Imagine the surprise my client would have had, at some point down the road, had he not had an inspection. The example here is not one single, solitary isolated incident of a builder who was in a rush. There were about thirty posts under the house and all of them were like this. Longterm stability was not running in their favor. For one thing, there were no proper concrete piers. They were all resting on pieces of wood, some of which were round halves of firewood. They had no positive connections at the top and this one was much like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are numerous other issues, like no vapor barrier and the beam not lining up either, but for now, we will stick to the posts. As I recall, this two-story home was selling in the high $300,000 range.
Thanks for looking.
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I wonder how this house ever got a CO issued in the first place.
Home inspections (even for new construction) are a good idea and I always recommend them to my clients.
Great pic Steven.
Here's a picture I took of a foundation for a 2-story house built in 1901 about 2 blocks from the beach. I knew that if there was an earthquake while I was in the crawlspace the house could actually fall down on me. It's amazing what you see while doing home inspections.
Joe, were we under the same house? Wow.
Don, I have got to tell you that I no longer put much stock in CO's or other municipal inspections. I have seen electrical issues signed off on by state inspectors when even anyone fresh from a basic home inspection class would see the problem. I am talking about sub or distribution panels that are bonded neutral to ground -- which is flat wrong. I see this over and over in panels that were signed off on. I do not get it. As far as structural things, it seems that most municipal inspectors are pretty busy inside, but do not get down and dirty. So if a project goes at such a pace that the inspector does not see the posts when they are readily apparent from a standing position, then he never sees them.
Steve, great point,
Municipal inspectors around here also miss stuff all the time. I'm not quite sure what they're looking for, I guess their only excuse is being strapped for time. Otherwise there's no excuse. But regardless, they just don't do as thorough (and sometimes as competent) a job as a professional independent home inspector.