Is it our responsibility to ONLY make observations about defects found or are we also recommending repair and replacement of systems? For example:
-a heavily deteriorated asphalt shingle roof with peeling shingles, heavy granule loss and signs of leakage - should the HI recommend replacement or only observe conditions and recommend further evaluation by a licensed roofer?
This is just an example - what I am looking to find out is where does our responsibility to report end and liability of recommending repairs start?
Would you recommend further evaluation by a licensed plumbing contractor for a slow draining sink?
If an electrical junction box is missing a cover, would you recommend further evaluation by a qualified electrical contractor?
If the shingles need replaced that is what I put in the report I mount the roof like it was a wild horse and take good close pic from different areas of the roof. I don’t do it from the ground or from a ladder unless it is totally unsafe.
Thanks for the answers. So we find problems and report them but we are not to instruct how to fix the problems specifically? Then then afterwards, we might be called back for a reinspection to examine whatever work has been completed in order to see if it passes our inspection criteria?
Good example here as to why you don’t tell them how to fix things, they will f uc it up all by themselves and you get to tell them it is still not to standards of quality and building standards.
If something needs to be repaired, I recommend repair. If it needs to be replaced, I recommend replacement. If it needs further evaluation, I recommend further evaluation. I rarely recommend further evaluation.
Yes, for us here in California, because electricians and plumbers are licensed individuals here, whereas home inspectors are just a bunch of yo-yos playing around.
Thus, the courts have said that a licensed individual should not rely on the observations of an unlicensed individual. Therefore, “further evaluation” by the licensed individual is warranted.
It’s problematic quite often because the courts and the State say that the electrician who got his license in the mail today knows more about electricity than someone like me whose granddad, dad, and three uncles all were (all are dead now) electricians, and I started working with electricity when I was 11. That’s 48 years ago.
Practicing in a licensed profession without a license can be subject to severe civil and even criminal penalties, which could involve jail time, prison time, and lots of dough, including punitive damages.
Until we get licensing in California, I will defer to my attorneys and my E&O provider as to what words to use in my report.
Okay, so what if you are inspecting a bank owned property and it has a deck which is “on its last legs.” It is squeeking and swaying just by walking on it. Would the inspector just note the defect and recommend further evaluation by a structural engineer?
Are we responsible for going an extra step and cordoning off the deck to prevent it from collapsing when the buyers step on it? Or are we off the hook just by having noted it in our report?
Licensing only is a basic minimum standard. Nothing more, nothing less. You have a diver’s license, it makes you an expert at driving. You have a fishing license, it makes you an expert at fishing. Etc. Etc. Right?
Your state that requires a licensed individual to do the repairs are doing them at a basic minimum standard. Lawmakers are morons.
