Contractor decides to do home inspection?
Q. One of my clients asked me to inspect a 36-unit apartment complex. I have no experience as a home inspector but have been a licensed building contractor for many years. I'm familiar with all phases of construction and feel capable of performing an adequate inspection of these buildings. As this will be my very first inspection, I would appreciate some guidelines in setting a fair price for this service. How much money should an inspector charge for a job of this size?
A. Before you bid on this inspection, you should consider the risks of an undertaking for which you have no specific training. The belief that construction experience is the only background needed to perform a home inspection is a common misconception that has led contractors into miry legal nightmares.
While home inspection requires knowledge that is fundamental to construction, the skills and protocols essential to home inspection are far different and are understood by few outside of the home inspection profession. Home inspection incorporates an intricate combination of disciplines, skills and learning, of which general construction is only a part. Besides construction knowledge, an inspector must recognize and evaluate the symptoms of deterioration and wear that affect building materials and mechanics: conditions that would not be familiar to people who deal primarily with new materials and products.
Home inspectors must also be familiar with building, plumbing, mechanical, electrical and fire standards, and this knowledge cannot be confined to current building requirements only. Inspectors deal with buildings of all ages and must know which standards were in effect when a particular structure was built.
Above all, an inspector must have an acutely honed and thoroughly practiced sense of forensic observation, a skill that cannot be learned by any amount of construction experience. The capacity to identify subtle and elusive building defects is a unique craft in itself and can only be developed through years of practice. A home inspector is basically a professional investigator. Just as the professional skills of a police officer do not equate with those of an experienced crime detective, likewise, it takes years of specialized training for a contractor to attain competence in the skills that pertain to home inspection.
To understanding more fully the broad scope of a detailed inspection, try to compose a complete list of the particular items you intend to evaluate in the course of your inspection. Then consider that a professional home inspector's list would include at least 300 routine conditions, and these would only account for the most common of building defects. The actual number of significant conditions familiar to the trained eye of an experienced home inspector could easily be numbered in the thousands.
To embark upon a property inspection without prior experience, particularly a large complex of apartments, is to subject yourself to unseen legal liability. Your client will base a major purchase decision on your findings. Any defects that are not disclosed in your inspection report could be discovered at a later date, and you could be held financially accountable for the cost of correcting those conditions. Worse still, you could be held personally liable for the consequences of undisclosed safety hazards.
Consider these caveats before you undertake the complex demands of a highly specialized and unfamiliar profession. Your clients would be better served by someone thoroughly versed in the unique disciplines of home inspection.
• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.
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