Material Defects & Useful Remaining Life of Home Systems

Created on:

February 1, 2019

February 1, 2019

According to the InterNachi Residential Standards of Practice, a home inspector is not obligated to make estimates on lifespans of home systems including the roof, HVAC, plumbing or electrical.

Often, you will see narratives estimating remaining useful life but this is not mandatory by any means. A better practice for home inspector is to take a look at the facts and comment on lifespans of home systems based on typical lifespans and the known age of a system. For example, in Florida near the coast, it is commonly known that HVAC outside condenser units last between 15 and 20 years at most due to the salt spray in the air. It would be common practice for an inspector to include narratives pertaining to the manufactured date and current age of the unit as well as the typical lifespan of condenser units in Florida.

According to the InterNachi Residential Standards of Practice, a home inspector is not obligated to make estimates on lifespans of home systems including the roof, HVAC, plumbing or electrical.

Generally speaking, reports should describe the home's major systems, their crucial components, and their operability, especially the ones for which failure can result in dangerous and/or expensive-to-correct conditions. Defects should be adequately described, and the report should include recommendations.

Material defects are more black and white and can be reported in a manner designed to protect both the client and the inspector. A home inspector’s narrative should convey these three points:

  • The accurate identification of a condition
  • The assessment of that condition's severity
  • The transfer of liability for addressing the condition.

Accurate Identification of a Condition

A defect or condition must be reported on accurately and in a non-biased manner. You are a client of the buyer typically but there are always more stakeholders in the deal with different interests and motivations including:

  • Buyers
  • Sellers
  • Agents
  • Contractors
  • Insurance Agents
  • Engineers
  • Attorneys
  • Judges.

Inaccurate or incomplete descriptions of defects can result in financial damage to the buyer or seller, inspector liability and the existence of dangerous condition.

Assessment of the Severity

Describing a defective condition may not tell the narrative's reader how serious that condition is. As an inspector, you may find a serious defect that you know could be very expensive to correct or that might be very dangerous. However, the reader of the report may not know enough about homes to understand the gravity of the problem by its description alone. The narrative should not merely describe the condition, but it should also make clear the urgency of the problem.

Transfer of Liability

When an inspector performs an inspection, he or she assumes liability, meaning that the inspector has assumed responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided, and for the actions, events or conditions that may result from the condition.

The inspector should always describe the condition as accurately as possible, then make recommendations to the client such as “recommend inspection by a certified roofing contractor.” This narrative passes the responsibility onto the client with an action that should be done next that will lead to a fix for the defect.

Sources:

InterNACHI Defect Recognition Course. (April 2018).

Retrieved from www.nachi.org

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