Hello all, I am by no means an electrician, but I do have a question. I am in the process of looking to buy a house, and my realitor had said that once we find a house I like, to get a 15 Point Safety Inspection. I called the electrical company that she suggested, but they really didn't explain what all was done. My question is this.

1. What would ALL be tested in this inspection (as much detail as possible please, remember I am not an electrician)For all of you electrical contractors, if I were to have called about this, what would your list include?
2. Is this really needed in buying a newer home, meaning, is this just a marketing thing with the realitor and electrical company?
3. If I do decide to have this inspection, what would be a reasonable price to pay (Seattle Washington area)

I could see if I was buying an older home, but don't want to be taken advantage of.

Thank you to all that take the time to reply
Jason

[This message has been edited by Jason_H (edited 12-06-2005).]

Jason, You said that you talked to your realitor. Have you asked your proposed lending institution or insurer for recommendations? You would be penny wise and dollar foolish to not have one done.
Joe

There are Home Inspection Services that check all the conditions of a home, if they find a problem in any area of construction, they will recommend you contact someone in that field to investigate the problem.

Here is a site that may help you locate a Home Inspector, http://www.findaninspector.us/

15 Point Safety Inspection, sounds like something for your car, not your electrical system. Call the electrician in if a problem is uncovered in the Home Inspection.

[This message has been edited by LK (edited 12-06-2005).]

Jason,
If I was doing the inspection, I would be looking for any number of code violations throughout the house, unsafe conditions (splices without boxes, exposed wires, etc.) I would also check out all electrical panels looking for signs of excessive heat, loose connections, double lugging (more than one wire terminating at a breaker).
Also, I would check to see if the connections at the service drop are safe and have the correct amount of drip loop.
I would look for a poorly mounted service riser, lack of G.F.C.I. protection where needed, etc.
Basically, I would inspect the whole electrical system for potential future problems and to make sure it meets the code standards.
As a buyer, you would be foolish not to have this done.
Any problems found could be used as bargaining chips for you to bring the cost down.
Also, the last thing you want is to buy the house and find out that you need major electrical repairs or upgrades.
Maybe the seller would be willing to split the cost with you or cover it completely.
I'm not trying to insult your intelligence here but, I would also make sure I have a home warranty and don't be afraid to use it.

Good luck.

Just to add maybe a little to lamplighters comments, I am changing a service tommorrow on a house that was suppose to have had a homeowner's inspection 5 years ago, but whoever did the inspection, failed to note to the buyer, that the service riser wires were frayed and in bad shape (outside insulation pratically gone). Now they're having the whole service changed, Outside meter etc. and subpanel on inside. Something like this I think should have been noted to the homeowner. The possibility of loosing the neutral on the riser could cause major damage to their appliances etc. within the house. I've had at least 2 calls in probably the last year, where the homeowner has lost appliances because of this. Hope this helps and adds to the other suggestions already given....Steve

[This message has been edited by sparkync (edited 12-07-2005).]

sparkync,

We do a large amount of inspection repairs, and when you find a problem, and they say they had an inspection 5 years ago, ask for their inspection report, most of the time, they either had no inspection done, or they had the inspection, and decided to let the problem wait, they act supprised, and say the home inspector never found that.

I think youd be better served using your own electrician or if you dont have one call one that advertises service. I don't know what the rate is in Seattle but down here $75 an hour is about average in my area, two hours should give him enough of time to cover just about everything.

Sparky, that was becuase the H-I was more interested in noting that an older home had no GFIs in the bathroom and kitchen, even though GFIs didn't exist when the home was built. Or that the two prong original receptacles MUST be replaced before the poential buyer should sign.

Lamplighter, what do you mean "make sure it meets the code standards."I hope you mean the codes when the house was built or any renovation work was done. It is not logical to compell a seller to bring an older home up to current codes.


As you can probably tell I have a real problem with "home inspectors" who have very little clue. Sparky's example is textbook. I have seen it a thousand times. They pick at very easy to spot items such as I mentioned above, but fail to see open splices in crawl spaces and attics for example.
Many give the impression that it is mandatory to have upgrades done which were never code originally. If I am selling a 1940's home in original condition, this is what the buyer is getting. No home inspector is forcing me to install GFIs just to sell the house. And my price is not going down by $5k because of it.


