other houses of similar age and locality. After the inspection a report is provided in which the defects are identified and comments may be made about their correction. The report is reviewed with the home buyer to ensure that it is understood and that there are no questions left unanswered.

Some inspectors come from a specific trade background and this can be advantageous where particular issues relating to that trade are perceived or known to exist in the house.

Inspector’s comments

Of equal importance to the requirement that observations are based on fact and opinions are unbiased and sound, the inspector has no business advising you on value of the house, nor on commenting on whether you should, or shouldn't’t, buy the house. An inspector should do no more than advising you on the overall amount of work that is perceived to be necessary to upgrade the house to the desired condition that you have discussed, with regard to the time frame or budget that you have indicated as your constraints.

Hearthside manner

An inspector should not be melodramatic in making comments about any observations and the condition of the house. Prior work experience for a sensationalist national weekly newspaper is a definite disadvantage! Not only is a melodramatic inspector stamping in areas best left untrodden, but an informed decision by the buyer can become clouded with emotion - specifically fear - the exact opposite of the reason the inspector was hired.

An inspector who is warm, approachable, open to question and discussion, freely gives explanations, and who is not afflicted with the next-to-God syndrome (arrogance, superiority, and flaunting a higher education about things-you-couldn’t-possibly-understand) will ensure that all your questions are answered as fully as you need, and that you completely understand all the answers given. Anything less is unacceptable.

We all have off days – the full moon, late nights, crashed deals, personal stress aka sick children, parking tickets, burned meals, or uncooperative teenagers, – but the true professionals amongst us keep them to ourselves; our Clients never perceive them.

Realtors’ concerns

Ask any Realtors, and they will express two concerns – one, that the inspector will miss something visible and obvious that should have been caught; and two, that the inspector will present observations and comments in a melodramatic manner and scare the buyer.

Of these two fears, the latter is the most worrisome for Realtors. Inspectors are human, not godlike (although some may feel they are related) and inspectors and Realtors alike may all miss something on occasion. How it is handled measures our professionalism and our relationship with our Client. However, once the melodramatic deed is done there is little that can correct the situation. To add insult to injury, the by-now-disgruntled ex-buyer might perceive the Realtor as less than professional for having known the inspector! Lack of professionalism by the inspector reflects poorly on the Realtor, which is most often unfair to say the least.

Buyers’ concerns

Buyers have two main concerns. Firstly, is the inspector biased towards the Realtor or homeowner, i.e. will the inspector overlook issues, to present the house as a better buy than it actually is? Secondly, will the inspector find everything I need to know about the house?

An inspector who holds a professional license, as our inspector does, cannot risk being anything other than impartial and ethical, favouring neither the buyer nor the seller. Issues may go unobserved ("if I can't see it, I can't comment on it") , but once an observation of significance is made, a professional inspector cannot ignore it and must bring it to the attention of the Client, hopefully as we do with explanations of relative importance and descriptions of corrective actions and consequences of not taking action.

No inspector will find everything that might be of concern in a house. Be extremely suspicious of anyone claiming that they will find, or have found, every issue that you should or would want to know about. It just isn’t possible! Such a detailed inspection would take many days, involve taking walls and other systems apart, cost very much more than the regular fee, and in the end provide you with little or no more important additional information than you will get from a regular inspection.

Weather conditions will play a part in what the inspector can observe. In the heat of summer, the furnace won’t turn on. In the cold of winter, it will damage the air conditioning to run it. If it isn’t raining, puddles can’t be seen in driveways, and roofs and basements won’t leak. If everything outdoors is covered in snow, roofs and driveways can’t be seen, lot grading isn’t visible, and because water is frozen, leaks won’t show. These conditions affect all inspectors. An experienced professional inspector will advise you of these limitations, and tell you what to look for when conditions change, and how to interpret what you see.

Our home inspection will provide much very valuable information about the general condition of the home you plan to buy, and considerable advice on how to maintain it to keep up and even improve its value.