Who's Smarter-The Home Inspector Or The Licensed Contractor?

This is a tough position to be in. I agree that whenever possible, the best way to handle post-inspection issues is to ask for concession instead of repair...less problems guaranteed.

I have to guess that the licensed contract in the relevant craft has the final word . . .and his findings should trump any home inspectors's opinion. .

   Everything's negotiable.  Anything pointed out by a home inspector in his/her report becomes an item for negotiation.  The seller may elect to fix the 'problem, give the buyer a credit, or state that it's an 'as-is' condition and do nothing about it if it's not a life/safety issue, depending on the lender and the local jurisdiction.  This may or may not kill the deal with that particular buyer, but another buyer may decide it's a good deal and jump on it.

   Unfortunately, when there's a dispute, we're usually dealing with subjective opinions instead of actual code requirements.  This includes cases where the home inspector is referencing current codes that have no relevance to the codes when the home was constructed and typically are not required to be met to allow the transfer of the property.  Sometimes, as in the case of much older homes, neither the home inspector nor the licensed contractor may be familiar with those code requirements from well before he/she became a home inspector or contractor (or maybe even before he/she was born!)  There are many things that are ‘grandfathered’ in that won’t meet current codes, but are perfectly legal and safe.

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I think it depends on who you ask.  LOL.  I have had this same issue a few times as well.  Each case is different, but it is very frustrating at times.  Good post and congrats on the feature!  

Cindy, 

Excellent point.  It's not a good game to play.  We try to work on making the deal work and not losing it over the "small items".  The suggestion to have the work done by the buyer's folks is good, as then they know it's done to their satisfaction.  The balance is sometimes it can be more to the seller if they could have gotten the work done cheaper.  

The key is to keep the goal in mind, they want to sell, you want to buy, what is a logical way to solve this for this to move forward.

All the best, Michelle

Cindy,

I have not had to deal with this, yet.  Great information.

I like the game show idea better anyway!  No home inspector should be quoting the 1940 code in any event, if there was one about switch locations then!  I would expect all lights in unfinished basements in those days had the switch at the top of the stairs and pull chains in the basement (if there was even a switch at all)!

I had this problem a little bit in reverse.  The inspector stated a repair needed to be made and the contractor wanted to do more.  Ahhh...best to get the credit or get the buyer to choose their own contractor...lesson learned :)!

I recently had an experience where the buyer brought nit he inspector of his choice. Items were discovered and fixed. The listing agent even spoke with the inspector to make sure they met his corrections. The buyer then brought in ANOTHER inspector prior to closing and decided that  certain things were not fixed properly when they had been checked off by the original inspector.. The buyer was not a reasonable person throughout the transaction and knew more than anyone... and in the end the listing agent did what he wanted - it was the only way to reach the finish line... but we were all apologizing on his behalf throughout..

A competent and thorough home inspection is a wonderful thing.

I have had issues brought up in home inspections based on whether or not they meet code--not code when the house was built but code as it is written now. This often scares the buyers. It is important for buyers to know what they are getting, but they also need to be given a realistic picture. I can bet that a 40 year old house would have many, many things in it that don't meet today's code--and it is still a safe house.  Sellers are reluctant to fix something that they don't see as wrong.

This is definately a situation where you can end up with home inspectors and contractors on different sides of the issue.

Great post!

I explain to clients that home inspectors only go so far in their analysis.  A licensed professional in a given trade, in most cases, is the expert. Sometimes it takes more than on licensed professional to look at an issue.

Good Advice.

I know how you feel, I had this happen earlier this year, can suck the life right out of you. One thing that I really hate, is when buyers use a home inspection to try to turn an existing house into a new construction house.  Ick.

A qualified inspector will always leave the final decision up to a licensed professional. When they try to come off as an expert on everything they truly demonstrate that they are not even the professional in their own field.

I say licensed contractor since the time I had an inspector say the AC wasn't working properly because the outside air temp (95 degrees) and air temp coming out of the AC was greater than fifteen degrees different, with the AC set at 70. Yes, you read that right. My client had to pay a licensed contractor to come out and say, "Wrong - the AC is SUPPOSED to cool the air."

Cindy

An intriguing question for sure, with all sorts of scenairos.

I've run into this a number of times, in some cases with the licensed contractor finding little or no issue as well as more significant problems. It can become an emotional situation to overcome when there is disagreement between the contractors but also the parties in the transaction.

Coming up with a reliable $ amount for the credit is tough unless you get an opinion or two. I find that often sellers do not want to deal with the issue of making a repair but are open to a credit, but not always what the buyer feels the repair is worth.

And for some situations it's probably in the buyer's best interest to make the repairs themselves after they own the own so they get it done to their satisfaction.

Jeff

What a fantastic blog i come across this all the time. I have had Home Inspectors fail or pass well systems without even doing proper testing so we come out do the proper testing and the home inspector is caught with his tail between his legs and points his finger saying we must have tweeked the system to get it to pas. People need to own up or speak up in situations like this and admit when they dont know the answer instead of making one up. It makes every one of us look bad.

Cindy,

Maybe the better question is who loses?  For example, if I inspect an older home and it has a Federal Pacific Electric panel, I report it as a defect.  Some Electricians will come out and say that it is not a problem.

The situation is that there has never been a recall of these panels and there has never been a declaration that they are defective.  However histroy tells a different story.  The company who bought the original manufacturer reported that the breakers in these panels did not actuall meet the requirements for the UL rating they received.  There have been numerous reports of fires caused by the panels and a lot of investigation showed that the panels were prone to failure.  Also many insurance companies will not write a policy on a home with one of these panels installed due to their experience with them. 

With all that information, many electricians will still say that they are not defective.  Take a look at this site (http://inspectapedia.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm) and make up your own mind.  I will still call it defective.