Repair Cost Estimate by Home Inspectors

[David A. Andersen]

Why pay a HI to find problem area's only to have to bring in a contractor(s) to find an aprox. repair cost?

Because our job is not to go there and inspect the house to do the repairs.

A home inspection report lists all the deficiencies that are significant. We have no way of knowing which repairs the client is going to want completed or how they want it done.

Why should a contractor do it? Because they're the one that will be potentially doing the work. If you are a contractor you would know that any repair that has latent deficiencies cannot be estimated as you don't know what you're going to find when you open up the wall floor or ceiling. A plumber doesn't know what kind of damage they have below a toilet when they have to reset the toilet. You can give them a cost to reset the toilet but you better have something in there to cover the further damages that may be found during demolition.

Home inspector can't do this. If they do, what worth is the estimate to your client anyway? "It could cost $500 to fix this, but it might cost $10,000 if something occurred". That's really useful!

[cwillick1]

during the weekends, when i have time. i drop in to the open houses and say hi leaving my card and brochure with the agent. Sunday i ran into an agent that told me of a story about an inspector that was doing just that giving quotes on how much items would cost to fix. Well the whole office is dropping the inspector from their referral list. i would like to know who that inspector is, id love to thank him.

[Peter C. Russell]

Read the NACHI SOP, and proceed with caution. I am a contractor and many Realtors no it, they also no I will not give an estimate to repair, for me it's a conflict of interest, also due to the varied overhead cost from one company to another there is no way you can accurately give a cost to repair.
You have to remember that most consumers are fairly well educated when it comes to expectations.

[Peter C. Russell]

Sorry about the spelling errors, I've been at the computer all day doing estimate's and I'm a little burned out!

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by dandersen

For anyone interested in case law; I have been in court and they were all over the minor repair/major repair headings that I posted on deficiencies.

Let me take a WAG... You live in a state where the government has socialized our profession through licensing and you advertise that you have E&O.

Not am I just a home inspector but also a Swami, guess your weight for a buck.

[David A. Andersen]

Let me take a WAG... You live in a state where the government has socialized our profession through licensing and you advertise that you have E&O.

You are very correct! You are taking a wild ***** guess!

Get with Bushart and wild ***** guess your ***** through this!

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by dplummer

For my money I'd be better off bringing in a Restoration Contractor who can point out problem area's & still give me a cost estimate. I think I would get a bigger bang for my buck! Doug

You are right. In fact, there is an association that specializes not only in home inspections and repair estimates, but can actually arrange for the repair itself. Contact them.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by dandersen

You are very correct! You are taking a wild ***** guess!

Get with Bushart and wild ***** guess your ***** through this!

No one is forcing you to provide estimates yet, but I would expect enterprising individuals who wish to set themselves apart from less experienced home inspectors will find that supplying cost estimates of major defects will help grow their business faster then those who do not. It has been the case with me here in Florida.

[David A. Andersen]

Florida and Tennessee work under a different set of rules.

I have clients ask me all the time about estimated cost of repair. I never provide an estimate, but I do provide a course of action to take to determine estimated costs which the client is more than happy with. I have never had anyone asked me during a PreInspection interview if I provided estimates, nor have I had anyone decline to hire me because I did not.

Tennessee home inspection law:
paragraph 6 general exclusions
(a) home inspectors are not required to report on:
2. The cause of the need for a repair
3. The methods, materials and costs of correction

[jkormos]

Originally Posted by ldapkus

Leave the estimating to the contractors. We're Home Inspectors.

Exactly

[Greg Veal]

I just love the fact that we can get so many opinions and answers to a question that really can't be answered in a yes/no or right/wrong way.
It's always interesting and imformative.

IMO...

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by gveal

I just love the fact that we can get so many opinions and answers to a question that really can't be answered in a yes/no or right/wrong way.
It's always interesting and imformative.

IMO...

Yes. You are right.

[dbelmont]

Let me take a swing at this one.

The process of determining a repair cost is genrally different from the process of determining the condition as an HI.

For example in my Contractor and Estimator days I'd prepare cost estimates for replacing a roof. To do it right and come out reasonably accurate )(meaning a price that didn't end up costing you money) required time spent in making measurements that HI's don't make.

Like all of you I've seen roof conditions that I knew were not going to be cheap to repair/replace. But when asked I answer honestly that I don't know precisely what it would cost and that doing the necessary measurements and calculations isn't part of their HI.

Because I have the background I considered offering that sort of service at one time but decided against it.I thought about how I feel when a RE agent tells someone they shouldn't pay more then 299 for a home inspection. I imagined what a real roofing contractor (or any other contractor) would say about me in a similar circumstance. So I decided that pricing is best left to those who are willing and able to do a particular job. In my thought that is the only fair way to be to my customer and to keep on the right side of the local trades.

[mlopezi]

How about NO WAY Greg

[poliner]

Originally Posted by mlopezi

How about NO WAY Greg

Thats the deal...It's tempting to be all things to all people.
I can see both sides of estimating, and at the end of the day its a personal choice. However the guys that seem to offer the service are doing it for a professional one-up on competition, and percieved better service. I can't see how the added risks are good for ones sanity.
For me its about professional boundaries and knowing when to say no. Lets face it clients/ realtors would have us there doing repairs as well if we offered this service.