Recommend me a home inspector
 

Looking to get out of the townhouse and get into a proper house with a yard for the dogs (and the wife wants a pool). Wondering if anyone has recommendations for a good (and cost-effective) home inspector?

Best thing that's worked for me Soundy is to do it myself along with a contractor friend. I've seen you post on here many times and know you can handle it. Look for the obvious signs, and if something looks suspicious then do some digging or ask someone to come in.
I don't think many of the "inspectors" really do much when they look at houses.
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I've gone through my share of house inspectors and yea, most of them are pretty clueless. From what I know, any contractors who have slightest ideas about construction would not use a house inspector, and personally I've had bad experiences with house inspectors that missed signs of a poorly built house. Thing is, they won't say anything as long as it meets minimum code, but they will never comment on the work which may bring you problems down the road

I agree with the above, I would never consider hiring a home inspector - unless, you're able to find one who has left construction to become one (unlikely). Credentials are not required to become a home inspector, there's not a red seal type body governing them. The Home Inspection specific courses are typically correspondence based or very brief (4-6 week) courses, and obviously inadequate to teach the skills required to assess the build quality of a house. As a result, there's nothing you cannot do, or easily teach yourself to do, that a home inspector does. Assessing the remaining life of the roof? easy. Assessing the attic? easy. Looking at the install date on the furnace? anyone who can read can do that. Check to see if the electrical panel is overloaded? simple. On a totally finished house, in my opinion, assessing build quality is more about subtle signs an experienced eye picks up, anyway.. not the basic checklist a inspector works through.