Final thoughts {mine alone !]
Final thoughts {mine alone !]
Interesting views and statements. Again, I am not pro-inspection at the expense of "being reasonable". Never.
I do not mean to make a statement or "novel" and run, I know a lot of you review opinions and code discussions here frequently, and I don't mean to eat and run. Between home, business, family, hobbies and report writing, I wish I had more time to talk on this site.
At one time, I was hired to work for the federal government in the field of subsidized housing inspections. Basically, we would go into an apartment sub development and review the landlord's ability to keep the sites safe and secure for his tenants, most of whom received government money to go towards thier rent. It was called the REAC program, which meant "reverse auction bla bla bla". In a nutshell, we would bid on these inspections, and whoever gave the lowest bid got the job. Sounds complicated, huh? Whatever company could do it for less was hired. So, the money would trickle down from the government agency who cold called area inspection services ( such as InspectionOne and US Inspect )and review thier back ground education, area licensing , any certifications, etc. From them it went to a middle man contractor, then to the Home Inspection owner, and finally to the actual inspector. At the time, I worked for the largest Florida home inspection service. By the time the money got to me, of the $1600.00 per inspection site, I got $400.00. The fact that I had the highest accreditation, the longest number of years on the job, etc did not matter. If I was some local guy who worked for himself ,I would have made double.
I note the above because your level of experience of ability is not always the most important factor when you are in this field. The reason why the government even looked into the private sector to find the REAC inspectors was because, according to them, thier own government employed isnpectors would do "drive by" inspections - -some would not even leave thier office while writing up a negative inspection based on the assumption that the property was probably similar to the previous inspection report found it. Nice,huh ? Some of these sites had changed ownership 2 or 3 times and looked nothing like they had during the prior inspection.
The above is not all that dis-similar to what we sometimes find here in Florida. Many an electrician will state that the local building dept ok'd everything, and therefore the private home inspector should get lost. This opinion has been intimated here since I wrote my first "complaint" several days ago. The fact that there are some bad apples and the state has not got off it's collective butt to license us does not mean that we know less than the next guy, nor that our report is any less important. I will say again that codes are sometimes open to interpretation, whether that is agreed upon or not.
A short time ago, in the area I live, the county building / code dept manager was fired without explanation. This man was once contacted by me because I had a screen room built by a contractor who wrote an estimate that included a fee to file for the permit. He never pulled one. I called the owner of that company and complained, and emphasized the need for permit and code compliance. He actually said the words to me " Don't worry, we have the building dept head in our pocket, there'll be no problems down the road if that's what you're afraid of ".
Shocked, I called the dept head himself and was told not to worry about that particular issue. He is no longer employed in this county. He has been charged with taking money in exchange for bending the code and permitting rules, & giving local contractors "favors" -if compliance was considered at all.
I have inspected may a home that passed it's final roof inspection in which no ridge vent was installed when it was absoloutely needed. No ventilation other than soffit. When I called the building / code dept, I was told that though there is a mathematical formula for air flow and exhaust to determine where ridge vents are needed and where they are not, but no one actually knew what the formula was nor could they tell me how to find it. To this day, no one can answer that question for me. So if there is no ridge vent on a roof where no other hot air exhaust is provided ( such as gable end vents, turbine, electric fan, or especially none on an enclosed hip , where no gable vents can be installed ) I will state plainly that there should be one !
I will do the same as it appllies to electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, etc. And if the the contractor disagrees, as sometimes they vehemently do, too bad. My job is to warn the client of any pre-existing conditons that materially affect the structure, the safety of the home, etc. And though we plainly state that we are not there as code inspectors, sometimes there are exceptions.
Thank you all again for your thoughts and ideas. Best to all.
