When selecting a home inspector, you should definitely not go with the cheapest inspector. There are home inspectors in the Metro Atlanta area that charge anywhere from $150 per inspection and up. In my experience, every home inspector that I have seen that charges less than $325 has not been good and you get what you pay for. Many of them will run through the home in less than 1 ½ hours and provide the buyer with a terrible report. I had a recent experience where the $150 inspector did not go into the attic, did not test the air conditioner (which did not work), missed several obvious issues. One of the obvious issues was a plumbing leak under the master bathroom shower with a very large dripping wet stain in the ceiling of the garage, and this guy was a plumber.
I may be a little more critical of home inspectors than most real estate agents since I used to be a home inspector with 10 years experience. Even some of the inspectors who charge $350+ are not very good.
Here are some things you should look for in a home inspector. At a minimum, the inspector should be ASHI certified if doing a resale home. ASHI stands for American Society of Home Inspectors and you can find certified inspectors at www.ashi.org Some of their inspectors are just candidates, make sure the inspector you select is a full member. There are other organizations that certify home inspector, but ASHI has the most credibility in my opinion of non-code certified organizations.
If you are purchasing a new home, the inspector should be ICC certified. ICC stands for International Code Council. All full members of the GAHI (The Georgia Association of Home Inspectors) in Metro Atlanta are ICC certified. This is a very good organization of home inspectors and their website is www.gahi.com
Most decent home inspectors take at least 2 to 3 hours for small homes and longer on large ones. I would ask any home inspectors that you are considering the following questions:
•1. What are your certifications?
•2. How long have you personally been inspecting homes as a full time home inspector. Some of them will tell you, our company has been in business for x number of years, you should not care how long the company has been in business, just how long the inspector has been performing home inspections. In my personal experience, an inspector does not get good until at least 5 years into their career.
•3. Ask the inspector roughly how many homes have you inspected.
•4. Ask to see a copy of their inspection report. Some inspectors will provide you with a short checklist report. A longer narrative report with pictures is ideal. It shows how much pride the inspector has in their business and how thorough they are.
•5. Ask for references and call them.
•6. Some agents will tell you to make sure the inspection company has E+O insurance. This really does not matter. All good home inspectors that I know in Georgia will limit their liability to the inspection fee and if there are problems, they will simply refund the inspection fee and not make a claim. If they make a claim, they will usually get dropped by the insurance company or their rates will double or triple. I am just telling it like it is!
•7. Make sure the home inspector has liability insurance to cover items that they may damage during the inspection.
•8. Ask the inspector if you can follow them around during the inspection and ask questions. If they don't like this, that tells you a lot about the inspector and their customer service.
•9. Ask the inspector how many inspections do you perform each day. If the answer is 3 or higher, stay away from them. They will probably not spend much time inspecting the home. Also ask them, how long will the inspection take. Once again, you don't want them spending less than 2 hours in the home. 3 hours or longer is better. The only exception to this is if they have 2 or more inspectors inspecting the same house at the same time.
Comments(1)