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Illustration by Anton. Holes can pose problems in houses, such as serving as hive sites for Africanized bees. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Richard George Franklin uses a camera to document a defect in a recently constructed house. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Monday, July 02, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BUYING A HOUSE: Inspecting the Inspectors

Smart consumers check out experts hired to judge if home is in good condition

You know that before you buy a house, you need to check it out, carefully. A prudent thing to do, then, would be to hire a home inspector to help.

But here's one part of the equation you may not have figured on: Before you hire an inspector, you need to check out him or her, too.

"Ask for references and check them," said Greg Welch, an investigative supervisor with the Nevada Contractors Board. The person could be someone who's been a contractor or someone with little experience in the trade, he noted.

"You don't know what you're getting," Welch said.

"The very best way to find one is to interview the inspectors, so you know their experience," said Scott Mitchell, president of National Property Inspections, a former contractor and a licensed and certified home inspector.

"The licensing is basically the bare minimum," Mitchell said. "The requirement generally is that you have to have some experience; they don't have a basic criteria. You have to take a state test and pass the test, pay the license fee and show that you have a minimum of experience."

Inspectors, who generally charge in the range of $200 to $300 for an inspection and written report, are certified by national organizations and licensed by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry's Real Estate Division in Carson City. The division also is the agency to direct complaints about home inspectors by calling the local office at 486-4033.

Another option is to hire a construction consultant. Richard George Franklin of All American Building Consultants is a licensed general contractor; he, too, warns of the importance of checking inspectors' references.

"Some of them are milkmen on Friday, they go through a weekend program and they're a construction expert on Monday," Franklin said.

Mitchell said membership in a professional organization often indicates advanced training and experience.

The most recognized organization is the American Society of Home Inspectors, Mitchell said. "You have to pass specific tests and you have to do a specific minimum number of inspections. You have to have your inspection reports critiqued. You have to have 20 hours of specific continuing education on construction and inspections every year."

There's a lot at stake -- your home. Mitchell said those in the know tend to be the most cautious.

"The trade that has their homes inspected more than any other trade are electricians," he said. "I think they just understand what can go wrong while a house is being built."

While inspectors are generalists, they're looking at some pretty specific things.

"Basically, they look over the home that you're intending to purchase," Welch said. "Make sure that ... the toilet works and there's water pressure. Look for any damage to the home, cracks in the drywall, those types of things. Condition of the paint, condition of the roof."

"We're looking at the entire house, the structure and the mechanical systems in the house," Mitchell said. "Looking for any signs of major deficiencies, major defects. Also safety issues, when it comes to things such as poor electrical wiring, particularly when there are pools involved. We're looking at the overall condition of the property, the building, both new and existing."

The age of the house may not have a direct effect on its condition. Franklin remembers the pride of workmanship of his grandfather, who started building in Las Vegas in the 1920s. That tradition continues among some local builders today. But in the past 10 years, Franklin said, the tremendous construction push led to the hiring of some unskilled or minimally skilled labor and more construction mistakes, whether in starter or estate houses.

"We haven't had a qualified workforce," he said.

Franklin said, in the case of new construction, many homeowners think the standard inspections will ensure everything's OK. People think, he said, "it's a brand-new house; the code inspectors have been out," so everything's fine.

But the reality of local code inspectors' workloads, he said, is they may spend just a few minutes at a site.

"The code inspectors have no liability," he said. "They can walk in and miss everything. The total liability is with the builder."

"The older houses are probably built better in some respects," Franklin said. "I'd say anything over 10 years old. It's only because we've gotten so busy that there's not that effort out there. They don't close up the gaps, so you have a hotel for killer bees. I just had one on a newer house. It's just because you don't have everything all sealed up."

"Where houses really start to show wear and tear is about 12 years, 14 years," Mitchell said. "That's when air-conditioning and heating systems are losing their efficiency, appliances are losing their efficiency.

"At 18 to 20 years, you've got to really look at the roofing system. It's possible it had to have a lot of repairs by then.

In homes younger than 10 years, the problem often is a lack of maintenance, Mitchell said. "We even see that on 2-year-old homes."

Mitchell and Franklin have seen plenty of problems over the years. Among the red flags, Mitchell said, are "anytime you've got a house that's had additions, particularly by do-it-yourselfers. That's where a lot of deficiencies are found. Or additions or modifications to a house that weren't done under permit.

"Vacant homes, particularly if they've been vacant for any extended period of time. Plumbing, things just dry out. Investor homes, because they never lived there; they really don't know anything about the house. ... When it comes to the disclosure form, they have no idea."

Franklin is convinced that if a decent earthquake hits Las Vegas, there will be piles of roofing tiles around all of the houses, because they're not being attached properly.

Wavy exterior walls mean the stucco wasn't supported properly. "When you put stucco on the outside of the wall, it's heavy and wet," he said. "It will twist studs."

"A big culprit is the way trusses are installed," Franklin said. "A lot of them aren't installed with the right bracing." When the considerable weight of a tile roof is added, incorrect bracing, he said, will show up as cracks in the drywall, near the edges of walls and where wall and ceiling meet.

Incorrectly installed shower drains, he said, have led to extensive mold problems.

"I've got some homes on the west side of the valley -- half-million-, million-dollar homes -- and they're generating mold," he said.

"There's a whole litany of molds. I had one biologist from a lab call me up and say, `Hey, you've got to get these people out of the house.' "

In short: You don't want it to happen to you.

"It used to be home inspections were rare," Mitchell said. "Most people would go to a friend or relative that was a contractor and ask them to look at the house they were buying."

But as people got busier and more spread out, there didn't seem to be so many friends and relatives to ask, he said.

"It became more and more necessary to have a specific trade, and that's what a home inspector is."