BC, CAHPI Inspector makes the news

Updated: Thu. May. 20 2010 8:58 PM ET

Bruce Hunter is a veteran home inspector often called in to find what other inspectors may have missed. He has some words of advice for anyone looking for a home inspector.

“Hire your own gun,” he said. “If you are going to buy a half-a-million dollar house or whatever these days, don’t limit yourself to a cheap short inspection of a couple of hours and a checklist. Spend a couple of hundred dollars more and get a thorough report that’s going to tell you the true condition of the property,”

Vancouver lawyer Frank Eadie has successfully sued a home inspector over errors in an inspection. He has more words of advice.

He says read your home inspection contract carefully before you sign it because many limit the home inspector’s liability to a return of his fees.

“So if his fee is $400, if you prove that he’s liable all you get is $400 which is totally inadequate if you are talking about a serious situation.”

His advice is not to hire a home inspector who insists on that clause being in the contract.

“Because what are you buying? You are not buying really very much,” Eadie said.

He believes the provincial government should outlaw that clause now that every inspector must carry $1 million worth of insurance.

There is another issue when you’re seeking compensation: often these cases are too small for lawyers to take on–even ones that have cost a home owner as much as $100,000.

But that could change. Starting July 1 new fast track court rules will make suing for amounts under $100,000 faster and cheaper.

“I’m going to be more inclined to take those cases under $100,000 once these new rules come into effect than I would have been before because I think I can handle them in a manner that is beneficial for the client,” Eadie said.

And there is another development. Right now, four organizations represent B.C. home inspections, each with different standards. The government hopes to have a single standard within two years.

But the Better Business Bureau’s Mark Fernandes says checking standards and qualifications is only a first step.

“If you want real peace of mind you want to be able to get some referrals,” Fernandes said.

And he advises being there during the inspection so you can see what is checked and what isn’t on the home you want to buy.

And a final bit of advice before hiring an inspector from an inspector himself?

“[The] most important thing to look for in those documents is what the inspector does NOT inspect and make sure you get those [items clarified] before he does his work so you know the limitations,” Hunter said.

*With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Chris Olsen. *

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"Do you not recommend to your clients that a licensed electrician, plumber, HVAC…be contacted for repairs identified in your inspection report?"

Of course! But I do not claim that they will perform flawlessly. Have you never found a reverse wired outlet in a newer home? Or a loose neutral or two in the panel? Or a wall receptacle installed upside down? Or . . . . . .?

I’m glad that you are recommending licensed tradesmen for repairs identified in your inspection reports;-):D…

Of course, we understand that no one is perfect and that mistakes will happen, but being licensed most certainly will reduce the risks!

What do you mean by a wall receptacle installed upside down?

My understanding is that the ground pin or live prong should be positioned up for safety reasons…

Cheers,

There is no upside down with receptacles but the ground being down has somewhat become a “standard”. I worked a couple+ years under a licensed electrician in the 1970’s…his method was to have the ground pin up for “safety reasons”. His reasoning was that when you pull a plug out, your thumb is at the top of it; if your thumb slips over the top edge of the plug to touch a prong of the plug, it will touch the ground pin which will (should) be at 0 volts.

Why do you use the term “live prong”?

You have that right, George!!

Just finished the THIRD re-inspection of an electrical system this past Thursday. Did the original inspection of a 3 year old side-by-side duplex in mid-late April.

The integral basement-level garages of both units were at street grade in a part of town designated as residential/commercial. The vendor had renovated and turned the garages into commercial space for rent. To do this, the common walls/ceilings had to meet codes for fire separation and the electrical had to be separated with 2 new electrical services installed. Due to rental committments, the separation of both garages did not occur at the same time …and different “electricians” were used

When I did the outside of the building, I noticed that a valid electrical inspection sticker was affixed to each new meter socket…but inside the second new commercial space was something else!!! Some of the circuits had now been fully separated but one basement light circuit was fed from the same phase of 2 different panels, a 60 gallon DHW tank was fed from the wrong panel, the ground wire for the new service was too small…it went on and on.

