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Home Inspection Company Growing Despite Difficult Market

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Press Release

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Release date:                January 24, 2011

Philippe Heller – President
The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company
1672 Main St. #E-125
Ramona, CA 92065 
(888) 494-5150
pheller@sdinspections.com
www.sdinspections.com  or www.facebook.com/sdinspections

The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company continues to grow despite the uncertain real estate market. We are proud to welcome Jeff Duncan to our team of home inspectors. He brings 8 years of home inspection experience to the company.

“We attribute our growth to an ongoing dedication to excellent service, using the best technology available, and treating buyers with respect and Jeff personifies these values” according to Philippe Heller, president of The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company. “We maintain our leadership role in the San Diego home inspection industry through constant innovation.”

Getting a thorough home inspection is more important that ever due to the large number of bank-owned home sales and “flip” houses. The selling price may be great, but you won’t know what you are buying without a good inspection. Be sure the home inspector you hire is prepared with the best tools available such as thermal infrared cameras and testing equipment such as gas leak detectors, and Carbon Monoxide detectors. Their website http://www.sdinspections.com is very informational for agents and buyers.

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Beware the ‘Newbie’ Home Inspector

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Nothing Can Take The Place of Experience

It seems like there is a new home inspection company popping up every week. With the slow down in the economy, many people have decided to go out on their own. While you have to appreciate their entrepreneurial spirit, there are some things you need to know before you hire a brand new inspector.

Just like any professional, some things are only learned from experience. So the first thing to know is that regardless of their ‘certification’, the new inspector won’t have the field experience of an inspector who has been in the profession for a number of years. You just don’t learn about the stuff we see from a classroom or via an online course!

So how do you identify a new inspector?

Don’t be lured by a website alone. It is easy to go into business and set up a website. The State of California does NOT license home inspectors. Anyone can print a business card, set up a website and market themselves as a home inspector.

Many new inspectors will use words like ‘we’, ‘group’ or ‘team’ liberally throughout their website. They do this to appear well-established. But in fact many of these companies have just one guy. A multi-inspector firm takes years to build and is only achieved by a very few honest, ethical companies that perform dozens or hundreds of inspections per month. An independent inspector simply does not do enough inspections to support more than one inspector.

Check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see how long they’ve been around. The BBB reports when a business was started. If you are a more sophisticated Internet user, you can see when they registered their domain name. You can also check with their certifying organization such as NACHI or CREIA to see how long they have been an inspector.

You will also recognize another common thread among new companies. They are consistently cheaper than the well-established companies. And they are always immediately available. The reasons are clear. They are hungry for work! They would love to practice on your house.

The best inspectors will have a lot of high tech testing equipment, and they carry adequate E&O insurance. Be sure to check with the low price inspector to see if they are insured. Some new inspectors initially forego carrying insurance to save money. (Our insurance is very expensive.) This can be disastrous for everyone involved in a transaction.

Why does this matter?

We frequently hear horror stories about bad inspections. Unfortunately we hear these stories after it is too late – the house has already been purchased. As a buyer or an agent you have to decide what is best. There is no substitute for experience. A home purchase is too important. Choose the best home inspector available.

If you have any questions about what is important when selecting a home inspector, please feel free to contact us. The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Co. Is a multi-inspector firm that has performed thousands of inspections since our founding in 2004.

Posted in Inspection News | 2 Comments »

Update on New Carbon Monoxide Detector Law

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Our Home Inspectors will start checking for CO detectors

New law requires Carbon Monoxide Detectors

  STAY UP TO DATE ON THIS IMPORTANT NEW LAW BY “LIKING” OUR FACEBOOK PAGE (Click above)

 This is an updated post regarding California Senate Bill 183 which was signed into lawearlier this year. 

California Senate Bill 183 was signed into law to regulate the installation of Carbon Monoxide detectors. The law is a two-part law that requires an update to the Transfer Disclosure Statements used in a real estate transaction, and puts into law the Carbon Monoxide Poisonng Prevention Act of 2010.

The first part of the new law requires that as of July 1, 2011, Transfer Disclosure Statements (TD forms) include a line item regarding the presence or absence of a Carbon Monoxide detector in the same manner as Smoke Detectors, for all residential units that are sold. This applies to just about all types of occupancies from single family owner-occupied and rentals, to multi-family housing. If the property is being sold, it must now include a CO Detector if the dwelling has gas appliances, fireplaces, and/or attached garages as described below.

The second part of the law enacts the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010 which requires that all residential properties, not just those being sold, be equipped with a Carbon Monoxide detector when the property has a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace, and/or an attached garage. All single-family homes in structures with 1-4 units (owner or tenant occupied) must be equipped with a detector on or before July 1, 2011.

