I know that there have been requests for a home inspection checklist from time to time, and not sure that this site was ever mentioned:
This is the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors
(If this is a repeat, my apologies. Did a search for NACHI and found the test but not this.)
Featuring installing crown molding on cabinets; sturdy walls without wood sheathing; success with construction tape; and much more.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
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FWIW, NACHI is the new kid on the block - great site, but some of us in the industry are a bit leery of it
The first, and still "main," HI trade association is ASHI; their standards of practice are at http://www.ashi.org/inspectors/standards/standards.asp
Note: having a checklist is just barely a start, IMO. (And the "Standards of Practices" aren't checklists)
It is my opinion that a home inspection is primarily checking to see if the house components are aging properly and functioning as intended.
And determining whether the "defects" found are of any, and how much, significance.
Cut joist? Importance depends on size, location of the cut AND location of the joist. The last joist before the foundation, say, 4" away or so, cut away for the heat duct. No biggie, IMO; I see that frequently and have yet to find it leading to any real problems.
Bulged foundation? How much is too much? What is the significance of the different locations and sizes? What is expected oin a given neighborhood/area.
Non-safety glass within 18" of the floor in a neighborhood that the buyer likes and can afford, where all of the houses have the same condition?
In my experience, new home inspectors, and DIY inspectors tend to make mountains out of mole hills and often thereby do a dis-service to the buyer.
Also, many tradesmen dipping into the biz are often too focused on code compliance. Rarely applies to buying "old" houses, but the mindset of someone who usually does "new work" is to compare what exists to code.
Can cause the same issues/problems.
IMO, The best prepared folks are those with repair and remodeling types.
I found the NACHI qualification test to be quite entertaining. 19 minutes after starting the online "exam", this mere homeowner passed with a score of 84, well ahead of the average, apparently. If I knew more about carpentry and the vocabulatory used by the tradesmen, I guess I would have scored even higher...
I certainly wouldn't qualify myself as a capable home inspector, so I guess I am a bit sceptical re: the NACHI test...
>>I found the NACHI qualification test to be quite entertaining.Very delicately put.That exam is one of the more obvious reasons some of us in the industry are a bit leery of NACHI.When it was first posted on-line, my then 13 year old (maybe 14) duaghter almost passed.
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