IMO home inspectors have evolved into having one purpose in today's world. To find anything they possibly can to strong arm the seller into lowering their price.

The job of a home inspector is to point out issues that may be important to the buyer. Whether they were legal or not when the house was built isn't important. The seller always has the option of saying the house is sold as is and let the buyer decide if they want to buy another one.
A great example would be a house that only has a 60a service. it is very possible that this is the way houses were built in the 40s or 50s but that is not reasonable today.

Speedy,
I get the impression that you think I'm a home inspector. I'm not. I'm an E.C.
If I meant bring the house up to todays code, I would have said that but, "code standards" in this case means "make the home is legal". (make sure there are no three prong recepts where a two prong would be required, etc.)
As far as my advice to have an inspection done and use any violations as a bargaining chip.., Jason is trying to buy a house and he is the one who asked for advice. My advice was intended to help him, not the seller.
If the seller asked about inspections, I would have told him to hire his own electrician to make sure there were no violations before putting the house up for sale if that was the route he wanted to take.
I agree that some inspectors are out to bring the seller down in price but, they are usually hired buy the purchaser and finding whatever violations they can is in the best interest of their customer.
I do very few home inspections but on the occasion that I do, I work in the interest of who ever hired me and that's usually the buyer or the buyers agent.
I'm thorough when I do inspect for the simple reason that I would hate to have the buyer come back at me later over an electrical problem that I didn't catch.

Lamp, I didn't think you were a H-I. If I did I would have said so.

You have to admit, the line:
"make sure it meets the code standards."
...could be taken more than one way.

Like I said, it's home inspectors I have a problem with, not real electricians or tradesman doing inspections of the systems they know in depth.

Speedy,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. When I first read your post, it seemed like you were lumping me in with a bunch of incompetant H-I's and knowing how you feel about them, I felt a little insulted.
My mistake.
I know of a few home inspectors that make a very tidy living without being fluent in any construction related field and I have to admit, it bothers me too.
That being said, I didn't mean to jump down your throat if that's how I came off.
Can we still be friends?

IMO you should get a home inspection done by a reputable company as well as using an electrician of your choosing. I once went on a a-c installation and found the service wire coming into the service disconnect undersized and a potential hazard. Since you have to fix or replace whatever the home inspector might miss, (after closing on the house) you would be served by an inspection by people that could catch something and as someone else said, use as a way to lower, or have them make the repairs.

I think electricians and other trades confuse home inspectors and code inspectors. The home inspector is only pointing out things that will piss you off later. Safety as related to codes, is really not in their job description or training.
In Florida anyone with a county occupational license can be a home inspector. Contractors and code inspectors are state licensed (tests, experience requirements, CEUs and state oversight).
Different thing

gfretwell, good point In some states Home Inspectors require little of no training, In my state inspectors are state licensed, and test for Lic., there are also experience requirements, they have CEU's to re-license and consumer affairs does the state oversight, so all home inspectors are not the same, The problem with having an EC come in to do an inspection, is he has an intrest in finding work, not a good thing for the consumer.

Where I live (BC, Canada), we as electrical contractors are not allowed to perform electrical inspections. The only one who can do an official electrical inspection is the electrical inspector himself. I will however, do an "evaluation" of the wiring. But as LK states, as a contractor my interest is finding work, so that could be considered a conflict of interest.

On a heritage home we recently re-wired, the home inspector missed many things that could have resulted in the new owner to back out of the sale, had he caught them and put them on paper. For instance, only 1 out of 3 elements on the electric furnace worked (other 2 had burnt off wires), and only 10% of the breakers for lighting and receptacles were sized properly....the rest were 30 amps.

A home inspector here makes approx. $300 to $400 for an inspection that takes about 4 to 5 hours to complete. That is a pretty good hourly rate, and for that kind of money I would expect more thorough training of the inspector as well as a more thorough inspection. In my opinion, catching a few ungrounded or reversed-polarity receptacles just doesn't cut it.