Inspecting a burnout

21

That is the way people learn. I never had anyone show me how to inspect.
It is just like leaning to swim.

22

Great movie. I think I’m going to pull out the old dvd and make some popcorn.

4 Likes
23

Smart move to work from strength, the prospect for error is greater than the probability for success, besides you don’t want to be known as the guy willing to take any job. Plain old home inspections is the yellow brick road.

2 Likes
24

There are a lot of things to look for in a burn-out. That’s an interesting request, considering that the insurance adjuster probably gave them a list of things needing repair. If you have the time and interest, you might offer to do a no-fee look-around, particularly if they have the insurance information. Treat it as an education experience. I still do those with structural engineers.
A few months ago, I found fire damage in the crawlspace of a hundred-year-old house. No idea when the fire was, but there was deep charring on some of the framing and since I have experience with burn-outs (that’s what we always called them when I was in construction), I could offer some informed opinion on what I was seeing.

1 Like
25

I’m in the middle of the road on this. Many home inspectors are professionals at deferring things they don’t know, but should know to engineers and the like, What makes this any different?

There are a lot of things that are not effected by the fire that can be inspected. You don’t know how bad things are till you get there. This is a good lesson on when you should really recommend further investigation by others (or not).

Your job is NOT to analyze anything. It is to observe and report what you can see.
This is what your job is NOT:

(6) General Exclusions.
(a) Home inspectors are not required to report on:

  1. Life expectancy of any component or system;
  2. The cause(s) of the need for a repair;
  3. The methods, materials, and costs of corrections;
  4. The suitability of the property for any specialized use;
  5. Compliance or non-compliance with adopted codes, ordinances, statutes,
    regulatory requirements or restrictions;
  6. The market value of the property or its marketability;
  7. The advisability or inadvisability of purchase of the property;
  8. Any component or system that was not inspected;
  9. The presence or absence of pests such as wood damaging organisms, rodents,
    or insects; or
  10. Cosmetic damage, underground items, or items not permanently installed.

(b) Home inspectors are not required to:

  1. Offer warranties or guarantees of any kind;
  2. Calculate the strength, adequacy, or efficiency of any system or component;
  3. Enter any area or perform any procedure that may damage the property or its
    components or be dangerous to or adversely affect the health or safety of the
    home inspector or other persons;
  4. Operate any system or component that is shut down or otherwise inoperable;
  5. Operate any system or component that does not respond to normal operating
    controls.
  6. Move personal items, panels, furniture, equipment, plant life, soil, snow, ice, or
    debris that obstructs access or visibility;
  7. Determine the effectiveness of any system installed to control or remove
    suspected hazardous substances;
  8. Predict future condition, including but not limited to failure of components;
  9. Project operating costs of components;
  10. Evaluate acoustical characteristics of any system or component; or
  11. Inspect special equipment or accessories that are not listed as components to be
    inspected in this rule.

(c) Home inspectors shall not:

  1. Offer or perform any act or service contrary to law; or
  2. Offer or perform engineering, architectural, plumbing, electrical or any other job
    function requiring a license in this state for the same client unless the client is
    advised thereof and consents thereto
26

David,
I have had a huge response to this with all kinds of information all across the board. The information you shared on what we do not have to do is probably the one thing that home buyers understand the least. I know that as an inspector, there is a lot of different situations we could be in, and a lot of responsibility to help the buyer understand what we do and do not do.
I am fairly new to inspecting but have some background in construction and renovations. I am also eager to continually learn so that I can be more valuable to my clients. I actually turned this one down because of the time frame I had to perform the inspection. This would have been a rush job that I did not feel comfortable with. As my experience grows, I hope to have several templates for different kinds of inspections and a burnt-out would probably fit with a special template.
Thank you for your response and the information that you shared.

Tim W. Croley
Gutter2Gully Home Inspections, LLC
405-816-0885
Lic.# 70001968
gutter2gully@yahoo.com
www.gutter2gullyhomeinspections.com

| David Andersen, TN HI# 40 dandersen
October 4 |

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I’m in the middle of the road on this. Many home inspectors are professionals at deferring things they don’t know, but should know to engineers and the like, What makes this any different?

There are a lot of things that are not effected by the fire that can be inspected. You don’t know how bad things are till you get there. This is a good lesson on when you should really recommend further investigation by others (or not).

Your job is NOT to analyze anything. It is to observe and report what you can see.
This is what your job is NOT:

27

So…your inspection report will go something like this…“.The house has caught fire and has suffered severe fire damage. Get it fixed”…then give me a call and I’ll inspect it…

2 Likes
28

Just a suggestion, but you do not need a bunch of templates. A Home Inspection is a Home Inspection. No two are the same, but you don’t need a template because of differences. Your template should cover everything required by your state HI Rules. If something in that template does not apply, you are still required by the rules to report why it does not apply and you didn’t inspect that. So no changes are really needed. When you want to add things beyond the SOP, just stick your narrative and pic’s in the section in which it applies.

You say the clients don’t understand the Standards. If they are in the report, they will. I never do any type of inspection without the client fully understanding the scope and purpose of the inspection. Takes time up front, but saves a complaint in the rear. If you build a template that mirrors your SOP, it becomes a checklist of the things that are required to be “shall inspect” “shall observe” “shall report” by your state SOP. Get all that done and then work on the stuff outside the requirements.

If you are building a bunch of templates, your spending a lot of time building when you could be marketing yourself or other required tasks we need to do. It takes time to write narratives on things that are different, so do templates you may or may not use again.

Other templates are for ancillary services outside HI Standards. If the job does not fall under HI SOP, you need another template.

You are not going to do many “burnt out inspections” unless you live in California! The rest of the house issues are still part of a HI, so you still need the basic HI template. If you work in California, just add a report section for Fire Damage in you HI template… :wink:

1 Like
29

I agree with David, and surprised he didn’t mention the following…
You should be more concerned with your PIA/Contract than the report template. Your Scope of Inspection and other circumstances should be spelled out and disclosed in that document prior to the inspection even taking place. That is where the majority of your legal protections lies.

5 Likes
30

I was thinking about it, but I had a doctors appointment to get to. Soooo… :man_shrugging:

Thanks for the add. :+1:

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31

We basically use three templates

  1. single family
  2. condo
  3. multi-unit
1 Like