The title of this blog is deceptive, down right silly -- if you know anything about the scope of a home inspection. Silly as that title above might be, it is apparent to any working inspector that some naive sellers are under the false impression that the home inspector comes to a house to do something as menial as performing a quick visual scan looking for any crooked pictures on the wall. I describe this to others as "people having a mistaken belief that we inspectors are there to pull out a torpedo level and put it on the picture frames to see which ones are cockeyed".
Seriously, I am amazed at the number of sellers who are surprised at the detail a good home inspector goes to. They drop their jaws when we remove the screws and the cover on the main electric panel, go into the attic and crawl space, open the furnace, test auto-reverse on the garage door, etc. I know that many of these people have no clue as to the real duties and obligations of the home inspector. I think some of them are under the impression that we are more like the housekeeping police. Granted, if the place is a gritty pig pen we will say something on the report but, honestly, we are more concerned about systems and components than fair to middlin' housekeeping.
The fact people do not understand our role can, at times, be frustrating; for example, when two tons of steel is blocking the electric service panel so it cannot be opened; when six years of firewood blocks the crawl space entry; when the attic hatch is boarded over or blocked by clothes racks or canned food in a tiny closet or cupboard. This misconception about the role of a home inspector is only solved with education that can probably best come from the professional real estate agents. If agents, especially those for the seller, will tell their clients that the inspector needs to have access to certain critical areas, and is not going to get too wrapped up in internally debating the last time the curtains were ironed, it would make the whole process more efficient. It would make it great. We could all straighten up and fly right.
Message to self -- list that crooked picture as a serious cosmetic defect!
Steven L. Smith
Bellingham WA Home Inspector
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