Hallelujah! The wannabe-code-compliance inspectors are doing great harm to home inspection, but no one is willing to do anything about it. The 2020 NEC alone is more than 900 pages. There are many other standards incorporated by reference. That’s just one cycle of one code. Multiply that by all the applicable codes and standards spanning at least a hundred years. I’ve worked by and taught the NEC for decades and I still don’t consider myself to be an NEC expert. I have no need to be and I have no desire to be.
I’ve known some extremely intelligent people, but I’ve never known anyone who comes close to being able to memorize and understand that much information. The wannabes are making a mockery of home inspection. They go out and buy books like the Code-Check children’s books and suddenly they are code guys. The entire industry is becoming one big case study of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
George, your post made my day! I had a great break into this biz being hired by a well-educated (Masters degree +) inspection pioneer that started in the 1980s and then was lucky enough to buy his business with another employee, a Civil Engineer, in 2003. Those two left me with so many great lessons but most of all they taught me that knowing what you don’t know is usually more important that knowing what you do know. Far too many inspectors jump out of their truck everyday armed with a few pieces of information skimmed off the top of a given discipline and try to pass themselves off as an expert.
Marketing ourselves and convincing homebuyer’s that we are an expert in a given field gives them a euphoric sense of the process and they fail to search out the best information they should… from a professional in a given field. E/O carriers scratch their heads and wonder why we keep getting sued… it’s because too many of us want to wear a Superman cape and solve every problem with a house… all for $400 and in 3 hours
I had never heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect and am excited to look into it further.
Often, an inspection report is a series of “gotcha moments,” which is disappointing. Writing things up like a TPRV drain pipe being 7" inches from the floor vs 6" or lower but missing how the home is performing holistically is not a home inspection, in my opinion.
It is one thing to know code, and it is another to understand the consequences. Often, the code does not go far enough to adequately protect the homeowner. (it is a minimum standard)
I agree with you regarding the importance of knowing why the code was generated. When I ask if there’s a code for a certain situation, it’s not so I can be a code expert or “wow” my clients. In my mind, if there’s a code, there’s a reason for the code, which means it’s a possible hazard to my clients future well being. As James Gregory used to say, “At some point in time, some nut decided to….”. For instance, on the side of a box of hemorrhoid cream is the warning “Not for oral use.”, This is there because at some point in time, some nut decided “I wonder if I can use this on a fat lip.” and ended up having to drink through a straw.
