Home inspector?
June 13, 2015 6:25 AM Subscribe
I've owned my home for ~28 years. My ex-husband and I never hired a home inspector (We had little common sense at the time). I just brought a company to my home for an estimate on a flooded basement, and apparently the state of our house is far worse than I imagined. I'd like to know what else is wrong with our house; is a home inspector the answer?
I've been putting off fixing a lot of problems in my house. (Roof, electric wiring, etc.) Now they are surely worse, and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long.
I don't know much about fixing houses, and don't know what else could be wrong with it. Does it make sense to hire an inspector instead of relying on private contractors to diagnose each problem piecemeal? Could one be brought in from the city for free? I thought I heard something about that but I could be wrong, I am clueless on such issues. Please help!
I've been putting off fixing a lot of problems in my house. (Roof, electric wiring, etc.) Now they are surely worse, and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long.
I don't know much about fixing houses, and don't know what else could be wrong with it. Does it make sense to hire an inspector instead of relying on private contractors to diagnose each problem piecemeal? Could one be brought in from the city for free? I thought I heard something about that but I could be wrong, I am clueless on such issues. Please help!
I would choose 2 or three highly recommended contractors and invite them in one at a time to give estimates.
posted by myselfasme at 6:33 AM on June 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by myselfasme at 6:33 AM on June 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
One of my friends had an inspector go through her home with her when she'd been living in it for 20-ish years. She found it very helpful for finding small problems that might have turned bigger if not addressed, for checking on things it would never have occurred to her to think about, and for getting a big picture about what needed to be done. It seemed like a good idea to me, and I've thought of doing the same thing someday.
One thing to be aware of is that home inspectors will point out every little problem. If you're anxious about the state of your house, you may find this overwhelming. We've been in our house over 12 years, and still haven't done some of the things our inspector said needed doing, because not everything is an emergency. or has a catastrophic failure mode. No house is perfect, and every homeowner lives with an assortment of things that it would be nice to do, or that really should be done at some point, or that, if done, would bring the house that much closer to perfection. Some of these things will never, ever be done. Keep this in mind when the inspector hands you a notebook listing everything wrong with your house.
Whether you can get something like this for free depends on whether there are any programs like that in your area. Where I live, the energy company will do a free energy analysis, but there's nobody who will come and do a full top-to-bottom inspection for free. Your city's website might have this information, or you could make a couple of calls.
posted by not that girl at 6:38 AM on June 13, 2015 [5 favorites]
One thing to be aware of is that home inspectors will point out every little problem. If you're anxious about the state of your house, you may find this overwhelming. We've been in our house over 12 years, and still haven't done some of the things our inspector said needed doing, because not everything is an emergency. or has a catastrophic failure mode. No house is perfect, and every homeowner lives with an assortment of things that it would be nice to do, or that really should be done at some point, or that, if done, would bring the house that much closer to perfection. Some of these things will never, ever be done. Keep this in mind when the inspector hands you a notebook listing everything wrong with your house.
Whether you can get something like this for free depends on whether there are any programs like that in your area. Where I live, the energy company will do a free energy analysis, but there's nobody who will come and do a full top-to-bottom inspection for free. Your city's website might have this information, or you could make a couple of calls.
posted by not that girl at 6:38 AM on June 13, 2015 [5 favorites]
I got some lousy advice from a well-recommended home inspector when I bought my house. They're not perfect, unfortunately.
Eventually, with an eye to doing a thing, I had three contractors give me estimates, asking them to prioritize the most urgently needed fixes -- given a budget of $X, where should $X go? -- and seeing where they all agreed (and how much or how little the cost of the fix varied) was very helpful in figuring out what should be repaired ASAP and what can wait.
When you walk through and around your house with the contractor, take a camera and notepad as memory aids; they work faster than your brain will on house-related issues. Things that look innocuous or mystifying to you will turn out to be some sort of important thing. Photos and the name of the problem are really helpful later when you're overwhelmed with info.
None of the contractors charged me for the estimates.
posted by kmennie at 6:47 AM on June 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
Eventually, with an eye to doing a thing, I had three contractors give me estimates, asking them to prioritize the most urgently needed fixes -- given a budget of $X, where should $X go? -- and seeing where they all agreed (and how much or how little the cost of the fix varied) was very helpful in figuring out what should be repaired ASAP and what can wait.
When you walk through and around your house with the contractor, take a camera and notepad as memory aids; they work faster than your brain will on house-related issues. Things that look innocuous or mystifying to you will turn out to be some sort of important thing. Photos and the name of the problem are really helpful later when you're overwhelmed with info.
