Influenced by changing economic and legal environments over the past 30 years, home inspection reports have been changing to accommodate growing customer expectations and to provide more complete information and protection for both inspectors and inspectors. Your clients.

Development of standards

Prior to the mid-1970s, inspection reports did not meet standards guidelines, and most had no oversight or regulation. As you can imagine, with no minimum standards to be respected, the quality of inspections varied considerably, and the housing inspection industry was looked upon with some mistrust.

With the founding of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) in 1976, it was possible to have contents of inspection reports governed by guidelines for housing inspections in the format of Standards of Practice … Over time, New and largest trade association, the International Association of Certified Housing Inspectors, which developed its own standards.

Inter NACHI has grown to dominate the inspection industry and, in addition to the Standards of Practice for Nursing Homes has developed a complete Rules of Practice for Commercial Property Inspection . Today, most inspections, from fungi to inspection by fire doors are carried out according to standard practice some Inter NACHI.

As a consumer, you should take the time to examine the Standards of Practice that your inspector meets. If you are not affiliated with any professional inspection organization and your report does not meet any particular rule, you should seek another inspector.

In general, reports should describe the most important housing systems, their key components, and their operability, especially those where a failure can result in dangerous or costly conditions to correct. Defects should be adequately described, and the report should include recommendations.

Reports should also exclude unexplained portions of the home. Since house inspections are visual, the parts of the house hidden under the floor, ceiling or ceiling should be excluded.

Home inspectors are not experts in every housing system, but are trained to recognize conditions that require the inspection of a specialist.

Home inspections are not technically exhaustive, which means that an inspector will not disassemble a furnace for thorough examination, for example, the heat exchanger.

The Standards of Practice were designed to identify the requirements of a home inspection and the limitations of an inspection