By Barry Stone
Dear Barry,
We recently purchased a 2,500-square-foot home. The inspector we hired spent about one hour reviewing the property. Since this was our first home inspection, we had no idea that it was a rush job. According to some of our neighbors, their home inspectors took three-four hours each. Should we be concerned? -Carol
Dear Carol,
The best home inspector in the world cannot perform an adequate inspection in only one hour, especially on a large home such as yours. It is a physical impossibility for anyone. In fact, any home inspector who performs one hour inspections is misrepresenting the services offered, while shortchanging the interests of customers. Such inspectors should either be enrolled in boot camp style reprogramming or be driven out of town on a rail.
Even for a small home, two-and-a-half to three hours is the minimum time needed for a competent home inspector to perform a thorough evaluation. A one-hour job, especially on a 2,500-square-foot home, equates with undisclosed defects. Be assured, it is not just possible that some defects were missed, it is an absolute certainty. At this moment, there are problems in your home that remain undisclosed. If you hire a truly qualified home inspector to reevaluate the property, additional defects will be found. For the sake of safety, peace of mind and financial prudence, it is strongly recommended that this be done. Furthermore, Mr. One-Hour should be asked to account for whatever additional findings are brought to light. At the very least, a refund of the inspection fee would be in order.
. Questions of a Do It Yourself nature should be submitted to our "