None of the contractors charged me for the estimates.
posted by kmennie at 6:47 AM on June 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
I think that inspector and contractor are different roles. Sometimes they overlap but not usually. An inspector says, this is problematic; a contractor says, I can have that fixed for $x.
We had a good experience with our inspector when we bought our condo. He was very thorough and showed us what he was looking for, took pictures, explained what fixes were higher priorities than others, then shared the whole report at the end. I had to take part of the day off from work to go and I'm glad I did - I feel like I know more about my condo than I did before. It made me feel more confident about our decision.
How soon do you think you are going to sell your house? I think that's going to be the time when the inspection really matters. I wouldn't rely on contractors to tell you what you need to have fixed because, as the people who do the fixing, they have an incentive to tell you that your house is a shit show that needs to be razed to the ground.
posted by kat518 at 7:08 AM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
We had a good experience with our inspector when we bought our condo. He was very thorough and showed us what he was looking for, took pictures, explained what fixes were higher priorities than others, then shared the whole report at the end. I had to take part of the day off from work to go and I'm glad I did - I feel like I know more about my condo than I did before. It made me feel more confident about our decision.
How soon do you think you are going to sell your house? I think that's going to be the time when the inspection really matters. I wouldn't rely on contractors to tell you what you need to have fixed because, as the people who do the fixing, they have an incentive to tell you that your house is a shit show that needs to be razed to the ground.
posted by kat518 at 7:08 AM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think a home inspector might be what you need. In most scenarios you'd hire a home inspector when you're preparing to buy a house to ensure that you're not getting a lemon or to use his report as a bargaining chip in negotiating down a price.
A good home inspector will take his time - typically a few hours, to go through everything, with a checklist - a good one will also take pictures and prepare a full on report for you to review. Like everything to do with a home, shop around and talk to different companies and get a feel for someone you're comfortable with. Ask how they do their process and ask to see a copy of their final report as an example. As a personal preference I tend to shy away from inspectors that also provide contracting services purely as a conflict of interest.
As part of your process, you'd want to make clear up front that you're looking for things to prioritize. Of course you want them to catch everything, but let them know you want them list the problems and show the priority of repair such that you'd prevent much larger and much more expensive problems. Our inspector also gave rough estimates of how much the proposed repair would cost so that helped us in our budgeting as well.
Realize that the costs will stack up quick.. It may be worthwhile to also ask about temporary fixes to prevent the problem from getting worse while you accumulate funds to do the bigger repair.
posted by Karaage at 7:13 AM on June 13, 2015
A good home inspector will take his time - typically a few hours, to go through everything, with a checklist - a good one will also take pictures and prepare a full on report for you to review. Like everything to do with a home, shop around and talk to different companies and get a feel for someone you're comfortable with. Ask how they do their process and ask to see a copy of their final report as an example. As a personal preference I tend to shy away from inspectors that also provide contracting services purely as a conflict of interest.
As part of your process, you'd want to make clear up front that you're looking for things to prioritize. Of course you want them to catch everything, but let them know you want them list the problems and show the priority of repair such that you'd prevent much larger and much more expensive problems. Our inspector also gave rough estimates of how much the proposed repair would cost so that helped us in our budgeting as well.
Realize that the costs will stack up quick.. It may be worthwhile to also ask about temporary fixes to prevent the problem from getting worse while you accumulate funds to do the bigger repair.
posted by Karaage at 7:13 AM on June 13, 2015
As others mentioned above, an Inspector will POINT OUT EVERY DANG THING no matter how miniscule.
They will take photos.
They will only tell you what is wrong, now how to fix it.
Their standard phrase here in Florida is "I recommend further evaluation and any necessary repairs be performed by a state-licensed contractor."
Also recommend that after you receive the report, THAT'S when you go through it with a fine tooth comb and start prioritizing and bringing in contractors for an estimate.
The good thing is that you already own your home and don't have 10 days to figure all this out before the review period closes :)
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 8:07 AM on June 13, 2015
They will take photos.
They will only tell you what is wrong, now how to fix it.
Their standard phrase here in Florida is "I recommend further evaluation and any necessary repairs be performed by a state-licensed contractor."
Also recommend that after you receive the report, THAT'S when you go through it with a fine tooth comb and start prioritizing and bringing in contractors for an estimate.
