Ep. 8 Don’t Buy a Home Without This: Inspection Secrets Revealed

Most buyers don’t realize how much is riding on a home inspection until they’re already deep in the deal. This episode offers a grounded, practical look at what a home inspection really tells you.

Scott sits down with veteran home inspector Conall Barr to talk about how he found his way into the business and what he’s learned from decades of walking through other people’s houses.

Conall shares what he looks for first, the problems that show up over and over again, and the difference between a small repair and a real walk-away issue. They also get into what inspections can and can’t catch, how to use the report properly, and how homeowners can take better care of their places, and some of the things they sometimes leave behind...

Talk with Scott Dempster anytime about all things real estate.

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Email: [e-mail]
Website
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Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:11) - How Connall Became a Home Inspector
• (03:30) - How a Home Inspection Works
• (04:35) - Roofs, Drones & Why Details Matter
• (06:02) - Tennant troubles
• (07:08) - Sump Pumps, Basements & Water Issues
• (10:27) - The Importance of Running Appliances
• (12:53) - Attics, Electrical & Hidden Problems
• (18:20) - How to Read a Home Inspection Report
• (23:57) - What Inspections Can and Can’t Catch
• (30:04) - How to Prepare for an Inspection
• (35:59) - Are New Homes Built Better Than Old Ones?
• (40:06) - How to Maintain a Home Over Time
• (43:59) - Conclusion

Creators and Guests

Host

Scott Dempster

Scott Dempster is a Vancouver REALTOR® who offers tailored services to exceptional clients.

Guest

Conall Barr

Founder of Conall Barr Home Inspections, licensed BC home inspector and member of Home Inspectors Association of B.C.

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When I go to buy a car, I
expect the salesman to know

about the car he is selling me.

If he gets in and he opens up the
owner's manual and reads how to

adjust the radio or whatever it is,
I expect them to know the vehicle.

Everyone's got a real estate story, summer
winds, and some are total nightmares.

We are here to give you the keys to
what's really going on in Vancouver

real estate from what it actually
takes to become a real estate agent,

to what it really costs to build a
home and all the stories in between.

This is The Real Estate of Things
where nothing is off the table

and everything is negotiable.

Our guest today is a residential
home inspector, um, or maybe

do you also do commercial?

Commercial, yeah.

Also commercial.

Um, we've been using Conall for
a number of years on our team.

Um, Mr. Conall Barr,
thanks for coming in today.

It's great to be here,

isn't it excellent?

Everyone always says that, right?

But it is really great to be here.

Well, you sound good.

So that, that's a good thing anyways.

But, um, thanks for coming in and,
uh, like I said, you've been working

with us for a number of years, doing
all of our residential inspections for

detached homes, condos, town homes,
you name it, and stuff like that.

But, uh, first and obvious question
is how'd you get into this specific

industry, um, of home inspection?

You know, the question's a normal one,
and I get asked that, so I, I kinda have

this answer and it starts with swimming.

What, why, how does that Well, I was a
swimmer as a kid and uh, I eventually got,

uh, a scholarship offer to swim in Japan,
and so that got me to Japan and let's just

speed it up a little after graduating,
I was recruited to a trade company.

I thought, well, I don't
wanna do this kind of trade.

So I worked for stocks and bonds kind of
trading, and, uh, didn't like doing that.

So I came back to Canada to look
for a product I could sell in Japan.

I started selling building material.

So now you see the development, right?

So building materials.

So I started consolidating
two by four home packages.

Eventually log homes, two by four home
packages, apartment buildings over.

I was building them.

I was selling material and
building, building with builders.

I was bringing builders over and
eventually got to the point where I was

getting pretty proficient in construction.

Eventually moved back to Canada.

I'd lived there for about 10 years.

Moved back to Canada, continued my trade
company while I was also building homes.

So anyway, came back and, uh,
the Japanese Yen plummeted.

Now this was back in the eighties where
I started and I got sick of traveling to

Japan really just all the time over there.

So I went back to school and, uh, took,
uh, the courses for home inspection.

Where do you take that course?

BCIT.

What's involved with it?

Well now it's changed a lot.

There's about 150 hours, probably
75 hours of in class can be done

in as short as maybe three months,
four months if you were to do

everything at once and not have a job.

But usually it's about a year in
school and then, uh, you get out and

you have to have that doesn't make
you a home inspector, gives you your

education for being a home inspector.

Then after that you need
to get some training.

A lot of hours to become
a licensed home inspector.

Are, are you at that time, uh,
shadowing a home inspector themselves,

or, or are you shadowing framer, a
roofer, a plumber, an electrician.

There wasn't too much shadowing.

It was basically, okay, you know
what you're doing, go do it.

And so I went out and I,
I remember my first job.

I knew, I just remember it.

I remember going, oh my God,
I'm gonna see everything.

I'm gonna know everything.

And I thought, wow, that was easy.

And fortunately it was a townhouse
and it didn't have a lot of issues,

but it was kind of like, you're on,
you've got your education, you should

be able to do it without shadowing.

Now you go through a lot of shadowing

For real estate agents,
there's really no shadowing.

You're kind of thrown
into the fire quite a bit.

And, um, what is the process?

I mean, you, you pull up on site, um,
normally, uh, the listing agent to the

property, you will provide access or
possibly even a seller, things like that.

What's your process in terms of,
you know, not the extended long

version, but what do you start with?

What do you finish with
that kind of thing?

And what goes on in
the, in the inspection?

You'll find every inspector's
kind of his own own routine, and

most of them will start outside.

So I would do the exterior, then go
up on the roof, and then come down.

And if there's a crawl space,
I like to get that over with.

