Buying a home is a major investment and often the biggest dream for most of us. However, this dream can turn into a nightmare for uninformed buyers. Buying or selling a home is not easy, and it includes many different activities. The list of tasks is quite long, from finding the home of your dreams to hiring a professional for the home inspection.
Buying a home simply because you fell in love with it at first sight may bring severe headaches in the future. For this reason, smart buyers know the importance of home inspection, which focuses on the “big picture” and ultimately affects the buying decision.
Home inspections are an indispensable part of home-buying, simply assessing the home. A home inspection conducted by a qualified and trained professional helps avoid potential issues with the building and make a knowledgeable decision about the home’s purchase price for sale. However, home buyers are often confused between general contractors and home inspectors, who are better for the job.
Home Inspectors vs. Contractors
People often ask why they should hire a Home Inspector to inspect a home instead of a General Contractor. Both general contractors and home inspectors have different skills and experience to assess a property for a homebuyer. It is common to get confused between the two and get the best services; knowing which one is best for you is equally important.
- General contractors are usually preferred for the task because of their background in building homes, giving them a vision similar to an X-ray to evaluate a structure and even look at what’s under the walls and behind the ceilings. However, this is not always true because home inspection requires different skills than managing a construction site. This means contractors build houses, but home inspectors better examine them.
- A certified and experienced home inspector has more of a background in determining potential flaws in the house. A home inspector will visually inspect a home’s structure and examine its critical components, such as plumbing, electrical training, and air conditioning systems.
- There are chances of a conflict of interest with a contractor because home contractors also perform repair works on a home’s structure and certain critical components. In anticipation of getting the job to make any repairs or renovations; they may highlight those issues that are advantageous to their business. Here also, unlike general contractors, a home inspector tells you what must be fixed rather than repairing it. Therefore, hiring home inspectors minimizes the chances of a conflict of interest.
Thus, an experienced home inspector has a broader knowledge of defects to look for during a home inspection and knows better techniques for finding the building’s loopholes. Most importantly, they have specialized skills in documenting and presenting the defects, which they provide in a written, comprehensive report of the home.
Remember, the professional you hire should inspect the property’s structural elements, such as the roof, foundation, walls, windows, doors, insulation, basement, attic, electrical, plumbing, heating, and cooling systems, as well as the presence of termites, etc.
