Another Home Inspector story

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hbiss

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
A friend of mine asked me today about receptacles in an older home. Seems his son is selling his house that was built in 1924 and the buyer has a home inspection done. Mr. Home Inspector reports that there are about 10 receptacles in several rooms that are not 3 prong grounding. The buyer insists that they be replaced with grounding receptacles. The house is wired with old two conductor "snakeskin" Romex so there is no EGC.

Seller gets an estimate from electrical contractor #1 who said that the receptacles could be replaced with GFCI receptacles or GFCI breakers in the panel. Buyer will have none of that and will only accept a complete rewiring- per the home inspector.

Electrical contractor #1 quotes $8,500. I'm certain the walls are plaster on some kind of lath.

Electrical contractor #2, a smaller one-man outfit quotes $3,500.

I told my friend to tell his son to tell the buyer to go scratch. The Home Inspector has no authority and doesn't know what he's talking about. That house was built to the code in effect in 1924. There is nothing that says that electrical systems have to be upgraded to current code. The wiring is in good condition. Nothing needs to be done. I'm sure that most if not all of those receptacles will be used with two prong plugs anyway.

It's unfortunate that buyers believe that home inspectors carry legal weight and use it to hold the seller over a barrel.

And you wonder why I hate home inspectors.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
I told my friend to tell his son to tell the buyer to go scratch. The Home Inspector has no authority and doesn't know what he's talking about. That house was built to the code in effect in 1924. There is nothing that says that electrical systems have to be upgraded to current code. The wiring is in good condition. Nothing needs to be done. I'm sure that most if not all of those receptacles will be used with two prong plugs anyway.
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And that's all I have to say on the matter. :sneaky:
 
I'd feel different if home inspectors needed to prove 8 years of residential construction experience. That is instead of the 2 weeks of school and complete lack of knowledge of what they're doing. Every Instagram add for their services shows no fall protection on stupid steep roofs, sticking their fingers into panels not just taking off the cover for pictures, and fiddling with gas furnace valves with the wrong tools.
 
hbiss said:
Buyer will have none of that and will only accept a complete rewiring- per the home inspector.
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I wouldn't say that the home inspector doesnt know what he's talking about. The house is 100 years old and he's paid to give his opinion on the condition of the wiring. The buyer knows that he's getting an old house and it sounds like he's just trying to squeeze the seller. Happens every day. Seller should stick to his guns.
 
LarryFine said:
That's the reason buyers hire home inspectors.
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Is it really to squeeze the buyer or is it to ensure that the house they're buying is loaded with defects that may cost large sums of money to repair after the closing? IMO it's the latter.
 
infinity said:
Is it really to squeeze the buyer or is it to ensure that the house they're buying is loaded with defects that may cost large sums of money to repair after the closing? IMO it's the latter.
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Most times it's to get the house cheaper. Every time I've given a quote for something like this and it's not going to completely hold up the sale because of insurance then they just get money off the sale price and never get it updated or repaired.
 
But there is only so far these guys can go. The buyer's RE agent usually recommends a home inspector and when they come up with all kinds of garbage that puts the kibosh on the sale often enough, they aren't going to get much work.

-Hal
 
Doing inspections for the CSLB. This is so common these days. You can't upgrade an old house wiring house without opening the walls. The owners must move out for several months.

Most of the Electrical Contractors you hire have no idea what is instore for them ...
 
When we bought our current place it came with a switchover panel for a few branch circuits, fed by an outside inlet for the generator. The home inspector flagged the inlet as being non-Code and dangerous because it had male contacts that could be a shock hazard. 😂 It didn't give me a lot of confidence about the non-electrical portions of the report.
 
hbiss said:
But there is only so far these guys can go. The buyer's RE agent usually recommends a home inspector and when they come up with all kinds of garbage that puts the kibosh on the sale often enough, they aren't going to get much work.

-Hal
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Thus the H.I. that is TOO diligent won't be working very long. Buyer shouldn't rely on reports from the RE recommended H.I. as it is in the interest of the RE to not "find" to many issues that would impact the sale. AFA electrical issues (or other issues) the most that should be reported would be to get a qualified professional in the specific trade to investigate the potential "issue".

Top that off with at least in NY the H.I. carries no liability to any statement they make related to the inspection.

Had one customer that had a H.I. that really missed the mark related to electrical issues (real problems). Some so obvious that even laymen should recognize, (should there be water coming out of or in that breaker?) Why is that receptacle not working?, (totally burned out and wiring actually burned). Why is the Light not working?, (the wiring from the K&T not in box burned and had set fire to the ceiling structure). And K&T potential not even brought up, (even though totally visible and live running in the walk up attic). So many issues including open SE cable up the side of the house that this ended up being a total re-wire with new service. (None of these even mentioned on the inspection report, only issue mentioned was a tree that was rubbing on the roof and the gutter was coming off one side. There was other structural, plumbing and HVAC issues that had to be addressed too.)
 
We've sold three houses in the last few years and never had a major issue with any of the inspectors involved with them. I was not surprised at request for GFCI devices. I was surprised at what they missed that I think should have been noted to the buyers by an HI.

Family has also purchased a couple homes in the last year. Not Good. I'm not a plumber or HVAC but Good Golly Molly, somebodies being paid for an inspection had to have seen the problems. Not counting open splices, etc.

Maybe it depends on the area.
 
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