Dissatisfied with inspection

Inspector did not address some issues which would have been addressed before purchase.
A couple of electrical outlets do not work and we could have asked the seller to repair them. Even worse, the much newer ac condenser that the report says belongs to our unit pictures serial # and everything, is not ours at all. A much older one is actually ours. For sure, we would have made a lower offer or walked away from the deal if necessary because those things cost a grand or more, not including labor.
The inspector says either the connection is marked wrong or he made an honest mistake by taking the wrong picture(s). I’ve already checked and it is not marked wrong. This is for a townhouse condo in Georgia with four units per building we bought less than six months ago. I believe that mistake should cost him, not us…

Am I wrong?

Thank you,

Jeannette

Ok, so what’s the REAL gripe? Buyers remorse? Lose your job, and you’re shaking your inspector down for the $$$? It’s taken you over six months to complain about a “couple of outlets” (cost $1.17 ea) and an AC unit that works but is “older” than you would like? Guess what? MOST sellers will not replace or reduce price for a unit that works but is old! You purchased a used, aka… OLD home, not a NEW home! You paid for an OLD home with OLD appliances. I’ll bet you also shopped around for the cheapest inspector you could find, right? Doesn’t mean he/she didn’t do a great job for you, but there’s a reason Professional Inspectors generally charge higher fees. You get what you pay for!

Nuff said.

Did you sign a contract with the inspector? Did it say they were only liable for the fee paid? If he did a terrible job then maybe you could get your fee back. Was it an Internashi inspector? Did they provide you with information on the buy back program? Research goes a long way when looking for an inspector. Some states do not require a license to be an inspector, any fool could call themselves a home inspector…

Sorry to hear about your problems Jenette.

We are all subject to human errors.

It certainly would have been better if you had not waited 6 months to contact you inspector.

The inspectors responsibility is to determine if the heating and cooling are working not to tell you how old or how long they might last.

I did one last week with a 27 year old AC system that was working just fine. You really never know and that is whey inspectors do not gaze into their crystal balls and guess when it might fail.

As yous is still working isn’t that a good thing?

Inspectors do not in general check all outlets but instead a representive sample.

They are easily replace and for very little money.

Yes I signed a contract, yes it was an Internashi inspector & yes the fee paid is the limit which is what I’m looking to get back since he simply did not do what he was paid to do, which was to inspect the correct equipment, so that I could make a decision on the purchase from there. Getting the fee back would be 1/3 of the cost of towards a new unit when needed sooner rather than later…

We recently had a leak in our ceiling and this has turned into a month long ordeal. Found the water line after a storm, called our insurance company to file a claim and we thought it was pretty simple. Well it turns out that it is not simple at all. Our adjuster sent a company out to open the space to dry it out and two days later he came with a roofer to do the inspection. We had already been up on the roof to see if there were missing shingles or anything obvious we could fix before we even called our insurance. The adjuster said that we really should have had a home inspection done. ??? I told him that we did and there were three of us present for it- me, our agent and the sellers agent. He said that we should definitely contact them because there are some major defects in our roof. I was shocked and actually a little angry after hearing their comments as to the condition of the roof. The inspector did go onto the two portions that they said had the most problems. There are two skylights, one had multiple layers of tar around it and the other had some tar in several locations. The even bigger issue is that there is no flashing where the roof meets two walls and on another there is rubber flashing that does not extend the entire length of the roof. I had no idea of any of this. Our inspector has it in our report that the roof is in the second third of its life expectancy and that the flashing should be replaced when reroofing- but if the roof is in the second third of its life… it would appear according to the report that this is not a concern for right now. Right!!! There are blocks that the inspector checked for the components and the box for presence of tar is not checked, but there was multiple places with tar present and there is nothing in the report about it. One portion of the roof (over our screened porch) has different shingles and this was not noted either and this is the area with no flashing and caulk in the areas where flashing should be.
I am beyond disappointed and this is going to cost us a lot of money because our inspector failed to give us details of defects that were clear, in clear view and not normal parts of a roof- there should never be tar in place of flashing… we have learned so much about roofing with 3 roofers coming to our house.
The inspector came back with her boss and they took the old tar off the skylights and replaced it, to protect our house from an incoming storm- they spent over 5 hours at our house and a trip to Lowe’s for supplies. In the end, the owner offered to pay to replace the leaky skylight but would not address the other issues- stating that when the house was built it was standard. ??? That would be a nice answer if I had bought the house 16 years ago when it was built, but since this is 2015 and I paid for an inspection- I want to know the defects and what to address with the sellers.
I am angry that the owner is making this sound like I am making this sound worse than it is and that we received a true visual report at the time the inspection was performed. This is not true unless someone came after the inspection and stole the flashing, put tar on the skylight and took all the grit off the shingles. How is this not negligence? The owner said they are willing to pay for a skylight and that is it but a roofer won’t come anywhere near this roof because there are so many problems with it- two of them said that they cannot put their reputation on the line and risk it to put a bandaid on something that is unserviceable. Our roof is unserviceable and the inspector refuses to provide the pictures she took at our original inspection- that show the condition of the roof.
The owner thinks that by saying let’s take it to arbitration, he will scare me off or something. I have many professionals that have said the exact same thing about the condition of this roof and it is not a gray area, it is cut and dry- it needs to be replaced.