So I put on my, uh, crawl space,
uniform and, uh, crawl around

down there, then go inside.

I usually start from the
bottom, work my way up.

After doing a, a walk through the whole
house just to see where the bathrooms,

where the kitchens, and run a few things
here and there, and then go to the bottom.

And I like to start at the bottom, go up.

Sometimes, you know, when we had
multiple offers, we'd have two

or three inspectors on a house

Yeah.

At the same time.

Yeah.

During an open house.

Yeah.

During showings.

Oh, there's so much going on and sometimes
so at times like that, the inspectors

will go, well, I'm gonna start up, you
start down, or every, just trade off.

And so we're not bumping into each other.

Talking about the roofs
and things like that.

Um, I've been the listing agent,
obviously on properties and, um, the

home inspector shows up and there's
a drone flying over the house doing

photos or doing video, things like that.

Now, I know from experience working
with you, you're not a drone guy.

You like to actually get up on the roof.

Where do you see the importance
with, you know, physically being on

the roof, inspecting it, you know,
with your own two eyes as opposed to

using some of these 4K drones and,
and, and different things like that.

Like do you, do you see that as
the inspector using a drone, are

they kind of mailing it in so to
speak, or are they just doing things

differently or what's your take on that?

Drones were not allowed to be used for a
long time, but now they're permitted in

our association and I think there might
have been a, uh liability issue with that.

That was one thing.

But now inspectors are allowed to
use them, and I think you have to

do a course in order to use a drone.

What I feel is I don't use a drone
because I wanna be on the roof.

And I compare it to this, I ride
a motorcycle and when I'm riding

along with just a skull cap on
just an open helmet, I can see

everything from the left to the right.

Just imagine that you're out
there, you see everything.

You get into a car with all the blind
spots, you turn your head, you look,

you look, you don't know if you've seen
everything until you turn and look.

I feel that when you have a camera
lens and you have to turn the lens

back and forth to look around,
you don't know if you've missed

something until you've missed it.

But when you're standing on a
roof, you, you can see it all.

So to me, I'd rather be on the roof.

I mean, we've talked about this before
on, on another, um, recording we did.

And, uh, you know, when you, when you
deal with tenanted properties, right?

And, uh, it was Matt, with Matt
Greco doing photos and you know,

there's two types of tenants, right?

The ones that are amicable and
kind of get it and it's processed.

And then there's the tenants that are,
you know, pretty rooted in that property.

They don't want to go anywhere
or they just, you know, they

don't wanna be uprooted.

Man, some of the pushback we've gotten
for just access for home inspections,

to have you come in and things like
that, or you know, the tenants are there

and the place is an absolute disaster
and all that kind of stuff, right?

Yeah.

They typically don't clean up for you,
but one thing they do is you might be the

enemy, 'cause you and everybody coming in
is trying to get them outta their home.

Me, I'm the guy that they go,
oh, let's get that guy in.

Let's tell him everything
wrong with a place.

See this knob?

Every time you turn it,
it clicks, over here.

And they just show you the
silliest things and try to make

the biggest deal out of it.

You look at usually the sump pump
systems, which are the systems that

pump the water out to the municipal
systems and things like that.

That's kind of the next thing you look at.

Usually found in the
basements, that sort of thing.

Yeah, so there's two kinds
of pumps that you would have.

So you get to a house and there's a
really deep basement new house, and you

look around and all you see is ranchers
old, like fifties ranchers and that.

Well, they probably have their
basement below the storm sewer line

and before the below the sewer line.

So in that case any water or sewage down
in the basement has to get up and out.

So it's gonna be pumped up and out.

And two different pump systems,
obviously one for each.

And then there'll be a, a sump
for the outside, uh, storm

water with a sump pump in it.

It'll pump it up to a shallow sump, which
would collect the water from the roof.

Generally don't want to send the
roof water down to the foundation

and pump it back up again.

So that would go into a gravity sump.

So yeah, the next thing I would
do if that sump pump is in the

basement, we have an issue.

Houses that are new like that, they'd
have sump and some pump outside, but in

the basement you'd see the ejector pump.

Which is the wastewater.

So that'll be usually under
the stairs into the basement.

Have a look at that.

But you don't take that apart in a
home inspection or you just run all

the faucets and you, you listen for
it to activate and you hear the pump.

It goes, a little vibration
is working properly.

And that's the thing.

I mean, again, I've been a listening,
as you know, a property and the

buyers and the buyer's agents have,
have had their home inspector come

in and do a full inspection on the
home, but then they've also had a

mechanical or plumbing contractor
come and do a sump pump inspection.

How much importance is put
on something like that?

I mean, you know what you're looking
at, you've been in the business

long enough, that kind of thing,
but do you think that's overkill

or do you think it's beneficial?

Especially if it's a big house, if
it's a big basement, if it's an area

by a creek or a stream or a lake
or an ocean or something like that.

We, we aren't responsible for checking
the sump pump down in the bottom

of a 12 foot, uh, sump outside.

So we could run that, and the only way
to really check that if it's not raining

and doing it on its own is to reach into
the sump and lift up on the floats and

activate the pump to see if it works.

And it's funny you should ask that because
I was just called to a place yesterday,

the guy told me, you know, I hear this
alarm go off and I've checked all my

smoke detectors and it's not the smoke
detector, but it goes, beep, beep, beep.

And then it stops.

And so I looked and I, there's a panel
there for a sump pump and I said,

let's have a look at your sump pump.

So he went out and even though that's
not something I would do, it's,

it's due diligence to have a look
when you hear something like that.

So I put a hockey stick down,
lifted up on the, uh, on the float.

