QUESTION: I watch the TV show Holmes Inspection. Why do all the house inspectors portrayed on the show do more harm than good? Would it not be better to hire a carpenter, a plumber and a electrician for one hour each? Laird White
ANSWER: There are several reasons home inspectors portrayed on Holmes Inspection are always seen as somewhat incompetent, though that may not truly be the case.
While many TV programs of this type are not fully scripted, you must remember the shows producers select only the situations they want and edit the shows to suit their format. For you to enjoy watching a "reality" show, like those featuring Mike Holmes or other celebrity experts, there has to be a certain amount of drama or you wont bother to tune in. Often this dramatic component is enhanced to make for better viewing.
In Mr. Holmes latest production, he over-dramatizes the defects found by homeowners well after the home inspection -- with the aid of time and prior knowledge on his side. He also has the benefit of being able to tear apart anything he wishes to look for hidden problems, a luxury not possible during a typical home inspection. For him to criticize a home inspector for poor work under these circumstances is often not valid, in my opinion.
While its in the best interest of good television to berate an unnamed individual for a job poorly or negligently done after the fact, its not fair. Also, many of the facts to support what the home inspector allegedly failed to point out are not presented on the show. To fairly portray the true actions of the home inspector, a copy of the actual home-inspection report should be provided to viewers to see if the issues were actually overlooked.
Its quite common for buyers or sellers to fail to act on defects that have been properly identified and reported by home inspectors. Either the significance of the defects are not fully understood or the buyers chose to ignore the recommendations of the inspector. In many cases homes are purchased -- no matter how many issues are pointed out by the inspector -- only to be regretted later by the new owners. Its far too easy in these situations to blame the inspector, which is a common theme in the episodes I have seen.
Many people do not realize there are many variables that can limit the effectiveness of even the most seasoned and thorough home inspector -- not the least of which is our unpredictable Canadian weather. Typically, pre-purchase home inspections are booked no more than a few days ahead of the actual inspection due to time limitations imposed in a standard offer to purchase. Because of this ever-shorter time frame, inspectors cant wait for favourable weather conditions to do their jobs So, inspections are often done during heavy rains, bitter cold or stiflingly hot days.
Evaluating the exterior of a foundation or a roof that is covered with a metre of snow at -30 C is difficult, to say the least. Those same limitations are not applicable to Mr. Holmes and his crew. They have the benefit of evaluating the property in good weather, multiple times and with the blessing of the owners to pull apart anything they want. Its not fair to assume all of an older homes issues will be equally identified in these two completely different situations.
Despite these limitations, one important reason individual trades are not brought in to do partial inspections is the time factor. Logistically, its not practical to expect busy plumbers and electricians to drop everything theyre doing and show up for an hour at a house at a pre-determined time. Not only is it unlikely this will work, its not financially viable for the trades to work for such a short period of time. No tradesperson I have worked with would want to accept the responsibility or liability for that type of limited evaluation for an hours wage.
Many excellent sub-contractors I have met also may have very limited skills in defect recognition, which is an essential skill of a home inspector. Just because you excel at building walls and insulating homes does not ensure you know how to determine the signs when someone less skilled has screwed up the same job. For these reasons, typical tradespeople should not be hired and are not normally involved in pre-purchase inspections.
Holmes Inspection follows the blueprint of the wildly popular Holmes on Homes TV show. In the original series, Mike Holmes, contractor extraordinaire, would go into a home that had been renovated by a sloppy contractor to find the faults. He would point out the defects, properly lay blame on the contractor for the bad workmanship, then tear it apart and repair it correctly with the best materials and tradespeople available.
In his new show, he follows the same format except he blames a home inspector for not finding the defects. The big difference is poor workmanship or really bad renovations are easy to spot, especially for an experienced contractor like Mike. This is not always the case with a pre-purchase home inspection, as the issues may be more hidden. The major difference is the inspector is not at fault for the defects, just for not pointing them out to his clients.
As in any industry or profession, there are good and bad practitioners. Home inspectors are not immune from this general principle. Out of the thousands of home inspections done each year in Ontario, where the show Holmes Inspection is based, 20 or 30 of the worst-case scenarios are cherry-picked to provide entertaining TV. That doesnt represent reality.
There are hundreds of highly skilled and well-trained home inspectors in Ontario and the rest of the country. I know, because Ive met many of them at various Canadian Association of Home Inspectors (CAHPI) conferences. Ive attended dozens of seminars and sat on numerous committees and boards with top professional inspectors who take great pride in doing very thorough inspections for their clients.
Its no surprise to me that when Mike Holmes started his own inspection business/franchise a couple of years ago, he hired CAHPI-registered inspectors to work for him, not plumbers, electricians or other tradespeople.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors-Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca
trainedeye@iname.com
