Looking for a "Too Thorough" home inspector

[MacDad]

CALGARY - Looking for a "Too Thorough" home inspector,

I'd like to find a real though home inspector,
I'd rather not buy the house and wait another year than dealing with issues later.

Any recommendations?
Plus, this house is located under a hill, negative grade, so I'd like a good opinion on foundation/flood possibility and stuff, as well as any moisture inside including basement, etc.

AND- IS THERE ANY KIND OF WARRANTY THAT HOME INPECTORS OFFER?
Like, if I find something the inspector missed after I move in.


THANKS!

[badbrass]

Nope no going back on them!!!!!

[saskbooknut]

The home inspections that I have read, have lots of words denying any responsibilities at all.

[Dewey Cox]

You can hire the most qualified building/construction expert out there, but it would be unreasonable to expect them to find everything wrong with a place over a couple hour visual, non destructive inspection. Let alone the guys from the home inspection company.

[Sundancefisher]

Inspectors won’t open or move anything.

Had one home where the owner piled their boxes up against the walls. On possession we found out why. Huge holes in the foundation. Could stick my fingers through in placed. I researched and repaired myself.

However run from water damage or drop the price depending on where.

Weeping tile?
Floor discolouration?
Ceiling marks?
Ground drains away from foundation?
Can yard drain?
Rust in and around water heater and furnace?
Lots and lots to look for

[58thecat]

Hmmmmm reliable but not liable......it's a toss of a coin to see what ya get.

Good luck.

[Dean2]

Save your money inspecting this one and go buy a different house. From what you say this one is at the bottom of a hill, or even under a hill, so there is no way you aren't going to be subject to water issues. My wife and I moved over 20 times, buy the best location possible which means backing onto green area and not near high noise/high traffic road, high ground for the area, never in a river bottom or flood plain and never at the bottom of the surrounding areas. Every house we had resold within days of being listed because of the primo locations and condition of tthe house.

As far as home inspectors, most will do a very good job but none want to be liable for anything they missed. All the boiler plate in the world however doesn't stop you from suing them if the issue they missed is bad enough.

I used Pillar to Post when I moved to Calgary back in 2004. He did a very thorough job, the property was an acreage so there was a lot more to inspect. He didn't miss anything that showed up later and did find a few things that needed to be addressed on a 15 year old house. When we bought it the house had been listed for over a year, acreage market was in the tank in 2004. That house re-sold the fist weekend it was listed with 4 offers on it and the value more than doubled by 2012. We used an actual Engineer from and Engineering and Architectural Company to inspect the house we bought in Edmonton in 2012 as it was a complicated design. That did NOT work out well at all. He was three times the money and a completely crap inspection. I ended up not paying him and he withdrew the report because there were so many errors in it.

Like I said, NEVER buy low ground. On the third house we ever bought we almost made that mistake when we moved to Slave Lake. Had we bought the house my wife preferred because she loved the interior layout of we would have paid big time. We passed because the house was on a semi main drag, was in the low part of town and too close to the cop shop midnight sirens. That same house flooded right to the roof 6 months later, the house we bought on high ground with better location stayed dry. Good luck house hunting.

[badbrass]

No even reliable! seen some real slimy ones out there. But if you wand a loan through a bank, you have to get at inspected! Useless!

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Hmmmmm reliable but not liable......it's a toss of a coin to see what ya get.

Good luck.

[lmtada]

Inspections run around $500.00

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by saskbooknut

The home inspections that I have read, have lots of words denying any responsibilities at all.

They're just feel good people, regularly hired by realtors, most have no trade qualifications , couple I've met have a book to go by , that's it. A good home inspector should be able to say, in my mind, this whole house is going to slide down the hill at some time in the future, or, this area is known for underground springs.

Grizz

[MyAlberta]

Whenever I consider purchasing a home, I begin by evaluating its resale potential. If location, condition, or styling are detrimental, discounts are in order. But even then, if it hinders your ability to liquidate, caution.

A good home inspector is a tool to help you make a decision. If you rely on a resource that isn’t complete, it’s on you. Nothing wrong with knocking on the neighbourhood, introducing yourself, and querying potential concerns. I viewed a home in Sherwood Park last year that was a winner, until I viewed the basement. Cracked, pinned, and sealed, I checked the neighbours on both sides and they too had issues, from the sloping park lands behind them. Too bad, it was a cute house.

[Dean2]

This place never seems to be short of guys who want to slag every single profession and are self styled experts in all fields. I am so glad you guys are endlessly competent, amazes me you can't find anyone else who is also. I assume all of you are so well versed in buying and building houses you can do the full meal deal inspections yourselves. Since you have never used an inspector, nor read one of their reports how do you know they are all no good? Some of you guys are getting REALLY tiresome.

Like everything, don't just hire a guy, do some research. There are excellent home inspectors and really bad ones. Talk to your Realtor, bank, friends but also interview the actual inspector for background, qualifications etc. All of the guys I have used had a background in the trades, many were previously home builders etc. The guy with the most education, 30 years experience as an Engineer turned out to be a poor choice. Not everyone is an ahoe out to rip you off.

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Hmmmmm reliable but not liable......it's a toss of a coin to see what ya get.

Good luck.

Same as everything in this realm. If you get a used vehicle inspected and 6 months later the engine lets go they can't (nor should) be held responsible.
Without destructive testing...or on a house a full day long inspection they can't be expected to find everything.
Why most sales of used stuff is...'as is'.

