When you hire a home inspector, a lot rests on what they find – or more importantly what they don’t find. And, why their mistakes could cost you a lot of money. Justin Lutick said he regrets buying his home in Fountain Hills, AZ. “First the air conditioning doesn’t work. Then I see a hole in the wall. Then a couple of days later I get a flood,” Lutick told ABC15. Lutick has only one way to describe his home. “As a money pit, like the movie,” he said. “It just doesn’t stop.” So, why did he buy the home in the first place? “Because I felt confident, I paid a home inspector,” he said. Lutick said his home inspector missed every major issue. “I noticed it all within the course of a week,” he said. He said the inspector missed electrical, plumbing and structural problems. Three years later, Lutick said he has spent a total of $60,000 on the house, just to fix the problems the home inspector overlooked. “This experience has probably been one of the worst experiences and biggest impacts on my life, because he didn't do his job,” he said. Lutick’s story is an example of what can happen when a home inspector doesn’t do his job correctly. With hundreds of home inspection companies in the Valley, how do you know who is going to best protect you and your investment?
To help answer that question, ABC15 went undercover. We put three home inspection companies to the test. First, we enlisted the help of Neil Brogren. He is a licensed Valley home inspector and the President of the Arizona Chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors. Then, we found a house in Chandler to base our test around. Brogren gave the Chandler house a thorough inspection. He found problems all over the house.
In the kitchen, Brogren discovered the oven could be tipped forward, a safety concern for children. Brogren said that all ovens are required to have a device that would prevent it from tipping forward.
Brogren also noticed the dishwasher drain line did not form a high loop. “It’s a safety concern. It’s considered a cross-contamination between potable water that comes into the dishwasher to wash dishes with, and the drain water,” Brogren said.
In the living room, Brogren found the distance between the stair railings to be a concern. “The distance between [two railings] should not be a greater than four inches, so that kids can’t stick their heads through there,” he said.
Brogren found an electrical issue in the wall between the living room and kitchen. He said all the outlets indicated an open ground.
“I’d recommend you get an electrician,” he said.
On the outside, Brogren said the porch cover was not securely attached to the house.
“So, a wind gust could get under here and take the [porch cover] loose,” he said.
But, Brogren said, it wasn’t an easy problem to catch.
“I think this could be overlooked pretty easily.”
After Brogren inspected our test home, we set up appointments with three inspection companies: All-Pro, US Inspect and Arizona Professional Home Inspections. Then, we placed undercover cameras inside, outside and on our producer. Every inspector identified the open ground electrical issue. All three companies caught the issue with the oven missing the anti-tip device. Arizona Professionals and US Inspect caught the issue with the distance between stair banisters. All-Pro missed the stair banister problem. Remember the problem with our dishwasher drain line? Because the drain line did not form a high loop, Brogren considered it a safety concern. It could potentially make the homeowner sick, if the water got cross-contaminated. Only two inspectors caught the issue. All-Pro didn’t find the dishwasher drain line problem. That is not the only cross-contamination problem he missed. All-Pro failed to note that our outside hose faucet was missing a small device that prevents dirty water from being sucked back into the house. As for the issue with the porch cover, not one of the three companies caught the problem. All three companies also missed an exposed electrical wire in the kitchen above the microwave. “You shouldn't have any exposed non-metallic wiring,” Brogren said. After our inspections were completed, Brogren looked over each company’s report. He was looking to see if they missed anything, and to see if each company’s report met the State Standards of Professional Practice.
Brogren said while all three companies missed the issue with the unsecured porch cover and the exposed electrical wire, those issues are minor. Brogren was happy that all three companies caught the open ground electrical problem. However, he said, All-Pro did not take it a step further by recommending an electrician be brought in. Brogren said the State Standards of Professional Practice require the inspector give a recommendation. “So that an average person would know what to do about that situation,” he said. Overall, Brogren said Arizona Professional Home Inspections came out on top in our test. Brogren said it had the most thorough inspection report. He said it exceeded the standards. So, which company came out on the bottom in our test? Brogren said All-Pro did not pass our test. “It was probably not one of the better reports,” he said. “They did miss a number of items in the report. There are some things in it that don't meet the standards.” All-Pro did not respond to our repeated requests for comment. Click here to read US Inspect’s response to our story. Arizona Professional Home Inspection sent ABC15 the following statement: "It was an absolute surprise to find out about the story. I consider home inspections a crucial part of the home buying process and thoroughly enjoy the work. Using my home building and customer service experience, I put everything I have into the inspection, the report, and helping the home buyers get through the process. I actually consider our industry a type of consumer advocate in itself, which makes being evaluated and recognized by another consumer advocate such as ABC15 News that much more significant. Hopefully all parties involved can also appreciate and see the value in being made aware of the items that were overlooked. It reassures me that no matter how competent we all may feel that there is always room for improvement. I will continue to strive for excellence and improvement by educating myself, so that I may continue to transfer that education onto my customers. It was a pleasure inspecting for you."Dylan Bucknavich
Arizona Professional Home Inspection L.L.C.
As for Justin?
He took his home inspector to court and won. However, Justin said he only received a fraction of what he said it will take to fix someone else's mistakes.
"It's three and a half years later and I'm not there yet," Justin said.
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