Rehab risks: Part I

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Rehab risks: Part I

Many rehabbers cut corners in order to maximize profit. One way they do this is to hire cheap, low-skilled workers who lack the training and experience to do good work.  

At a recent Logan Square rahab, we found that the rehabber’s “plumber” connected hot water to a toilet.  It’s not always possible to find a defect like this on an inspection since a flush or two usually isn’t enough to get fresh hot water to make its way to the toilet.  This bathroom was right next to the utility room where the water heater is located, so the hot water didn’t have far to go.  After noticing the valve was hot, I touched the tank – it was scalding hot as well.

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Small inspection victory: plumber calls out own mistake

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Small inspection victory: plumber calls out own mistake

As home inspectors, we have to do a lot of detective work to find problems.  Sellers and contractors often work pretty hard to hide evidence of building defects.  Very rarely do they help the inspector find problems, even if they know about them. 

Here we have a plumber who didn’t have enough glue to connect a pipe, and rather than pretend the work was done and hope nobody noticed, he actually wrote on the pipe with a Sharpie to call attention to the issue.   Since inspectors can’t pull on each and every pipe to see if they’re loose, there’s a chance I wouldn’t have found the loose pipe here.  If only other contractors were so honest and helpful! 

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