Hi everybody. I have recently come across insurance companies re-inspecting 4 POINTS and Wind Mitigations of my clients pushing them, literally, to replace roofs that still have 5 years of lifetime left. Every 18-20 year old roof I’ve inspected was in good condition. No leaks, no curling, normal aggregate loss, no brittle shingles, etc. if you know how to inspect a roof you know what I’m summing up. Overall a satisfactory roof with 5 years to go without a problem and a roofing permit to confirm its age. I have 15+ years of construction experience and 3 years inspection experience with over 400 inspections under my belt with nothing but a 5 star rating 100% across the board.
The insurance companies are first of all pressuring home owners to get a 2nd inspection and in most cases charging them for it. If I wasn’t a state licensed inspector I would understand but we all know being a home inspector without a license is not possible. I have had my clients show me the re inspection reports and they were not even in Citizens approved form while they’re currently insured through Citizens. Insurance inspectors of choice will write up roof issues as major granular loss, “major hazard”, call out plywood stains without even thoroughly examining the stain or plywood rot and without even climbing the roof. The most annoying part is that the insurance agents will tell the home owners they will drop their policy if they don’t get a new roof. Some even said the insurance companies will not show them the report and call out bogus things around their house that they don’t even have with a roof of one house and exterior pictures of another ?!?! Who does that and why? Don’t even try to pull permit records and just call it out as no record, while I attach all my permit records to my reports. I spoke to Citizens underwriters numerous times when they needed me to confirm parts of my reports and even re-inspected, crawled in the attics or peaked through soffit vents to get a better picture of clips, straps and nails to prove what I’ve seen and marked on my reports because I care about my clients.
I have seen 4 POINT inspections that note bad electrical panels that are 2-5 years old installed by a licensed electrician, permitted, inspected by the city electrical inspector, without even opening the panel front and saying 200 amp is not enough. Sure, we don’t examine amp loads but just using our experience and common sense if something is not right refer to an electrician and he can let the homeowner know otherwise just go to the permit. I have spoken to and worked with plenty of city inspectors and electrical contractors. They would have called it out if it was insufficient.
Here is another problem, most of the reinspections I saw seemed very unorganized in reports, pictures, experience, expertise and effort which tells me they’re there to take some money, pictures, compile it into a crappy report and look important. No ladders, no tools, no instruments, just a phone to take pictures and have somebody’s license on file. HOW IS THIS EVEN LEGAL or ALLOWED ?!?!
I think we should pay attention to this and share our experiences as we all know that getting our license and maintaining our reputation and no insurance/lawsuit claims is the most important part alongside our continuing education. If you just cover the minimum hours and don’t advance your education and learn to be a better home inspector you’re not an inspector in my book.
Please comment.