What’s Inspected?
A home inspection is a detailed evaluation of the home, and is intended to reveal items that substantially affect the habitability or value of a house. Our primary concerns are your family’s health and safety, and identifying items that will be expensive to repair that may not have been fully disclosed to you. Health and safety concerns include fire hazards, Carbon Monoxide hazards, moisture (which can lead to mold), and proper egress (in case of a fire). Potentially expensive repair items include the condition of the roof, furnaces, appliances, plumbing, electrical system, water heaters, etc.
Our inspectors have your best interest in mind. It is often thought that inspectors over look defects to win favor with an agent. This is simply not the case with The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company. The very last thing we want is to have you move into your new home only to find expensive problems. We have no problem telling agents to find another inspection company if they imply that we should “ignore” certain items. If we find it, it goes in the report. Even if the seller says, “Oh, I’m fixing that later today”.
Having said that, there are several things you should not expect from a home inspection. It is not a home warranty. It is not an evaluation of cosmetic or decorator items. It is not a guarantee that a seller must fix any of the items in the report. For example, a seller does not have to bring an older home in compliance with today’s standards. An old house with single pane windows is not required to have double pane windows installed for you. We do not inventory the items in the house, and we do not confirm the accuracy of the MLS statements.
The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company follows the CalNACHI Standards of Practice. Please review these standards prior to the inspection so you know what to expect from your inspection, and what your inspector will and will not inspect.
RECALLS
A home inspector is not required to report on recalled items. There are simply too many items that have been recalled over the years and it would be impossible for an inspector to identify all items in a house, and check if they have been recalled. There are a few items that we do report as having been recalled due to the extreme health and safety hazard or potential extreme property damage. These items are limited to horizontal furnaces manufactured by Premier, Polybutylene plumbing, Aluminum wiring, and some electrical panels made by Federal Pacific.
If you want us to notify you of recalls, we do have our RECALL ALERT program. You can subscribe to receive notifications of new recalls to protect your family and your house.
