It sure is a good learning experience to be able to follow up and apply the short comings of your competition to your inspection smarts.
I would have no hesitation is helping this person out and being compensated for my services. Advice is a commodity isn’t it? 
Cheers,
This was the reason for the original question. I was of two thoughts. Do I possibly expose and hurt another inspector or do I help out a young person who is just starting out in their first home. This young lady called me up out of the blue and was in literally in tears as she explained the situation. The reason for being a home inspector is to help people and try to prevent them from being taken from unscrupulous home sellers and even the odd agent or even just to make them aware of exactly what they are getting into when they purchase a home. Sure the money can good (or so they tell me 8- ) but if you lose sight of the first part you’ll never make a good inspector as far as I’m concerned.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel badly for this guy because he’s probably gonna get his *** sued. But on the other hand I feel worse for this young lady who is now stuck with a home that is a mess and can’t afford to have it repaired.
All because this guy didn’t want to get a little dirty. This girl told me she never would of bought the home if she would of known.
So hopefully we will all learn something from this poor guys mistake and hopefully when we make are own mistakes it won’t be as severe.
I see no reason why inspectors should not be able to document and attend court of behalf of clients who were subject to a wrong by another inspector. It can only make you better although as far as harming your reputation amongst your colleagues, I think thats up for debate.
I am currently toiling away on a home(?) near where I live. I was first called there October, 2006. I was asked to replace the roof. After a walk around the building, I lightly suggested the owner call this one a caterpillar special and bulldoze it.
There was no soffitt or fascia nor anywhere to affix it to; the windows were old sliding doors; the siding was falling off; the floors were rotting; the insulation was wet and moldy; the plywood on the roof was swollen to three times it’s original size; the foundation, such as it was , consisted of 2 rows of blocks on a footing that was poured on top of the ground and was cracked from frost in several place; the ground sloped to the house.
These were the things that I saw on the first day, others have shown themselves since then.
This house was originally a trailer home with 4 additions, none done with a permit and all done badly. The new owner is a full time comptroller for a RE firm as well as a p/t agent. He did not get an inspection, thinking he could fix the place himself.
We have replaced the outside walls, windows, doors, electrical, plumbing and are now doing the insulation. I have jacked the house up and am working on the foundation.
Across the road is my next project, another modified trailer. This one had an inspection, but the inspector missed several key things which need to be addressed asap.
I have worked on several homes where there was an inspection, things were missed that were obvious and things were found that were not obvious but could be deduced from other defects. The long and short of it is that no inspector is perfect, but some need a little shot in their ego to show them that they are not omnipitent.
Sorry for the length of this epistle.
Mark I would like to give you advice on what to do, you have done what i woould, listened, checked it your self. Choices are proceed or not proceed to help. The thing is you can really make this a great client testament in your favour, along with helping this young lady out. I belive the benifits really outway the bad, you may even might consider calling a couple places to see if some help can be arranged on her behalf from some suppliers, or see if your church can step in to aid as well. If it hits the paper you would be the hero and all you did was make a few calls and tried to help out.
If I remember Mike makes a bazillion doing this now, and you have the one thing Mike dosn’t in this case,… You got Raymond on your side and that means business. Now I am not saying circus event but I think you can spin this to help her for less cash out of pocket, you get publicity, along with those busisness that help out and Raymond knows the law and expert witness end backwards so you will learn tons from him as well …it’s a win win win.
The plaintiffs engaged the defendant to do a pre-purchase inspection of a house they were purchasing. A pop-up access hatch to the attic was not opened during the inspection as it was sealed by paint. A post-closing inspection of the attic by the purchasers disclosed serious damage to the roof joists requiring repair.
Thanks Ray! Interesting case. Read like a novel. That is why we should all operate within the defined limitations of our S.O.P. and make it available to our clients at the time of the inspection and on our web sites.
Frankly Mark I would hesitate to become involved. Without prior, first hand knowledge of the conditions of the house at the time of the inspection ( your information is through a biased third party) you may be letting yourself in for a world of hurt when it comes time for this inspectors lawyer to launch a wagon load of counter suits.
Perhaps more importantly, my policy is not to return to re-inspect any other inspectors work. I think that it throws us all in a bad light by pitting one inspector against the other.We gain nothing by attacking each other in this way. ( Appearing as an expert witness is another matter of course. It appears that none of the ‘expert’ witnesses who testified on behalf of the defendant, in Ray’s quoted case above, attended the inspection site to re-inspect) The lawyers can find plenty of ‘expert’ witnesses to do their dirty work for them. They don’t need me to stick the knife in.
I rest my case :mrgreen:
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It truly is a scary business we are in at times. That case just goes to show you that even if you do your job right and to the SOP you can still end up in court. This only reinforces that you better make sure you cover everything that you are required to according to the SOP. And pray that when you make a mistake, because sooner or later we all will as we’re only human, that it’s not a big one.
I actually got a call from a client this week whose home I inspected in Feb.
They explained to me that their air conditioning unit had to be replaced because the former owners dogs had been doing their business on it. They were “wondering” :roll: if I shouldn’t of seen signs of this. I looked up the report and politely explained to them that I had stated that I could not test the unit due to low outside temps. I also informed them that according to the report that the unit was 12 years old and near the end of its normal life expectancy. They didn’t press the matter any further.
But once again this just reaffirms that you also have to be a member of the
CYA. < Thats not the Canadian Yachting Association.
Thanks William, I have actually been compared to Mikey in my past life as a small contractor, Just better lookin :mrgreen:.
And George I did think hard about going to look for myself because as you said its a tough choice to get to deeply involved. But I’ve always found it difficult to say no to a woman when she’s crying and frankly, like that other prementioned guy, it ticks me off to no end when I see inferior workmanship or someone that does a half a**ed job.:twisted:
Expert witnesses by as s. You have to know these two ducks to appreciate they have soiled hands when it comes to the internal affairs of the association they belong to.
Perhaps the lawyer should have researched the witnesses before relying on them. It seems they haven’t always been on the up and up within the managment of the association they belong to.