Housemasters Inspection Service Failed to note that the plumbing material in the house made the house uninsurable and unmortgagable NAPLES, Florida

Again, the client obviously wants to pin a problem on us that was clearly caused by his inability to read the report, ask questions and proceed as any prudent, knowledgeable homebuyer would. That includes getting a committment on insurance BEFORE buying the property.

The class action suit as well as offers to re-pipe the house were over a long time ago. That argument is moot.

Also, there is no requirement for disclosure of such by the seller as it does not and cannot be proven to be an imment risk or defect. Because of such, there would have been no requirement on the part of the seller to do anything regardless of what the inspection report stated.

We give courtesy refunds as a matter of good business. And, if it must be known, we give very few. It seems when we do, it involves clients such as this who do not want to spend a few extra minutes or dollars researching the manfactured home they are buying because they are attempting to buy an inexpensive property, on the cheap and then blame everyone else when something goes wrong.

I find it odd that while this client feels he was so wronged by us, he did not file for this in small claims court. I guess that's because he realizes we did nothing wrong and this happens to be the only outlet for his frustration and incompetence in transaction.

We make every attempt to assist clients in understanding any item of concern on our inspection report. We spent an inordinate amount of time with this client both on the phone and in writing to explain the issue in question. When we can't satisfy a client with an explanation, we try to do the next best thing and that is to refund their money because we strive for total satisfaction. That is the mark of any good business and it is exactly why we have grown year after year with our survey results reflecting the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

    Polybutyelen plumbing was the subject of a class action suit against the manufacturer which was settledl by the manufacturer agreeing to replace at no charge the plumbing for anyone that had it. This would indicate that there was something seriously wrong with the product. Not all homeowners took advantage of the offer. When you hire a supposed expert to do an inspection of a house that has this plumbing in it it should be noted in the report that this condition exists somewhere other than the boilerplate cautions in the report,because according to the boilerplate warning all plumbing materials are subject to problems including copper pipe. However none of the other materials were subject to replacement at the manufacturers expense. If the customer is required to check all the materials in the home why bother to hire an inspector in the first place. This company claims to be very adept at this business, but by the results I got I seriously doubt they are. Also how many courtesy refunds do they give if they are so good at their job? Mr.Prete is only trying to cover his behind. I would have preferred to have the job done correctly and not have to receive a refund.

HouseMaster never admitted to any wrong doing. The client was refunded there fee as a courtesy only for his dissatifaction with the report.



The report clearly states in the plumbing section that the house has polybutylene plumbing. Furthermore, the standard paragraph in the plumbing section of the report which describes the limitations and disclaimers of the inspection, specifically addresses polybutylene plumbing.



There are thousands of properties in the Naples area that have polybutylene plumbing. We are one of the largest home inspection companies (if not the largest) in the area and I have never received a complaint concerning polybutylene plumbing with regard to uninsurability.



Additionally, the client fails to understand the scope and limitations of a home inspection, despite that they are clearly spelled out in several areas of the report. One of them being that we do not assess evaluate or comment on a homes value or things such as the insurabilty of a home as we have no knowledge of an insurance company's underwriting standards or requirements. A prudent homebuyer would have researched and secured (contingently) homeowner's insurance prior to closing on a property.



In short, this client's claim is patently false and he is attempting to place his lack of due diligence and failure to question or research the items that were accurately put forth in the inspection report, on the back of HouseMaster, a company with an exceptional reputation and service record.