Home inspection vs wind mit liability

[Greg Bell]

Originally Posted by jshishilla

I posed the question because many here have stated that they do not want to do wind mits because of the liability. I believe most of them do not do them because they could not. Then again I pose many questions here that I have the answer to(IMHO), for the benefit of the group.

I have stated many times: Doing insurance inspections is not like home inspections in many ways. Many assume, contractors and home inspectors alike, that they can read the form and go out and do the inspections. They lack the knowledge and skills and make us all look bad. (There is a guy in our area that I have redone no less than 25 of his wind mits because they were grossly wrong).

I believe that if you learn what you can and try to do wind mits correctly there is much less liability than a home inspection.

Please provide some examples of how they were grossly wrong.

Personally I don't do them because I do not have one of the licenses that the state requires. I also didn't think it was right too do them working under a contractor. I did do them from 07-08 when the OIR said that licensed or certified building inspectors could perform them.

As a licensed home inspector we are supposed to be able to do them someday. Even with that I am still sitting on the fence about doing them. I would fell a lot better about doing them if there were written guidelines. Until that time everything is subjective.

I feel for you guys that have done a lot of them from 07 till now. I can just imagine all of the upset homeowners that are going to be calling you once they lose their discounts. IMHO a lot of reputations are going to be ruined once these reinspections start.

[John Shishilla]

Originally Posted by gbell

Please provide some examples of how they were grossly wrong.

Personally I don't do them because I do not have one of the licenses that the state requires. I also didn't think it was right too do them working under a contractor. I did do them from 07-08 when the OIR said that licensed or certified building inspectors could perform them.

As a licensed home inspector we are supposed to be able to do them someday. Even with that I am still sitting on the fence about doing them. I would fell a lot better about doing them if there were written guidelines. Until that time everything is subjective.

I feel for you guys that have done a lot of them from 07 till now. I can just imagine all of the upset homeowners that are going to be calling you once they lose their discounts. IMHO a lot of reputations are going to be ruined once these reinspections start.

I have seen it all, from marking wraps when it was clips. Marking 8d 6x6 when it was clearly staples. I have seen roof geometry so wrong that you would think they were at the wrong house. My all time favorite is a pre 2001 house or roof that meets the the 2001 building code. I once argued with an agent about a roof from 2000. He stated that he worked at Lowers and knows the the roofs back then all met the 2001 code. I can not even count how many inspectors never went in the attic. Some people found the 1802 taped to their front door because they were not home and the form was filled-out.

I have always included pictures with my reports, so there is rarely a question about my reports. People lose credits when they redo the form to change companies, not just because the form changed.

The re inspections have been going on for some time now and I have had two reports that they wanted to change. One they wanted to take away the shutter credit, but the sky lights were over an open patio( I won). On another they changed the nailing pattern from box C to box A the home had 6d deformed shank nails. I lost that argument, but still feel I was correct in my assessment. The client understood and had to pay an increase in premium.

I usually get an email from the agent ahead of time if something is not right or is going to change. The agent has the situation corrected or explains it to the customer.

I had a client on Friday that had a report without a picture of a clip, with clip credit and a 2000 roof that met the 2001 building code.

Here is the email form the agent and my office


Nope, he had 2000 with a FBC roof
Should have gone with Honor Construction to avoid such problems lol

YES HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY!!

On 9/10/2010 1:44 PM, Honor wrote:

No… Michael said there was no way. I sorry! )
Not sure why the other inspector put that…. did he have a different roof date????

)

Happy Friday

From: Amy XXXXX
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 1:34 PM
To: Honor Construction & Inspection Services
Subject: Re: XXXXX, Sandy 833 XXXX Ave. Melbourne 1802



Thanks Michelle! And thank you Michael for getting out there so quickly!!

Still no determination on the roof deck attachment though, huh? Tight squeeze? Just confirming before I submit.

She is keeping the clip credit but loosing the FBC roof credit. Not sure why the prior inspector but FBC equivalent..it's a 2000 roof.

Have a great weekend
-- Best Regards, Amy

We redid the report, the client was unhappy but not with me.

[Brian C. Hoagland]

During the period when I did these working for a WCE I had several problems with the quality control personell. I wouldn't change some things they wanted changed on reports I reinspected due to homeowner complaints that I had not inspected originally. The original program was full of problems and nothing is changed. The form is still wrong and has nebulous areas open to interpretation it is too specific for us to adequately determine answers about roof coverings and tie downs and too nebulous with respect to wall construction, are gable ends really walls now? Experts disagree on roof geometry issues, wall issues and opening issues. How to fill it out properly is anyones guess right now.