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A Home Inspection Is Not a Guarantee |
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Inspectors do not have X-ray vision so don't expect them to report all the defects. Home inspections give you information on the major systems in your home. However, the inspector cannot see behind walls or under carpets no matter how many courses he's taken. |
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| Author: Jim Walker |
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Notice that each of these examples is a thing, an item, something you can touch.
Let’s consider services. There are lots of services available: faith communities, travel, security, banking, walking your dog, pizza delivery...the list is very long. Health and wellness delivery is an important service.
You may have visited your physician recently. It’s his or her task to diagnose what your ailment is and then prescribe a remedy. Ever noticed that he or she sometimes doesn’t get it right and you have ongoing symptoms? Do we expect a guarantee? No, we acknowledge that there are many variables within the process and they all can’t be known.
What’s our response if a plumber fixes a leaking tap and then we find that another one has begun to drip two weeks later? The plumber certainly can’t know that another tap was about to fail.
A home inspection is not a thing or product. It’s a service. This important distinction shouldn't be lost on anyone involved in the home inspection.
Services are offered with a set of explicit or implied edges and it’s sometimes difficult to know what those limits are. An effective service provider will explain what the service does, what it doesn’t do and how much it costs. If you’re considering getting a home inspection listen for those three Big Ideas. Managing your expectations about the process, the outcome and the cost is going to save you a lot of frustration.
A good home inspector will explain the process before beginning the tour. Here in Brampton, Ontario, I ask the client to read and sign a legal agreement explaining the process before we begin. This is the ‘scope’. And for those of you who have experienced ‘scope creep’ you know how challenging it is to manage expectations that change.
Read the entire Authorization Agreement, Contract or whatever it’s called in your case. Take your time. You’re paying for it. Ask for clarification of concepts and vocabulary.
The process relies almost entirely on vision - what the inspector can see. It’s impossible to see behind walls and under floors, under concrete slabs and inside pipes. Yes, there are some very impressive pieces of equipment which will allow additional information to be shared but don’t expect that to be the norm. Those gadgets are very expensive.
At the end of the inspection you will receive a summary of the significant defects. The notion of ‘significant’ is important here. Your physician may well choose to omit mentioning the reason for your minor aches and pains. Similarly, your home inspector won’t likely mention that there was one place on the living room rug that looked a bit odd.
Does your home inspector see everything that’s out of order? No; there’s always something that gets overlooked. It’s the nature of the process just the same way that your physician can’t gauge how everything is working.
A home inspection takes about two hours and is designed to detect the major problems within a home. It’s not designed to find ALL the problems. If a problem does arise call the inspector. They are a great bunch of professionals who want you to be safe and comfortable..
About Author
Jim Walker is a home inspector working in the Greater Toronto Area. He is taking large doses of vitamins to improve his X-ray vision. Also, he is studying hard to get his Can-See-Through-Walls designation.
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