Throughout our message board, you will find advice from former HVAC techs who are now inspecting homes for a living that have included a service call as part of their SOP and who want to claim that to do less constitutes fraud against a client.
I disagree with the concept that for the small fee of $350 to $500, a home inspector is to assume total liability for the client’s comfort, health, affordability and enjoyment of their new home. We simply do a relatively quick (3 hr) visual inspection in a standard way, and report what we are able to see.
For you to assume that the original inspector did not do his job and to report this to a real estate agent…strictly in my opinion…makes you a part of the problem that we face as inspectors. Your response should have been something on the order of “Inadequate capacity is one possible reason for the problem you describe. There are many others as well…none of which fall under the scope of a home inspection.”
My “Barney Phyfe” comparison is directed at the home inspector who attempts to use what little he knows as a means to impress others as a marketing tool. “Look at how dumb this guy is. Makes me look pretty smart, don’t it?” Then, as the “stupid” guy proves to be right…Barney inhales deeply through his nose, shakes his head vigorously with his wide eyes bugging out…walks away as the gathering crowd laughs at him.
I didn’t direct this particularly at you, but only you would know if it applies or not. Barneys get themselves in trouble with knowledgeable contractors and builders and make us all look stupid. They eventually leave the business and we continue to bear their legacy of stupidity.
We are home inspectors. We perform home inspections. To understand what a home inspection is, one must read and understand the standard of practice for a home inspection. That is its definition.
A Barney Phyfe inspector calls out a contractor and previous inspector for installing and missing an inadequate tonnage, and is laughed out of his job when the Manual J calculations show the right tonnage and the warm third floor was from a leaking duct system.
A professional home inspector points out the warm third floor and recommends that it be professionally evaluated.
I hope this is kind and gentle enough to be taken in the proper context.