Most anyone that has bought or sold a house is aware of the challenges that will come up between the time an offer is accepted, and the time the deal finally closes. One of these is the home inspection—when a qualified and/or certified individual looks over the property carefully for any mechanical or structural defects. Sometimes a discovered problem can be large enough to merit a repair before the sales transaction can take place.
We recently had a customer move to our area from the East Coast. Their home inspector discovered rat feces and holes chewed in the ductwork of the house they were intending to buy. As a result, they insisted on having a new duct system installed and having it included in the final price of the home. We were called to provide the new duct system. We ended up installing a metal system, which will help reduce further exposure to rodent damage.
While in this instance, the problem was discovered by a general home inspector, we have had countless other customers tell us that their own home inspection missed some costly problems in their HVAC equipment. In our experience, many general inspectors don’t know enough about heating and cooling equipment to expertly determine defects or potential problems with a system. However, some inspectors do refer their customers to professional contractors if they suspect something needs a qualified diagnosis.
So, for anyone purchasing a house, we not only recommend a general home inspection, but we also recommend having a qualified HVAC service technician thoroughly inspect the heating and cooling equipment—before agreeing to buy the house. This is a smart and pro-active way to prevent costly HVAC repair bills from occurring shortly after moving into the new home.