All other multi-family residential units must be equipped with a detector on or before January 1, 2013, not just those being sold.

For rentals, the Carbon Monoxide detector must be operable at the time the tenant takes possession. A tenant is responsible for notifying the owner or owner’s agent if the tenant becomes aware of an inoperable or deficient carbon monoxide detector within his or her unit. The owner or owner’s agent must correct any reported deficiencies in the carbon monoxide detector and will not be in violation of this section for a deficient or inoperable carbon monoxide detector when he or she has not received notice of the deficiency or inoperability.

The bottom line is that ALL SINGLE FAMILY residential dwelling units as of July 1, 2011 must have a CO detector, even those that are not being sold. All other dewlling units (multi-family, dormatories, hotels, motels, etc) must have CO detectors installed by January 1, 2013.

Carbon Monoxide Detector

Expect to see this new inspection item in your home inspection report. Home inspectors will be required to report on the presence or absence of a working Carbon Monoxide detector just like they report on Smoke Detectors, and water heater strapping.

Home Buyers and Sellers will also see this new requirement on Transfer Disclosure Statements. In addition to Smoke Alarms and strapped water heaters, sellers will be required to disclose the presence or absence of a working Carbon Monoxide detector starting July 1, 2011.

Details of SB 183

This bill requires that Transfer Disclosure Statements (TDS Forms) include a line items for Carbon Monoxide Detectors just like Smoke Detectors. This applies to homes intended for human occupancy that have a fossil fuel (gas or wood) burning appliance, fireplace, and/or an attached garage.

The remedy for failure to install a device is actual damages not to exceed $100, exclusive of any court costs and attorney’s fees. The Bill revises the statutory Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement to require the seller of a one-to-four residential property or manufactured home to make certain disclosures regarding carbon monoxide devices, smoke detectors, and water heaters, and requires the owner of a rental dwelling unit to maintain carbon monoxide devices in the unit (as of January 1, 2013).

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010

Details: As of July 1, 2011, Carbon Monoxide detectors will be REQUIRED in all houses (1 – 4 units) if they have any of the following:

• Any gas appliances such as a gas stove, gas furnace, gas fireplace, gas water heater, etc.
• A fireplace (even if it only burns wood, pellets, or any other material).
• An attached garage (even if there are no gas appliances in the house!). Cars continue to emit CO even after they are shut off.
• ANY rental dwelling that meets the criteria listed above. Yes this means that if you own a house, condo, or townhouse that you rent to another human being, you are REQUIRED to install Carbon Monoxide detectors.
• As of January 1, 2013, ALL multi-family dwellings including multi-family dwellings that meet the criteria listed above will be required to have Carbon Monoxide detectors. Even those that are not being sold will be required to have them just like smoke detectors.

Be sure the home you are buying or selling is safe. A qualified home inspector will provide the information you need to feel confident about your home buying decision. Don’t compromise when choosing a home inspector. Be sure to ask if they will check for this.

You can read the entire new Carbon Monoxide Bill here.

The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company feels that Carbon Monoxide detecors are as important, or more, than a traditional smoke detector. We will will add this as an inspection item effective immediately. We want to get this information out to buyers and sellers. Most Carbon Monoxide detectors cost $50 or less.

To keep up with this story and more, please “Like” us on Facebook today!

Tags: Carbon Monoxide Law, CO detector
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San Diego’s Best, Now Serving Temecula

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Now Serving Temecula and Murrieta

In 2004, we set out to create a home inspection company that “raised the bar”. The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company was one of the first companies to embrace computer-generated inspection reports. These reports are a huge improvement over checkbox style or “binder” reports which some inspectors still use today. We also pioneered the use of online scheduling which offered a whole new level of service for buyers and agents.

Most importantly, we use the latest state-of-the-art test equipment including Thermal Infrared Imaging cameras to provide thorough testing of every house we inspect. If you are not familiar with the use of Infrared Thermal Imaging, you owe it to yourself to learn about it. We identify moisture that other home inspectors can’t.

All of our home  inspectors are highly trained, prompt and courteous. Our office staff is friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. As a result, we have become one of the largest independent inspection companies in San Diego.

We now want to offer the same high level of service to buyers in Temecula and Murrieta. Please visit our website to see how we differ from the other inspectors. You can read (and subscribe) to our blog which provides buyers and agents with valuable information; things you should know before making an offer. No one can match our flexibility, service and attention to detail. We look forward to serving you!

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10 Easy Ways to Save Energy

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

Most people don’t know how easy it is to make their homes run on less energy, and here at The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company, we want to change that. Drastic reductions in heating, cooling and electricity costs can be accomplished through very simple changes, most of which homeowners can do themselves.  

