Home Inspection On A House With No Utility On?
How home inspector do the job when they inspect the house? i am talking about a VA house that had no utility on for 6 months! For example you will never know if AC is still in working condition until you turn it on ? you don't know if anywhere is leaking until you have water on and running thru the pipes? or toilet is clogged or not?
Sally :-? :-?
Unless the listing real estate broker is willing to activate the utilities... it's a crap shoot. However, if it's a level playing field, all prospective buyers will have the same data... and their offers will reflect the unknowns.
[addsig]
SSP's right, it IS kind of a crap shoot. However, an inspector can look at pipes, look at the age of a house, and know if they're reaching end of life. Things like they ac, he'll look at it, see if he sees anything obviously wrong with it, then if it's been sitting for that long without running, will recomend complete servicing by a qualified technician.
Also, he'll add a qualifier to his inspection saying that he was unable to test anything, and is going from visual only, as a CYA thing. I've known some of those guys that were just GOOD, and knew what they were doing, and it turned out pretty much as they had said in their report.
If you can't test it plan on replacing it. Learned that the hard way.
Hi Sally,
The utilities should be on in order to test the electrical, hvac, proper installation of insulation,appliance and other devices that are permanent.
Im not sure how VA.'s inspection reports read, but it should be noted on which systems were not tested and why.
If an agent is involved they should make arrangements well in advance to have the power turned on, if only for a day, most power companies will honor their request.
As I have reported in other post and articles, a licensed inspector carries quite of a bit of liability on his shoulders.......if power is not on a home then quite frankly it is not worth having an inspector come out and look at it....one would be better to have a contractor and plumber come out and check those items.
NC_Yank