Home Inspections: No Guarantees.

Since we opened our doors in 1994, we have taken a very liberal approach with clients who claim to be unhappy with our service. But over recent years we have seen a steady shift in some of our clients' expectations. Their demands are higher, which is fine... but the number of clients with unrealistic expectations has grown from maybe one in five hundred, to one in fifty. These are the people who renegotiate their house purchase based on the inspection results - then anything, and we mean anything, that goes wrong after they move in - is the home inspector's fault! They argue that they could have negotiated a lower purchase price if they'd been aware of the problem (or perceived problem.) "Had you told me, I would have had the seller fix it." Lists of "problems" include items such as a missing latch on a screen door, missing caulking around a window, and a broken electrical outlet behind the china cabinet. These "problems" all cost less than $100 but the client insists the inspector should have noted them. And they would like the home inspector to pay! Then there are the clients who bought an older home with original, but serviceable windows. They have called four window contractors and guess what? All four say they need new windows. How could the home inspector miss this $10,000.00 "problem?" Still others find hidden problems which they readily admit the seller effectively concealed, but which the home inspector should have nonetheless discovered. "Why else would they put down new carpet? Didn't the fresh paint make you suspicious? You should have predicted they were hiding something!" On one occasion a homebuyer asked an inspection firm to pay $22,000 to dig up around his house to waterproof it and replace the drainage tiles. His basement was not wet but he claimed it "felt" damp. Three waterproofing contractors had all insisted "excavation is the only way to fix this problem." We are convinced that the quality of our inspections has not slipped. We firmly believe that this is a shift in customer expectations and philosophies. We had a choice to make. We could have taken a very heavy handed approach to our inspections. This would include coming down hard on every potential problem and writing "cover-your-butt" reports. We could never offer "most-likely scenarios", but only "worst possible case" predictions, if we offered any predictions at all. During the course of a home inspection, we are offering more than just the facts. We are offering a professional opinion. If we offered just the facts, it would go like this: "The furnace is working today." (We would have no opinion as to how old it is or how long it might last, or what your options are when it comes time to replace it, or what a new one might cost.) We might conclude "The basement is dry today." (However we would have no opinion as to what it will be like in the spring, or what minor improvements you should make to avoid a future problem.) Our opinions will sometimes be wrong because we don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. Often, some of the pieces are concealed. If we were allowed to tear the house apart, we might sometimes come to different conclusions. Other times, our opinion might simply vary from another expert or a contractor. Instead of writing heavy-handed or no-opinion reports, we decided to keep our reports as even-handed as possible and make sure every client signs a detailed contract. The contract is intended to protect us against the unreasonable client. Unrealistic clients don't view a home inspection report as a professional opinion. They view it as an insurance policy with a zero deductible and no annual renewal costs! To allow us to continue to provide good quality, even-handed reports to the forty-nine out of fifty people who deserve them, we have been forced to utilize a contract that makes our clients know, in no uncertain terms, that the inspection is an opinion and not a warranty or a guarantee.