Bob the ‘Naked Inspector’
Many inspectors in Bay Area and San Francisco can be considered as “naked inspectors”. Naked inspector – someone who has no background in construction field, no proper certifications, no general liability insurance, no bond and most importantly no active General Contractors License.
It’s very important to have someone who is adequately certified and licensed perform your home inspection since buying a property is probably one of the biggest investments you are going to make in your life.
Some inspectors think it’s enough to get certified with one of the home inspector’s certification agencies and pay $435 a year to be officially called a home inspector. Bay Area Home Inspections thinks otherwise. We believe that your home inspection must be performed by a licensed, bonded and insured general contractor who is certified with multiple inspection certification agencies. Your home inspector must be a professional.
It’s also very important to have an inspector who is educated in asbestos abatement since most of the properties in San Francisco do have asbestos in many locations. As a short but informative example we can tell you a recent story about “Bob – the naked inspector”. Bob is obviously a made up name but this story is as real as foggy San Francisco morning.
Bob came to foggy Bay Area from another state, Bob really needed a job and he started looking for his next adventure in the city by the bay. Bob couldn’t find a job anywhere else and remembered that back in Minnesota he helped his friend with a remodel and wanted to find something construction field related here in Bay Area.
Bob heard about inspection certification agencies and decided to be an inspector, after a few calls and an evening spent going through simple and logical questionnaire online, Bob was confident that inspection field is his cup of tea. After one week of training Bob has paid one of the certification agencies $435 for a year membership and has created a very simple website online advertising himself as a certified home inspector.
As time went by, Bob established himself as a home inspector, he once came to a newly purchased Victorian house here in San Francisco, he has contracted with buyers that were renting the house with their two kids thinking of buying it from their landlord.
Bob was very happy that he just collected a few hundred dollars and went on with his inspection, the software he purchased with his $435 membership allowed him to quickly mark simple yes or no answers in his notebook therefore completing the inspection report on a fly.
Bob came down to the crawlspace of the building and started crawling around the ground looking at foundation and taking pictures. Bob didn’t really know what he was doing and had no idea that he was rubbing against duct piping with his body as he crawled underneath the house. The duct insulation was in fact wrapped in asbestos which was present in the insulation of the HVAC return system and in the fiberglass insulation of the flooring joists. Bob did not know much about asbestos. Bob did not know very much period. Bob was a naked inspector. Bob has created a life safety hazard for a young family with two kids by releasing billions of asbestos fibers into the living space of the house. Bob is now in big trouble.
Home inspection is a serious business and must be performed by licensed professionals!