The good thing is that you already own your home and don't have 10 days to figure all this out before the review period closes :)
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 8:07 AM on June 13, 2015
Betting a good sample inspection form will be out there to download and using that you can see if the areas defined in the sample are the same ones an inspector you choose also uses. Get some big sidewalk play chalk in several colors. I would follow the inspector on the tour with your camera, video is better as you can annotate as the images show up any issues. You can note details, i.e. "dry rot on south foundation, stops at 1987 remodel for new connection to porch, marked with blue chalk..." etc.
Use the different chalk colors for different inspectors/estimate makers.
Take notes
posted by Freedomboy at 8:16 AM on June 13, 2015
Use the different chalk colors for different inspectors/estimate makers.
Take notes
posted by Freedomboy at 8:16 AM on June 13, 2015
To help with choosing an inspector, if you go that route, you could ask realtors for advice on which inspector they recommend and why. Bear in mind that an inspector may not address termites, or roof issues, or other things where they defer to a specialist.
In the Santa Cruz, CA, region inspections are currently costing around $4-500 for a single family home; may be different elsewhere.
posted by anadem at 10:00 AM on June 13, 2015
In the Santa Cruz, CA, region inspections are currently costing around $4-500 for a single family home; may be different elsewhere.
posted by anadem at 10:00 AM on June 13, 2015
When we got our home inspected before we bought it, it cost a couple hundred dollars---and he missed the fact that the roof needed to be replaced (and a bunch of other stuff). Your mileage may vary.
posted by leahwrenn at 11:41 AM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by leahwrenn at 11:41 AM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Roof and wiring are two of the most critical repairs. Do those first. If your roof starts leaking your house could be seriously damaged. If your electrical starts a fire your house could be gone. Once those are done look into getting other stuff fixed.
posted by mareli at 2:05 PM on June 13, 2015
posted by mareli at 2:05 PM on June 13, 2015
Son of an electrical contractor, here. I'm going to respectfully disagree with folks recommending a home inspector above. At least where I'm from, home inspectors aren't used by home owners but by prospective home buyers. You ask about getting a home inspector from the city which makes me think that you may be thinking about building inspectors who do in fact work for the city are familiar with building codes and in fact whose job it is to assess whether buildings and new construction are "to code". This is not what home inspectors do. In my experience (and I've used home inspectors in the past for this very purpose) is to assess whether there are an red flags with a potential purchase. They are probably better at identifying water damage that a seller is trying to camoflauge behind a coat of paint vs the remedial actions required to fix it it. This is because they're not tradespeople (not necessarily have they ever worked in any trades). The good ones are thorough but they're not going to open up a wall to see what's behind it, and from a liability perspective they tend to provide "worst case scenario" reporting and not a range of options with how to deal with something.
If I understand your question correctly, you've lived in your house for over two decades and haven't done much regular maintenance and now feel it's falling apart around you. A home inspector will at best/worst confirm that but that's it. I agree with the above recommendation to bring in 2-3 contractors to give you an estimate. But what I'd also say is it sounds like you've got some immediate critical issues to take care of (flooding) and some as important but not critical to fix today (but very soon). For these I would pause to consider how long you plan to live at your house and how much budget you have and how much your house and land are worth. If you are going to stay for the foreseeable future I would bring in some general contractors to give ou an estimate of a complete rehabilitation. See how that compares to your budget, how it would impact the value of your property, etc. dealing with one general vs multiple trades can be more cost effective, and has the advantage of having all the work coordinated. Otherwise, if you think selling is on the horizon connect with an experienced agent in you area who can help guide you through the repairs necessary to get the biggest bang for your buck on the resale.
posted by dismitree at 6:42 PM on June 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
If I understand your question correctly, you've lived in your house for over two decades and haven't done much regular maintenance and now feel it's falling apart around you. A home inspector will at best/worst confirm that but that's it. I agree with the above recommendation to bring in 2-3 contractors to give you an estimate. But what I'd also say is it sounds like you've got some immediate critical issues to take care of (flooding) and some as important but not critical to fix today (but very soon). For these I would pause to consider how long you plan to live at your house and how much budget you have and how much your house and land are worth. If you are going to stay for the foreseeable future I would bring in some general contractors to give ou an estimate of a complete rehabilitation. See how that compares to your budget, how it would impact the value of your property, etc. dealing with one general vs multiple trades can be more cost effective, and has the advantage of having all the work coordinated. Otherwise, if you think selling is on the horizon connect with an experienced agent in you area who can help guide you through the repairs necessary to get the biggest bang for your buck on the resale.
posted by dismitree at 6:42 PM on June 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by heatherann at 6:32 AM on June 13, 2015