Cleaning Gutters - When it is freezing?

Like most home owners, I regularly procrastinate on getting the various maintenance jobs done around the home.

One such job for me is cleaning the gutters. I have four 100Ft cedars within gutter range of my house and my gutters regularly fill up with debris. Mine were particular bad because, due to a recent illness, some had not been cleaned out in over a year.

Well, as it is Christmas time, I went to put up my Christmas lights. One of the locations I hang my lights is from clips attached to the gutters at the front of the house. As I went to install the clips, I was reminded of my tardiness in cleaning out the gutters and decided I better buckle down and get the job done.

Well, was I ever pleasantly surprised. It has been freezing for a couple of days now and everything in the gutter was frozen solid. As the gutters had not been draining properly due to the debris, there was some residual water in the bottom of the troughs that allowed the whole mass of leaves, needles, peanuts (deposited by the local Stellar Jays), various small plants with roots, etc. to be frozen solid. At first I was quite annoyed as tried to break through the mass to remove it, but after I was able to get the first bit out the job got a lot easier. With a small garden trowel, I was able to pry up between 6" - 12" frozen slabs of debris with little effort.

A job, that I had usually dreaded, took forever, and was messy, had almost become fun and was done in 10 minutes. Another benefit of doing this task in the freezing weather was that the ground was frozen (couple of inches or so), and as such the ladder would not sink in to the various gardens it needed to transverse to complete the project.

My only word of warning is to not pry the slabs straight up and out of the gutter as they may hang up on the edge of the roofing and because it is also frozen, it will be quite brittle. Pry up the slab to separate from the gutter and then rotate the slab so that the outer face comes out first followed by the surface that was against that back fascia.

Now I am going to go around the whole house to see what other maintenance issues are maid easier by the freezing weather. Have a great holiday season.

Cheers,
Sean

Home Inspection Certification in BC

Right now there are three organizations accredited by the BPCPA in BC to accredit home inspectors. Each have a separate set of inspections standards and accreditation standards. Who wins and looses in the arrangement? Well I can state who looses - the public.

Traditionally there was a big difference between the certification policies of the three organizations. Two of the organizations did not have a requirement for field training (a form of mentoring) and allowed new inspectors with only theory training and not field training, to provide services to the public and 'practice' until they had enough inspections to become 'Certified'. This work practice was in a vacuum as it did not require any peer review whatsoever. Thankfully, during the last year or so, these organizations have added a requirement for field training and now, on the surface, all organizations are becoming more alike than different.

The problem lies in the fact that there are many inspectors, belonging to all three organizations, that entered the industry when the standards of that organization were much lower and as a result may not have received the required training they needed to ensure they are able to offer a competent service to the public. The National Certification Program is currently the only organization that requires their inspectors to be audited on a 5 year cycle, (the inspector must submit him or herself to the scrutiny of industry peers). I believe this is an excellent component that should be mandatory for all inspection organizations.

Now that all organizations have become very similar, we need to look at setting higher standards to become accredited in BC. We need more education and field training that is not just a turn style but a guarantee of quality. It would be best if the BC Government, through the BPCPA took over the management of inspector certification in BC. This would allow for one standard to exist and allow that standard to be easily improved at any given time. The existing 3 organization structure is not in anyone's best interest and none of the existing organizations would be suitable to run the whole province in my view. Because there are so many standards, the public are generally in the dark on what to expect from a home inspection. Because the public does not demand a high level of service, it is up to each inspector to decide what level of service they will provide and often that decision is based on how fast they as inspectors can get in and out but still meet the minimum standard they need to in order to get paid.

Too often standards are set at a really low benchmark for quality (an example would be the BC Building Code). We need standards that guarantee elevated levels of public safety, are hard to achieve, and ensure a quality product. These standards will only come about if you the public ask for them.

Home Inspector successfully sued

I am excited that this case has come before the public and that BC home inspectors are taking notice. In my view the #1 reason this inspector was sued (granted none of us have all the facts) is that he appeared to rush the inspection and as a result missed looking at one side of the house. A proper inspection by a well trained inspector takes time. The only way to speed up an inspection is to start leaving components out of the inspection process. In my view - the #1 reason inspectors rush their inspections is because they are pressured by the public and the real estate industry to offer inspections for $400 or less and/or 3 hours or less.

A good inspection takes up to a whole day (5-8 hours) for an average house, longer if the house has considerable defects, it should also cost $700 up to $1000+ depending on what the inspector is bundling in their service. Inspectors that take 5-8 hours to inspect a house get harassed regularly by many of the Realtors. 'You are going to take how long?', 'Aren't you done yet?', 'I have to lock up in an hour'. The average time an inspector spends on site in the industry is 3 hours or less for a house (1 hour or less for an apartment). I will often spend 2-3 hours on just the exterior, crawlspace and attic alone.

The answer to this industries problems is for the public to not immediately ask 'How Much' as their first question while looking to choose an inspector.

We also need legislation that prevents the referral of a inspector by a Realtor (conflict of interest) and further restricts the Realtor's ability to interfere with the inspection process (time on site and commenting on inspector's findings). Those that do a glorified checklist and are not capable of doing a more thorough inspection will eventually be weeded out and the standards of the industry will improve accordingly.

The first step rests with the public. They must recognize that they get what they pay for and that quality does cost money. Is this really the area in this process where you want to cut corners? Is there any other person in the transaction that has your wellbeing as their sole concern?

