Inspected a house yesterday that on the seller disclosure had fire damage (no details given). At the inspection, there was no evidence of a fire anywhere in the home/ attic. I called the local fire department to see if they had records of a fire at the address…nothing. Some real estate listings showed build date of 1994. Other listings showed a build date of 2002. Seller and agent(s) did not have any details of the fire. When I uploaded the report, I noticed BuildFax (viewed on Inspector Dashboard) had two permits listed. As it turned out, one permit was for total demolition (due to fire) and the second permit was for new construction. Both permits were dated 2002 which explained the different build dates in the listings.
I don’t use BuildFax too often, but it’s a nice tool to have at your fingertips when needed.
BuildFax is a great product. I like that we can give little teasers up front that sometimes helps without having to buy it. For instance if the home showed no recent permits as a teaser then you arrive at the inspection address and see a fairly new addition. You can conclude that this addition likely did not get permitted. Time to look at the footings etc.
Wow!!! That’s a great feature I never knew we had. Thanks Robert!!
No wonder HG is used by over 85% of home inspectors throughout the world. HG Rocks!!!
The Buildfax can’t work until it has an address. So there is a manual place as Robert said to enter it. The new online appointment manager incorporates Build fax automatically because you insert the address when creating an order.
