Originally Posted By: dbush This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Okay I am pissed now, so I am going to vent. I did an inspection on Monday for a repo home that the client is buying for his mother in law & father in law. He called me last week and said we could not do it until Monday (which I couldn’t do anyway) until the 23rd because of getting utilities on. I told him fine make sure all utilities are on. I got there on Monday and went inside met them all, did some preliminary stuff, client, wife, mom & dad in law all there. I begin the inspection and get to the plumbing, and no water. I go out to the water main to see if it is shut off & I will just turn it on, quite common, no big deal. Take the man hole cover off & no meter (What the hell, all utilities are supposed to be on). I tell the client to call his realtor & find out what is going on. Realtor is not in the office, but his office manager says we normally have it turned off & the inspector turns the water on to do the inspection. No meter, kind of hard to do. I talk to the client, everyone is there so I go ahead & finish the rest of the inspection & tell him because I am a nice guy and it was his stupid realtor’s fault, not his, then I will come back and do the plumbing inspection this afternoon, cause it shouldn’t take but about 30 minutes. I got over there today, go into the house & no water. First I turn the outside hose bib on so I can hear when water starts. I turn the shutoff valve for the meter, water going into pipe. Yippee - or so I thought. I go to the hose bib & water running. 20 psi is all I get, thought that sucked. So I turn it off & back on again and check it again, still 20. Then I remember that I had opened the kitchen faucet so I go in to turn it off and check the pressure again. I get inside and water is all over the kitchen floor, the hose bib for the washing machine is just pouring water all over the floor (explains the 20 psi with the hose bib open, kitchen faucet open & washing machine bib pouring water everywhere). I called the realtor and told him he needed a mop, he said “Oh I guess it is 4:00, I was going to call you & tell you that I had them leave the water off because it was leaking.” I told him that I was getting really tired of coming over there at no charge. He is supposed to have the bib fixed in the morning so I can go AGAIN to test the plumbing. What a complete dumbass.
I do not want to charge the client again because his realtor is an idiot. I think that he has lost enough faith in him that he will never use him again in addition to spreading word about him. He is the regional manager for U.S. Cellular - fairly well known in the community. Good for me bad for the dumbass (I mean realtor).
Originally Posted By: jhorton This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
LOL I thought they only did that to us Appraisers. So far I have not had to deal with that when doing Inspections. Glad to hear the Realtors are not prejudice.
– Jeff <*\><
The man who tells the truth doesn’t have to remember what he said.
Originally Posted By: dbush This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Joe, the only reason that I have not charged for the return trip is because it was the realtor’s fault, not the clients. I will just add the realtor to my list of idiots. Calling would not have helped in this case, because the water company would have told me the water was on, it was just turned off to the house because of the leak.
Originally Posted By: bdoles This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
That is the exact reason why if the water is not on at the time of the inspection (even if the meter is in place and only the valve is closed), I never open the main supply to the home, I’ve encountered this before and have come to find out that several fixtures were left open. If the water is not on prior to the inspection, I just make a note of that in the inspection report. I will not be responsible for a Realtor or Sellers mistake of not telling me of the status of the water supply system and ultimately flooding a $350,000. home.
I tell the seller/realtor/buyer prior that all utitilies must be on, if they're not then they will not get the full benefit of a home inspection.
-- Brian K Doles
Inspection Connection Home Inspections
Northeast, TN
Originally Posted By: wcampbell This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I went to a house one time, the seller’s mother was there. She gave me permission to turn on the gas. Against my better judgement, she asked me if I would light the water heater. Keep in mind, I DON"T LIKE LIGHTING WATER HEATERS. Well, it wouldn’t light. I told her to call the gas company or a plumber. The next day the seller’s agent calls me to say “It’s a good thing that water heater didn’t light, THERE WAS A MAJOR GAS LEAK IN THE ATTIC.”
I thank God for HIS Protection from MY STUPIDITY!!
Never Again will I attempt Turning on the gas or water!!!
