"jo4hn" wrote

When I was selling my previous house, the prospective buyer hired an
inspection company to look at my place. The chap they sent out was a
disaster. His crowning achievement was in a spare bedroom where he
found NOT ONLY a dead electrical outlet, but also a switch that "didn't
seem to do anything". You guessed it: a wall switch that controlled an
outlet. There were a couple minor items on his list that I fixed but
nearly all were similar if not quite as spectacular as the switched
outlet.

Luck of the draw ... I've had the "wall switch" issue to deal with numerous
times. On one recent inspection, the inspector spelled commode "kamode", and
condenser "condinsir" three times each on the same report ... obviously not
a typo.

Worst I've had recently is when a 3rd party, PE, moonlighting as a home
inspector and who charged the buyer $650 for the inspection when the average
going rate is $350, apparently tried to turn a faucet head in the 2nd floor
utility room that didn't turn; broke the faucet, causing a leak under the
sink, didn't say anything about it, and 18 hours later I had to deal with
water damage to the first floor ceiling.

The buyer's were apologetic, but didn't offer to pay anything, apparently
betting, correctly, that I wasn't about to let the cost of repairs to me,
the builder, kill a $650K deal, so we ate it.

The same inspector scared the hell out of the homeowners with totally false
information about the safety of the code required arc-fault breakers in the
bedrooms, and wrote up the wrong AC unit for what was an unnecessary
"repair" in any event ... and, back on your topic, as he was walking out the
front door after being paid, told the buyer that the wall switch to turn off
the upstairs balcony lights didn't work ... you guessed it ... it was a
three way switch!

I've got plenty more "3rd party Inspector Closeau" stories, but I'll quit
there.


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Last update: 5/14/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)