home inspection lawyer

Boxers Or Briefs?

There’s a well-developed discussion that attracted a lot of commentary on one of the industry message boards that I visit regularly on what reporting methodology, Checklists or Narratives, is better.

The discussion centers on the question of which one is more likely to provide a defense in the event that a claim eventuates from the inspection. What was interesting to me was that, while the narrative format was by far the preferred methodology, each reporting format had its supporters and both received what I thought were insightful critiques of their respective shortcomings.

In the checklist format, the inspector follows a sequential series of questions about the home and simply checks a box to indicate whether the issue was “Satisfactory”, or “Needs Repair” or was “Not Inspected”. Some forms provide a limited space for annotating the reason that an item “Needs Repair” or was “Not Inspected”.

In the narrative format, the inspector states precisely what was inspected in a narrative form and gives a brief explanation why the item’s condition was satisfactory or not.
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Report Writing: First Person or Third Person

A home inspector in Connecticut recently asked me this question: Which report writing style is more defensible: writing in the first person or the third person? “I observed the roof to be in poor condition” or “The roof is in poor condition.”

I personally cannot recall ever reading a report that called out defects in the first person but that certainly does not mean that there have not been any. I think that most reports are written in a style that flows from first to third and back in a logical non-jarring way. “The roof appears to be in serviceable condition. No signs of water infiltration were observed, I recommend that you inquire of the sellers whether they have ever had any problems with the roof.”

But I do not believe that the choice of person – first or third – has any bearing on the defensibility of the report. The reports that I have the easiest time defending are ones that note the defect/concern in clear language, show a photograph of it with a red arrow pointing to it and repeat the observation in the Report Summary.
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