Colorado here and that wasn't the case for me.

There were many, and varied things missed in my inspection. The biggest was the entire HVAC system being messed up. The furnace was incorrectly installed, improperly sized for the house, and didn't even have any return ductwork installed.

The air flow seemed really bad in the bedroom and so one day I decided to climb up into the attic and take a look. The problem with the return air missing was immediately obvious. When I called the inspector to ask why they'd miss something so obvious I was given an excuse and pointed toward the part of the contract that states they're not liable. I eventually got them to refund the cost of the inspection, but it was hundreds of dollars back for over ten thousand dollars in missed issues. I was only able to get anything because I worked for a real estate company at the time and knew the right people who could apply pressure.

IMO Home inspections are a total scam.

I agree, it feels really odd that making a huge ticket item purchase, if something goes wrong the max liability it the inspection price. A drop in the bucket for some issues they should have brought to light.

Here’s something I say to my clients: personally, if I am buying a property, I am unlikely to do an inspection because I’ve seen a lot of houses and systems and am generally able to assess for myself the quality of the systems and construction. But - especially for first time buyers - people who buy and sell houses infrequently and who don’t have a background in these things are at an informational deficit. For that reason, while the list of things an inspector checks can never be complete, it’s more information than a buyer may be able to gather on their own. Houses are just like software systems - they will never be bug free, bugs pop up for various reasons, and all an inspector is really doing is telling you the state of the system on a given day.

Also - I’m about to stop recommending one of my recommended inspectors, because he’s at best a “B”. He catches most issues, but the level of care isn’t what I want for my clients. There’s another guy I used to recommend but again, he’s nearing retirement and getting sloppy.

Those issues would require engineering judgment to assess. An inspector would be qualified to verify function and presence of the heating system.

That’s actually very close to the excuse they gave! It’s my opinion that if an inspector can’t identify the absence of a critical and primary component of a home, they don’t really provide much value.

I had a friend of mine get his house inspected when buying, they never found (so apparently didn't plug a tester into it) multiple loose plugs, didn't note the plumbing line wrapped in an inch thick of electrical tape for a leak, and said the roof was inspected for leaks and "certified" for atleast a year but told 5 years it would need a replacement. When their kitchen ceiling started bubbling a year in I went up into the attic space and it was clear the roof had been leaking since before they bought it by the stains and mold it left on the wood. It was a complete joke of an inspection, and what makes it worse is none of that was hard to access. The attic space was accessible from the garage area with no ceiling and was easily walkable with 10 ft+ height, the loose plugs were in the living room and in plain view right when you walk in, and the taped up pipe was 15 feet into a concrete basement with a mere glance upward. Not to mention the other laundry list of items that weren't broken really but should have been noted by an inspector doing their job.

They tried to get the inspector for the obvious bullshit roof inspection but after getting ran around multiple times to the point of needing to hire lawyer to go any further. But eventually dropped it when some roofing company came by and offered to do the roof for "free" through their insurance because of supposed hail damage in the area that basically replaced half the roofs in the town. That too was probably a scam on the insurance by the roofers because we never had big enough hail for damage, but they weren't going to complain about a free new shingle job.

TL;DR Don't just grab any random inspector, and especially never take recommendations from anybody connected to real estate.

Good inspectors exist. They’re not usually recommended by agents because they could cause a deal to fall through.

Real life example from Chatham County, NC. Family built a new house. Passed all inspections. House is not structurally sound and they've been advised the house needs to be completely rebuilt. They won a suit against the home builder, but the builder hasn't paid.

The county inspector was fired, but the county is not taking financial responsibility.

https://abc11.com/chatham-county-forever-home-dream-nightmar...

https://www.wral.com/family-says-chatham-county-inspectors-m...

Building inspections are not really the same as purchase inspections, or at least don’t seem to me like they should be. Purchase inspection generally might not see a partially-constructed building or blueprints or otherwise be able to verify the engineering plan is being followed—They’re looking for broken/nonfunctional appliances/mechanicals/systems, clear fire hazards, mold, infestations, and the like.

The outcome of a building inspection is a certificate of occupancy where the authority is stating the home is safe to live in, the outcome of a purchase inspection is a report of things to ask for a discount on, part of the purchase negotiation.

The Chatham County thing is crazy, I’m hoping the family manages to find someone accountable in that mess — clearly either the original architect, the builder, or the county let them down somehow. I’m just not sure it’s really an indictment of the “inspector” profession as discussed in this thread.