Ethics are very important. As home inspectors we work without direct observation most of the time and it would be very easy to succumb to the temptation to be less than truthful at times. Our ethics and integrity must be firmly intact at all times to avoid such temptations. If a home owner asked me to be less then truthful on an inspection I would have to politely inform the homeowner that I would be fair and accurate in my work. I would try to explain to the homeowner that I am not against them and am not there to find things wrong with the home. I am simply there to inspect the home and to tell the truth about what I see.
Situation: While on a home inspection, talking to the client, I mention that I have 20 years experience as a carpenter. Later, in the crawl space, I notice a joist that was over-notched to allow for a shower drain. When mentioned to the client, the client asks me to perform the necessary repairs, correctly believing that I am qualified to do so.
How to handle:I politely decline to make the necessary repairs, as doing so would violate the CoE by performing work covered by the SoP on a property that I performed a home inspection on. I inform the client that I am obligated to wait 12 months before I can make the repairs, but I believe the repairs should be made before that time frame expires.
A seller requests that the cracks in the foundation can be overlooked by a sum of money provided to the inspectors family. One option would be to take the money and not report on the subpar foundation and the other option would report the actual findings of a cracked foundation.
In one inspection I went to there was a situation where I was checking to see if all the toilets where working there was a bathroom toilet that was loose and was not running I comment to the client that I had to repot that and the client told me that if he payed me a few extra bucks if I didn’t report on it I told him I count not do that it was against the InterNACHI code of ethics.
This article explains some situations in which you may be protected by your Inspection Contract, even if your client doesn’t sign it. While it is nice to know this information, a wise home inspector will always get the contract signed before performing an inspection, preferably as far before the time of inspection as possible.
In the article Easy Steps That Help Home Inspectors Avoid Lawsuits we learned what ways we can avoid lawsuits one Join InterNACHI, of course! two Incorporate or form an LLC. Take all courses que certify as master inspector if you are going to hire have a contract get better with InterNACHI and all the benefits it offers.
The article “If a Home Inspector Misses Something” has been written to show any prospective and current inspectors that it is okay to make a mistake and to learn something from each inspection. Not all defects are going to be able to be discovered on the exact time and weather condition that the inspection is completed. The article goes on to say, admit when you’re wrong, apologize and don’t dwell on it. Protect yourself by staying up to date on learning new systems and procedures and never call yourself an “expert”.
On an inspection for a potential buyer, the owner follows me around during my inspection and notices me taking a temperature check on the electrical panel before inspecting it. Obviously knowing I would notice a problem, he states his brother is an electrician and is going to replace the entire panel tomorrow morning, so I might as well leave this off of the report. I explain to the owner that I can only report on what I see, not on what will be done later. I tell him I think it’s a good idea to have an electrician check out and repair the problem and to make sure the electrician is licensed and pulls the proper permits. Remember, with certain repairs - if it wasn’t permitted, it didn’t happen. I’ll be happy to come by after the repair and verify my findings have been addressed and issue an updated report.
Seller said," home had new roof put 1 year ago and u don’t need to bother with looking at it."
I should say thank u for info and continue to follow the SOP.
Roofing must be documented and all defects report.
Just because it’s new doesn’t mean there are not problems.
Home inspection Checklists are a vital part of risk management. Even though we try to get Homeowners / Clients to refrain from distracting us, it will inevitably happen at times. I’ve found that creating a library of checklists for different types of structures helps to minimize the “clutter” of a general checklist, much of which is not pertinent to the property I am currently on. For example, a checklist for a production home built 5 years ago will have a different checklist than a 100 year old home in the historic district of town. My checklists always follow the path I prefer to follow on inspections and are organized in a way that my brain seems to intuitively want to follow. I’m quite sure we all have our own methodology, but modifying a checklist that seems counter-intuitive to a more natural flow is something I think we all should work on.
There was a home inspection where the homeowner pointed out that there was a water treatment system but that it was in bad shape was not operating at this time. He told the inspector that he would probably get it fixed soon and he could just report it as in good working order with no issues. The inspector had to tell the homeowner that he can only report what he sees and it would not be ethical for him to report it as working properly when it clearly wasn’t.
Doing Damage During an Inspection
This article points out that if an inspector should damage something under normal operation in normal conditions its usually fortunate that it happened. Even though an inspector caused the damage, the situation actually saves the homeowner from a potential disaster and thankfully it was caught by the inspector. When something breaks in the course of an inspection, it can turn out to actually be a good thing.
