If something gets damaged during a home inspection, is it right to assume that the home inspector is at fault? Perhaps you feel that the obvious answer would be yes, but that is not necessarily the case. Why?

It should first be noted that we are not talking about damage caused accidentally to an item like a mirror or ornament, etc. Rather, we are referring to damage caused as a result of the home inspection itself. The reason why homeowners carry out a home inspection is to find out the condition of their property. This will usually require the home inspector to access areas of the house that are almost never touched. If these seldom touched areas have started to decay or fallen into disrepair, then the first person to enter such an area, i.e., the home inspector, will likely cause further damage simply by accessing the space. In such an instance, we could hardly say the inspector was at fault, they were just doing their job.
A home inspectors’ job is not to damage property, and they will do all they can to leave the place as they found it. However, on the rare occasion that damage is caused during the home inspection, we cannot always assume it was due to clumsiness or carelessness on their part.
If you would like to learn more about the way we carry out our inspections, please feel free to contact us.