Home Inspector

[revyyota]

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing (hopefully) our first home. Are there any good home inspectors in Vernon that anyone would recommend? *removed*
Thanks!

[Hassel99]

Best advice I can give is to supplement the home inspector with an actual contractor. Get a mechanical contractor to look at the plumbing and heating. I wish my home inspector had pointed out some major design flaws that my plumber friend noticed instantly. The inspector did an ok job with the big picture, and everything was up to code as his report suggested, but going forward I want someone to take a deeper look at the important parts.

[Grizzly Pear]

I got a local contractor who a friend recommended to check out my prospective purchase and give it a going over.
He spent two hours going over the place, gave me a few heads up, such as reinforcing the deck should be done and a couple other things.
Charged me 50 bucks.
Been a year now, no problems yet.

[rvrepairnut]

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing (hopefully) our first home. Are there any good home inspectors in Vernon that anyone would recommend? *removed*
Thanks!

I think I would skip a so called "home Inspecter" seen too many goof balls in this industry.Do as others have suggested and get people whom actually build house,s to have a look see

[Bsuds]

Do as others have suggested and get people whom actually build house,s to have a look see

Some of them are the reason why you need an inspection.

[rvrepairnut]

????

[NotNorthAnymore]

I used to think that it was a good idea to get a home inspector.
We bought our current house 4 years ago - it was a spec house built and "finished" the year before by a contactor from Vernon. He claims to have been in business for years.

So I hired a national company out of Kelowna to do an inspection for me.

The list of things he missed that we now have to deal with are long.

We found out after we had been here for awhile:
The shingles were not put on right and the roofing contractor had to strip the roof and re-install on warranty after a wind lifted a bunch of them up. The roofer had sub-contracted to some guy that said he was a roofer and the original contractor did not actually check his work...

There is not one door frame in this house that is straight and square - I had to finally find and hire an actual finishing carpenter to adjust every door in the house so that they actually open and close without scraping.

The outside doors now kind of seal - and I can not see out side around them. Still a breeze around a couple of them, but....
The paint looks like a couple of dope smokers did a single coat after a hard night at the bar.

And on and on and on......

The house inspector said there was nothing wrong with the house that he could see.....
They do not address issues or comments on quality - if they miss something that is too bad - they are only there for an opinion of what they can look at and not actually touch.

That was my experience with home inspectors here in the valley.

[rvrepairnut]

I used to think that it was a good idea to get a home inspector.
We bought our current house 4 years ago - it was a spec house built and "finished" the year before by a contactor from Vernon. He claims to have been in business for years.

So I hired a national company out of Kelowna to do an inspection for me.

The list of things he missed that we now have to deal with are long.

We found out after we had been here for awhile:
The shingles were not put on right and the roofing contractor had to strip the roof and re-install on warranty after a wind lifted a bunch of them up. The roofer had sub-contracted to some guy that said he was a roofer and the original contractor did not actually check his work...

There is not one door frame in this house that is straight and square - I had to finally find and hire an actual finishing carpenter to adjust every door in the house so that they actually open and close without scraping.

The outside doors now kind of seal - and I can not see out side around them. Still a breeze around a couple of them, but....
The paint looks like a couple of dope smokers did a single coat after a hard night at the bar.

And on and on and on......

The house inspector said there was nothing wrong with the house that he could see.....
They do not address issues or comments on quality - if they miss something that is too bad - they are only there for an opinion of what they can look at and not actually touch.

That was my experience with home inspectors here in the valley.

couple things here ? If the paint was as bad a u say ??/ quote"The paint looks like a couple of dope smokers did a single coat after a hard night at the bar." OK then why did u yourself NOT notice this? A house built in last 4 years has a 10 year warrenty mandated by law

[gordon_as]

Most of what I have seen and heard about home inspectors tells me you should not trust them. They don't have to be any good because they aren't held responsible for their screw ups. A lot of them have never been employed in the construction industry , and simply took a home inspectors course. I built houses for a very good contractor for 7 years , and a couple of not so good ones before him. We looked at some houses a few years back , It takes me about 5 minutes to spot the tell tale signs of home "improvements" done by someone who should not be allowed to purchase tools.
If the bank wants a home inspection , so be it , but have a builder look it over before you sign on the dotted line.
I read lots of listings that say "fully renovated" , or "recently updated" , those are the scariest because a lot of bad work is hiden behind the walls.

[Bsuds]

Looks like only 2 years on labour and materials.

http://www.hpo.bc.ca/homeowners

[rvrepairnut]

Looks like only 2 years on labour and materials.

http://www.hpo.bc.ca/homeowners

like all warrentys there are caveats to them but the main structure which is the main issue is 10 years
its the older renovated and neglected non renovated house that really need the scrutiny before purchase
My friend just completed building his new house and the building codes and inspection requirements are brutal
I seriously cant see a thing going wrong with this house even 20 years from now based on what he went through

[Hassel99]

I would suggest extra scrutiny for anything built between 2003-2008. This time was an unprecedented housing boom. Contractors and inspectors worked themselves ragged and many new employees where hired that did not have adequate experience. I have seem some really bad workmanship that was pasted by inspectors in this era, especially they condos churned out down at the coast. Its a much better scenario now and the fly by nighters are gone and the inspectors have a manageable work load.

[rvrepairnut]

I would suggest extra scrutiny for anything built between 2003-2008. This time was an unprecedented housing boom. Contractors and inspectors worked themselves ragged and many new employees where hired that did not have adequate experience. I have seem some really bad workmanship that was pasted by inspectors in this era, especially they condos churned out down at the coast. Its a much better scenario now and the fly by nighters are gone and the inspectors have a manageable work load.

depends on the area.In Vernon I have not seen this nor have I ever ever saw a municipal worker work themselves ragged. In fact most tend to slack off.

[Rwede]

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing (hopefully) our first home. Are there any good home inspectors in Vernon that anyone would recommend? *removed*
Thanks!

Hugh Cairns of Subject 2 Home Inspections. Top notch guy who also writes a column for Castanet.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story--996-.htm

Contact info on his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hugh-Cai ... 4130428678

[Dizzy1]

depends on the area.In Vernon I have not seen this nor have I ever ever saw a municipal worker work themselves ragged. In fact most tend to slack off.

Go up to Turtle Mountain ... take a look at all the cracks in the ceilings and walls. Try Middleton, see how many door frames are level with the doors. Can tell you about a few condos that contractors who have gone to repair and patch up wouldn't touch if their life depended on it.

Been through enough open house over the last couple of years to see the crappy workmanship during the housing boom around here ... build it quick and move on to the next.