Why make your home more energy efficient? Here are a few good reasons:

• Federal, state, utility and local jurisdictions’ financial incentives, such as tax breaks, are very advantageous in most parts of the U.S.
• It saves money. It costs less to power a home that has been converted to be more energy-efficient.
• It increases indoor comfort levels.
• It reduces our impact on climate change. Many scientists now believe that excessive energy consumption contributes significantly to global warming.
• It reduces pollution. Conventional power production introduces pollutants that find their way into the air, soil and water supplies.

1. Find better ways to heat and cool your house. 

As much as half of the energy used in homes goes toward heating and cooling. The following are a few ways that energy bills can be reduced through adjustments to the heating and cooling systems:

• Install a ceiling fan. Ceiling fans can be used in place of air conditioners, which require a large amount of energy.
• Periodically replace air filters in air conditioners and heaters.
• Set thermostats to an appropriate temperature. Specifically, they should be turned down at night and when no one is home. In most homes, about 2% of the heating bill will be saved for each degree that the thermostat is lowered for at least eight hours each day. Turning down the thermostat from 75° F to 70°F, for example, saves about 10% on heating costs.
• Install a programmable thermostat. A programmable thermostat saves money by allowing heating and cooling appliances to be automatically turned down during times that no one is home and at night. Programmable thermostats contain no mercury and, in some climate zones, can save up to $150 per year in energy costs.
• Install a wood stove or a pellet stove. These are more efficient sources of heat than furnaces.
• At night, curtains drawn over windows will better insulate the room.

2. Install a tankless water heater.

Demand water heaters (tankless or instantaneous) provide hot water only as it is needed. They don’t produce the standby energy losses associated with storage water heaters, which will save on energy costs. Demand water heaters heat water directly without the use of a storage tank. Therefore, they avoid the standby heat losses required by traditional storage water heaters. When a hot water tap is turned on, cold water travels through a pipe into the unit. Either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water. As a result, demand water heaters deliver a constant supply of hot water. You don’t need to wait for a storage tank to fill up with enough hot water.

3. Replace incandescent lights.

The average household dedicates 11% of its energy budget to lighting. Traditional incandescent lights convert approximately only 10% of the energy they consume into light, while the rest becomes heat. The use of new lighting technologies, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), can reduce energy use required by lighting by 50% to 75%. Advances in lighting controls offer further energy savings by reducing the amount of time lights are on but not being used. Here are some facts about CFLs and LEDs:

• CFLs use 75% less energy and last about 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
• LEDs last even longer than CFLs and consume less energy.
• LEDs have no moving parts and, unlike CFLs, they contain no mercury.

4. Seal and insulate your home.

Sealing and insulating your home is one of the most cost-effective ways to make a home more comfortable and energy efficient -– and you can do it yourself. A tightly sealed home can improve comfort and indoor air quality while reducing utility bills. An InterNACHI energy auditor can be hired to assess envelope leakage and recommend fixes that will dramatically increase comfort and energy savings.

The following are some common places where leakage may occur:

• electrical outlets;
• mail slots;
• around pipes and wires;
• wall- or window-mounted air conditioners;
• attic hatches;
• fireplace dampers;
• weatherstripping around doors;
• baseboards;
• window frames; and
• switch plates.

Because hot air rises, air leaks are most likely to occur in the attic. Homeowners can perform a variety of repairs and maintenance to their attics that save them money on cooling and heating, such as: 

• Plug the large holes. Locations in the attic where leakage is most likely to be the greatest are where walls meet the attic floor, behind and under attic knee walls, and in dropped-ceiling areas.
• Seal the small holes. You can easily do this by looking for areas where the insulation is darkened. Darkened insulation is a result of dusty interior air being filtered by insulation before leaking through small holes in the building envelope. In cold weather, you may see frosty areas in the insulation caused by warm, moist air condensing and then freezing as it hits the cold attic air. In warmer weather, you’ll find water staining in these same areas. Use expanding foam or caulk to seal the openings around plumbing vent pipes and electrical wires. Cover the areas with insulation after the caulk is dry.
• Seal up the attic access panel with weatherstripping. You can cut a piece of fiberglass or rigid foam board insulation the same size as the attic hatch and glue it to the back of the attic access panel. If you have pull-down attic stairs or an attic door, these should be sealed in a similar manner.

