Buyers/Sellers
Simply put, why should you - A potential home buyer/Seller and client - use me? I say sellers because I also offer Sellers Pre-listing inspections. I offer complete reports, and I go beyond the standards in several of the following ways:
* Only 60% of home inspectors "wak the roof", and many of them only when the roof is only one story high. Barring safety issues like frozen, slippery or roofs with too high a pitch, I "walk the roof." Walking the roof is not required in the standards, but there are too many problems I find on too many roofs not to walk them. At least one nearby compettitor of mine - who will go unnamed - does not walk the roof.
* I run a check for natural gas leaks in all houses. A home inspection is basically a visual inspection, but I use the equipment required to make sure you are safe from gas poisioning.
* When I see potential problems with a system that creates Co (Carbon Monoxide) I also employ the technology to test for that. Testing for Co is also beyond the standards, but the health of my clients and even the people currently living in the house are of my concern.
* I do a recall check on appliances. There are two groups of people who find out about recalls in their home. One group are the people who fill out and send in their regristration information when buying an appliance. Very few purchasers of new appliances do this. (myslef included) The second group are the people who have a fire due to a unknown recalled appliance. Recall checks can be done by any home owner, but they are expensive, time consuming or both to get the information over the internet. (touch the Recallchektm logo on my cover page will take you directly to the Recallchek website) Recall checks are included for free with a Finial home inspection. Checking for recalls is not required by the standards.
* I check the heat exchanger. It is true that as a home inspector I do disclaim cracks in a heat exchangers. (All home inspectors do. The disclaimer is required by Pa law) This is because a large portion of any heat exchanger can not be seen. And newer high effeciency heat exchangers are less visible then former generations. However, I still look and test because some cracks can be seen and I want to make sure my clients are safe.
* When testing for mold the issue is not the presence of mold, but what type of mold is present and what are the inhabitants of the home breathing. Proper mold testing is the only way to answer that. Many inspectors do a swab test when testing for mold. It is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to test for mold. It is also the most inaccurate. It only tells what mold is present at the location of the swab, and does not report what inhabitants are actually breathing. I do air testing. It is a more complete picture of what is in the air. It is also more expensive, but it is worth every penny. Air testing is not required in the standards, but it is simply a better test then a swab.
* Full one hour testing when doing well flow. Many inspectors do a 15 minute on, 15 minute off and 15 minute on test. This is an incomplete test. The standard is that a well should have a recovery rate of 3.5 gallons a minute. Running a flow test at that rate and the longer time indicate a proper rate of supply. It is possible for a well to pass the lesser test, and not have a proper replentish rate. The well may supply enough water for a bath, but may fail on the Fourth of july, Thanksgiving or Christmas when family is visiting. All standards are written for highest probable use not the every day.
The next set of reasons are not related to the standards, but I will mention them as they are still an important part of what I offer my clients.
* Simple easy to read report. I have seen home inspection reports that are over 50 pages. Much of that information is general information that has nothing to do with the house being inspected. Some inspectors think it makes them look good to drown a client in lots of information. I have designed a report that has all the information needed, and is usually under 20 pages. I do not use a canned reporting system, and all defeciencies are written in a narrative form for easy and direct reading of the problems in the house. The national standards do not address how a report should or should not be presented so this issues is technically not beyond the standards, but a clean, concise and easy to read report is just good common sense.
* Saturday inspections. Trying to be available for working clients is another service that puts me above much of my competition.
* Continous radon monitors. I use expensive continous radon monitors instead of charcoal filters and electrets. Without going into a full explanation of these types of monitoring systems, the short of it is that continuous monitors are the cadillac of the industry. They have internal systems that make it harder for someone to "cheat" when a monitor is in a house, and they are more accurate. They offer imediate on site results at the end of the 48 hour testing period. Results are then e-mailed, usually from the site on the same day.
* Complete inspections, and not more then two in a day. My inspections usually take at least two hours, and with reporting time can take up to four hours on site. I have lost business from agents because I don't do my inspections in an hour. A well known compettitor of mine - who will again go unnamed - does three inspections a day and brags about doing over 600 in a years. Though he certaintly goes by the standards, to save time he rarely goes beyond the standards.
Another compettitor of mine - a large franchise - has recently started offering standards only inspections for a cheaper price. In short you get what you pay for. Quick inspections are simply poor inspections. Do you want a quick inspection or a thorough inspection. I won't do them any other way. I offer my clients the Cadalac, not the Yugo.
* Reports are e-mailed form the inspection site. Clients often have them in their e-mail box before they get home. The real estate transactions of today demand fast turnaround. That is what I offer.