I asked the owner, a certified master inspector- if you were up on a roof doing an inspection would you not mention the tar on the skylights and missing flashing? He had no response. I asked again, if this is your standard and your inspector did the right thing, you are telling me that you have never reported and would not report this to a client? He said he did not have to tell me what he puts in reports.
That was enough for me.

Jeannette & Unregistered (which are more than likely one and the same)

Firstly, let me say that your experience may not be typical and complaining in this forum will not add resolution to your issue. You will have to work your issues out between the inspector and yourself. Being an InterNACHI member means nothing to the independent firms responsibility for their inspection. This is only a membership association.

Second, you stated in many posts that your roof is 16 years old yet did not express anything from the actual report you were provided. Did they make any comments at all on your roof or are you just upset about what you and a technical expert may have an opinion about what should have been found or reported.

Third, let’s talk about those receptacles you speak of. I find it hard to believe they would actually influence your decision to buy the dwelling. In fact, as someone already stated, they are not required to check every receptacle in the dwelling. However, many inspectors do and i am one of them that tests (or used to) them all but is not required.

As for the AC Unit, you have to understand that the seller would not replace a working AC unit just because you would like it changed due to age. The HI will check the temperature differentials in the dwelling and if the unit works he would not report otherwise…except that it works. I have sold quite a few homes (I move around alot) and I would never offer to replace an HVAC unit that actually works and I am more than sure the seller in your case would not either.

So even if the HI did not get the right unit inspected outside I am more than 100% sure they took readings inside, checked the differential temps and established the HVAC system was working fine…if it is NOT and they reported it working then you have an issue and a case for a claim. HOWEVER - An inspection is a “Snap Shot” in time…6 months later you have no (zero) basis for any action or claim otherwise.

Now, as for the leaking skylight…many of them are sealed with Tar, even with flashing. As you stated the individuals who came “opened” up the roof to notice the issues. An inspector is not going to dismantle things, it is not like you see on “Holmes on Homes” on TV. Inspectors do not open up wall finishings or roofing material, it is a visual inspection and if the day is DRY and no signs of leaking evident then how are they to report anything otherwise.

I am not here to defend the HI as all HI’s are different, are at different levels of knowledge and quite frankly some are better than others. As you ask about would someone mention the tar on a roof…well in many cases that may be an acceptable way to make a repair…again the roof was 16 years old and we have no idea what the inspector posted in his report as you have no shared that information.

Best of luck in your efforts. The inspector may have been in error but nothing you post on this forum is going to better your situation.

I am the unregistered and I have no idea who Jeannette is and I posted my response here because I wanted an opinion from someone else who may have come across this situation. I in no way expect my HI to open wall nor do I expect that they would have any knowledge of what is behind the drywall. My expectation was that I receive a full report of the condition of the home before I made the purchase. We had already walked away from another offer on a house because of safety concerns- mold in the a/c unit and a home humidifier that was rusted closed, many indications that the home had not been maintained and we were not willing to take on the expenses to fix what was behind the walls of that home. We are a military family and were in the middle of an overseas move with our kids… we did not have time to fix costly items or the money to do it- so yes, we would have walked away from a house with this many defects in the roof. We had the option to live on the military base but made the choice to buy the home because we were told that it was in “very good condition for it’s age” Our inspection report did not mention any of the defects- missing flashing, multiple layers of tar and the fact that caulk was put in between a rubber flashing and shingles were bunched. None of these notations were on our report. It stated that the roof was in the second third of its life expectancy, some deterioration of the flashing and that it should be replaced when reroofing- based on what we were told of the life expectancy this was not an indication that we should budget to replace… which was another box the inspector could have checked on our inspection report. The box for presence of tar on the roof was not checked nor was the box for improper installation- which would have been appropriate for the missing flashing and multiple layers of caulk. I have learned much about this since this leak occurred and three roofers have come to assess the situation. But at the time of purchase, we relied on someone that we hired, paid a fee for service and were not given the full scope of the condition.
I am not looking for anyone to give me advice against our HI, I only want to know what the liability is for this and if anyone has experienced it before. Dealing with the inspector now and after 3 roofers and my insurance adjuster have given feedback on the condition- it is my experience that we were not given what we paid for and now we have to replace the roof. It is not an option to just band aid fix it because our insurance adjuster said that we are not at risk if any other damage happens, our insurance will not cover it if it is due to these defects and failures. This is not a case of me just being upset about a tiny leak or anything like that- and just so it is clear I only contacted the home inspector after my insurance adjuster said that we should. He advised us that this was one of the worst roofs he had seen in a long time that an inspector did not notate any of the failures. The first thought that crossed my mind when we saw a water mark on the roof was to contact our homeowners insurance. I am not here to bash my HI or his company- but a mistake was made and I feel the company should make it right with us as their customers. If the inspector had not been up on the roof and could not see it because it was a steep slope- I might understand how this was missed- but it was easy to see by ladder alone and our inspector was actually on this portion of the roof.

I understand. However, you will not get an unbiased audience on a Home Inspector Forum. If you feel this is negligent then my advice would be to hire an attorney and defend what you believe is right.

Many attorneys will review the case for free and give you their opinion before taking the case yet some wont. However, HI’s do make mistakes and many are held accountable for those mistakes. You have no less than (3) expert accounts to use in a court case…the next step is yours and not really other HI’s on this forum.

Not bashing you…just trying to give you some insight on the situation.