# certified building inspector or home inspector



## cda (Apr 9, 2016)

*So in the article it says certified building inspector, but in the about it says home inspector*

http://www.housedetective.com/about/

*Defects Overlooked During Final Inspection*

Mar302016 The House Detective: by Barry Stone, Certified Building Inspector

*Dear Barry:* _We are buying a brand-new home and were not planning to have a home inspection because the house was just approved by the county building department. Then we read your recent article about inspecting new homes, so we hired a home inspector and got some big surprises. He found two plumbing problems in the crawlspace under the house, three ungrounded outlets in the living room, and a safety violation concerning the furnace in the attic. What I want to know is, how could these defects have been overlooked when the county did their final inspection? Jason_

*Dear Jason: *Whenever I begin to inspect a brand-new home, I wonder if this will be the first one where I find no faulty conditions of any kind. So far, no cigar.

So the question is, how do so many defects escape discovery by municipal inspectors? In most cases, incompetency is not the problem. In your situation, involving undiscovered defects in the crawlspace and attic, as well as three ungrounded outlets, the problem does not necessarily involve ineptitude on the part of the county inspector. More likely, it is due to endemic shortcomings with the municipal building inspection process.

Some municipalities may be exceptions to this, but in general, building inspectors do not crawl under houses or through attics. They are not even equipped with ladders or with crawl suits. This means that faulty conditions in those areas of a house are never subject to the final inspection. As a result, any problems with plumbing, wiring, heating, framing, insulation, etc. in those places are never seen during the final inspection and remain as-is when the construction is signed off by the inspector. That is why further inspection by a qualified home inspector is always a good investment.

As for the ungrounded outlets, here is why those were not discovered by the municipal inspector. The power company does not turn on the electrical service to the property until the final inspection has been officially approved. Therefore, the power is off during the final inspection. Without power, there is no way to determine whether outlets are grounded, whether they have correct polarity, or whether any of the electrical fixtures are actually operative.

Home inspections, on the other hand, take place after the utilities are turned on, and unlike municipal inspectors, home inspectors test the functional condition of fixtures and use test devices to determine whether outlets are properly wired.

The main differences between municipal inspections and home inspections are these: Municipal inspections are for code compliance only, and they are limited locations that are accessible by pedestrian means only. Home inspections involve not only compliance with building standards but with quality of workmanship and with functional and safety-related conditions that are outside the scope of the building code. Whats more, home inspectors go where most municipal inspectors are unlikely to go in an entire career: to places that entail crawling in the dirt or through narrow cavernous recesses.

Municipal inspections should be regarded as a preliminary final inspection. Home inspections, when done by a qualified inspector, should be regarded as a final final inspection


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## Msradell (Apr 9, 2016)

I certainly agree with most of the comments in that post but one really bothers me. The statement "Municipal inspections are for code compliance only", while I certainly agree with that part of the statement not verifying that the grounds are connected in outlets is certainly a code issue! Governmental building inspectors should as part of their job verify that all electrical connections are correct and to code!


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## jwilly3879 (Apr 10, 2016)

Electrical inspections are done by a 3rd party in my jurisdiction so I have nothing to do with the electric.


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## Kearney.200 (Apr 18, 2016)

"The power company does not turn on the electrical service to the property until the final inspection has been officially approved. " What really where is this done at how could the contractor not have power? Are the running generators on that new hardwood floor, I call BS on this part


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## steveray (Apr 18, 2016)

Power always on at final around here....Can I check every receptacle...NO....


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## Code (Apr 21, 2016)

Power on here, I don't have time to check every receptacle.


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## ICE (Apr 21, 2016)

Articles that make general statements are not fair to the inspector. It says that there is a safety violation with a furnace in the attic but doesn't elaborate on what the violation is. I can't form an opinion without knowing the facts.

A misstatement is that AHJ inspectors don't get to see what is in the attic and crawlspace because we don't go there. We see what's there before the floor and ceiling are installed....so I would contend that we have a better view than a person that is crawling.


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## my250r11 (Apr 21, 2016)

Also we don't see what goes on after the inspection, we hope that the contractor is responsible and trustworthy but this is not always the case.  Had a guy that pasted footing inspection and i happened to be in the area a few hours later and he had removed the rebar!!!  I do my best but I can't vouch for anyone else.  :indecisiveness:  :blue:


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## conarb (Apr 21, 2016)

> "The power company does not turn on the electrical service to the property until the final inspection has been officially approved. " What really where is this done at how could the contractor not have power? Are the running generators on that new hardwood floor' date=' I call BS on this part[/quote']As a practical matter we hot wire the panel to our power pole at some point after the rock is taped and before final inspection, we need to know if there are any shorts in the system, when the electrician "rings-out" the house I've seen dozens or problems caught and corrected, the inspectors all know this because at final the building is "hot" and when they go to put their sticker on the service panel they see the cable jumping the power from the pole to the house.  I've even had inspectors release the power long before completion, I had a case where the PG&E wouldn't connect new underground conductors until the service was released leaving trenches open in the driveway area to be paved.  What they have told me was was they will release one of the gas and electric but not both, on one house on propane the inspector joked as he released the panel that I had him and the owner could move in at any time before final because I already had gas and he had to release electric to complete the home.


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## tmurray (Apr 22, 2016)

> Also we don't see what goes on after the inspection' date=' we hope that the contractor is responsible and trustworthy but this is not always the case. Had a guy that pasted footing inspection and i happened to be in the area a few hours later and he had removed the rebar!!! I do my best but I can't vouch for anyone else. :indecisiveness: :blue:[/quote']We've had this problem with contractors who have clients that do not want handrails where they are required. The contractor will call and ask if they are required because the client doesn't want them. Then asks if they can just remove them after we leave. Hey, at least they're honest. Usually explaining their legal liability in that situation fixes that one real quick. The next phone call we get from that contractor is asking us to come make him put the handrails on the stairs because the client doesn't want them and he wants to keep his customer happy. I've been told that this is a little dirty of the contractor to get me to be the bad guy, but I don't mind. As long as the building is code compliant I really don't care what someone thinks about me and I do understand the contractor's need to keep his client happy.


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