Recourse after home inspection.
 

I bought my pre owned house a little over a year ago. Naturally I had a home inspection before I closed. A few weeks ago I turned on a ceiling fan / light, there was flash at the wall with and the light didn't come on.
I called and electrician who found that the wiring was substandard and not up to code. Fixture wiring had been used between the switch, the power supply and the fixture. The electrician said that we are lucky there wasn't a fire.
Now I find that the wired is just sort of jammed behind the paneling and not run through any kind of channels. They can't even snake a new wire where the old one is. They can't even get the old wire out.
They are going to run an outside raceway and hook me up again, but this is going to cost me between $300 and $500.
Do I have any recourse against the company that did the home inspection? Is this something that should have shown up in an inspection?

Check the contract you signed when you had the home inspection done. It may shed some lite or light.

I know in NJ that hime inspectors are required to carry E & O & Liability insurance. You should check FL law and if that is the case as well in FL, you need to contact your inspector with your findings. Hopefully he will make good on the situation, but you might need to hire an attorney to get things moving. Good luck!

Dude: I can give you some advice but the TOTV Admin would just delete the post. So the short of it is get some idea of how much repair work you need, its cost, etc and call an attorney to protect your interests nd to toll any statue of limitations . it may be that your contract has a mandatory arbitration/mediation clause but then an attorney can address that too. good luck

If he checked the fixture and it worked properly his defense is he can't possibly know there is faulty wiring behind the wall.

Personal experience home inspections are going to find visible issues and nothing more :( They turned on the light switch it worked...signed off. They didn't take the plates off and check the wiring. Soooo...up the river without a paddle I'm afraid. Wish you the best of luck though :(

Home inspections are comfort food for people who don't or can't see what is or isn't wrong with a house. I've bought and sold at least 8 homes and never used an inspector, after the first one. They have all kind of disclaimers. For instance in your case, I'm sure they state if it's behind a wall they're not responsible. Bottom line is I may not have picked up the bad wiring if I inspected myself, but I didn't pay someone who is supposed to be the expert $500 to not find it either.

I really dont believe the wiring is substandard --- is this the original wiring - if it is i bet your electrician is taking you for a ride ----- is your electrician licensed - have you seen it or does he have any complaints against him ? Where did you get him from - sounds like a typical contractor always blaming the one who did the work before him was no good --- cant believe he can not snake a wire down from the attic --- are you looking to sue the home inspector ???? do you know anything about a home ???? and how to fix small things ===== sorry i said enough

I agree with nitehawk. If wiring was original, it's unlikely it wasn't Romex vs fixture wire (I assume that means lamp cord). Most issues occur because of loose/faulty connections at the device junction box. A loose connection creates heat and especially with vibration from a fan over time could cause the connection to fail.

My designer home was built in 2006. I discovered that the electrical workmanship was awful to the point of being a fire hazard. I photographed some of the issues and reported them to The Villages as well as the local fire Marshall. The electrical company came in and went through the entire house and fixed everything. Told me that when the house was built they were using a lot of temporary labor. Not very comforting.

Being an electrical engineer and having fire cause and origin experience in my background I assure you I speak with authority on this one...

I would get a second opinion. If it is true (which I doubt) that they wired your interior walls with lamp cord, your recourse is with the villages and the original electrician company, not the inspector. Inspectors don't typically look for or find "hidden" things.

I have an electrician that came highly recommended by people on this forum. When I told a friend who I hired they commented that they are good honest people.
The wiring is not original. The ceiling fan/light was added by a previous owner. I've seen the wiring. It is not romex. It looks like the wire that you'd find on a table lamp.

This is one of the reasons we decided to buy new. You just never know what has been done to the home.

I can totally understand your frustration but it seems to me that it would cost you more to sue than it would to do the repair. I would call the inspecter but I wouldn't expect much.