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You Asked Your Professional Home Inspector Questions

And We Are Getting the Answers For You!

Q:  Why do Inspectors charge more for a houses built on Pier and Beam?

A:  It is like inspecting another entire floor.  Exposed plumbing, drain lines, wiring, and sub-flooring all need to be inspected in this confined crawl space.  Over the years we have found extensive drain line leaks, and sub-floors (especially under bathroom areas) that were in need of repair.  Usually crawl space repairs are more costly than repairs that are easier to access.

Q:  Why are GFCI (Ground Fault Circut Interupters) outlets necessary in the garage?

A: First of all I want to let you know what a GFCI does.  The GFCI senses when something or someone beside itself becomes the ground.  In other words the electricity is not traveling through the outlet but somewhere else.  If you plug an extension cord into a garage outlet and the cord is damaged and you didnt notice the damage you could become the outlet for the electricity to travel through to get to the ground.  Needless to say this would be a life threatening situation.  The GFCI would sense this and trip and this would shut the power off and save your life.

Q:  Why do Inspectors not quote repair costs?

A:  That is an easy questions to answer.  Due to our regulations we are unable to make the repairs so we are unable to quote what someone else would charge to make the repair.  There are times that we come across repairs that are the same that we have had to make in our own homes and we can quote what we were charged.

Q:  Why do inspectors do such limited inspections on lot drainage?

A:  Proper lot drainage is determined with a surveyors’ level and also this requires a specialty license that home inspectors do not have.  This also applies to alarm systems, heating and air conditioning systems.  Home inspectors do a visual exam of a lot drainage and unless it is severe they are unable to recognize a problem.

Q:  Why do Home Inspection prices vary so much from one company to another?

A:  Please Do Not Hire “Cheap Charlie”.  Either he is trying to gain experience through your clients, or he dosn’t spend enough time to do a thorough inspection.  Experienced Home Inspectors have to charge more for their time as they have the experience, and several years of continued education, proper insurance coverage, current technology, and the trained inspectors eye.  Just as the old saying goes you get what you pay for.

Q:  What is the big deal about Federal Pacific Panel Boxes?

A:  Wow this could take hours to explain.  Just wish you all could see the home in Trophy Club that just burned to the ground due to this type of panel box.  The fire marshall said the fire started at the panel box and guess what it was a Federal Pacific Panel.  The jest of it is:  The national electric counsil identified this type of panel box as a safety hazard in the late 1980’s after multiple fires nationwide.  The breakers can fail to trip when overloaded thus causing the wires to overheat and catch fire!!!

Q:  Why are there new regulations for Home Inspectors and how does that affect me and my buyers?

A:  Home Inspectors are known as an intrigal part of all Real Estate Transactions and as we all know the more a profession become recognized the more regulations are imposed on that industry.  You as the realtor, your client as the buyer or seller and us as the service provider all need to be protected.  These new regulations simply help the Home Inspection process to become more uniformed, and more detailed.  After reviewing some of the new regulations they seem to be geared towards safety issues and making our Home Inspections more thorough, we will have more on this later….

We sure appreciate all of your wonderful questions.  Please make your comments.  As we get more questions we will add to this as we want to make sure we have the most informed Realtors in the Metroplex.

Keep your Questions Coming   Chris@InspectorQuestions.com

 Thank you so much for your time and your questions.  We appreciate your trust in us.

Chris and Katie Goggans