Not all home inspectors are created equal. The truth to that statement became really apparent yesterday while inspecting a relatively new property in the Franklin Tennessee area. The owner agent for this property confidently told me that he had just had this property inspected by HIS inspector a few months ago for their 11 month warranty inspection and, I probably won't find anything. Ouch! I hate it when people tell me that. I thanked him and went on about my business of inspecting this property for my client.
Now, just because the property has been inspected by someone else doesn't mean that I go out of my way just to dig up bones and show the client that I am "Earning my Money". That is asinine and unprofessional. If the 
property is clean, I say so. Overall, I thought that the builder did a respectable job of building the property and the current owner did a good job of maintaining the property, and told my client accordingly. However, I felt that they were a few major things that the home inspector should have caught and relayed to on to his client at the one-year warranty inspection. They are as follows:
The house was a traditional stick built house that incorporated engineered lumber for the floor joists. There are guidelines and parameters by the manufacturer of engineered lumber products that builders and mechanical contractors must adhere to. One of the main guidelines in using this particular product revolves around the flanges (which are the top and bottom parts of the floor joists). You can tug on Superman's cape, you can spit in the wind, you can pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you can even mess around with Jim; however, you don't mess around with the flanges on engineered lumber. Definitely a no-no! To do so, weakens the member and under the right circumstances, can lead to failure of the joists. The picture provided shows where a plumbing contractor decided to cut the top flange in order to get his connection to the tub installed. So much for plumbers and sawzalls – AGAIN! 
Speaking of tubs, the whirlpool tub which was installed in the master bathroom did not have an access to the pump motor. In the event of a motor or pump failure, all of the tile work in the front will have to come out in order to service the unit. I have seen cases where the outside brick had to be removed to get to the pump. I point this out my buyers as considerable expense would be involved. Most builders will install removable tile panels for servicing purposes. After talking to my client about this, he did make the comment that he just underwent this procedure at his house and it cost him several thousand dollars just to replace the $150 motor.
Up in the attic, there were several areas where mold was growing on the framing members. As we all know, mold is getting to be the buzzword that is synonymous with “deal killer". It is not uncommon to see mold or mold like substances growing on framing members in the attic area. More often than not, builders leave the lumber lying around the lot. The 
lumber gets contaminated and once the moisture content in the wood gets about 20%, it will support fungal growth. During some of the cool damp winters here in the middle Tennessee area, it is not uncommon to see the moisture content of framing members in the attic get above this 20% threshold. Once again, as considerable expense would be involved in getting the property sprayed with a fungicide, I point this situation out to my clients.
The point that I'm making here is that all home inspectors come from different backgrounds and because of these backgrounds we are able to see or not see various issues with the property. Because my background has been in building, thankfully, I am able to find some of the inconsistencies in the building process that many of the other home inspectors in this area often miss. I have not seen the other inspectors report, but because it has been a few months between the inspections, I feel that if these items were found, they would have been addressed by the builder.
This posting and the contents written here are the intellectual property of Michael Thornton of Complete Home Inspections, Inc. providing home inspections for Brentwood, Nashville, Davidson and Williamson Counties of Middle Tennessee. The views and opinions expressed are just that - views and opinions of Michael Thornton and those who comment. This post is a contribution to the ActiveRain Real Estate Network.
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