[sonick]

Originally Posted by carsncars

I'm looking to get a pre-purchase home inspection done in the next week. 50s-era Vancouver detached. Does anyone have recommendations? Much appreciated!

I don't remember who recommended him, but I seem to remember this guy being highly recommended. A bit pricier, however I remember him being pretty hardcore/serious about his work: https://tedgilmour.ca/

This is the advice he provided me at the time, specifically for condos so may not be applicable to your detached house:

if you're looking for other properties: try to stay away from stucco except for properties built post 2001 or 2.

The building code required rain screening in 1998 but it took 3 of 4 years before anyone knew how to do it properly, from my experience.

Definitely stay away from buildings prior to 2001 unless you have a spare $60-$100,000 that you want to spend on building envelope renewal.

I would've mentioned this before but when I tried to warn people purchasing leaky condos ahead of time, they would simply go with a more positively minded inspector. So unfortunately some of my clients have had to go through two home inspections to learn what to look. For the most part there 2nd one is a keeper.

Some people think, well this home is all I can afford. Sometimes a bargain unravels over the ensuing years of weather exposure.

So:

• Look for homes with a roof overhang- the roof overhang protects the walls
• look for vinyl Windows as opposed to aluminum
• look for plastic water and heating piping- “PEX” - stay away from Gray colored pipe that says Polybutylene
• stay away from houses with crawlspaces- look for either a full basement or slab on grade

I ended up using this guy, who was a bit cheaper but also probably not as thorough as Ted. Essentially it was like a multi-point inspection checklist he walked through: Surrey Home Inspections Carried Out by Experienced Home Inspectors