County Inspections

[Carl [Tobin] Crosland]

What qualifications do you need to do county inspections now that the TRCC, and the county inspection program they set up just last year, has been abolished? Under that program, a professional inspector licensed by the TREC could perform these. Do you need to be ICC certified? Also, TRCC provided a form for these inspections under their program but since TRCC is gone, what form should be used?

[Chuck Evans]

It is up to each county to establish and manage their own programs if they choose to do so. I personally think that this is a good business to stay away from as you have NONE of the liability protection that municipal inspectors have when they perform the exact same function.

[Carl [Tobin] Crosland]

Hmm... I thought I would get more response than this. Let me ask it this way. I have a builder that wants his homes inspected by a third party. This particular county has no program for inspecting new construction outside of the city limits. For you inspectors that do county inspections, where there is no "program", how do you approach this?

[John Onofrey]

Chuck had it right. I was approached by a very high end builder to do inspections on his homes for his buyers. It sounded very lucrative but he wanted my insurance company to indemnify him. I declined after meeting with him because it became clear that his strategy was to push liability for any home issues down to the lowly inspector. Mr. Builder wants Mr. Homeowner to chase after Mr. Inspector if anything goes wrong with the multi-million dollar home.

Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent, not at this juncture.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by jonofrey

Chuck had it right. I was approached by a very high end builder to do inspections on his homes for his buyers. It sounded very lucrative but he wanted my insurance company to indemnify him. I declined after meeting with him because it became clear that his strategy was to push liability for any home issues down to the lowly inspector. Mr. Builder wants Mr. Homeowner to chase after Mr. Inspector if anything goes wrong with the multi-million dollar home.

Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent, not at this juncture.

Ditto

[Robert J. Spermo]

Carl,

I do phase inspections for builders. The TRCC only had a form that listed the inspection as passed or failed. I have developed my own report forms for each phase inspection. You are not required to use the TREC form for phase inspections. If you are going to do them make sure your insurance company covers you for new construction phase inspections. Also be sure that you have an extensive backround in new construction. If you have any more questions email me.