Should You Attend the Home Inspection
The quick answer to this question is “yes” you should attend the home inspection. If the home inspector you are thinking about hiring says you cannot then look to hire someone else. By attending the home inspection you open yourself up to a great learning experience and even more important you are able to evaluate the problems more so than if you were to simply read a report.
A typical home inspection only takes 2 to 3 hours and it is time well spent. If you are considering buying any home you should get a home inspection done and make the time to attend.
Let me dispel this myth once and for all.
Asking a home buyer to attend the entire inspection process is the quickest way to turn a 2-3 hour inspection into a 4-5 hour inspection. It’s much like trying to deliver a well planned speech and allowing the audience to interrupt and ask questions or interrupting a pilot as he completes his pre flight checklist.
It simply leads to an inspection with a high probability of some defective items being missed.
As an inspector, it is absolutely imperative that we proceed with the inspection in a methodical systematic manner, without interruption.
The best practice is to have the home buyer show up at the completion of the inspection. At that time, the inspector can go over his/her findings, review the report and answer any questions.
Just remember those signs in the car repair garage that instruct customers to stay out of the repair bays are there to give the mechanic space to do his job, not because insurance won’t cover people in the area.
JD