Response from Young Home Inspections
I was the inspector on this job and I would first like to apologize that you are unhappy with your inspection, however I would like to go over a few things from your review. I have itemized some of your concerns below in no special order. 1. The water heater was located in a storage compartment on the side of the home. At the time of inspection it was not producing hot water. The breakers were checked and even a switch in the bathroom labeled hot water heater was turned on. At that point the water heater still did not work and was deemed deficient. To add to that the water heater was approximately 17 years old, and past the typical life span of a water heater. 2. The dishwasher was tested and began to overheat and was turned off and labeled as deficient. Sometimes this can be an issue with no water supply. However, in this instance the pipes going to the dishwasher are composed of polybutylene piping. This type of piping is prone to leak and burst, therefore the valves on this type of plumbing are not disturbed in the event it begins to leak and cause damage to the dwelling. This plumbing was pointed out to you and the dangers explained. 3. The roof was listed as near the end of its useful life span because of the deterioration of the shingles, many shingles had little to no granules left on them, exposing the asphalt part of shingle, along with that there were multiple water stains on the inside of the home's ceiling which backup that reasoning. 4. The living room ceiling fan does not have any pull cables, which would indicate that it is powered by a remote, which could not be found, a switch was on the wall, and when flipped did not power on the fan, if you remember, we both were looking for a fan remote, as this was pointed out during the inspection. In regards to saying I appeared to be in a hurry for an appointment, you mistook simple casual conversation about stopping by the dealership later in the day. I am also a little confused about the statement of not taking the time to walk you around and show you the issues. If you remember I took you to every sink and fixture and showed you the polybutylene piping, along with the floor sag in the master bedroom. We looked together for the fan switch and you also found the switch to the water heater on the bathroom wall a very strange place for a water heater switch . The paragraph below is from Christine Farina the owner of Young Home Inspections. I too am very sorry in the fact you were dissatisfied with your inspection. It concerned me greatly so I did speak with the inspector, and had another inspector go over the report and photos as I did myself to try and figure out what you were unhappy about. I understand one of your concerns was if the polybutylene piping was in the walls of the home i.e. to the showers, etc. you were not happy that those areas are not visible, but unfortunately we cannot take apart shower walls and fixtures to a home that you do not own, that is not within our scope of inspection anyway and is stated in the Inspection Agreement, it is a non-invasive visual inspection. But just knowing it was in the home anywhere warrants further investigation by a licensed plumber and the need for an estimate for replacement. Insurance companies will not write a homeowner’s insurance policy with polybutylene pipes. At this point you would need to negotiate all our findings/deficiencies with the seller for either a better price on the home or the fixing by the seller of these deficiencies before the purchase is completed. This is the whole reason you hired us in the first place, to protect your investment and make you aware of the problems with the home. Which we did, you were present for the whole inspection, so we are baffled by the insinuation we did not go over our findings with you. We pointed out major concerns with this property and it seems you did not want to believe us, the roof is a prime example. I don’t know what roofer you found to tell you a roof is fine when it is so deteriorated that there are no granules left on the shingles, and that there are water stains from obvious leaks on the interior ceilings of the home. Also this was a 3- tab shingle roof whose life expectancy is 15 years and the roof was estimated to be that, we could not even find an old permit for the roof, 15 years was on the low side in my opinion, but either way was at the end of its useful life in terms of years and condition. We are only trying to protect you and your investment and do our job to the best of our ability which I believe we did. I don’t know after reading our report how you would think anything was missed, any client is more than welcome to call us with any questions or further explanation on anything in the report. There were also so many major things wrong with the home that concentrating on a ceiling fan and an aged water heater seems like your priorities might be a little skewed. In ending I believe that my inspector completed a very thorough and accurate inspection on your home to be, and that I am very proud of the work he did and stand behind him 100%. I reviewed the photo’s backing up everything in the report and had another inspector look it over also. His findings were spot on and I also believe that you were made aware of everything that was wrong at the time of inspection. Also many people cannot even attend their inspections because they are relocating from another state. They read the report and ask questions later, we are always here for that. After you read the report if there was something you think the inspector missed explaining to you, or something you need clarification on, we are only a phone call away. We wish you the best and hope you are very happy in the home, if you so choose to buy it.