General Contractor v Inspector

[Dave G.]

Hi. I am not experienced in construction what so ever, but I am going to be looking at a property that is 100% in need of fixing above and beyond paint and carpet. In a perfect world I would take an Inspector to do a quick look over and have the GC price out what the Inspector saw. However, thats a lot of money. 

I imagine your run-of-the-mill Inspector would be able to evaluate the problems with the property better than your run-of-the-mill GC. However, your run-run-of-the-mill GC would have more accurate pricing. 

What are the benefits above and beyond this statement with going with the Inspector? Keep in mind I'm not asking them to do a full blown inspection on the property - just eyeball stuff that may be extremely costly or catastrophic. 

What are the benefits of taking a GC and giving him maybe $100 to walk with me and spot items?

[Michael Hayworth]

Oh, Gawd. Speaking as an actual real-life GC, most of us consider Mike Holmes just a reality show actor. "That's not to code! We gotta tear the whole house down!" Yeah, dumbass, well code changes every few years and is often pretty questionable itself - stuff done by committee. ust because something isn't to the latest code doesn't mean it isn't safe. It's easy to dump on other people's work when you don't have to worry about cost. Who pays for all that "We gotta tear out the whole thing!" crap he does? In the real world, remodeling homes is the art of working with the circumstances as they are to come up with a good, safe, functional situation that someone can actually afford.