We all like a clean home but know, for some, tidying up is not their favorite thing. When comes to it comes to a home inspection straightening up is not about how things look but making the inspection accurate, timely and thorough.
I like to provide a couple of Word documents to the realtors I come across with an overview of the inspection process. These documents help buyers and sellers better understand what the inspection process entails. To do their job inspectors need access to the systems of the home. Without access the inspection is limited and although not inaccurate it is not as comprehensive as the inspector and the buyer would expect. Inspection standards are clear on this. There are limits to what an inspector can and can’t do. Cleaning the dishes in a sink are not in the scope of work for me or any other inspector, but the sink pictured above(from an actual inspection report) might as well be missing completely from the standpoint of the report. There is no expectation of the total access BUT understanding that the inspector will, respectfully, be examining the entire home is critical to the accuracy of the report. We are charged with getting into areas of the home that are often overlooked or used as storage because the occupant “never goes in there” and area that are used every day. To evaluate systems we have to be able to operate them. If the owner/tenet didn’t feel like unloading the sink that day I’m sure not going to do it.
The ultimate points are that, in an occupied home, the seller helping to ensure access improves accuracy AND the buyer must understand the limitations of a report generated from an occupied home. Educating both sides prior helps to manage expectations. #homeinspection #diagnostichomeinspections #emptythesink