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by Dean2

This place never seems to be short of guys who want to slag every single profession and are self styled experts in all fields. I am so glad you guys are endlessly competent, amazes me you can't find anyone else who is also. I assume all of you are so well versed in buying and building houses you can do the full meal deal inspections yourselves. Since you have never used an inspector, nor read one of their reports how do you know they are all no good? Some of you guys are getting REALLY tiresome.

Like everything, don't just hire a guy, do some research. There are excellent home inspectors and really bad ones. Talk to your Realtor, bank, friends but also interview the actual inspector for background, qualifications etc. All of the guys I have used had a background in the trades, many were previously home builders etc. The guy with the most education, 30 years experience as an Engineer turned out to be a poor choice. Not everyone is an ahoe out to rip you off.

You are so right on this Dean...it's got to the point that the general forum here is the last place I come to for advice. I come here more for the laughs.
The hunting/firearms/archery forums are great.

[RandyBoBandy]

Originally Posted by Dean2

This place never seems to be short of guys who want to slag every single profession and are self styled experts in all fields. I am so glad you guys are endlessly competent, amazes me you can't find anyone else who is also. I assume all of you are so well versed in buying and building houses you can do the full meal deal inspections yourselves. Since you have never used an inspector, nor read one of their reports how do you know they are all no good? Some of you guys are getting REALLY tiresome.

Like everything, don't just hire a guy, do some research. There are excellent home inspectors and really bad ones. Talk to your Realtor, bank, friends but also interview the actual inspector for background, qualifications etc. All of the guys I have used had a background in the trades, many were previously home builders etc. The guy with the most education, 30 years experience as an Engineer turned out to be a poor choice. Not everyone is an ahoe out to rip you off.

100% correct Dean2

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

Same as everything in this realm. If you get a used vehicle inspected and 6 months later the engine lets go they can't (nor should) be held responsible.
Without destructive testing...or on they can't be expected to find everything.
Why most sales of used stuff is...'as is'.

a full day long inspection

Sorry, that's what it should be to be valid, no checking shingles with binoculars. Most of these guys work with a printed check list they don't deviate from, because it's all they know.


Grizz

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by RandyBoBandy

100% correct Dean2

+1

[AndrewM]

Had experience with an awesome one and also a terrible one. Terrible one was who the people used who purchased my house. Was more concerned on a burnt light bulb, electrocution risk (tv cable wire that needed to be buried by Shaw), dripping faucet and completely missed shingles were hail damaged and so was the side of the house. If your realtor is worth a pinch of salt, he should have a good recommendation.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

+1

The home inspection business was a wild west, anyone could hang out a shingle, until so many people were screwed around that the government had to make some regulations to control it. Not nearly as bad as it was, but still not perfect.


Grizz

[badbrass]

Had a bad one, real bad! looking for a house for my daughter, and my son had a bad one! and my son was told by the bank, which one to use! in which if they don't open anything up and look into things. how would they know? ( Again useless if they do not).They had the main floor gutted and made into a open floor plan. After that they thought well we might as well have the furnace and ducts cleaned after all the sawdust and all. The furnace cleaner, never took two minutes in the furnace room, and said " I can't clean these two furnace's they are toast! After close to $10,000 for the two furnace to be replaced by a different company,
they cleaned the ducts. So if they can't even take off the cover on the furnace to check, as there was lots of rust on the front of it! I'm not saying they should cut hole in your walls or ducting. But wow! Not nice after paying good money for the house! Again useless when you can not go back on them.

[Zip-in-Z]

MacDad ... if your interested in seeing a copy of a 24 page Home Inspection Report from an EDM company that sent 2 very knowledgeable guys who spent 4 hours each going through our home in Edmonton before we moved to Sylvan ..... send me a P/M & I'll flip you a copy for reference. At least you can see what they look for & found and what it cost the buyer. It doesn't look like they have an office in Calgary.

For your consideration.

David

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

a full day long inspection

Sorry, that's what it should be to be valid, no checking shingles with binoculars. Most of these guys work with a printed check list they don't deviate from, because it's all they know.


Grizz

I agree with you, but my gut tells me that most homebuyers would hulk at the $1000.00+ the charge would be.
And even then, they would still have it in their contract that they wouldn’t be responsible for issues that crop up after.
Returning to my auto inspection analogy. You can take your Porsche to a Porsche mechanic who will charge four times for an inspection that the corner shop does...your Porsche engine fails after six months...he still won’t pay for a new engine.

[yoteblaster]

I used Pillar to Post when I lived down south(Taber) for an acreage I purchased. They were useless. Only time I used a home inspector so not a lot of experience with them

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by yoteblaster

I used Pillar to Post when I lived down south(Taber) for an acreage I purchased. They were useless. Only time I used a home inspector so not a lot of experience with them

I met a guy who worked for them. It was his off season job, when he wasn't guiding. My son used them as well. His furnace died two days after they moved in and of course P to P weren't responsible.

Grizz

[Travco1]

Your Better of finding a good home builder or General contractor to inspect . I know a couple home inspectors who were just paper pushers who took a course and pushed more papers pretending they know something. There only good for realy obvious stuff like structural and maybe electrical . They cant see behind walls and even a moisture meter wont tell you if there is mold .