Great education- watching home inspection videos

[GON]

Lately I have been watching short home inspection videos on Facebook. I suspect the videos actually originate on Instagram and TikTok. The videos are short, to the point, and there are literally thousands of videos super easy to access.

Most of the inspection videos I watch are new construction videos. It is beyond belief what the inspectors easily find on new construction inspections. It is very sad to see the lack of craftsmanship and basic care by the different trades.

If anyone i know was going to purchase a new or existing home, I was strongly urged them to spend time watching these inspection videos. Super educational.

 

[DougR]

I tagged along to see my mother-in-law's final buyer inspection before closing. Block wall around the yard had large gaps of missing mortar. When I brought it up, the contractor was highly indignant and insulting. MIL closed and during the first windstorm, 40+ feet of block wall fell flat. It was missing ladder wire reinforcement as well as mortar. Builder fought against replacing it but months later was finally forced to do so all around the property. Also check out CyFyHomeInspections on YouTube. Builders dictate who will do a final inspection, refuse a third party inspection and far worse. Many code violations that are often obvious.

 

[tbm5690]

It seems much of the shoddy work is in areas where there is massive population growth and/or large companies responsible for the work and hiring the subs. All the builders here are local, family-owned operations that do a quality job with very few exceptions.

 

[AZjeff]

In our development houses are inspected at different stages of construction by the builder. Defects are noted on the slab in the entrance way with magic marker. This is a vertical development, private owner owns the land, is the GC, and does all new build sales. I got to know the construction superintendent, they try hard to find every flaw during construction and have them fixed.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Many code violations that are often obvious.

Makes you wonder how does the city inspector sign off on these? CyFy is always calling these city inspectors out. Are they on the take from the builders? I wouldn't be surprised if they make more money on the side than their regular jobs.

 

[daves87rs]

Pretty rough around here sometimes….seen good and bad.

 

[Cropduster172]

I don't use home inspectors. My experience with them is that they are the mall cops of the real estate industry. It's an industry wrought with idiots. Likely because it's a low threshold, minimal expense and experience industry allowing easy entrance. Some states it's just fill out a license application and pay a fee.
That's not to say there aren't decent folks out there that do it. But their 46 page reports with nothing but minutia and pictures always recommending real professionals to inspect a particular issue... electrician, plumber, roofer etc...
Generally worthless.

 

[Owen Lucas]

I don't use home inspectors. My experience with them is that they are the mall cops of the real estate industry. It's an industry wrought with idiots. Likely because it's a low threshold, minimal expense and experience industry allowing easy entrance. Some states it's just fill out a license application and pay a fee.
That's not to say there aren't decent folks out there that do it. But their 46 page reports with nothing but minutia and pictures always recommending real professionals to inspect a particular issue... electrician, plumber, roofer etc...
Generally worthless.

You have to go for the OCD type that was a contractor and is not just a template filler.

 

[Cropduster172]

You have to go for the OCD type that was a contractor and is not just a template filler.

I'd add...a successful contractor for many years. Too many of them are failed contractors that never made it as contractors.

 

[demarpaint]

I looked at quite a few new houses over the past 3 years in South Carolina and Florida. Lousy construction seems to be the norm. Home inspections can be a joke too, the things they miss make me wonder if they're worth hiring. I learned a lot about construction during close to five decades of having my painting business. I'm quite confident in doing my own home inspections. Over the summer I helped my friend's son and future DIL buy a house. I found more problems than the inspectors did, including termite damage that could have easily cost them $50K or more to fix.

Bottom line if someone does decide to use a home inspector make sure they have ZERO affiliation with the real estate broker and/or the builder. Kick backs are not uncommon, and brokers are quick to recommend inspectors, and then tell you that you can stay home during the inspection, that they'll handle it for you. They don't work cheap either. I guess if you believe in the fairy Godmother and Easter Bunny go for it, stay home for the inspection. Finally have a look at their iron clad waiver that gets them off the hook if problems should arise from something they missed during the inspection.

 

[joekingcorvette]

One thing I notice is poor cement driveways and sidewalks. The concrete flakes away and cracks after one year and in some instances it looks just terrible. Sheet rock work in garages can be horrible and still pass inspection. These inspectors like to get in and finish the job as soon as they can and you really should do your own inspection.

 

[Cropduster172]

I looked at quite a few new houses over the past 3 years in South Carolina and Florida. Lousy construction seems to be the norm. Home inspections can be a joke too, the things they miss make me wonder if they're worth hiring. I learned a lot about construction during close to five decades of having my painting business. I'm quite confident in doing my own home inspections. Over the summer I helped my friend's son and future DIL buy a house. I found more problems than the inspectors did, including termite damage that could have easily cost them $50K or more to fix.

Bottom line if someone does decide to use a home inspector make sure they have ZERO affiliation with the real estate broker and/or the builder. Kick backs are not uncommon, and brokers are quick to recommend inspectors, and then tell you that you can stay home during the inspection, that they'll handle it for you. They don't work cheap either. I guess if you believe in the fairy Godmother and Easter Bunny go for it, stay home for the inspection. Finally have a look at their iron clad waiver that gets them off the hook if problems should arise from something they missed during the inspection.

This sums it up pretty well.

 

[alarmguy]

Ive watched those Facebook videos and they are interesting. One can learn from where to "look" in a home.
I never used a home inspector on a new or used construction and never will, at least while the house is being built. I did for the first time in my life get one on the current home of almost 2 years, got an inspector before my one year warranty was up. Nothing ground breaking, said we were in better shape than most.

Still by doing it while under warranty, all I had to do was submit the list of 10 or 12 items to my builder and with lighting speed all taken care of. Nothing ground breaking, biggest thing was a popped roof nail or two and a missing filter bracket 8x8 inside the HVAC filter box that filters income outside air and other minor things, so all told, I suppose it was break even, between what the repairs would have cost and the $450 I paid him. Peace of mind, nothing wrong with that and I would by all means suggest people get inspections. It makes sense if you're in a new home already and your warranty is about to run out. Then again I had a responsive national builder. All I needed to do was email the PDF report summary and one by one, almost instantly I was getting calls to set appointments to fix the issues.

Im a bit more street smart than the general public, though. Nothing wrong with having someone inspect a house while being built either.
AS far as other comments in here that new home builds are trash compared to the old days, ummmm, no, I dont agree. New homes built to much more strict standards for plumbing, electric, storms, safety and energy efficiency. Nothing comes close to a new build and like a modern appliance will pay back in energy efficiency. It's REALLY stupid how cheap it is to run our new home. More stupid than stupid

BTW- for those who feel differently, remember the re-sale home doesnt get an inspection like some of the new homes get in the videos, because the siding and drywall is already up concealing any issues, so less issues will be found.

The problem with national videos is it makes a problem seem bigger than there is, though with any construction throughout mankind's history there are some bad builds. With well over 1 million (1.5 million I think) new homes built every year it's easy to make videos of bad ones. But there are some bad ones, however those are the only ones that make the media.

 

[opus1]

I've built twice, first one was one of those "learning experiences" second one wasn't too bad. The big difference is that the second one didn't play games when it came to warranty calls. I understand new construction isn't perfect, but response time is important. Second builder would either be available and answer the call I made or, if I left a message, would return it by end of day. First builder played games where I had to call the office, they would message the site supervisor and then he'd get back to me any time between 5 minutes and 2 weeks...although I guess I asked for that 2 week response time when I told the message-taker in the office to tell the guy that I told him the fix wasn't going to work.

Hired a home inspector before the 1-year warranty was up on the house and I basically had the "fill in the blanks" experience.