CHOOSING WISELY
By Ben Teague

An inspector can either save you considerable time and money or cost you dearly. Make sure you know your inspectors qualifications.

When choosing an inspector it makes sense to verify a person’s qualifications in the construction field. There are plenty of inspectors out there that have never done much more than hang a picture on the wall. It is common for a person to attend a class or seminar, take a test and suddenly be called a home inspector. To hire such an inexperienced individual is no different than to ask a bicycle mechanic to evaluate a Mercedes.

There are also some home inspector associations that would lead you to believe that their members are the only people who are qualified to evaluate a structure. This is nonsense. Most of these organizations hold classes in which they offer the answers to a test in order to be memorized, then issue the test and when the student passes, they certify the person as a home inspector and declare the person to be qualified.

Do not be fooled into thinking that some certificate hanging on the wall means anything. To be a real structure inspector requires years of training or hands on construction experience, combined with the proper equipment.

When choosing an inspector it also makes good sense to ask about the equipment used during an inspection. There is no way an inspector can show up with a clip board and a tape recorder and do a good job inspecting a structure, but it happens all the time. This is a disservice to the buyer and a waste of the client’s money. The home inspector with the clip board and tape recorder can easily under price an inspector that invests $ 30, 000 dollars on special equipment, but remember the old saying, THE BITTERNESS OF LOW QUALITY REMAINS LONG AFTER THE SWEETNESS OF A LOW PRICE IS FORGOTTEN.

A poor inspection comes from lack of experience and not using the proper testing equipment. When inspecting a structure it is important to understand that an inspector can only inspect visually, and with some level of intuition based on construction knowledge and experience. There are instruments and equipment that can be used to perform a non-destructive investigation of a structure, and when in the hands of a qualified inspector, a more in depth and informative inspection report can be delivered. The cost of this type of inspection is not too much to pay if you consider the amount of money you may save by uncovering a problem that an average inspector may not reveal.