Home Inspector vs Engineer for Home Inspections

Cooling real estate market litigation increasing litigation due to a misunderstanding of what a home inspection includes.

West Paterson NJ (PRWEB) February 21, 2007 -- In today's cooling real estate market litigation between home buyers who bought a home and now find it is worth less than they paid for it and home inspectors is heating up. A frequent cause of such litigation is a misunderstanding of what a home inspection includes.

For example if during renovations (like removal of walls, fixed ceilings and suspended ceiling tiles) problems with the home are found engineering experts are frequently called in. Finding problems hidden by finishes is beyond the scope of a home inspection.

Home inspections are a visual overview of a home by a generalist much like a physical exam performed by a family doctor with a patients clothes on. When home inspections are performed by a home inspector conditions that are "hidden from view" will not be found unless there are visual clues a problem exists (such as a stain on a ceiling under a bathroom, major cracks in walls and the like).

Home inspectors who find or have reason to suspect problems exist that are beyond their ability and training to diagnose, direct home buyers to experts much as a doctor who suspects a patient has a problem refers to a specialist who can order invasive testing.

Engineering experts can find problems in homes home inspectors did not see or have any reason to suspect exist, especially when he has the benefit of having finishes removed in order to perform a more detailed evaluation.

Think of it this way, who can find more problems with any of us?
A family doctor performing a clothes on physical in his office or a specialist with access to years of specialized training with the ability to perform invasive testing?

If your family doctor performing a clothes on physical indicated you should see a specialist and you waited till it was too late, is it your fault or your doctors fault a potential problem was found later on?

Experienced home inspectors know latent problems may exist in any every home and include language in their reports such as this example provided by Michael Del Greco of Accurate Inspections, Inc. http://AccurateInspections.com/qualif.html from West Paterson, New Jersey: "Typical movement of the floors, walls and ceilings was observed for a home of this age and construction style (other than specified). Problems may still exist with the structure that were not detected by today's visual inspection. You must either contract for invasive and destructive testing (prior to expiration of your inspection contingency) or accept the risk that latent defects exist that were not discovered during today's visual inspection." The problem arises after people buy homes and then call in contractors or engineering experts.

If home buyers wish to be assured no potential problems exist with structure the time to call engineering experts is after the installed finishes are removed and before expiration of your inspection contingency. Buyers who choose otherwise are accepting a risk that defects may exist they will have to pay for.

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