My Team Approach to Home Inspections

I am an advocate of the home inspection industry. Yes, some inspector and companies are more thorough than others, but on a whole I rely on this industry to help me price, market and educate buyers and sellers on the health and quality of a home.

A recent article in the Toronto Star questioned whether a general home inspector can catch it all and suggested that “niche” inspectors would improve the industry. In some areas this is already done. If you have a functioning wood burning fireplace in your home your insurance company probably requires a WETT inspection. A company like Aetna deals specifically with termite inspections. I don’t argue, these specialists are valuable to the inspection industry.

However, in Toronto’s fast pace real estate market, multiple inspections can be time consuming, expensive and possibly unnecessary. Let me share with you my current and effective home inspection strategy. I would call in one of my trusted home inspectors to complete a general home and property inspection. Based on their report, I would advise my clients on next steps. As an example, if a red flag appeared in with the heating system, I would call in my HVAC contractor to provide an on the spot best and worst case scenario quickly and free of charge. Saving the time and cost of hiring an HVAC inspector.

The same would be true if knob and tube wiring is found by the inspector. Often there are a lot of unknowns in terms of the amount of active knob and tube and the impact that has on getting home insurance. Calling in an electrician, again to give the best and worst case scenario, lets my Buyers know what they are dealing with financially and how quickly it needs to be remedied.

Imperfect home inspections are a given. My own team approach to a thorough home inspection is to use my own knowledge, hire a home inspector to provide the facts and use the insight of various industry professionals. Together we can paint a fairly accurate  final picture and help guide you on how to proceed.