Phoenix Home Inspection: Here is what happens with poor oversight.
While inspecting this home yesterday I noticed an anomally. The attic access hatch was in the utility room. In the garage there was another one not more than 4 feet away. This seemed kind of pointless to me. When I climbed into the attic I found out why. The framer had blocked out a location for the hatch in the hallway. The electrician put the light switch and convience outlet near that hatch. The mechanical contractor oriented the air handler properly for that hatch. Somewhere along the line someone decided that the hatch shouldn't be in the hallway and put it in the utility room. This put the hatch at the other end of the air handler. When someone goes up there to service the airhandler they have to climb over the ducts and reach out 4 feet past the platform to get to the light switch and outlet. 
The decision to move the hatch gained them very little in cosmetic appeal. The potential for physical harm to anyone working up there far outweighs anything they gained. As I write this post I can't help but wonder if this was done by the builder or by a previous homeowner. There was some break marks in the platform plywood. This suggests that the homeowner broke some of the plywood out to move it to the other end of the platform.
What do you think? Done by builder or homeowner? Good decision or bad one?
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