I've never had any of my homes inspected by a certified home inspector.
I needed to get that off my chest. Even though I've attended hundreds of home inspections with clients, I'm unqualified to rate, and unfamiliar with much of the workings of a house. I wouldn't know a heat exchanger if one fell on my head. Aluminum wiring? Nope! No idea. Maybe it's a different colour than the other types. Fact is, no minor defect would have prevented me from closing on the deal. Fact is, rarely does a client "not" close on a house because of a home inspection (and believe me, all houses have defects). Therefore I didn't feel so compelled to call in an inspector.
Regardless of my jaded viewpoint, the home inspection industry brings great value to the process of buying a house, particularly for the novice who has never cleaned a gutter or had to mop up the basement floor after a torrential downpour. I ALWAYS encourage home buyers to call in a professional inspector before they offer on a house. In fact, given the recent court case, I'going to suggest that the inspection industry change their name from "home inspector" to "owning a home 101". It more accurately describes the scope of their "inspection".
This is a hot topic over the water cooler at work because some B.C. home inspector has just been successfully sued by a disgruntled new homebuyer to the tune of $200,000.00. Ouch. This will likely spell the end of this guy's career. His name is Imre (Jim) Toth.
It appears Jim didn't see the rotten rafters and structural problems when he inspected this million dollar house and the judge decided he should have. I'm not here to defend Jim and his associates but I do know their scope of reference is very limited. Some attics have no access door and they are certainly not going to make one. Finished basements are just that, enclosed spaces that reveal nothing but drywall. What's an inspector to do?
There are waivers that each purchaser must sign prior the inspection and this clause spells out clearly what the inspector can and cannot accomplish. However, the judge threw that out also. I guess he was having a bad day.
As a Realtor, I have my own responsibilities during a home inspection. I have my own standard conversation with clients about the limitations of a home inspection and given this new ruling, I will expand on this discussion. I attend the inspections and question the inspector during the visit and at the endwhen the results are reported to the client. If I have my own suspicions about certain things in the house, I'll ask the inspector to look into them more closely. Regardless, it's still only a three hour overview of a house and a proper inspection performed by an engineer or architect would cost many hundreds of dollars more and probably tie up the client and the house for at least one day (assuming the Vendor would allow this). Given this option, much of the house will still be unaccessible for proper analysis.
I don't see this option becoming the norm anytime soon. However, this might be a niche market that will be addressed in the next year.