BC Warner Inspections takes pride in providing clients a professional and unbiased inspection service. This service provides you with a snap shot in time of the condition of the home as determined by a professional at the time of inspection. Nothing more and nothing less!
The inspection is not a warranty, guarantee, or cradle to grave insurance policy that nothing will ever break, fail, leak, or cease to function as originally intended. A home and all systems and components within are dynamic with a finite service life. Some systems and components will fail or need replacement at a predictable point in time, while most systems and components often fail unpredictably and usually at the most inconvenient of times. This I can guarantee you!
Having your home inspected prior to purchase by a competent and knowledgeable home inspector reduces the risk of encountering significant and costly concerns with such a major investment. The inspection provides you with vital information about the condition of your future home with which you can make an educated purchase decision by accepting its condition as is, negotiating needed repairs that were not disclosed by the current owners, or simply continuing your search for a home in better or more acceptable condition. Choosing a professional and qualified inspector to perform your home inspection is entirely based upon your personal risk tolerance.
To entice clients in their hiring decision, many inspection companies offer warranty packages, guarantees, and other slick sales gimmicks. The warranties offered by some inspection companies come in a variety of packages allegedly protecting your investment through appliance packages, systems-based packages, add-ons, and hybrid plans. Typically offered for free for the first 90 days after the home inspection, these warranties are certainly enticing as they offer some semblance of “peace of mind” to the home buyer where budgets may be tight the first few months after a home purchase.
Unfortunately they are very limited in actual coverage time since they begin immediately after the inspection, and not upon closing which can easily reduce your usable ownership time by 30 days or more, leaving owners scarcely enough time to comprehensively “use” their home and discover significant issues that may arise only through continued use. The actual coverage is limited even further by the extensive terms and conditions written into the policies which typically preclude neglect, pre-existing conditions, acts of nature, and can require a deductible of $250.00 or more for each occurrence. These terms and conditions are often “loosely” interpreted by the provider or their hired contractors, allowing them quite a large amount of discretion in what they will and will not actually cover under the warranty policy. Additionally, you as the homeowner do not get to choose your contractor as they have been pre-selected for you. This agreement between the warranty provider and contractor is often negotiated at reduced service fees far below standard repair/replacement rates, practically assuring the standard of care and quality of the technician to also be reduced as a result.
But you say “the warranty is FREE!!!”
Well, like most things in life, nothing is truly free. Inspection companies are able to offer these warranties to their clients at the simple cost of their client’s privacy. For your private contact information (name, phone, address, email, etc.), the warranty company pays the inspector a financial “referral reward”. In exchange, the warranty company gets to pressure you into extended warranty packages for a fee, and sell your information to 3rd party marketers who also want to high-pressure sell you goods or services.
While some homeowners actually do benefit from these warranties, Angie’s List reports that home warranty companies lead the list of most complained about companies out of 500 different business categories. So why do home warranties remain a factor in purchase decisions? Because they do benefit a rather large segment of people beyond the warranty companies themselves. The folks who reap the most benefit of home warranties are those who offer them as marketing enticements. Recent news reports indicate that homes that come with warranties sell 11 days faster than those without. It is marketing that would logically entice home buyers… and why many home inspection companies openly embrace such marketing schemes.
For more information about home warranties, please visit:
http://www.clarkhoward.com/home-warranties-not-worth-paper-theyre-written
https://www.angieslist.com/articles/why-home-warranties-are-no-guarantee.htm
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/best-home-warranty/
https://www.daveramsey.com/index.cfm?event=askdave/&intContentItemId=122824
For the reasons stated above, BC Warner Inspections does not provide home warranties or participate in such marketing schemes. I am an inspector who strives to provide my clients with an unbiased, yet comprehensive inspection report. I am not a warranty provider. I value my client’s privacy as much as my own, and despise high-pressure sales tactics likely more than most. If a warranty or guarantee is the most important hiring decision to inspect one of the most expensive purchases in your lifetime, then I am not the company for you. But I will offer you this promise:
1. Choosing the right home inspector can be difficult. Different inspectors have varying qualifications, equipment, experience, reporting methods, and yes, different pricing. One thing for sure is that a home inspection requires work, a lot of work.
2. I’ll use all of my experience, training, education, and common sense to perform the best, most thorough inspection I can without any consideration of whether or not the deal will go through.
3. I work for my clients best interests in: educating them about the property they are considering buying; whether systems are installed and maintained like they are supposed to be; whether or not the systems are safe; and providing a thorough, professional narrative report which includes digital photos.
4. I will not find every minor defect in the home, but I often find a lot of them. My focus is on the big dollar items that cost serious money to repair or replace.
5. Ultimately a thorough inspection depends heavily on the individual inspectors own effort. If you honor me by permitting me to inspect your new home, I guarantee that I will give you my very best effort.
6. If you are present for the inspection (which I encourage), and you determine that I have not met your expectations, then let me know before I leave the property and I will return your inspection fee so that you can hire another inspector.
It’s really that simple! And you have my word!