Upon arriving at a home inspection site I am met at the curb by the selling agent. She explains to me that the insulation in the attic is a mess but the seller has already agreed to make the corrections. She asks that I not mention the present condition in my report. I explain to her that I am bound to report, upon my observations, on what I see during my inspection. I will only report what are, in my opinion, observed deficiencies. This will actually give the homeowners a good bench mark on what corrective actions they will need to take. This could be more, or less, than they are anticipating, but they will have the confidence to know that they are making the necessary corrections. This will also give the new owners the confidence that the known deficiencies are being observed and potentially corrected. In the end this will help with a smooth transition of ownership and avoid potential problems (at least from this issue).
Work as a home inspector can open you up to many potential liabilities and given our society, where sometimes there are overzealous tenancies to hire a lawyer and sue, one can never be too careful. Thankfully there are many steps that a home inspector can take to minimize these risks. Joining InterNACHI and obtaining the proper certification through NACHI and the state of your work is a great first step. Going beyond this and becoming a Certified Master Inspector is even better. In addition, having the proper insurance will give you the confidence that you are covered in the event of a disagreement that should go to court. While on a job site, one should carefully mark any hazardous situations and clearly mark them off to avoid anyone from getting hurt. One very important disclaimer is to never identify yourself as an expert. By nature an inspector is a generalist. Making claims to be an expert within any aspect of a home inspection can and will open the inspector up to a much higher level of expectation. A couple of other points are, to always conduct an inspection under a well defined contract which sets up the boundaries and limits of the inspection, at the agreed to cost and to take care in writing your report. On this last point it is a very good idea to use appropriate phrasing from a well respected library of comments. While this is not an exhaustive list, it covers the basic high level points.
Currently I am going on inspections with my manager to see what an inspection entails while going through the process of becoming Certified Inspector, I only shadow him for now. My scenario is that seller agents sometimes try to intimidate the inspector, rush the inspector or look down at the inspector by saying a double tap circuit is not dangerous or try to get the inspector to turn on a boiler if its off, by stating that this could ruin the deal.
One time I had to tell this agent that he was not the person that was investing $xxx,xxx of money on the house. I told him the buyer was a first time home buyer and my inspector was doing his job that he was hire to do by the buyer to make sure that house was visibly in good working conditions. More importantly he has to abide by standards of the profession.
The seller agent apologize to the buyer and stated that he was just rushing my inspector because he had to get to another appointment. The buyer told him that it was not her problem if he couldn’t manage his time.
My inspector just kept going on with the inspection, explaining to his client everything she kept asking, and anything that he found that could be a potential danger or cost her money.
Reduce your liability by writing your reports in the past tense. Using the present tense may imply, to the customer, that there is some sort of warranty. The phrase “The furnace is working perfectly”, may seem like you give the furnace the golden seal of approval instead of writing " The furnace worked at the time of testing" etc. There are times when using the present tense is recommended, but use it wisely.
I am inspecting a foundation wall in basement and notice a crack in the top of foundation where it meets the bottom sill plate.The crack is not fully observable due to boxes piled up on the floor obscuring defective foundation. I ask homeowner/realtor if they/or I could move boxes so I can observe the full length of crack and they refuse.I would make note of the request and write in the report that there should be a further investigation by a structural engineer.Intentionally hiding defects for the sale of a home is in my opinion not ethical.
Home Inspector Ethics.Why not pay to be on brokers list? It is very important to avoid conflict of interest.I understand that paying a realtor/broker to be on a list,offering rebates or preferential treatment is unethical.I want to be recommended based upon the quality of my inspections and reputation of how I treat my customers.I understand the importance of having any disclosed or undisclosed conflict of interest is not within the ethics of how I want to conduct my homeowner inspection business.
The situation described on the slide is very similar to a common situation I faced in my past vocation. As a licensed auto safety inspector, we are often asked by the customer to “go easy” on the inspection of their automobile as they need a passing sticker on the windshield in order to operate the vehicle on state roads. All safety requirements are as simple as" pass" or “reject”. I simply explain that by registering an automobile in this state, certain standards must be met for your safety, and the safety of the public. I am sworn to uphold those standards and will not waver from upholding them. If that is not acceptable, there are other inspectors to choose from.