professional home inspection in a well maintained house, or trust Dad?

If you hire a professional, check their credentials closely.

I’m a professional roofer, quite good at it actually. I’ve had to follow behind numerous “professional inspectors”.

Frankly, it’s been a bigger letdown than having to repair work done by other companies, which I do quite often.

The problem with inspectors is that many of them have done their work from ivory towers. That is, they haven’t worked in the field that they are now inspectors for. So their “inspections” couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I’ve had inspectors tell owners to tear off roofs which were perfectly OK, just needed some minor maintenance, and also tell owners that their roof needed minor maintenance when it needed to be torn off and completely reworked. I’m not exaggerating, it’s happened MANY times.

What you want actually is neither one. The others are right about Dad — he might miss something. So what is the solution?

Separate bids and estimates from different companies:

Foundation masons to look at the foundation; electricians to inspect the electrical, roofers to inspect the roof, etc.

You might even save yourself some money. Many companies give free estimates. You could probably even get different roofing companies to compete, different plumbers, etc.

In this way, you can get different perspectives from people who really do the work, and not some ivory tower general home inspector.

This is not to put down all home inspectors, I have met one or two in eight years who actually knew what they were doing and looking at. That is the honest truth.

Beware of “professional” home inspectors — many of them are only professional at coming and looking and taking your money, NOT in what really needs done.

A good general contractor (GC) is the quick way — the GC will either tell you on the spot, or he’ll bring the people in he needs to estimate the work. Even if the GC charges you a small fee for doing it, it might be worth all the time and hassle you would have to go through to bring in multiple companies. Just tell the GC you want the whole house gone over with a fine tooth comb — everything that needs repaired, and then listed out separately: roofing, plumbing, electrical, foundation, interior/exterior carpentry, etc.

Good luck.

Oh — just thought of something else: Look through the papers in your area and the internet for highly rated architects and remodelers. Sometimes these people receive awards for outstanding work. Find someone who has been at or near the top of these lists frequently — multiple rewards or high rankings. Most likely that is a company that knows what the score is, how to do the work, why it needs done, etc. If it is an architect firm, they probably know WHO to call for what; that is, WHICH roofer, WHICH plumber, WHICH electrician, WHICH GC is best for the particular type of work that needs done.

Any questions, you can click on my avatar and email me.