Starting any company is a daunting task, especially to those who have never been through the process. The same can be said for buying a home. This may be why inexperienced inspectors and first-time home buyers generally do not mix well.

 

The inexperienced inspector wants to do a good job for his client, so everything is documented thoroughly. The inspector also likely wants to emphasize any issues that they feel could be of real significance. So when the inspector puts together the report, begins to resemble the US tax code (IE it appears to be entirely too thick to actually read, and there are large sections that are completely indecipherable).

While I have yet to have a client complain about my report being too thorough, I have had sellers, seller?s agents, and even buyer?s agents complain of ?nit picking?. Something that comes with experience in this profession is learning to assess the knowledge and experience level of the individual who hires you.

First-time home buyers frequently have little knowledge of common home maintenance and deficiencies, and are much more prone to being ?scared? off a purchase, especially when presented with what appears to be a laundry list of deficiencies.

An experienced inspector should still catch most of the little things, but should be able to emphasize 1-expensive repairs 2-safety issues. As a buyer, these are the findings I am most concerned with when considering a purchase.

That said, these are also the chief complaints I hear concerning?experienced? inspectors. ?He hardly spent any time at the home.? Or ?I can?t believe he didn?t find X!?

You can see of these two perspectives can cause an inspector to be more ambiguous or concise on any given issue, depending on what the client wants or expects and their knowledge/experience level.

Veteran homeowners know that no home is perfect and expect common wear and tear and maintenance issues. They generally want only to know about potentially expensive repairs and safety issues, and really don?t want to wade through the rest of the report that may be in formative and important to first-time home buyers.

Over the years, this company has gravitated towards first knowing the buyer, second providing key observations or a summary page at the beginning of the report and including all the mundane maintenance information in the bulk of the text.

In short I would suggest anyone shopping for a home inspection first express their expectations and second inquire as to what the report contains and how it is laid out, as well as the inspector’s experience level.