We bought a house a few years back and hired an inspector to provide us with a report. As it turned out, there were a large number of issues that he did not find/report.
The HVAC system was completely mis-installed and there was actually a vent that was set up to dump exhaust into the house...this would have been extremely bad. I ended up spending over $35k to clean up that mess and the inspector had no liability in the matter; I could not go after him. In addition, there were a number of construction flaws (unreported) that we had to address. All in all, I spent over $50k to bring everything up to snuff.
IMHO, the inspectors are either not capable of providing a comprehensive analysis or they are so tied in with the brokers that they guard that relationship. I am sure there are a few good ones out there and someone will take umbrage to this...but.
If I had it to do over again I would hire the following:
- An HVAC person/plumber
- A quality builder
- An electrician
I think that this would cover the bases. I would never ever ever ever make such a critical purchase and rely on a home inspector ever again.
Jetskier
