How to Select a Home Inspector

Ask the home inspector you plan on hiring the questions below, in addition to any other home inspector you are considering.

What is the cost?
Typically costs of home inspections are around $300.00, depending on the size of the house and how much of the house is inspected.

What education and qualifications does the inspector have?
Home inspectors should be recognized by the Manitoba Department of Labour and Education and Training or an accredited educational institution in Manitoba, for example, journeyman carpenter.

How long has the inspector been inspecting?
Make sure you can find out how long the inspector has been inspecting. Home inspectors that won't/can't tell, or just started are not good choices.

What is the legal history?
How many statements of claim have been filed against the inspector or company? You can perform a Manitoba Courts name search to find out. Home inspectors with no statements of claim against them are highly likely to give you a better inspection.

Is the home inspector independent?
Does the inspector work for you? Or is he/she in a conflict of interest position between you and the Real Estate agent or broker?
Inspectors that belong to a group which has a business partnership with realtors will take your money, perform the home inspection, and say the house is good to buy. Some inspection companies buy vacations and provide other benefits for agents. Choosing a home inspector that is not independent of the Real Estate agent/broker, or will not tell you, will most likely result in a home inspection that will more than often avoid reporting the negative aspects of the potential home you plan on buying, helping the Real Estate agent/broker sell the home faster (and then they collect their money)

What does the contract contain?
Many home inspectors, while claiming to hold errors and omission insurance, limit their liability to the fee paid for inspection and binding arbitration. This means that if you try to sue them, all the money you can get back is equal to what you paid for the inspection. Carefully read the contract before you agree to it, or have your lawyer review the inspector's contract before signing or closing the deal.

Do they inspect the furnace heat exchanger?
Some inspectors do not inspect the furnace heat exchanger for cracks. The heat exchanger is the metal inside a furnace that separates the fire (heat source) from the air to be distributed to the rest of the house. If this metal is cracked, then the fuel that the fire is burning will pass into the air. This means that the fuel pumped into the furnace will be inhaled by you once you are living there, with disastrous effects on your health. You should not hire a home inspector that won't check this for you. If you are unsure, make sure that during the home inspection, you remind them to do so.