Nothing happened.

Lifted up on the next float.

So the sump pump was gone, and that
was the sump pump alarm going off.

So I went around to the ejector
pump and why don't you have a flood?

I'm thinking, so you went around to
the ejector pump under the stairs.

And water was pouring underneath the
house, going under the slab of the

basement floor and dumping into the lid
of the ejector pump where the sewer goes.

It was pouring, it was going through
the little gaps around there into the

box for the sewer, and the ejector pump
for the sewer was pumping out storm

water, it was getting under the house.

So he was saved by having that pump there.

But to have a specific professional
look at the sump system is a beneficial

Yeah, it's a good idea.

Plus you want to know also,
is there backup power for it?

And so the whole sump system,
it's pretty, uh, intricate.

It's not just a matter of does it run.

It's got, you got two pumps
down there, duplex system.

Usually one goes in the other
and one could be broken and

the other one's still working.

So you're outta the basement now.

Now, what do you inspect?

I guess we're up to the
kitchen, kitchen area.

I like to go in there and I typically
run the appliances, but we're

not required to do appliances.

You know what's funny is that, um, first
time I met you, you're inspecting one

of my listings, which coincidentally
was across the street here and you

probably don't remember it 'cause you've
inspected a bazillion places or whatever.

I opened up for you and
then let you do your thing.

Like I say, it was the, it was a
house directly across the street here.

And I remember I walked in
about two hours later just to

check if you needed anything.

You had all the appliances running.

I kind of looked around, I go, was
that you that ran all the appliances?

And you're like, yeah, well I like to run
'em to make sure they're working right.

And uh, I'll be honest, that was one of
the things that kind of tipped me off.

'cause that's when I started, when I was
selling my own, before Collin and before

the team, that's when I started using you.

'Cause I just, I kind of used someone
that I had searched and felt comfortable

with, and it was actually a company who
I used to use who did my home inspection

when I was still in construction.

I just said, oh, they were pretty
good and you know, I'll use them.

And yeah, they were pretty good, but I
just thought that extra step of doing the

appliances, which is such a key thing.

And one of the things that you always
see in your home inspections, we're

doing the walkthrough with the buyers
is day one on your possession day and

time, almost first thing you should do is
walk in and if you can't be there, your

agent should do it, someone like myself
or whatever, run all your appliances.

Because most contracts will say appliances
and working order on possession day.

Right?

And if you don't turn on the washer
and dryer until five days later when

you're running your first load of
laundry and you know, got all the

kids' stuff in there and everything
like that, there's really no recourse.

Because they could have said, well, I
was working on possession, and that's

all they're obligated to, right?

So, It is something that comes up
quite regularly in the industry.

The wine fridge doesn't work, or the steam
oven or the basement beer fridge outside

the home theater and things like that.

And, uh, they all cost money
and it's annoying to deal with.

It's not a, you know, massive thing
that people are gonna lose sleep on.

But, you know, if the, if the kitchen
stove range isn't working, it's 20 grand

and people pull the fast one on you,

you don't wanna see anything like that,

but you wanna know.

Right.

Your first meal there
and you can't cook it.

It's actually even more
important when you do a condo.

You go to a condo and you look
around, okay, what am I gonna

expect if I don't do the appliances?

It's such a big part of a condo.

So you've done the kitchen, you've
done the appliances upstairs,

bathrooms, all that kind of stuff.

You're looking for problems
more or less, right?

Yeah.

The next thing that was, you know, you
go from the crawlspaces and basements.

That's where you generally
find a lot of stuff.

The middle floor is where people live and
they're all, they're there all the time.

Oh, this thing doesn't
work, let's get it fixed.

'cause they see it all the time.

But outta sight, outta mind.

So the next place is the attic.

And once I get into the attic, then
it's, that's where I can see a lot of

things that have just been brushed aside.

Or the person who did some repairs,
typically electrical up there

and they weren't an electrician.

But they made it work

kinda like they've wanted to put a, you
know, a chandelier light in, in an area.

So they've had a electrician go up there
and run wire and it's not done properly.

Possibly something like that, that
would hang below the attic space, right?

If they had an electrician go up there,
a pretty good chance it's done well.

You ever seen some
weird shit in the attic?

I always say it, always do.

I gotta tell you back when, I
dunno, it was like 15, 20 years

ago, I opened a hatch and it
was a kid's, the boy's bedroom.

Oh yeah.

And you had this stash
of Playboy up in there.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

It's so funny.

I mean, they don't have that, well,
I guess they have 'em, but it's

just not a, not a thing anymore.

We, we actually had one, um, and
it was a listing I had, and it was

out in, um, central Surrey and.

Gave access, um, met the buyer's
agent there, and that's a good one.

Gave the buyers access and, um.

The agent was there.

So I met him and just said, okay, here's,
you know, everything is, and the hot water

and this and that and everything, right?

And, um, the buyers were
actually, um, a church.

So it was a, it was a, it was a
priest and his family being relocated

from, I think back east somewhere.

And, um, they were gonna be the
buyers and, uh, the church was

gonna purchase the home and the
priest was gonna live there, right?

With his family and everything.

So, um, I let the agent take over and,
you know, sometimes I'll stay at the

home inspection for the entire process
if the other agent can't be there or if

our clients want to, things like that.

In this case, clients were like, no,
it's fine, as long as there's a buyer's

agent present, you can take off.

So we take off and, um, come back about,
you know, two, three hours later and,

uh, the, the, the priest is there and
his, his, his wife and thier three

young kids and talk to the buyer's
agent out on the driveway kind of thing.

And they're all excited and the kids
are running around and things like that.

