can a contractor kill two birds(inspector & contractor) with one stone?

[Benjamin Cowles]

Where there is no lender involved, wouldn't a contractor be more efficient for his estimate along with his qualified professional opinion than hiring an inspector for $300, doing your less than professional estimate and coming up with a good offer?

[Jeff Zamora]

@Benjamin Cowles

I have had inspections a few times, along with contractor review.  I am also thinking about not doing home inspection but am not convinced it is a good idea.

My contractor tends to be more loose with his estimates when we are evaluating houses, and he wont check things out as thoroughly as the home inspector.  Inspector will climb on roof (if no snow), will go into crawlspaces, and has a long list of things he checks.  Contractor will look at completely different things with me, like options for minimizing rehab costs, ideas/costs for changes to house, timelines, etc.  So, they tend to have different roles at the present.

That said, everything the home inspector has called out has either been obvious or not important.  We do look carefully at the house prior to putting in offer.  I would like to be able to remove that inspection contingency in some cases if we need a stronger offer.