Many property owners search for the lowest possible inspection cost. This seems logical, considering the overall cost of buying the property itself, but in reality, cheaper is definitely NOT better.
Part of the process of purchasing your property will involve locating a reliable and competent building and pest inspection company. There is an entire forest of inspection companies out there to choose from. Locating the right one can be a daunting and difficult task.
At the end of the day, what you need is somebody unbiased, who is going to work for you and provide a high-quality inspection and detailed written reports.
In order to do a thorough inspection, your inspectors need to be highly trained and experienced. They should use a detailed checklist. Just as importantly, they should spend time coming to a decisive conclusion.
In order to determine the true condition of the property, the inspectors should be carrying out numerous tests, using various tools and equipment. Things may look OK, but they should still run tests in a process of elimination to verify this.
All of this takes a considerable amount of time.
Inspection cost reflects quality
The price you are paying for your inspections reflects time investment and attention to detail. An experienced home inspector and pest inspector will be working for a minimum hourly rate. On top of this, they must cover office staff wages, insurance, vehicles, equipment, maintenance, etc.
If you shop around for the cheapest inspection cost, you will not get someone who is ready to work for less money. You will more likely get someone who will skimp on the time spent inspecting your property.
Often the reports these types of inspectors provide are mind-boggling. They focus more on what they couldn’t get to and recommend that you pay someone else to check it.
As they say, “Pay peanuts, get monkeys”. If you phone around to save $50 on a $500,000 investment, you are more likely to spend more after the purchase. You are also helping to drive down the quality of the building inspection industry.
In my 20 years of home inspections, the time required to do them has continually increased with the introduction of new and additional equipment.
Therefore, you should base your choice of pre-purchase property inspections on experience, the process used, and the time taken to do the inspection.
With the right mindset about the inspection cost, you’re ready to find out how to pick the best building and pest inspector for your property.
Yours,
Greg