And, uh, so I'm like, okay, so, you
know, you do the typical thing and

you go in and you lock up the house.

And, uh, go, you know, start upstairs,
shut all the lights, shut all the

doors, make sure the toilet seats
are down, all that kind of stuff.

Right.

And there was, um, a space above a
garage, above the garage, and it was

a finished space and it had the, um,
what do you call it, where it's like

that, like dormer walls on either side.

Right.

And it's a long hallway.

Yeah.

So there's almost like a
cavity space on the other side.

And they had these little doors,
like the door to Hogwarts or

something like that right.

And the doors were wide open.

Right.

And.

I look inside, shut off the light,
and there's a stack of playboys.

They were everywhere.

The buyers, so the buyers kids up in
this playroom discovered the playboys.

I went, holy shit.

But hey, we still got the, we still
got the subject rule in the house sold.

But oh my God, that was, that was one of
the funniest scenarios I've walked into.

I never heard a word from this, from
the buyer's agent or anything like that.

Like it went off without a hitch.

But I went, oh my God.

And these playboys were like from like
the sixties, so I don't even think

they were there from, from our clients.

Those, the previous people.

Yeah.

I think they were like generations ago
in the house or something like that.

And these kids discovered the things.

But that was a pretty good one.

Some of the, um, we go on, on
that topic forever, I guess.

Oh, I know.

'cause they, you do find a
lot of that sort of stuff.

One of the most common things.

I mean, you talked about some, you
know, bad electrical work or something

like that, that you'll see in an attic.

It's a lot of rodent stuff, and you've
talked about that at home inspections,

you know, and it's good for people
to know too, especially when you have

trees around a house in a area of
North Vancouver, things like that.

And you have branches extending
to kind of the, to the gutters and

over the roof and things like that.

That's where these little guys they
love to climb up there and get in

and burrow and you know, they want
to be where it's warm, obviously.

Right?

But that's probably the most
common thing you see is rodents

in an attic space, right?

And is it, I, I mean
everyone's different, right?

In how they interpret it.

Is that a major concern or is
it more just to get pest control

person before or the possession
to say, or right when you move in?

When you see droppings and
they're dropping from a rodent,

they'll look the same after a
week as it does for five years.

So you can't really tell by looking at
droppings, whether it's fresh or not.

Sometimes you'll see urine on the
vapor barrier and you go, okay,

well that's, that's pretty fresh.

'cause that would've evaporated.

So in that case, you could
say it seems to be current.

But first thing is to remember that a
home inspector is not a pest control

detective, so we're not there to find
that, but if we see it, we're gonna

bring it to the client's attention.

And then what I'll always do
is, well, how's it getting in?

Let's add a little bit more help to
this, and let's show them the access.

I'm up on the roof.

I might as well look and you're to
pay somebody else to go up and look.

And often I'll find the access.

Most common access is if you have two
roofs and the upper roof comes down

to the, where it meets the lower roof.

Or rather when the lower roof
comes up to meet the eaves or

the soffit of the upper roof.

You get a bit of an angle there, and
that's where the rodents can push

themselves up through the soffit material.

And usually you'll see, oh, there's
a, there's a big enough gap, one inch.

That's all you need.

Okay, so now you've obviously
inspected the whole house,

so you're kind of finishing.

Then you write out the report, and
usually what we say to people is if the

home inspection starts at one o'clock,
and again, going back to the 3000 square

foot house, three levels, you're usually
about three hours, three to four hours,

depending on kind of the nuances of
the house, that kind of thing, right?

So then myself or whoever's,
whoever's, you know, the, the

buyer's agent on our team will
arrive, meet the buyers themselves,

and we do a physical walkthrough.

Your reports are super, super detailed.

What are you going through?

I mean, you're obviously going
through all your findings, but what

are the key things or what's your
process to walk buyers through?

Because we have buyers that's their
first home and they're buying a, a

condo and it's, you know, the biggest
purchase obviously, of their lives.

And then you have, a person
buying their third home in a

whistler or something like that.

And, you know, you get a thicker skin to
anything as you, as you go on with it in

terms of buying and selling real estate.

And you, you know, some people,
sometimes it shocks me on things

you've discovered and they're like,
oh, it's not that big of a deal.

And I'm thinking, oh my
God, gotta address that.

Right?

But what's your process?

What's kind of your, the language
you're using and that kind of thing.

First thing I, I wanna know is I
don't ask directly, but what is

the sophistication of the buyer?

Is he a builder or is it a first
time home buyer like you mentioned?

Usually you figure out just by
chatting for a little bit, you

start talking about things and you
can probably get a feel for it.

So sometimes they need a little bit
more explanation, a little more detail.

Sometimes they just want
to know what the fact is.

They don't care how it got
there, just what's the fact?

Each one of my walkthroughs is
gonna be geared for the client.

Do you get a lot of, um, you know, there,
there's so many, you know, memes and

realtor Instagram pages we follow and
it's like the buyer's dad or the buyer's

mom and dad that come into the home
inspection, is that a real thing that you

find and, and do they try and like show
you up and hell, did you look at this?

Did you look under there and
you know, that kinda stuff?

Have you, have you had
something like that?

I'm pretty sure that
happens to all inspectors.

Let's say fathers come, feel they
should be there and they should

know 'cause it's their kid.

They wanna be there, but they don't
really know and they're nervous about

being there and, and so I usually pick
up on that and help 'em out a little bit.

I think the thing to remember as
a home inspector is not pretend

to know something you don't know.

There's always gonna be somebody
out there that does know.

Tell 'em what you know.

