Article: Why NOT to move things during a home inspection

Hi Home Inspection Forum Readers!

As many of you have reached out with feedback on our risk management articles, we've discovered that many of the same questions and concerns keep coming up. Many of those ideas have inspired the articles we plan to write in 2020. And we explore just a piece of one in this case study.

The concept: When is it appropriate to exceed the Standards of Practice? And what increase in liability, if any, will I experience when I exceed the SoP?

In this case study, we see an argument against a relatively common inspection practice: moving seemingly harmless objects to conduct a more thorough inspection. While we're sure there are many cases in which inspectors did something similar without incident, we hope this claim can serve as an example of worst case scenario. And, with that example, we hope that readers like you are more equipped to make judgement calls on the job.

Enjoy!
Stephanie

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The Domino Effect: A Home Inspection Insurance Claim

The following is a real general liability insurance claim from our insurance claim archives. In order to protect the insured's identity, all identifiable characteristics?including names, associations, and locations?have been omitted or removed.

While performing a routine inspection, a home inspector stumbled upon a common problem: Some of the seller's belongings were inhibiting him from performing his inspection duties. Specifically, one of the seller's suitcases was obstructing the attic entrance.

Wanting to give his inspection clients, the buyers, the best service possible, the home inspector decided to move the suitcase. It was just one suitcase, he reasoned, and it made the difference between inspecting an entire area of the property and omitting it from his report.

Unbeknownst to the home inspector, the suitcase wasn't the only thing on the shelf. A stored- pressure fire extinguisher sat beside the suitcase and out of view. As the home inspector moved the suitcase, he bumped the out-of-sight fire extinguisher, sending the extinguisher crashing to the floor. Upon impact, the fire extinguisher cracked the tile floor and discharged into the cold air return of the running HVAC unit. The discharge blew throughout the house, leaving a fine layer of extinguisher dust in every room of the property.

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Thank you Stephanie. We have been using your articles in our meetings.
Good Stuff.

Glad to hear it! Let us know as you run into additional questions or a need for more resources. That feedback helps us decide what topics to address in future articles and presentations.

Great information. And this is why we always reach out to the listing agent/seller to either have them come and move things or just let them know that we are not going to be able to access a certain area for a particular reason.

Thanks, this is great info!

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/26/2022 07:48 AM EST

interesting information

During a home inspection, it's important to leave everything as it is and avoid moving things around. This is because moving things during a home inspection can interfere with the inspection process and may even create liabilities for the inspector or the homeowner. If you need a home/property inspection service.

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