Home inspection recommendations?

[Flyover]

For the first house I bought I got an inspection done by a guy from Pillars to Post. He was very friendly, thorough, and professional, and actually taught me a lot just in those few hours as I followed him around. During the year I lived in that house, nothing new popped up that wasn't in his report (although the house was in great shape and very well-mantained so nothing really popped up at all). I remember the inspection costing somewhere between $500 and $1000. No idea if I got ripped off, got a sweet deal, or if this is a pretty standard price range.

For the second house I bought, which I currently live in, my friend's dad did the inspection. In addition to being a home inspector he's also a licensed (certified?) environmental engineer, so his report carried a lot of weight. He did a pretty thorough job and his inspection was very helpful too, although he missed the fact that the bathroom exhaust fans were venting straight into the attic because he wasn't in good enough physical shape to get back there to see. I won't disclose here what that inspection cost but let's just say I got the "friends & family discount".

My friend's dad has since retired and now my wife and I have put an offer on what we hope will be our next house. If our offer is accepted then our next step will be to get an inspection. My first instinct is to go back to Pillars to Post. But first I figured I'd check here and see if anyone has any other recommendations?

My friend's dad said he'd be willing to come out and look at the house and tell me if he thinks anything serious is wrong with it; although that won't help me as much in the negotiation, would it be a stupid idea to just leave it at that and not pay for an actual inspection? (This might be one of those things where I know the answer but just need to hear it from someone else...)

 

[joecaption]

In my area what you paid for a real inspection was on the very high side.
If he's unable to crawl under a house or an attic your wasting your money.

 

[oldognewtrick]

It's well within your right to get systems inspected along with a home inspector. Often times I've done a roof inspection along with a HVAC company, structural engineer or electrician. In my area, there are a lot of steep and difficult to navigate roof slopes. Home inspectors are most often great, but they can't discover every issue that effects or will effect a structure in any given time.

 

[Sparky617]

My wife is a real estate agent in the Raleigh, NC area. She'll normally get the following inspectors: HVAC, General Home Inspection, and roof. If the general home inspection turns up anything questionable she'll bring the appropriate experts. Structural Engineer, electrician, plumber.

The home inspection includes: general inspection, pest and radon. Cost is around $600 depending on size. The general inspection does "look at" the HVAC but they aren't experts. HVAC inspections run about $150 per system, most homes over 2000 square feet have and upstairs and downstairs unit. My wife has a great roofer that will do a roof inspection including looking in the attic and actually climbing the roof for $75. They also do a survey.

I had the roofer do a "tune up" on my roof a couple of years ago which included taking care of some popped nails and placing rubber "donuts" on my vent stacks because the original rubber was cracked an leaking. these will hold my vent stacks over until I reroof in a couple of years. The big benefit of these is they don't need to remove the old vent stack boot and damage the 20 year old shingles. I have a 35 year roof. I DIY a lot, but walking my roof that is 3 stories high in the back, isn't one of them.