And if, if it is something that
the guy came along, maybe he

does, maybe he's a technician.

Maybe he does fire
sprinklers for a living.

Yeah.

And now he's in real estate.

Yeah, exactly.

That's you.

That's me.

So yeah.

You know that you don't know
what people know, but, uh, so

don't try and bluff your way.

Okay.

So, so you're doing the walkthrough.

There's a million things to point out.

From very tiny to very large.

You know, we've had home inspections
and our clients have walked

away on st on findings that
you've had, and rightfully so.

They've been absolutely massive
issues and you address them.

But how do you, how do you kind
of navigate that to not scare the

shit out of buyers, but also make
them very aware of, you know,

this is something to be aware of.

This could be a big issue.

Yeah.

So there is, uh, various levels of
comfort, as you were saying, with

different problems in a house.

And I explain the issue and I feel
they've done a pretty good job of

giving the magnitude of the issue.

And let's just say this is a, a serious
one, and as the client isn't getting

it, and I can see that there's, yeah.

Okay.

Well, what else is, is there
anything like serious wrong?

Then I will stay on the topic.

I can keep talking about it until I
understand that they do understand their

magnification of what I've talked about.

Do you find that, um, because most
times the buyer's agent is there

walking through with, with the buyers
and yourself doing the physical

walk through the home inspection.

Do you find that some buyer's agents, they
almost try and sweep it under the rug?

Like if you're going, hey, this
foundation's pretty shot, and the

buyer's agent's going, oh, you
could fix that for five grand.

And in the back of your head you're going,
it's absolutely not a five grand fix.

Do you see that a lot?

And I mean, you know, you've
been brought in, recommended in

most cases by the buyer's agent.

But you have obviously a duty and
a job and to do, and you know, so

that, uh, they can feel good and know
and understand what they're buying.

But do you ever see that with buyer's
agents where they're kind of trying to

make an issue smaller than it actually is?

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe a couple times a week.

Uh, that'll happen.

You know, it's quite, it's quite common
and sometimes I feel like they're

trying to find out if I'm gonna agree.

And yes, it is simple.

Maybe they, they think, oh, you
might be scaring this, this client,

can you tone it down a little bit?

Sometimes maybe that's what they're doing.

But the fact is a fact and it's gotta
explain what it is and how it got there.

So when that happens, I
talk directly to the client.

This is, this is what I'm telling you.

We're not a team.

Your agent and I are not
a team explaining this.

I'm explaining this.

So listen to what I'm saying and
it'll be in my report like that.

It'll be pictures.

It'll justify it in my report.

So if you hear something else during
the walkthrough, it's not what I said.

I don't say as blunt as that,
but that's, you know, this is my

job to explain this house to you.

Yeah, it's, it's definitely a big thing.

And if you interject, I
think as a buyer's agent.

Try and make it a smaller issue than it
is or kind of sweep it under the rug,

who usually gets the blame a year down
the road or six months down the road.

It's, you know, the agent
and or the home inspector.

And you deal a ton of that, right?

And I, I think what a lot of people
think is, you know, home inspector

should have caught that or should
have known that, things like that.

But what you have to
know and understand too.

I'm not speaking outta turn.

I'll hear it from you, but you,
you don't rip the drywall off

a wall to see what's behind it.

Most of what you're doing, the exception
of a few areas is visual surface level,

and, and that's something that people
need to know and understand too, right?

They need to know and understand
that, uh, it's a visual inspection and

that somebody lives in that house and
they have their furniture, their wall

hangings, their drapes, their, all
their product, their rugs on the floor.

The house is full of that.

When you pull all that stuff
out, it's a lot different.

If you're in the basement and
there was suitcases and ping pong

tables piled up against a wall.

We can't start moving
somebody else's stuff around.

The person who owns that house
is the seller, not me, the

inspector, and not you, the buyer.

We can't start moving their stuff around.

So it's limited to what
I can see on that day.

And every inspector, they're
limited to what they can see.

Yeah, right.

You know, you touched on, actually,
I, I've known you for a long

time, but you know, before I
was in real estate, I was in.

Fire protection, fire
sprinklers, and high rises.

Then I was in sales for that.

Things like that.

I grew up in, you know, kind of, uh,
construction sites working for my dad

and then even when I was growing up, my
parents renovated every home we lived in.

So I'd done framing with my dad
and worked around trades and

Brian Rantz good friend, general
contractor we had on a few weeks ago.

I know a lot from him.

And then oftentimes when people
want to do, you know, renovations,

we'll bring them in, you know, same
day as the, the home inspection.

Take advantage of the
time, things like that.

How much importance is put on real
estate agents or how much importance

do you think should be put on
that they should have some level

of understanding of construction?

I think it'd be very important.

Uh, when I go to buy a car,
I expect the salesman to know

about the car he is selling me.

If he gets in and he opens up the
owner's manual and reads how to

adjust the radio or whatever it is,
I expect them to know the vehicle.

And so I feel that.

Anybody trying to sell a product should
know the product they're selling.

I wouldn't expect a realtor to
know all about framing and this

balloon framing all the types.

I wouldn't expect from it to know that,
but that you have headers in a wall.

That's kind of a, a basic concept.

Um, and if not the, there's other things
in the home that you look at it and it

should be able to explain a few things.

But more importantly, when
I'm doing a walkthrough or any

inspector saying walkthrough, I'll
explain things the best I can.

And then what happens is I leave.

Who's left with the buyer?

It's the agent.

And the agent, I would hope would've
understood to a higher degree,

what I've said than the buyer, and
maybe the realtor can explain, oh,

well, what he was saying was this.

Yeah, for sure.