The vendor (who was on site at the end of the inspection) argued with me that these items could not be “wrong” since it had been inspected by the AHJ and had an inspection sticker. After 15 minutes of “heated” discussion, he agreed to have the items I found addressed…I mentioned that there may be more to be found since my “cursory” inspection (yes, that is all we do with our “home inspections”) probably had not found all incorrect items!!

Five days later I was asked to re-inspect (for a fee, of course!!)…I found a few things corrected but some new issues came up. The vendor had hired an out-of-work young electrician’s apprentice!!

Another 6 days later, I was asked to re-inspect again. This time an older “electrician” had done the second phase of the electrical cleanup…it was much the same as my first re-inspection!!! For example, the wire for the DHW tank was too small, a receptacle was found with no power…I could not believe what I was seeing!!

So…another 2+ weeks go by and I get to re-visit the property a third (edit: and 4th time…see post#29) . This time the real, licensed electrician was there to meet me and walk through the commercial unit with me. I now have him in my “Recommended List” of GC’s and subs.

My cynical phrase “When money is involved, trust no one” once again proves true!!

[FONT=Verdana]Brian,

My reasoning for having ground pins positioned up is that if you install a metal cover plate and it gets loose and drop while a plug is partially pulled from the receptacle it could get ugly.

In my area most ground pins are up but across the river in Ontario, the ground pins are down; must be a French thing;)…

Same reasoning for receptacle installed horizontally; if the live slots are positioned upward and a metal cover is used, gets loose and drops while a plug is partially pulled. With horizontal receptacle, the neutral slot should be positioned up.

I guess I should have used the word slot instead of prong.

Cheers,
[/FONT]

Brian,

What do you mean by:

but one basement light circuit was fed from the same phase of 2 different panels

Thanks,

My cynical phrase “When money is involved, trust no one” once again proves true!!

You got that right Brian

(Phase is not really the true term as would be in 3-phase but is generally used to describe the fact that from black-to-black, voltage is 240 but with a center tap grounded conductor (neutral) at the transformer, you end up with 2-120 volt service feeds or “phases”.)

Scenario:

When I did the original inspection, the power to the commercial unit was “off” due unpaid bill by tenant whose business had failed. The basement lights (which belonged to the apartment) had a light switch which was operational.

For my second inspection, power was “on” as the bill had been paid by the vendor/landlord. When I entered the apartment basement, the lights were “on” but could not be shut “off”…they were also directly fed from the original apartment panel (now storefront panel) in the former garage bypassing any switching.

What happened:

Let’s number the 2-120 volt black service wires at the panel "phase #1 and phase #2. The lights were doubly fed from one matching 120 volt phase from different panels; if they had been fed from phase #1 of one panel and phase #2 from the other (or the same panel, for that matter) , there would have been a 240 volt “dead short” somewhere in the circuits!!!

BTW:
There are still 2 countertop receptacles in the kitchen of the apartment that are dead with blank covers…the feed was cut somewhere in a now finished wall/ceiling/floor joist cavity. There are 3 other countertop receps that are properly operating and GFI protected. Re-feeding them from the new apartment panel at the farthest end of the unit may have been very costly and could break the sale; it was agreed to “let it be!” so we could all finally get the h-e-l-l out of there!!

Note: Forgot about another visit to the site.

Just looked at my daytimer…I actually had returned to the place for another inspection before my final (making 4 trips back in totaL). The third electrician (an older gent over 60) thought he could analyse/correct the screwed up wiring in a long day so it was arranged for me to inspect on the day he was to do the work. I arrived at 6 PM to find him just leaving shaking his head…he had found so much more wrong and could not finish. I didn’t inspect anything then but will charge a couple of hours.

This gent has 2 sons, both licensed sparkies, so for the last day he had one with him to ensure that the job got finished with only 1 more trip to the site!