Standards of Practice
What Are "Standards of Practice"?
Want to know everything a home inspector does do, and does not do? The "Standards of Practice" for home inspectors is the whole list.
Standards of Practice (or "SOP") set out uniform minimum requirements for all home inspectors and their reports.
Standards of Practice (or "SOP") set out uniform minimum requirements for all home inspectors and their reports.
The main purpose is to provide the public with a itemized list of items required to be inspected, criteria for reporting "significant deficiencies," and rules for inspecting and reporting.
Kentucky requires home inspectors to choose one of three national Standards of Practice (or "SOP"). The three SOP are not identical. A state with more than one SOP is uncommon. It can be confusing. In our neighboring states, Indiana and Tennessee, all home inspectors work under one SOP. In both states, the standards for home inspectors are in state law or regulation.
There probably are as many different views of the differences among SOP as there are inspectors. Many of the differences seem fairly technical.
At the end, all three SOP require home inspectors to inspect and report the roof, exterior, basement, foundation, crawlspace(s), heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical, fireplace(s), attic, doors, windows, and interior, unless they are inaccessible, unsafe, or inspecting might damage them.
InspectHomes reports all that -- and more.
Our Standards of Practice.
InspectHomes does all home inspections under the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors ("InterNACHI") standards of practice. InterNACHI is a national organization of professional home inspectors. InterNACHI's standards were one of the three adopted by the Kentucky Board of Home Inspectors ("KBHI") for home inspectors licensed by the KBHI to choose. We have been inspecting under this same SOP for many years.
Of the three KBHI-approved SOP, the InterNACHI standards were created last. That meant they had the advantage of seeing what worked and what needed work in the two earlier standards.
We chose the InterNACHI SOP because it comes closest to what consumers expect from their home inspector. We also think the InterNACHI standards allow InspectHomes inspectors to comfortably go beyond basic bare minimums and deliver an outstanding product. Our experience and our client feedback over the years tells us that InspectHomes reports do more than our clients expected. Exceeding our clients expectations is one of our favorite things.
One reason that our InterNACHI standards work so well is basic. It may be TMI ("Too Much Information") for some folks, but since you read this far, here it is:
The only SOP that requires inspectors to report things "that would have a significant adverse impact on the value of the property" is the InterNACHI SOP.
We think "value" is important to buyers and sellers. So we report those items. We can only guess why the other two SOP do not require inspectors to report "adverse impact on value." Maybe it's just simpler, or easier. But we know our clients always appreciate our inspectors pointing out anything that would "significantly adversely impact the value" of the home. We agree with them. We think that is part of a good report.
That does not mean home inspectors are home appraisers or experts in pricing homes. We're not. We know bricks, and wires, and windows, and construction materials and techniques, over the centuries. We also know you can take the same bricks, and windows, put them in different zip code, and they would get a different price. Don't expect home inspectors to know if you're getting a "great price" or not. That's not any home inspector's job. But you can expect InspectHomes to know if anything in the home will significantly hurt the price.
You already are exceptional just for reading this far. We are proud to be of service to folks as curious as you. If you want to know more, or to read the complete InterNACHI Standards of Practice, click on the links below.
There probably are as many different views of the differences among SOP as there are inspectors. Many of the differences seem fairly technical.
At the end, all three SOP require home inspectors to inspect and report the roof, exterior, basement, foundation, crawlspace(s), heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical, fireplace(s), attic, doors, windows, and interior, unless they are inaccessible, unsafe, or inspecting might damage them.
InspectHomes reports all that -- and more.
Our Standards of Practice.
InspectHomes does all home inspections under the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors ("InterNACHI") standards of practice. InterNACHI is a national organization of professional home inspectors. InterNACHI's standards were one of the three adopted by the Kentucky Board of Home Inspectors ("KBHI") for home inspectors licensed by the KBHI to choose. We have been inspecting under this same SOP for many years.
Of the three KBHI-approved SOP, the InterNACHI standards were created last. That meant they had the advantage of seeing what worked and what needed work in the two earlier standards.
We chose the InterNACHI SOP because it comes closest to what consumers expect from their home inspector. We also think the InterNACHI standards allow InspectHomes inspectors to comfortably go beyond basic bare minimums and deliver an outstanding product. Our experience and our client feedback over the years tells us that InspectHomes reports do more than our clients expected. Exceeding our clients expectations is one of our favorite things.
One reason that our InterNACHI standards work so well is basic. It may be TMI ("Too Much Information") for some folks, but since you read this far, here it is:
The only SOP that requires inspectors to report things "that would have a significant adverse impact on the value of the property" is the InterNACHI SOP.
We think "value" is important to buyers and sellers. So we report those items. We can only guess why the other two SOP do not require inspectors to report "adverse impact on value." Maybe it's just simpler, or easier. But we know our clients always appreciate our inspectors pointing out anything that would "significantly adversely impact the value" of the home. We agree with them. We think that is part of a good report.
That does not mean home inspectors are home appraisers or experts in pricing homes. We're not. We know bricks, and wires, and windows, and construction materials and techniques, over the centuries. We also know you can take the same bricks, and windows, put them in different zip code, and they would get a different price. Don't expect home inspectors to know if you're getting a "great price" or not. That's not any home inspector's job. But you can expect InspectHomes to know if anything in the home will significantly hurt the price.
You already are exceptional just for reading this far. We are proud to be of service to folks as curious as you. If you want to know more, or to read the complete InterNACHI Standards of Practice, click on the links below.
Standards of Practice
InterNachi Code of Ethics
Code of Ethics
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