"See No Evel" (part 2 of Did You Over Pay Your Home Inspector)

Home inspectors often proceed with the home inspection you hired them to do with an attitude of "I See No Evil" so therefore, it does not exist; at least as far as their report and their liability are concerned. Specifically speaking, many home inspectors do not want liability for the big ticket areas of a home. I am referring to the roof and the heating/cooling system of your home. So, they simply "See No Evil" and therefore take no responsibility for their inspection and report of condition of those items. They skirt their responsibility, in my opinion, by inserting a clause in their inspection report that says something like: "It is recommended that you have the furnace cleaned, serviced and certified by a qualified HVAC contractor."
As soon as they insert this clause two things just happened to you.

First - You just over paid your home inspector - because you THOUGHT the professional you hired to complete your home inspection was actually capable of and willing to inspect the entire home. BUT, this type of convent (transfer the inspection obligation and liability to someone else) clauses many home inspectors use really just complicated your life.

Secondly, these clauses create a couple of other very difficult problems for you.

a) The allotted days allowed in your purchase contract for a home inspection to be completed is typically very limited. By the time you and/or the seller hires a second or third contractor to finish inspecting the part(s) of the home that your first inspector was not trained or not willing to inspect, the inspection period will have past. If the seller does not agree to sign an extension agreement with you to extend the date for you to complete your home inspection, you will be out of luck if problems are found.

b) Who do you think is suppose to pay for the second or third "qualified professional" to complete your home inspection? Typically your agent will try to get the seller to pay for the rest of your home inspection. BUT, many sellers are not willing to pay for any part of YOUR home inspection. If the seller should allow the extension of the inspection period, but refuses to pay for the other professionals to inspect the home, didn't you just over pay your first home inspector by the amount of money that your 2nd and possibly 3rd contractor charge you? After all, your real estate broker probably never mentioned that you would be paying for additional inspections.

Since you probably thought the home inspector you hired would be inspecting the entire home, why not make your life as simple as possible and verify, before you hire an inspector, that he actually does not transfer inspection obligations and liability to additional professionals. I always refer capable and competent professionals to my clients.