The home inspection's done on a
property, let's say, you know, there's

a few issues maybe there minor.

Let's pick one house.

There's minor issues.

It's a leaky kitchen faucet.

Some drywall cracks.

It's, you know, you need, um,
fix a, a gutter, a few minor

things and that's house A.

House B has a cracked foundation.

It's got a roof that's failing.

It's filled with poly B piping, which is
no longer to code and, you know, fails

pinhole leaks and things like that.

So, house A is very minor things and
house B is very major things right.

We always say it's kind of our mantra
with home inspections, what we say to

clients going into it and even coming
out of it is that a home inspection's

intended purpose is really to know and
understand the home that you're intending

to purchase, rather than a home inspection
being used as a bargaining chip for

price reduction and things like that.

Now on house A, like I say, if they're
minor issues, if they're minor problems,

um, kind of what I call Home Depot repairs
or, or things that could be easily done

by most homeowners, you know, that's
like I say, to know and understand.

But when it comes to major things,
major dollars, foundation, roof,

things like that, those are caused to
have potentially further negotiations

with, um, finding a middle ground
to make sure that everyone feels.

Good about the transaction.

Obviously

you always get people ask cost.

I mean, that's what people want to know.

We bring up issues and uh,
well, how much we can't talk

about anything to do with cost.

I might be able to say, well, I
just had a roof done the similar

size and it cost me 40,000.

Or some comment like that, but I
couldn't say the price of something

on this home is gonna cost this much.

Stay away from that completely.

Clients always want to know that, and
then the best thing for them to do

is to take the report and then find a
contractor who can get a real price,

not just a rough guess from somebody
who doesn't do it for a living.

Exactly.

Bring in a professional in that field
to know and understand, gets hard

numbers because your job is to be, you
know, the eyes for what you can see,

know, and understand based on your
expertise and to pass that on to a buyer.

But it's not, you're not
a general contractor.

You're not a, a framer, a
plumber, things like that.

Yeah.

Um, although you have a ton of
experience in it, like you said.

Yeah.

We don't, we don't price it out.

We don't, I wouldn't know what it costs.

Yeah, exactly.

Within your industry and in comparison
to real estate, we have pretty

darn low barrier to entry, right?

You as long as you're 21, as long as
you're not a criminal, and as long

as you take the real estate course
and you pass and you do your, you

know, basic criteria to become a
realtor, you're a realtor, right?

Here I am.

I can buy, sell, um, real
estate in British Columbia.

Um, you touched on BCIT course,
some hours or a lot of hours.

Do you think that there's too low of
a barrier to entry for the profession

of home inspectors, and do you think
there should be greater schooling in it?

I think that the home inspection
business is better served by inspectors

who have background in construction,
uh, and renovation will be the best.

You know, a home renovator because
what happens there is you rip a

wall apart and you see the problem
and you go, oh, I know what caused

that problem, I'm gonna fix it.

New construction, you just build it
correctly the first time and uh, you're

not really dealing with problems.

So before actually going to BCIT or
doing any of the other courses, I

believe it's much more valuable to
have a lot of on-hand experience and,

and, and hit this with experience.

Then you go get all the knowledge
that you can't get in the field.

There's just too many categories
to be in all the different sub

trades and, and learn them all.

So then you go to the school.

Then the next part is
experience after you get out.

'Cause I learn every day something and
after 26 years of learning something

every day, that's a lot of somethings.

So you become better and better
and better as time goes on

When we're listing agents on
properties and, uh, we reach,

you know, accepted offer.

They wanna do a pre-inspection or
whatever the inspection might be.

In my opinion, there's not too, too
much for, um, sellers to prepare for

in terms of a home inspection, right.

Other than have your lights on,
maybe your home, maybe you're

not, maybe ask your tennants,

Well, I, I could give a list to
sellers, so if I could do that.

Yeah, yeah.

What are some of those?

Well, the places we need to go,
we have to see the electric panel.

We can't have shelves in front of
it, and if there are, we're not

allowed them into the shelf, which
means we can't see the panel.

If we can't see the panel.

Okay.

We say we couldn't, well,
we can see the panel.

We can't open it to look at the wiring
inside, then we have to write it.

Well, we couldn't see the panel.

That doesn't do anybody any service.

It was easier for the inspector
because you didn't have to put

a screwdriver and take it up.

But if everything's accessible
to the home inspector, be able to

get at the furnace and remove the
cover and get at the water heater.

See the, uh, water heater,
all sides of the water heater.

The, the main water shutoff is something
that is often hidden underneath boxes

underneath the stairs somewhere.

It'd be nice to be able to
have a nice path to that.

Uh, so those are major systems,
should be very accessible.

And then the attic access, it's
always gonna be, well, not always,

but most of the time it's gonna be in
the primary bedroom, in the closet.

And right below it is all the dresses
of dinner, dresses, and suits and

nice clothing all hanging up, and we
have to go up and open that hatch up.

So the best thing is to hang a
sheet over all the, uh, the clothing

Or some poly

Yeah,

some plastic.

Yeah.

And just, just to protect the
clothing or remove them from on

the bed, something like that.

Uh, then the expector can come in the
ladder, go up, have a look, come down.

If some insulation falls down, which iss
bound to happen, it's easier to clean

up than if it's all over the shoulders
of the, the suits hanging there.

So inspections.

I mean, if we have clients looking
at a, a detached home, uh, here on

the North Shore and it's, you know,
20-year-old home and families live there,

original owners taking care of it, good
maintenance, things like that, we always

recommend doing a home inspection.

