Smart inspector…
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Bill, the seller is accusing you of being “unprofessional, unethical” and threatening to report you to the Indiana Home Inspection Licensing Board for exceeding SOP by providing cost estimates. Your reply is weak, I hope you didn’t already send it.
According to Indiana Standards of Competent Performance, licensees are not required to determine any of the following…methods, materials, or costs of corrections. You should include language from the Indiana SOP that allows you to exceed minimum standards.
These minimum standards of competent performance are not intended to limit licensees from…including other inspection services, systems, or components in addition to those required by these minimum standards of competent performance…specifying repairs, provided the licensee is appropriately qualified and willing to do so
Licensees shall…perform services and express opinions based on genuine conviction…within their areas of education, training, or experience.
Were you an estimator or project manager for a remodeling contractor? Your response should include any experience or education that qualifies you to include cost estimates in your report.
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Thank you everyone for the thoughtful replies. Lots of good wisdom shared here from inspectors more experienced than me, which I took heed of. And good reminders going foward.
To answer a question that came up a few times in the thread- No, I never told the buyer what to fix, or estimated any costs of repairs.
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Yep people take what you say and run with it. This is why my GoPro records every inspection from the time I get out the car till I get back in it. What I do and don’t do, what was said and not said etc.
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Go get you a GoPro camera and a couple batteries with a chest harness. It’s great for pulling up what happened and what was and wasn’t said. It’s also a good quality assurance tool for you.
It happens a lot in Canada. Here is a recent case …
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In that case, although tempting, I would just ignore them. It sounds like the buyer was asking for an $80,000 allowance or price adjustment. The sellers just wants somebody to blame.
Good, although I suspect you did not write that sentence as you intended. We are paid to tell our clients that this or that needs or must be fixed. We all say that home inspectors should stay away from estimating costs because venturing into how to fix something or how much it will cost, is where we can get into trouble. In our real everyday world, we are constantly asked about costs and staying completely out of that quicksand is easier said than done. For instance, it is common in this market for agents to write contracts that say the buyer will not ask the seller to fix anything that will cost under X dollars (I’ll pick a number, $3000) So a few days ago, the agent asked me every time I noted something defective, “Will that be over $3000?” I answered either “I don’t think so, but you should have a contractor/tech give you an estimate” or “Maybe, but I think you should have a contractor/tech give you an estimate.” (Words to those effects) However, when the roof shingles had extensive hail damage, that was a no brainer, “Yup, that will break the $3K line.” Now, you’d think an agent wouldn’t need to ask me about that, but he may have been testing me to see if I would give the same nonresponse.
The plain truth is that clients and agents expect us to be knowledgeable, including about costs. Telling them that you don’t give verbal estimates (never in writing) frustrates them. A frustrated client starts to look hyper-critically at everything you are doing and worse, can sometimes cause them to question your overall knowledge and credibility.
My point being, don’t volunteer cost estimates, but if pressed, remind everyone that costs are changing rapidly. It is impossible for you to keep up with all the cost changes since you are not a contractor in the trades. Many factors can affect costs, including that different contractors simply charge different labor costs and mark-ups. If still pressed, couch your estimates so broadly with so many caveats, that no one can legitimately complain later. And then wryly, I comment that they can easily find the most expensive guy. My father-in-law ignored me and chose a HVAC company that charged 3 times what my HVAC guy would have charged.
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I’m not aware of it happening a lot in Canada. That’s the same case from above, and it was in 2009, not really recent. Did you find any additional cases from Canada?
I’m not sure if you are suggesting that “recency” has something to do with one’s current vulnerability, but legal precedents from court cases in appellate court usually last up to the time that a law has been changed or the judgments are overturned.
Here’s a Canadian that got nailed for $192,000.00 from a bad estimate.
That’s the same one…
2009-11-21_0.pdf (164.0 KB)
You stated “It happens a lot in Canada”. I thought maybe you knew of more than one case here.
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Thank you Lon for your explanation. In doing an inspection, most of the cost estimate questions comes from the buyer in asking how much to repair the defected in question.
First, let’s reduce the liability on our end by have a lawyer review your Pre Inspection Agreement and general home inspection report, especially the disclaimers in the report. Both documents should have a line item explaining cost estimate process (if you are doing cost estimates). Never reveal any cost information to anyone other then the buyer. If the buyer wants to share the inspection report (you know it will be shared, at least to the buyers agent) at least the language in the Pre Inspection Agreement and general home inspection report should cover you.
Second, some organizations requires cost estimates into their inspection report. These organization is responsible for the inspection report, but just in case go back to the previous paragraph about having a lawyer reviewing your agreements.
Lastly, when the client ask for an cost estimate on a defect? Like Lon says, “remind everyone that costs are changing rapidly” or “my estimates are based on my experience but I’m not a contractor and their prices will be different from me”. As a reminder, the language in the Pre Inspection Agreement and general home inspection report should cover you.
IMHO.
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Maybe Inspector Joe can give a price.
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IMO… If ya’ll haven’t figured it out yet, he’s inspecting under a contractor’s license which gives him a loophole/leeway around some NY regulations for Licensed Home Inspectors.
That was a mouthful which nailed it! Well said.
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We can just blame shows like “Inspector Joe” for unrealistic expectations on the Home Inspection process. Remember, if Inspector Joe live in the real world, then he will have to compete with two others contractors that at lease one of them will undercut his quote.
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I am a public adjuster. I represent home and commercial property owners in their disputes with their insurance companies regarding the coverage of damage to their property.
Insurance adjusters provide “estimates”. Many contractors provide “estimates”. In the insurance business, however, an estimate is a fictitious number. It represents nothing more than someone’s guess as to what something might cost to fix or replace.
As a service to my client, I have turned insurance coverage denials into payments exceeding one million dollars in one case, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in many cases. I have also taken “estimates” for damages that were made by insurance adjusters or their contractors in the hundreds of dollars and turned them into insurance payments of tens of thousands of dollars.
Estimates, like I said, are meaningless fictious numbers which no one is bound to until they are written in the form of a bid or other offer to contract. No homeowner under any circumstance should ever decide to purchase a home (or otherwise determine the significance of reported damage) based upon what someone “estimates” the costs to repair or replace the damage or defect to be. Ever.
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That article ends with an illuminating comment…
Another Vancouver-area home inspector not connected to the case said he has never heard of a judgment that big, and hopes it leads to tougher regulations for the inspection industry.
“The average inspector is only there for three hours or less,” said Sean Wiens. “I’m of the view, and I don’t represent the majority, by far, that a good inspection is a full day.”
There are inspectors in several large markets around the country that have carved out profitable niches for themselves doing very expensive, highly detailed all-day inspections. I don’t know if Mr. Wiens is one of those, but I don’t think that trend is likely to become normal anytime soon.
Hi , the only thing that i see wrong is telling the home buyer how much it would cost to fix the different issues if he chooses to do it .because as the home owner says you are not a contractor . Even if you are This is my opinion . Have a good day .