Home Electrical Inspection

[PowerSupportElec]

I have a call from someone looking to have the electric in a house they are buying be inspected. I guess they felt having an electrician do it instead of a home inspector was a better idea. The house is 70 years old.

How much liability is there? Is this something where I could get myself into trouble if they find something wrong down the road and then try to blame me for not telling them? I guess the answer would be to have a lawyer draw up a contract for that.

Does anyone do this? If so, do you have a checklist of what you inspect? I am making a list but I don't think it's conclusive enough. I am wondering if I should megger each circuit or not.

Opinions?

 

[petersonra]

I have a call from someone looking to have the electric in a house they are buying be inspected. I guess they felt having an electrician do it instead of a home inspector was a better idea. The house is 70 years old.

How much liability is there? Is this something where I could get myself into trouble if they find something wrong down the road and then try to blame me for not telling them? I guess the answer would be to have a lawyer draw up a contract for that.

Does anyone do this? If so, do you have a checklist of what you inspect? I am making a list but I don't think it's conclusive enough. I am wondering if I should megger each circuit or not.

Opinions?

Keep in mind this is solely my opinion and not legal or any other kind of advice.

You have liability insurance to cover the potential liability exposure you might have. IMO, it is likely minimal compared to actually doing electrical installations.

A 70 year old electrical system is approaching the end of its life, if not past that point, as are all the other systems in the house that are original.

I personally would not waste the time to megger all the circuits. They will all fail if they are original. My guess is that after looking at it you will tell them it is a gut and start over kind of thing.

I suspect there are checklists you can get just by Googling them.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=home+inspector+electrical+checklist

 

[102 Inspector]

In my opinion, this is a snap shot in time inspection and would not involve any destructive or in-depth testing. A visual inspection based on all aspects the were seen during the review and reported accordingly. I always put in my inspection reports that the items described are based on opinion. I have seen things that might not look quite right, and reported them to find out later that they were code compliant at the time of installation. I see alot of home inspectors write up GFCI from home built prior to when they were required. What level of inspection do they want. Will they use it as a bargaining chip to make the seller improve things that truely are compliant based on the age of the house. Document what you found, what you advised and especially what you did or did not look at. I have heard of some inspector who will not even take of the load center cover, because it is outside the scope of thier knowledge.
A camera, notebook, screwdrivers and heat gun would be things that I would definitely have available for inspection. A good flashlight goes along way too.
A fair and honest inspection is better than a high priced inspector that only writes on his report "refer to qualified personnel for further evaluation" any day. Whenever possible, I include any code sections that I reference and the code edition that I tried to obtain them from. A 1200 SF house would normally take me about 1 1/2 hour inspect and 2 hours to write a report. Cost is variable based on location. The last one I did was actually for my daughter. Did not get paid for that one.

 

[GoldDigger]

The last one I did was actually for my daughter. Did not get paid for that one.

Good thing that you did not have to ask about it here.

 

[mgookin]

This could be via a walk-through with the buyer or in the form of a report, or both.

If you write a report, I suggest you write it up like an engineer writes up a report. Everything is observations and opinion. Nothing is absolute but things are "substantially..." and the like.

A good written report will start with the electric utility.

POCO is ABC Power Company located at 123 Main St Sometowne, XX 12345 (222) 333-4444.
Service to site is overhead (or u/g) 120/240V 1p 200A
Main disconnect is ...
MDP is ... with (whatever) type of overcurrent protection.
Based on observation of the service and panel along with a search of public records, the existing service appears to have been installed between 19.. and 19...
There are/ are not signs of overheating, overload, etc.
The following imminent hazards were discovered: 1, 2, 3
Receptacles are/ are not grounded
Smoke detectors are/ are not present
Recommendations:

Since it's not their home, you won't be doing a destructive inspection. Make sure you have a closing statement that the inspection did not include the benefit of opening walls, coverplates, dead fronts, meter can, etc. and that this report is based on non-invasive observations only and without warranty as to expected lifespan, level of inherent risk, etc.

If you do a walk-through, you're done when you get back in the truck.
If you offer a written report, you'll spend 2x as long writing it up as you did in the field. Make sure you bid it accordingly.

My two favorites when I was a city inspector:

1) a fuse box in a shower - 50 year old apartment building.
2) smoke coming out of the soffit on a CO inspection - new construction.

You never know what you're going to come across out in the field.

 

[kwired]

In my opinion, this is a snap shot in time inspection and would not involve any destructive or in-depth testing. A visual inspection based on all aspects the were seen during the review and reported accordingly. I always put in my inspection reports that the items described are based on opinion. I have seen things that might not look quite right, and reported them to find out later that they were code compliant at the time of installation. I see alot of home inspectors write up GFCI from home built prior to when they were required. What level of inspection do they want. Will they use it as a bargaining chip to make the seller improve things that truely are compliant based on the age of the house. Document what you found, what you advised and especially what you did or did not look at. I have heard of some inspector who will not even take of the load center cover, because it is outside the scope of thier knowledge.
A camera, notebook, screwdrivers and heat gun would be things that I would definitely have available for inspection. A good flashlight goes along way too.
A fair and honest inspection is better than a high priced inspector that only writes on his report "refer to qualified personnel for further evaluation" any day. Whenever possible, I include any code sections that I reference and the code edition that I tried to obtain them from. A 1200 SF house would normally take me about 1 1/2 hour inspect and 2 hours to write a report. Cost is variable based on location. The last one I did was actually for my daughter. Did not get paid for that one.

Kind of mostly same as what I do. Inspect, take notes, then write a report. Explain that you can not judge condition of concealed items, explain condition of what you can verify, explain any code violations, explain that while a particular item may have been code compliant at its time of installation today's codes call for something different. Sometimes purchasing insurance for the new owner will be easier if you suggest upgrades or updates, but suggest those upgrades and do not mandate them.

If you see something you feel is a serious hazard to life or property make note of it and explain why it is a hazard.

Even things like receptacles that are old and worn and do not hold a plug very tight should be recommended to be replaced, and explain what hazards may arise if they are not replaced.

 

[iwire]

If you really want to protect yourself you need errors and omissions insurance.

Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance that helps protect professional advice- and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client, and damages awarded in such a civil lawsuit. The coverage focuses on alleged failure to perform on the part of, financial loss caused by, and error or omission in the service or product sold by the policyholder.