If my building inspector’s report only protects him, but doesn’t tell my rights if he misses something obvious, what should I do?
It is best if you look for an experienced general contractor that could inspect your prospective house and could also provide you with a written report about all major items in a building, including Foundation, Structural Frames, Roofing, Plumbing and Electrical among other major building elements.
Can Home Inspector Be Liable?
Liable for what? Only if he physically breaks something on the house, at that point he is liable to the owners of the house, not the buyer, unless you already bough it...
So the answer is not! Not only because if you already bought it, YOU ARE the owner...
Most of the inspection-only specialists use a cookie-cutter approach and a pre-written contract that excludes just about everything from omissions, to crass errors, not allowing for any kind of indemnification even if the inspection is botched.
That defies the purpose of a building report, which is to catch big ticket items before you get stuck with the problem.
Think of it this way, if the report has one million clauses protecting the inspector, and nothing delineating your rights if something obvious is later found to be amiss, how can you trust that report?
Roney Monteiro – Building and Construction Expert
with The Ultimate Pro Inc.
Guest Writer for The Ultimate Handyman
General Contractor at the
What Home Inspectors Look For?
It doesn't matter what they look for if their contract provides protections to them that will make sure they don't need to look too hard for anything. In addition, as long as they can say that they didn't see it, anything found later will not be considered negligence of the inspector... If you signed his paperwork, you agreed to that clause.
We at the Ultimate Handyman can also help you with this big-ticket item, looking for things that can cost money along the way and your inspector might have missed.
The best part is that we can do this for less, almost half of the money, that the building inspector cost you!
Book a paid assessment and give your building inspector report to our guy when he goes to your property, he will go over it all and see what are the things that the original inspector is excluding and what we can do to include those items.
After all, you work hard for your money, might as well protect it knowing all that you can before your money is spent on a big-ticket item. The assessment will include possible costs for intrusive inspections and opening enclosed areas.
These intrusive inspections may be essential to assure you that the investment you are making was not endangered by an intentionally covered-up item.
