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Experience,
competence allows some home inspectors to charge more
Dear Barry:
Before we bought our home, we called five home
inspectors to compare quotes for an inspection.
What surprised us was the wide range in prices.
By shopping around, we saved nearly $200 on the price
of our inspection. Why do some inspectors charge
so much more for the same service? - Jan
Dear Jan: Home
Inspectors don't charge more for the same service.
In nearly every case, they charge more because their
inspection services are more thorough and more
comprehensive, because they are significantly more
experienced at inspecting homes and because they
disclose more of the conditions that would be of
concern to you as a buyer.
Inspectors
who charge less, particularly $200 less, are generally
new to the inspection business and lack the skills to
perform the kind of inspection you, as a buyer, would
want. They charge less because, as new
inspectors, they are trying to jump start their
fledgling business.
The question
you should now be asking isn't "why do some
inspectors charge so much more?" but rather,
"what defects did my bargain inspector fail to
disclose?"
When shopping
for a Home Inspector, the last question you should ask
is "How much is the fee?"
The primary
and essential questions are:
1. How long have you been a Home Inspector?
2.
How many Homes have you inspected?
3. What are your professional credentials?
The purchase
price of your home was probably in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars. An investment of this size
warrants a degree of scrutiny that far outweighs the
value of a $200 savings in the cost of an inspection.
The defects
that await discovery by a qualified home inspector
might involve repair costs of several hundred or
several thousand dollars. These defects could
involve significant safety issues related to
electrical, heating and fireplace systems, the
integrity of the roof, the framing construction in the
attic, the foundations and ground drainage.
The ability
of a home inspector to discover the many possible
defects in a home increases with years of professional
experience, and inspectors who acquire high levels of
such experience set their prices accordingly and
fairly.
Home
buyers who price-shop for their home inspection are
hereby warned that they will get what they pay for.
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