As a home inspector I am asked to go back and re-inspect repairs at a house where I had previously done an inspection. More often than not, I will do so, especially if it involves structural or roofing issues.
First of all, most insurance companies that carry the home inspectors E&O try to discourage inspectors from doing re-inspects unless you are a qualified contractor in some discipline that would qualify that individual as an expert in that particular field.
Home inspectors operate under the umbrella of being a generalist and not a specialist. We are trained to know lots about many things, however; very few inspectors are licensed or have expertise in the many disciplines that go into repairing housing issues. Failure to operate under the generalist umbrella often leads to lawsuits which cost thousands of dollars for the insurance carriers to defend. This is the reason that the cost of E&O keeps going up every year.
Good Real Estate agents want to represent their clients, but often put unrealistic pressures on the Home Inspection industry by asking us to step out of our protective shell to do re-inspections. Most inspectors cannot refuse to do these inspections for fear of losing a referral source. Nervous clients feel that we have not done our job unless we go back out to re-inspect the repairs. I feel comfortable doing many types of re-inspections as I come from the building trades and come from an electrical engineering background. However, structural and roofing issues are the hardest to assess.
Most home inspectors in this area will not go on 2 story properties. Then there is the argument at the roof was repaired properly until your guy got on it. Structural issues are even more complicated when bearing loads, depth of footers, span charts, and other related calculations come into play. These go beyond the scope of a visual home inspection.
During the initial inspection, home inspectors are trained to find visible defects. Industry standards require us to recommend that the repair work be done by qualified contractors that are licensed professionals. These seems simple enough, but in reality the cost of qualified contractors bite into the seller's budget and cost cutting takes over the repairs. A friend, cheap or casual labor, will end up doing all the work at a fraction of the cost one would pay a professional. Don't get me wrong, there are many good handymen out there that do a great job - there are many more that don't.
Handymen are great for the smaller tasks such as cleaning gutters, repairing downspouts or installing extensions, cutting vegetation back from the house, caulking and painting, minor electrical repairs such as changing out damaged outlets or switches and similar tasks.
Most handy men are not qualified to work on complicated systems such as HVAC systems, do major foundation or structural work or handle major electrical or plumbing repairs. An example of this would be a main service panel that has a burned or damaged bus bar. The panel would need to be replaced. It amazes me how people like to fool around with the very thing that can either kill them or burn the house down. Why would a home owner want to take this risk with their most expensive possession? I see it all the time. Amateur work by home owners or handymen that do not understand trade practices are a disaster waiting to happen.
This example can be carried on to other disciplines as well. I often see work that is carried on by non-licensed contractors that looks like "Who did it and ran."
Home inspection insurance companies warn that trying to discern if work is done correctly is much harder than finding the initial problem, especially if anyone is being sneaky. That is the reason an inspector wants to see the specialized work done by qualified and licensed parties. It indemnifies us to some degree and is our insurance policy.
In the event of a lawsuit, everyone that had anything to do with the repair will be brought into the suit -- contractor, seller, home inspector and even the Real Estate Agents. Most of these individuals have some type of insurance to cover the cost of attorneys and potential pay-outs. However, if unlicensed or fly-by-night contractors or friends do the work, and the inspector passes the repairs off as being acceptable, he is will be held liable because he said that the work was done to acceptable trade practices. More often than not, fly-by-night contractors will pack up shop and leave. Keep in mind that the buyer trusts the inspector to protect his or her interest.
This is the reason that I tell my clients to request that all work be done by licensed professionals and have the seller provide receipts for all work performed. I encourage the buyer to contact the contractor to see if there is a warranty on the services performed and to see if the warranty is transferable to them. I find that most reputable contactors do offer a 90 - 120 day warranty on services. And, depending upon the nature of the work, one year is not unusual.
This way I stay out of the liability that burns many home inspectors on a low cost re-inspection. In the few re-inspections I do, I do not use defining and exclusionary language. I do not sign off on any plumbing, roofing or structural work unless invoices are shown proving that all of the work was done by a qualified or licensed party. This is always frustrating to the parties involved. Agree or disagree with this policy, but I want you, as real estate professionals, to understand why, what appears on the surface to be a simple re-inspection, is anything but simple and routine for the inspector.
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