Chinese Drywall - In Vancouver?

I have been assured by the group Americans Watchdog that cases of Chinese drywall have been confirmed in the Greater Vancouver Area.

If you know or suspect that you have a problem with Chinese drywall and you live in the greater Vancouver area, I would like to hear from you. I would like to document at least one case of this material in use so that I can elevate the story in the media and with local advocate groups. Right now all of the building organizations are discounting that there is a problem and in my view ignoring what I think is a real liability for BC residents.

I am not looking to charge you a fee to inspect, I am only after confirmation that the problem exists in the Vancouver area.

Please contact me if you suspect a problem.

Thanks
Sean Wiens
President - Senwi Services

Home Inspection Tools

The two most important tools an inspector has in their arsenal is their brain and their eyes.

A mentor of mine once answered the question

What are you looking for during an inspection?

with

I do not know but will tell you when I see it.

Realtor referrals for inspectors

At SENWI, we insist that any inspector that provides services for us be independent from Realtors and usually maintain a membership in the Independent Home Inspectors of North America and must take the “No Conflict of Interest Pledge”.

It is critical that the inspector provides an unbiased evaluation free from any influence. Even a good/professional relationship between a Realtor and Home Inspector can influence the service that a client receives as the relationship between the Realtor and Inspector can become stronger than the relationship between the Inspector and Client. We believe this type of relationship is not in the best interests of the consumer.

Our inspectors do not solicit Realtors for referrals, do not direct any form of advertising to Realtors, and do not provide or receive any form of compensation to or from Realtors,

When you hire a SENWI inspector you are guaranteed an inspector free from all Realtor or other Third Party influences, an inspector who is working solely for you and in your best interests.

Does a house inspection kill the deal?

Is any home perfect?

It is important to realize that a seller is under no obligation to repair everything identified in the inspection report. No home is perfect, and it is important for the buyer to be reasonable in their demands for a vendor to address found issues. As long as the dwelling is not brand new, there will always be components in the house at various stages of their life cycle. It is not reasonable to expect everything to be brand new, and normal wear and tear on components throughout the dwelling is acceptable and expected. This is where you need to work closely with your Realtor who should be providing you a summary of similar properties for sale in the area. The properties listed should all have similar parameters and be broken down into a per sq. ft. cost so that you can compare apples to apples. For example, if the inspection report identifies that the roof is at the end of its service life and in need of replacement and you see that the sq. ft. cost is above the market average, it may then be appropriate to ask the vendor to compensate for the worn out roof. But if the pricing is below the market pricing, then the vendor most likely has already accounted for the expenditure of replacing the roof and it would not be appropriate to ask for a further discount (or at least to expect it).

What makes a good inspection report?

The most common style of report in the industry is called a checklist report. It usually contains a series of checkboxes per building component with captions like “Appears Serviceable”, “Functional”, or “Poor/Average/Good”. These are not descriptive terms and often mean different things to different people. Most of these reports have minimal space to expand in a narrative fashion on the problem identified and the client can often be left unsure of the meaning of a specific reported item. This style of report is popular because it is a one size fits all solution to house inspecting. They often come in carbon copies and can allow the inspector to rush through an inspection, ticking off items without really providing substantive information on the current condition of the dwelling.

At SENWI, we do not use a pre-printed checklist-style report. Instead, we create a custom narrative report supported with photos to explain the found defects. Our reports will only have information on the inspected dwelling and you will not have to wade through piles of boilerplate text to get to the relevant data. And because we custom write every report we are able to take as much room as is required to adequately explain the found defect.

We are proud that we exceed the industry average. We will not compromise our standards or the ability to provide you with a detailed and accurate report that you deserve and have paid for—a report that you need to make an informed purchase decision.

Senwi Inspection Philosophy

At Senwi House Inspections we believe in protecting the consumer. We want to provide you with as much information as possible before you make your home purchase. We're not judgemental but impartial. We neither love nor hate the property. Our goal is to help you make an informed decision.

The process of buying a home can be stressful. Many homes have latent defects that the vendor either did not know about or in rare cases tried to conceal. A home inspection is usually recommended to provide you peace of mind but can often have the opposite effect if the inspector does not adequately explain the reported defects.

At SENWI, our inspectors sit down with you and explain the defects in as much detail as required for you to understand the problem. We will provide you unbiased information to help you make a logical as opposed to an emotional decision. We will be able to provide recommendations on how to address the problem and, by removing the unknowns from the situation, will help you lower your stress. Many defects can be addressed with very little investment of money or time if caught early. For those defects that do represent a significant cost to address, you can work with your Realtor to see if the asking price for the home takes into account this defect. If it does not, ask the Realtor to work on reducing the vendor’s price to compensate. Remember inspectors and their reports do not “kill deals”. We just provide information. We do not create it. Our inspector will never “Fail” the dwelling. What kills a deal is the buyer’s unwillingness or inability to address the defects found by the inspector. In some cases, walking away may represent the best option for the buyer.

Home Inspection - How long should it take?

Our research, based on Realtor and client feedback, indicates that the average total inspection and report generation time for an apartment is 1 hour and the average time for a house or townhouse is 3 hours.

At SENWI, we feel that it is very difficult to perform an accurate and complete inspection within this time frame and demand our inspectors take the time required to do the job right.

We have a two part inspection that takes a minimum 8 hours and on average 15 hours.

See our website for more information on why we take more time to provide you with our quality reports.