Which undoubtedly always finds things,
and like I said, some of them can be

Home Depot fixes and pea traps, and
a broken gutter or a cracked window,

and you know, things that come in
with common wear and tear in a home.

The question that, that we get asked
quite a bit, um, when we sell condos, town

homes is A, do I need a home inspection?

And then B, if it's brand new,
on a detached home condo or town

home, do I need an inspection?

What's your thought on that?

The brand new homes, I usually
have a pretty long list

because, uh, it's brand new.

Nobody's lived in there.

Nobody's been there to see the problems
and phone them into the builder.

So sometimes they're deficiency.

For example, you have the trim around
the window and they didn't paint one

end of it, and you've got the open
grain there that it can rot faster.

So put some primer on there and paint it.

Sometimes it's little things like
that, but often, uh, the roofer

left a two by four nail to the roof.

So he could stand on it, but
forgot to go back and take it off.

So I do find a lot of
things in brand new homes.

It's the home that's maybe a year
or two old where somebody has lived

there and, and the person who lives
there is a person who had it built and

they were on the phone pretty quick.

Hey, there's a two by four nail to
my wall, to my roof, get it off.

So after about a year, year,
maybe two, it's probably gonna

have a lot less wrong with it.

And then you get into wear and
tear 2, 3, 4 years down the

road, things that go wrong.

And then you get the home DIY.

The DIY guy who's after three,
four years, I'm not going to

hire somebody, I'll do it myself.

So now you start finding
problems like that.

Condos and, um, and townhouses.

Townhouses, yeah, they're just
like houses, they share a wall.

So there's no reason not to get a
home inspection out a townhouse.

Uh, condos, if you're not gonna do the
appliances and it's a concrete high

rise, your way at the top, there's
more information that I'm giving.

I'm teaching the buyer and, and a
lot of times the condos, the smaller

ones are first time home buyers.

They don't understand what the
lint trap is on a washing machine.

Everybody knows what there's in
a dryer, but what's this for?

And it'll get left.

Uh, the secondary lint trap on the dryer,
there's a lot of education I can give

to a, uh, first time buyer in a condo.

So it goes beyond, oh, everybody's
not gonna find a crack in the wall

and the building's not falling down.

No, it's not, but you might wanna know
this stuff and you're getting educated.

Exactly, you're, I mean, like you say, for
first time home buyers, um, you're, it's

a little bit of, you know, handholding
and helping them know and understand

what home ownership is and things
like lint traps and things like that.

And where, they might not know
where their electrical panel is in

the unit, things like that, that
they need to know and understand.

Smoke alarms, you know, all
those kinds of things too.

What goes into, I do the roof off.

Well, high rise is you don't really
get on the roofs anymore, but the low

rise is up on the roof and uh, parking.

Go to the parking, I do storage,
lockers, parking, check that out.

And, um, what you wanna know in a condo
is okay, maybe my unit's fine, but is it

fine to come up with a bill, special levy
that I'm gonna have to pay $20,000 to.

We'll check the minutes.

Yeah.

And if it's not in the minutes, well
maybe they haven't done the review yet,

so it doesn't mean it won't get done.

So look into it and find out
if that expense is coming up.

If it was you making the call and
we got an accepted offer on Friday

night and we had till the following
Friday night for a subject removal

to go firm on the transaction.

If it was you making the call, when
would you do that home inspection?

The home inspection should be done
fairly early because in the home

inspection, I'll probably find things
where you've gotta go do further review.

So you wanna have time to call the
contractor in and say, how much

is it to change the sump pump?

How much is it for a brand new roof?

Because I thought the roof was fine.

Uh, something like that.

And that contractor needs time
to come out and look at it.

So there's a domino effect that
might start with a home inspection.

And you don't wanna be rushed into
say, well, I have no, I, I've gotta put

my offer in my four o'clock at night.

I'm just gonna have to, I hope
it's around a $10,000 thing, I can

afford 10 and you go ahead with it.

Oh, I didn't have time to look it up.

So I think very early in the process,
but not only that, personally,

I've got, you gotta be three
days out, at least book a job.

So just because you're phoning doesn't
mean you can get it the next day.

Do you feel that?

You know there's a ton going on.

When we talked to Brian Rantz about
this, there's a ton of changes

going on with code and Energuide,
and you know, ratings and you know,

requirements for new built construction
and all these sorts of things.

Do you think that homes today
are built better than they

were 50, 60, 70, 80 years ago?

I have a rule of thumb that I've
kind of refer to every now and then,

but let me first mention that you
mentioned the word code, and a home

inspector does not inspect to code.

Just everybody has to know that.

That, so you, if you, if you
were to move into a home and

say, see that is not to code.

Well, maybe it's not, but we
inspect houses that are 120

years old up until brand new.

So if we were to inspect, inspect to code,
then we would've had to know the code

for every single era that we inspect.

And we can't do that.

So we're not code inspectors, but,
that really wasn't your point.

Um, eras; as we go through the
construction eras, we get up to different

eras, such as during the war while houses
weren't built with that much extravagance.

So you have copper, for example.

They needed copper for other
things, so they would make the

pipes and the walls thinner.

You have thin walled copper.

Which isn't usually around, and
by now, it's, uh, failed and

been ripped out of the house.

But the copper used in 1946, '47, '45,
'44 in, around, after the war, World

War II, I mean, um, it wasn't very good.

Uh, then you get into the fifties
and sixties where it's not bad.

Then I find that, um, the oil crisis came
into play and, and, um, and, and things.

People started looking for
ways to do things cheaper.

And smaller and cheaper
and, and save a buck.

And so all these products came
onto the market that would

be cheaper and easier to do.

