Roof Certifications

[Nick Gromicko]

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[Humberto Carvajal]

Originally Posted by jshishilla

I do these all the time. (see attached)

John, just out of curiosity, are you a licensed roofer? The form you mention in your post asks for "License Type" and "License Number". What exactly do you provide them with for those?

Thanks,

Bert

[Paul Pendley]

In CA most lenders require a licensed roofing company to inspect and issue a 2-3 yr roof cert.

I use a licensed roofing contractor to do this on all of my inspections, however they do not fully inspect the components of the roofing system as a whole like a qualified home inspector would. But they are pretty much guaranteeing the roof to be good for 2 or more years, and have the resources to correct a defect should it arrise.

I Can certify a roof, but I am not a roofing contractor that can go over and fix a problem real quick like one would because I dont have the materials left over from another job or supplies to quickly resolve the problem should it arrise within that 2 years.

Just for your information FHA does allow home inspectors to do these types of certifications. Inspector beware!!! Im fortunate enough to have a contractor that does these for me.

[Tim Spargo]

I CAN certify a roof, pool, well and septic tank.. lenders (conv. anyway) requirement is that you are a licensed contractor... not what kind you are. Some DO say General or specialty contractor of trade.... ie. General Cont. or roofer for roof, General Cont. or well cont. for well and so on. I'm sure various lenders realize it's a good idea to have a septic guy for septic tanks and so on. FHA may be different, not sure.

I got a call a few days ago asking me to look at a well (this happens a few times a year)... guess what! I gave them a number to a well contractor! Guy calling said "You're fine to do the evaluation...it's not a problem for us..." nope.

For the most part, I stay away from it.. lenders here do require a warranty in some part and timeframe 2 thru 5 years.

I have in the past certified roofs. I generally don't now. Most of the time it's easier to let the roofer deal with that as the majority of the roofs we look at need SOMETHING...as an inspector we don't do that.

There's an inspector up here in my neck of the woods that :

Inspects the house.
Checks for MOLD at the same time during the inspection.. I thought was a no no. Not interested either way.
Certifies the Roof, pool and I think septic, all in one shot. And.... if roof repairs are needed (and Usually are) for roof cert.. he takes care of that too. Not so terrible, but he was talking to me about it last week and I asked him not to talk to me about it anymore . He'd said something in the past to me and I reminded him of a couple of rules about this stuff.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Roof certification against leakage carrries a lot of liability and is not part of an inspection.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a specialty and I can't see how you can absolutely certify a roof against leakage unless you can test it by duplicating any wind and rain conditions the roof might be exposed to. Talking more than garden hose here.

[Robert L. Stephens]

I recieved a call yesterday from a lender for a roof certification but declined. What they are asking for "certification" is not only beyond the scope of the home inspector it opens up all kinds of liability. I gave them 3 local roofing contractors phone numbers.

[Brian K. Smith]

Originally Posted by kshepard

Roof certification against leakage carrries a lot of liability and is not part of an inspection.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a specialty and I can't see how you can absolutely certify a roof against leakage unless you can test it by duplicating any wind and rain conditions the roof might be exposed to. Talking more than garden hose here.

Ive been doing certs for over ten years and I never use a water test unless I get a call back in the winter and I cant find the leak. If yo know what your looking at you can do ok. My 2 cents if your a HI and have never installed roofs dont cert them you will loose your @ss...trust me. ALso here in CA unless your a lic. c-39 contractor they wont take your cert. If any one has any other questios on roof certs drop me a email ill be gald to help you out.

[David A. Andersen]

OK, all this talk about liability...

Will someone post something real about the liability of certifying a roof?

As I see it, the lender wants someone to lay eyes on the thing to insure that it is there and there is a reasonable expectation that the thing will last another 2-5 years. Unlike worthless Home Warranties that insure something sight-unseen.

There is no way to predict the future about leaks or a tornado ripping the top of the house off, but you can give an experienced opinion on the existing condition. No one has mentioned anything about "warranty" or "insurance".

I can understand some home inspectors not wanting to certify anything...
they don't commit to any opinion about the house in the first place.
Getting to be an all too often used home inspection tactic in my opinion.

If you can't certify a roof after you have inspected a home, maybe you shouldn't be a home inspector!

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

An "opinion" is not a "certification". If you certify a roof as leakproof for 2 years, you're telling them it's not going to leak. If I Paid a lot of money for a home and the roof was certified as leakproof and then it leaked. I'd expect the certifier to pay for fixing it.

[Billy Boerner]

Originally Posted by kshepard

An "opinion" is not a "certification". If you certify a roof as leakproof for 2 years, you're telling them it's not going to leak. If I Paid a lot of money for a home and the roof was certified as leakproof and then it leaked. I'd expect the certifier to pay for fixing it.

Exactly.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

Roofing contractors perform them here.

And the make any needed repairs, then, guarantee the roof will not leak.

It may be different in other geographical locations

[jhugenroth]

[quote=kshepard;540391]An "opinion" is not a "certification".

No, but in the absence of a roof cert, wouldn't you as a HI be liable for an "opinion" that the roof was good, then leaked during the next rainstorm?

Seems to me the liability is there whether it is an "opinion" or a "certification"

[David A. Andersen]

Yes, that is the point.

I'm not debating this, I'm looking for something in writing on what the cert is all about, not just an "opinion".

Kenton & Billy are you "certifying" your answer or just posting "opinion"?

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

That's my opinification.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

[quote=jhugenroth;540438]

Originally Posted by kshepard

An "opinion" is not a "certification".

No, but in the absence of a roof cert, wouldn't you as a HI be liable for an "opinion" that the roof was good, then leaked during the next rainstorm?

Seems to me the liability is there whether it is an "opinion" or a "certification"

My reports state "I do not certify roofs as leak-proof as part of the General Home Inspection."

If it looks OK I'll say that it "appears to be in serviceable condition". I'm not saying that it is, just that it appears to be, because I'm not a roofer and I'm not willing to take on the liability. I don't certify furnaces for the same reason.

So it's... "as a non-specialist it looks OK to me but if you want to be sure get a certification from a specialist."

I don't see any liability if I'm not telling them anything that's not true. I could be mostly blind and still say that it looked OK to me and it would be true.

But if I say "this roof is OK and won't leak for 2 years" and before two years is up it leaks, then I told them something that wasn't true and I'm liable.