Would you consult a home inspector if you had a problem with your home?

Q:

If you had a problem with your home would you consider a home inspector a good person to consult as an alternate to a general contractor if you haven't needed one before... or would you consider a home inspector not specialist enough.

A:

Thanks for the question.

I have a problem with home inspectors in general. Most general contractors do. The problem that we have is that they require little to no training to become one. With home inspectors it's more about them having the proper insurance in the case that they miss something serious and they get sued by the homeowner.

I have met home inspectors with as little as 9 months of training and/or experience in inspecting homes.
General contractors usually have been in the construction of homes for decades and have so much experience that a person that is considered a home inspector can't ever claim to be as knowledgeable.

A lot of home inspectors will inspect a home and only look for what they have been trained to look for (if they have any training at all) and not see the signs that can mean that something is seriously wrong with the house.

One of the main things that any good general contractor does is stay up on the current and upcoming technological advancements in building science. What this does is allow a contractor to come up with fixing something differently that will make it last longer and function better then it did before.

There certain ways that we construct a house that is completely opposite to the way you constructed a house as early as a decade ago. You could end up getting advice from a home inspector that could cause more damage then good.

The best people to get advice on your home is someone that has a lot of experience, experience that is wide spread and can understand how the whole building envelope works together.

So if you are looking for advice on a part of your house like the roof then call a general contractor or call a roofer. Calling a home inspector can end up with you shelling out money to a person that doesn't have enough knowledge to help, actually the knowledge level of most home inspectors mostly ends up hurting you in the end.


Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.