Confirming repairs

[Chris Bernhardt]

How do you handle the case where the buyer has asked the seller to repair per the recommendations in the inspection report and you said something like "have a plumber repair the loose toilet" and you don't know who repaired it? Because you wrote it to be repaired by a plumber does the inspector have the duty to confirm that the repair was actually done by a plumber or make some qualifing statement that you don't know if the person who did the repair was a plumber and to have that verfied?

I can easily foresee a case where the buyer wanted and expected the repair to be done by a licensed plumber and the inspector although found the toilet to be adequately fastened to the floor at the time of the reinspection but then makes no statement qualifing who did the repair could become liable for a toilet repair that by contract was suppose to be done by a licensed plumber.

Chris, Oregon

[Jim Morrison]

Chris,

You can't confirm who did it, and in your example, you can't confirm it was even done properly. It isn't usually enough to tighten the bolts, the wax seal must be replaced as well, and this can't be verified.

That's why you have to know your limits. If you can't do the reinspection right, you ought not to do it, or at the very least, you have to understand the problem very well, know your limits, and explain them to your clients.

That's why a lot of us don't do many reinspections.

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Chris Bernhardt

How do you handle the case where the buyer has asked the seller to repair per the recommendations in the inspection report and you said something like "have a plumber repair the loose toilet" and you don't know who repaired it? Because you wrote it to be repaired by a plumber does the inspector have the duty to confirm that the repair was actually done by a plumber or make some qualifing statement that you don't know if the person who did the repair was a plumber and to have that verfied?

It's rarely an issue for me since every friggin time I go back to reinspect, the toilet is still loose.

I can easily foresee a case where the buyer wanted and expected the repair to be done by a licensed plumber and the inspector although found the toilet to be adequately fastened to the floor at the time of the reinspection but then makes no statement qualifing who did the repair could become liable for a toilet repair that by contract was suppose to be done by a licensed plumber.

Chris, Oregon

I tell people that the re-inspection is done under the same limitations as the original inspection. If the toilet's tight, I say so.

No one's ever gotten upset because a correct repair was done by an incorrect person. (Probably because it happens so rarely.) They get upset when the repairs are done incorrectly.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Scottpat]

I stopped doing reinspections in 2004. So this is no longer an issue. I will reinspect the entire home again for the exact same fee. This is now a new inspection and my insurance will now cover me.

[StevenT]

I understand everybody's feelings about reinspections, and I'm sure most of you guys have your reasons. I agree that there should be a charge for a reinspection, although there may be times we feel the appropriate thing is to not charge, that will be our choice.

Unless you are so busy, that you can abuse people, how can you possibly tell someone, whom you just convinced to hire you because you are the best inspector since Moses (he was a home inspector too), that they will have to hire someone else to reinspect what you have found. Especially if they are willing to pay for it.

OK, you may want to add a disclaimer stating that since it is a superficial inspection, you can not determine the condition or extent of the underlying repair (or something to that effect, you get my point).

You may want to include that it is impossible to determine who made the repair and as to their qualifications.

And if you don't call it a reinspection, but instead a "limited" inspection, limited to the following items...

then it would be a whole new inspection and wouldn't that work?

Like I said, alot of you guys have been doing this longer than me, So I respect your experience and wisdom.

I hope someday to be as busy as some of you are so I can also be as independant.

[Bill Kibbel]

I hate reinspections. Not that I'm not comfortable doing them, but rather I'm annoyed that most things aren't completed. The few repairs that have been attempted are usually just temporary patches and obviously not profesionally repaired. If they were repaired by competent contractors, the buyer surely would have been offerred documentation. Everybody waits to the very last minute (like 30 minutes before settlement) to find out that things aint right.

We advise our clients, that want to have the seller make repairs, to be sure to get everything in writing from the contractors hired to do the repairs. We also advise them that we charge 60% of the original inspection fee for reinspection (you should see the original fee).

[Chris Bernhardt]

I hate reinspections. The client has a brain let them use it. The problem is they don't and the realtor writes up an addendum that simply says repair per the inspection report. Nobody every seems to read anything except the first couple of words in a sentence. The seller goes out and hires a buddy who works for a contractor or he does the work himself but nobody reads the repair addendum or the report except maybe for me.

On reinspect I carefully check the wording of the repair addendum cause that is what the client is asking me to inspect to. If It says per the inspection report then its per the inspection report. The lenders want a sign off on the repairs. They want an item by item report that addresses the repair addendum which is part of the contract and they want someone to say its "satisfactory" or the "condition is cleared" or something to that affect.

99% of the time clients are forgiving but I have had the .1% experience about 5 years ago where the client got a lawyer and they went over the repair addendum with a fine tooth comb and compared it to my reinspection report and complained that the inspection report inadequately addressed the addendum and that I was asked to inspect to the repair addendum which I didn't even have because the buyers zoid forgot it. What a friggin mess. Ever since then I carefully read the addendum and try and reply to it properly.

I am thinking now that that is a big mistake and I shouldn't even be inspecting to that thing at all and that what ever I agree to reinspect remains firmly under the SOP. I think this is what Hausdok said in another post I got to go back in find.

Chris, Oregon

[Brian G]

I really, really don't like reinspections, primarily for the same reason others have already stated; most of the time the stuff isn't fixed. Still, I feel like I owe it to the client to check the repairs on their behalf, because they already hired me for the inspection and most of them don't know squat about this stuff. At that point they know me, they like me, and they trust me....I want to keep it that way. I do charge for it, but not that much.

Brian G.

Walking 'Em Though the Minefield [:-angel]

[SonOfSwamp]

Originally posted by Chris Bernhardt

How do you handle the case where the buyer has asked the seller to repair per the recommendations in the inspection report and you said something like "have a plumber repair the loose toilet" and you don't know who repaired it?

Some years back, I just started telling customers the truth: In all my years of HI work, I'd never found a post-inspection repair done right. Sure, I'd come out and take a look, but it would cost them half the cost of a full inspection.

I also told my customers this (whether the real estate lady liked it or not): "Don't ask the seller to fix anything. Hire your own guys to fix anything that you want fixed, after you close. If you can get the seller to pay for the repairs, fine. If you can't, it's worth whatever you pay to have some control over who does the repairs, and how they do the repairs."

WJ

[Les]

We are somewhere between Walter and Scott. Mostly we do them for free or reduced fee. Of the hundred or so request per year, we do maybe 10. I don't like em now and never have. We do look at a couple hundred invoices from tradespeople for repairs done and might even call the tradesperson to confirm, but accept no liability.

[Brian G]

Originally posted by SonOfSwamp

I also told my customers this (whether the real estate lady liked it or not): "Don't ask the seller to fix anything. Hire your own guys to fix anything that you want fixed, after you close."

On the whole I agree, but there is a potential downside to that approach. If performing a small repair uncovers a bigger, more expensive problem, the new owner has to eat it instead of the seller. Nothing is perfect.

Brian G.

Except For My Wife (are you listening honey?)