Topic:  Home Inspections

Guest Speaker:  David W Burges

Company:  AmeriSpec

Background

-Previously Residential and Commercial Construction

1976 Mr. Burges started his own company

Mr. Burgos has built over 200 homes.

Consideration at the time of purchase:

-Type of furnace

-Type of Appliances

Are they working properly?

There are different experiences with the way people do inspections

There is a lot of liability involved.

-Apprasial gives value

Inspection

-Make sure client knows what you are trying to do. State what the charge will be for the inspection up front.

-Most inspections are visual; can’t inspect what you can not see—hidden plug behind a piece of furniture.

Start inspection on the exterior.

-Careful with crawl space- consider doing this part of the inspection last.  If there is a leak it will go to the crawl space.

-Take plenty of pictures of errors of what you see.

-Don’t try to hurt the sale; tell the truth to help everybody.

-Some people do written report without pictures.

-Go over the report with the client; explain what they need to do.  NOTE:  There a many things that the client may not know.

-Cost varies ($250-  and up)

1600 – 1800 sq ft= $250

1800-2500 sq ft=  $275

2500 plus = $300

-Average time to complete inspection is 3.5 hours.

Only give the inspection report to the client initially, then to the attorneys, real estate agent, etc. etc. etc.

-some repairs are recommended to be completed before closing- especially electrical “double legging”

-aluminum is bad as a conductor; better if it is copper.

-vegetation should be at least 1 ft from the house.

-faucet- water temp. should be 120 -130 degrees

-Septic tanks are che3cked if he can get to it. 

-Sluge—backup means a problem.---

-Mr. Burges takes his socks off to get traction when walking on the roof.

He averages about 2 houses a day for inspection.  Please allow him at least 2 days of lead time.

-Pay close attention to:

1)  “weep holes” ---air for water to get out of the bricks.

2)  walkways and hairline cracks.  Cracks are expected in prairie soil foundations

      -also watch the steps-proportions of size of steps.

3) foundation—look at interior door---the way the door hangs—state in the report

“  There is a possibility of …”

4) rot around the windows--- check paint around-  make sure they did not paint over the problem.  Window that do not have grout properly will cause rot.

5) watch plumping stacks on roof—if nails are exposed without silicone.

    -water pressure in Montgomery  65 PSI to 80 PSI—if there is 100 lbs there may be a sound like a hammer  “water hammer”.  That is too much.  There needs to be a regulator to get it down to normal.—too low is 20-40 lbs (watch galvanized pipes).  PVC or Copper will yield better water pressure.

6) check flashing on roof—hip roof can’t see metal in valley –write it up.

7) 3 wires in one breaker is bad—Mr. Burges writes it up; should have one wire per breaker—must have right gauge wire per breaker.

9) handrails—no more than 4 inches; child can go through if wider than 4 inches.

    -handrails should be sturdy –no movement

Mr. Burges gives a 100 page home repair handbook with coupons and seasonal checklist to all of his clients.