Scott on Holmes on Homes

Over the past few years a Canadian fellow named Mike Holmes has broken into the reality TV market.  For those of you that have not seen Mike's TV show you are not really missing much.  Mike finds homeowners who have had home inspections but then after they move into their new home the owners start to find problems.  In comes Mike to their rescue!  It is a reality TV show and Mike is the star who saves the home and the homeowners from spending money on the repairs, it makes for good TV.

Now for the real facts!

Mike makes it seem like a typical home inspection is not any good unless you tear out sections of walls and floors in a home. This just does not happen with a normal home inspection.  A typical home inspection for a buyer is non-invasive and non-destructive, walls are not opened up and pretty much the inspection is just a visible inspection of the conditions that are present at the time of the inspection. 

Are all home inspectors equal?

No, they are not. Even with licensing in about 2/3 of the States and in British Columbia you have no real guarantee that the inspector will perform a good inspection. Kind of like any profession, it all depends on the individual, their experience and their knowledge.  Even if the inspector has years of experience and a wealth of knowledge;  if they can not communicate it to their client in the way of a report,  you have a problem!  Reporting is a major part of the inspection!

Scott's opinion!

As for Mike and his TV show, it has kind of given our profession a bad rap in some aspects.  He pretty much makes all inspectors look inept if they do not open walls, tear out insulation, move heavy furniture and the list goes on.  What is not shown in the TV show is the crew that helps Mike perform his little inspection.  I have worked on a few TV shows about homes over the years, Trading Spaces hired me on several of the productions to inspect the homes prior to the show and after the show.  Believe me when I say that Mike has a crew of a dozen or more folks doing the brunt of the work for him.

I will not get into the quality of the repairs that Mike has done to the homes, I will try to cover this in a future blog.  Let's just say that many of the repairs will present future problems of their own!

So if you want to see some big biceps on a middle aged carpenter you need to tune in to Holmes on Homes!