To use ABS pipe is still used today, but
for example, it was cast iron and copper

and you had a balance spiggot joint, you
had lead pouring in and oakum in there

and all these weird stuff you had to do.

You could ABS pipe, a medical loop.

Female male fitting done
is still used today.

Great.

That actually changed it.

It used to be really heavy
stuff, but now it's got little

air pockets, so it's lighter.

Um, but then they came out within the
late eighties, this polybutylene pipe.

So they got poly B. Yeah.

And that went until it started failing
mid nineties, and then it got banned

around the end of the nineties.

That era there where the
piping wasn't any good.

Electrical.

Go back to the seventies.

Copper got really expensive,
so aluminum was a good option.

Well, aluminum and copper, dissimilar
metals, you go galvanic reaction

occurring and you get corrosion between
the two .And corrosion between two

metals are conducting electricity,
causes arcing and arcing causes fires.

So aluminum wire not a good
thing for insurance companies.

There's different eras after the seventies
where, well, there's certain problems that

are, are inherent with a lot of homes.

Although I've been into a 1975
home and it was all copper, so it

doesn't mean it's gonna be bad.

But that's kind of those eras, seventies
era, eighties era, nineties era.

Then when the rain screening
came out in '06, '06, '07, houses

started getting a lot better.

And I look at houses now and well, if
you got a house in 2007 and later built,

there's not much that's gone wrong.

I mean, that's also, you know, those
things that you discover, if it's a 1960s

or seventies or eighties or whatever
it may be, that's kind of going back

to doing the inspection early in the
process because you find poly B pipe

or you find knob and tube wire, or you
find aluminum wiring, things like that.

Yes, they're still gonna want to get
a plumber in or an electrician to know

and understand what the rewire cost is.

But from day one of your possession,
you know, that work won't be done.

That's something that they need to, you
know, relay the message to their home

insurance, um, which is job number one
on, and home insurance is obviously

directly tied with the financing
component and everything else like that.

And you just think of the trickle
effect or the, the rippling wave

effect on how that week or two weeks
goes on for your subject period.

Getting that home inspection early in the
process is so integral to the process.

'cause of everything else through
your discoveries that you're

gonna find that people need to
know and understand and rely on.

Right, so?

And if nothing comes up
of significance, great.

Relax.

Totally; move on forward.

If you were to give a homeowner advice,
um, whether they're, um, you know, before

they go firm on the purchase of a home,
or even if they're just living in the home

and you run into them and you, and they
ask for some advice on what they should

do to make sure that they're keeping
their home in the best condition possible.

And it's kind of a big blanket question,
but what would that recommendation be

when the time comes to sell the house?

What would, what can they and should
they be doing throughout their ownership

time to protect their investors.

Excellent

question.

Yeah.

When I get into a home and I see a
little old lady come out in her walker,

that house is probably gonna be pretty
good because she hasn't done her own

wiring and her own plumbing and her
own whatever, and she's hired people.

Not always, but that's a
pretty good rule of thumb.

And I get out there, I look at
beautiful plumbing under the sink.

Everything's done right.

No shortcuts.

So if you hire professionals or
really know what you're doing

throughout the ownership of your home.

Pretty good chance that when an inspector
comes in, there aren't gonna be problems.

Sometimes we have you do a home
inspection and we finish up and we're

out front with the buyer or buyers and,
uh, we say, thanks very much, Conell.

And you get in your
vehicle and you drive off.

And if the home inspection didn't
go great, let's say, um, and there

was a number of you know kind of red
flag or alarming issues, um, that

were brought up because they're real
issues and, you know, dollars and cents

could be quite high on those items.

I've been asked the question,
would you buy this house?

I, I would say, the longer I go
in the business and the, the way

that we add value to our clients is
just, you know, being honest, right?

And not trying to hide issues or trying
to sugarcoat them or anything like that.

You know, I give 'em the honest truth
and say, well, you know, these are

real costs, if it, whether it's 2000
or 5,000 or 50,000, and you know,

what's our purchase price here?

Is it way below?

You know, is it a steal of a deal?

And does putting say $50,000 into fix
an item that is needing to be addressed,

does that still make financial sense?

You know, I, I never give
the the answer yes or no.

Um, you gotta provide context with it.

Vancouver loves pools at houses.

I don't.

Yeah, and what's the reason for that?

Is it much like we're talking,
you're not a dedicated professional

in the field kind of thing?

You gotta be under license
to do something like that.

This if pool equipment, um, there's a lot
of pool inspectors out there, especially

in the West Van, North Van area.

A lot of swimming pools out here,
so there's a lot of companies

driving around that do that.

And plus it takes a long time
and you start adding that

onto our home inspection time.

We just aren't given that much
time to do a home inspection.

One question.

Historical homes, there's some
home inspectors that, you know,

specialize in historical homes.

Is that a myth or is there something to
that with inspecting historical homes?

I would expect, I don't think that
you really should specialize in

one era, but uh, you may like them.

I love old homes.

I just love being in them.

When you look at modern homes and all the
intricacies that can go into a modern home

and then you look at a 1910 home that's
a survivor, um, there's not much there.

So to specialize in something that
doesn't have much there versus

something with heat pumps and all
sorts of different heating systems

and specialized thermostats and that,

How do listeners reach you?

Uh, where can they find you?

So it's 604-838-2277 that spells Barr.

838-Barr.

Yeah.

And then where can they find you online
for home inspections, things like that.

[e-mail] or
[e-mail].

Okay.

Well, Conall, this has been absolutely
awesome, informative, ton of fun.

Yeah, gotta do it again.

Alright.

Appreciate it man.

Thank you.

Thanks for hanging out with us.

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