Question on building inspectors

[Michael King]

I ordered a building inspection for a 4 plex in St. Louis that I'm buying. At the time of booking, I asked if a roof inspection was included, which was an important deciding factor in using this particular company. They said it was included. On the day of the inspection, there was snow on the roof of the property and the inspector said he could not get on the roof, but he could inspect the roof from inside the attic. Odd, I thought. 

Roll the clock forward 2 days and I email the company to find out if they're going to do the roof inspection or whether I should expect a refund of any description. My realtor calls me to tell me the owner of the company said that there would be an additional charge to go back out to inspect it. 

Is it just me, or should I expect to receive services that I paid for? Or expect to be the one that gets screwed due to the weather?

Orf Inspections in St Louis if anyone is looking for a recommendation. To stay away from.

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Michael King:

@Nathan Gesner Thank you Nathan. I wish the guy had said he couldn't inspect the roof due to snow; I would have delayed the inspection. Never had snow on a roof during an inspection before, so didn't know. He would have though. I might not be so perturbed by it had the guy actually crawled around in the attic; he just stood on top of his ladder and there was plenty of room in the crawl space. It's a 2000sf footprint. He would have been able to see maybe 10' away from him in any direction. Beyond that and the frame would block his view. 

Guess they don't need repeat business, that's okay. I've learned some good lessons out of it I think; hopefully the lessons are about building inspectors as opposed to serious items overlooked by a - I suppose - lazy inspector.. 

Yes, he sounds lazy. When my inspectors go into an attic space, they can be up there for 15 - 20 minutes, walking every inch of it and taking plenty of pictures along the way.