Realtor asked if I would do a home inspection while a home was in the process of being built at different points, such as foundation, framing, drywall and finish. My licensing laws state that we cannot comment on building code violations. Has anyone done this sort of inspection. I prefer to do the inspection when the home was completed.
They are called “Phase Inspections”…I have not been asked to perform one but If I do, I will not quote code instead I will refer to it as a deficency or defect.
Are these state licensing regulations?
From what I understand it is universal that if you are not code certified (ICC) then you cannot quote code.
Richard,
Anyone can quote code all day long. What you can not do (at least in Texas) is:
- Hold yourself out to be a code inspector as that is a regulated function.
- Claim that you are performing any inspection to certify a structure meets
code for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of occupancy. - Allude to either 1 or 2 above in your service offering as that is a
deceptive advertising practice.
You can even claim, in your marketing, that you inspect to the required building codes for that structure as long as you advise the client that you can not do items 1 & 2 above.
If you feel froggy enough to start advertising that you are performing inspections to the building code standards and want to quote code in your reports then by all means have at it!!
This makes a lot more sense.