Karl, this is the trap I always seem to fall into. The home inspectors
know LESS about buildings than I do. The reason I'm paying so much is that
the firm I hired it TOP NOTCH. I was thinking about hiring experts for
each system, but the cost were way more than 4 times the price.
I've already done a pretty complete inspection. All I found was post pole
beetles in the guest house. Terminx should be able to take care of that.
I'm really looking for a "check list" that is out there. The company I
hired will NOT work off a check list. They feel that each house is
individual and needs to be checked that way. They start from top to
bottom.
Thanks for the help. Hopefully, in a few months, I'll be revisiting the
"shop lift" tread! 8>)
Inch
"Karl Vacek" <KVacek@Ameritech.net> on 02/29/2000 08:56:35 PM
To:
"Eric J Petrevich/LRM" <inch@megageek.com>
cc:
Subject:
Re: Shop inspection
> Now, I'm paying quite a bit to have the home inspection done that is very
> comprehensive. Here is the question. Is it worth the extra money to
have
> the
> shop inspected? (it's alot extra)
I was also a mechanical engineer for a couple of decades, and do all my own
work on the house, my cars, and my airplane. Therefore, I may have an
attitude problem about this sort of thing ;-)
Anyway, although I've been a commercial and industrial appraiser for the
last 8 years, I haven't appraised too many houses for quite a long time.
However, please note that many home inspectors are former (or present)
residential appraisers and others are off-duty firemen, half-baked
contractors, etc. In my home-appraising days I encountered many home
inspectors and was almost never impressed. I usually showed them stuff.
For that matter, I sometimes have the same encounter with industrial
environmental inspectors now. There are a few actual competent inspectors
(home or environmental) out there doing an honest, worthwhile job. The
rest
are worthless.
Personally, if I were in that position and wanted help, I'd rather find
someone - almost anyone - with some rudimentary knowledge about buildings
and building systems and have them go through the house WITH YOU. Surely
you have a friend, relative, neighbor, acquaintance, etc. who could fulfill
this role? Someone actually "on your side" as opposed to someone
disinterested just doing a quickie inspection would be very preferable.
Another possibility would be to hire experts in the areas about which
you're
concerned. For instance, maybe you're worried about the plumbing. How
much
is a half hour (or whatever the minimum is) of your favorite plumber's time
worth? Ditto for the HVAC if it looks suspicious. Often these tradesmen
can see other things even outside of their particular trade. If the place
really has something to worry about, it's a pretty good chance that lots of
tradesmen would pick up on it.
Just my opinion - I've seen few competent home inspectors. Hey - if you
have use for a huge shop, what do you need a home inspector for? You
probably know more than most inspectors do !!
Karl Vacek
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