5. Install efficient shower heads and toilets.

The following systems can be installed to conserve water usage in homes:

• low-flow shower heads. They are available in different flow rates, and some have a pause button which shuts off the water while the bather lathers up;
• low-flow toilets. Toilets consume 30% to 40% of the total water used in homes, making them the biggest water users. Replacing an older 3.5-gallon toilet with a modern, low-flow 1.6-gallon toilet can reduce usage an average of two gallons-per-flush (GPF), saving 12,000 gallons of water per year. Low-flow toilets usually have “1.6 GPF” marked on the bowl behind the seat or inside the tank;
• vacuum-assist toilets. These types of toilets have a vacuum chamber which uses a siphon action to suck air from the trap beneath the bowl, allowing it to quickly fill with water to clear waste. Vacuum toilets are relatively quiet; and
• dual-flush toilets. Dual-flush toilets have been used in Europe and Australia for years, and are now gaining in popularity in the U.S. Dual-flush toilets let you choose between a 1-gallon (or less) flush for liquid waste, and a 1.6-gallon flush for solid waste. Dual-flush 1.6-GPF toilets reduce water consumption by an additional 30%.

6. Use appliances and electronics responsibly.

Appliances and electronics account for about 20% of household energy bills in a typical U.S. home. The following are tips that will reduce the required energy of electronics and appliances:

• Refrigerators and freezers should not be located near the stove, dishwasher or heat vents, or exposed to direct sunlight. Exposure to warm areas will force them to use more energy to remain cool.  
• Computers should be shut off when not in use. If unattended computers must be left on, their monitors should be shut off. According to some studies, computers account for approximately 3% of all energy consumption in the United States.
• Use efficient “Energy Star”-rated appliances and electronics. These devices, approved by the DOE and the EPA’s Energy Star Program, include TVs, home theater systems, DVD players, CD players, receivers, speakers and more. According to the EPA, if just 10% of homes used energy-efficient appliances, it would reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 1.7 million acres of trees.
• Chargers, such as those for laptops and cell phones, consume energy when they are plugged in. When they are not connected to electronics, chargers should be unplugged.
• Laptop computers consume considerably less electricity than desktop computers.

7. Install daylighting as an alternative to electrical lighting.

Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to illuminate the home’s interior. It can be achieved using the following approaches:

• skylights. It’s important that they be double-pane or they may not be cost-effective. Flashing skylights correctly is key to avoiding leaks;
• lightshelves. Light shelves are passive devices designed to bounce light deep into a building. They may be interior or exterior. Light shelves can introduce light into a space up to 2½ times the distance from the floor to the top of the window, and advanced light shelves may introduce four times that amount;
• clerestory windows.  Clerestory windows are short, wide windows set high on the wall. Protected from the summer sun by the roof overhang, they allow winter sun to shine through for natural lighting and warmth; and 
• light tubes.  Light tubes use a special lens designed to amplify low-level light and reduce light intensity from the midday sun. Sunlight is channeled through a tube coated with a highly reflective material, then enters the living space through a diffuser designed to distribute light evenly.

8. Insulate windows and doors.

About one-third of the home’s total heat loss usually occurs through windows and doors. The following are ways to reduce energy lost through windows and doors:

• Seal all window edges and cracks with rope caulk. This is the cheapest and simplest option.
• Windows can be weatherstripped with a special lining that is inserted between the window and the frame. For doors, weatherstrip around the whole perimeter to ensure a tight seal when closed. Install quality door sweeps on the bottom of the doors, if they aren’t already in place.
• Install storm windows at windows with only single panes. A removable glass frame can be installed over an existing window.
• If existing windows have rotted or damaged wood, cracked glass, missing putty, poorly fitting sashes, or locks that don’t work, they should be repaired or replaced.

9. Cook smart.

An enormous amount of energy is wasted while cooking. The following recommendations and statistics illustrate less wasteful ways of cooking:

• Convection ovens are more efficient that conventional ovens. They use fans to force hot air to circulate more evenly, thereby allowing food to be cooked at a lower temperature. Convection ovens use approximately 20% less electricity than conventional ovens.
• Microwave ovens consume approximately 80% less energy than conventional ovens.
• Pans should be placed on the correctly-sized heating element or flame. 
• Lids make food heat more quickly than pans that do not have lids.
• Pressure cookers reduce cooking time dramatically.
• When using conventional ovens, food should be placed on the top rack. The top rack is hotter and will cook food faster. 

10. Change the way you wash your clothes.

• Do not use the “half load” setting on your washer. Wait until you have a full load of clothes, as the “half load” setting saves less than half of the water and energy.
• Avoid using high-temperature settings when clothes are not that dirty. Water that is 140 degrees uses far more energy than 103 degrees for a “warm” setting, but 140 degrees isn’t that much better for washing purposes.
• Clean the lint trap before you use the dryer, every time. Not only is excess lint a fire hazard, but it will prolong the amount of time required for your clothes to dry.
• If possible, air-dry your clothes on lines and racks.
• Spin-dry or wring clothes out before putting them into a dryer. 

Tags: Energy Efficiency
Posted in Inspection News | 5 Comments »

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