Pithecanthropus

now that i have your attention, lets talk about

Home Inspection

How many of us would be willing to spend even a paltry 0.1% or so of the cost of the home for an inspection of our house? How many of us do it to find if what is being bought is actually worth what we are spending on it?

The answer sadly is – very few. Are the rest of us hoping for the best, like the proverbial ostrich?

We don’t behave the same when buying vegetables? No, we take care to eye each of them so that nothing bad goes into our bag. We are yet to fathom the reason for this inconsistency.

How will getting your home inspected help you?

It is not as it was in the earlier days when the reputation of the builder was sufficient to ensure good quality. With tough competition, some unscrupulous players in the market cut corners to make their profits and in the process the loser is the buyer. This is why the onus is on the buyer to be aware.

The saving by doing a home inspection could range from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 500,000 typically. This means that the saving made is 10 to 50 times the amount spent for an inspection.

Aren’t the benefits of spending on inspections is quite obvious?

Remember that the home inspection report will be submitted soon based on a standard checklist covering all points. It helps if the Inspector is not asked too detailed questions (also many times asking solutions beyond his scope), which side tracks his or her attention, missing sole purpose of home inspection.

With advances in technology, instruments such as infrared camera has entered the home inspection field. It can be a useful tool in the kit of the inspector, provided it is kept in mind that any tool is only as good as the user.

Further, many of the issues can be detected by an IR camera only if the conditions are right. If there is too much of heat or cold or even if there are high winds, the results could be misleading. Since perfect conditions rarely exist, it is the expertise of the inspector which is paramount.

Some statistics