Hey! Just finally got my license down here in Louisiana. I’ve been working on my reports and trying to do as much tweaking as possible before my first paid inspection. My question I wanted to ask was what statements would you recommend that every inspector puts into their reports for limitations? I’ve run into some weird things that I’m curious how all yall experience guys would approach it. For instance a column. Here we are to report on all columns. If it’s wood we say it’s wood. Etc. but what if it appears to be wood? Like it may be a wrapped steel colum… or maybe it’s brick but it’s wrapped in wood. Ive got a few more but I bet yall will touch on great statements to add and tweak to add to my reports. I appreciate yall more than you’d know. Thanks again!
State what you see
column wrap is wood
column type unknown
Definitely know the SOPs of your state or if there’s no licensing you should cite some in your contract and identify materials, etc. accordingly. I don’t get too elaborate with material ID since no one really reads or cares anyway. Although, do be careful as one of the most common traps an inspector can fall into is writing something he/she doesn’t know for certain. Basically what @mgoldenberg said above. Every class from an E/O provider I’ve taken over the years they hammer this home and I can tell they’ve paid out a lot of money from inspectors speculating. It’s find to just say, “unknown,” for age, materials, etc. Again, people rarely read that part of the report… honestly, from the callbacks I’ve gotten over the years, I don’t think people read the reports at all. Maybe they glance at the pictures. Of course, there’s another lesson in here too. Realize that 90%+ of what people are going to rely on is what you say on site (assuming they attend).
I do not know your SoP. But typically, within that SoP, it describes the inspection as a visual type and not technically exhaustive.
Therefore, over time, you will learn some hot spots. For example, if a basement is finished, I will mention this as a foundation limitation and/or floor structure limitation. If the garage is full of personal belongings, I mention that because termites love garages in my area. Any area I cannot access and/or the portions of what I cannot access, such as attics and crawls is listed as a limitation.
Louisiana’s SOP appears to be similar to Indiana’s which states…”report…any systems and components designated for inspection…that were present at the time of the home inspection but were not inspected and a reason they were not inspected.”
So basically what Brian said. If it’s required to be inspected but there was a limitation present that prevented it from being either partially or fully inspected, then it should be listed as a limitation.
A common one for me is attic insulation since it obscures the floor structure of the attic.Another is the interior portion of a slab foundation that is usually obscured by flooring. I list both of these as a limitation on nearly every report.
I also have an entire page of my report taken directly from my state’s SOP of general limitations and exclusions, plus each section has specific limitations and exclusions.
The exclusions and limitations you want to put in the report come straight from your state SOP (Title 46, part XL, Chapter 3).
Louisiana SOP.pdf (404.4 KB)
In my reports the Maryland SOP appears in its entirety along with a section from the Business Occupations and Profession Code which is required by law (MD). No one can say they didn’t know.