Inspector didn’t do his job (house needs new roof)

[Stone G.]

To make this as short as possible, I closed on a house about a month ago. When the inspection came back this is what was said about the roof

“The composition shingle roof appeared to be functioning as intended at the time of inspection. All roof surfaces are only visually inspected. For a more detailed analysis please contact a licensed roofing contractor.”

Fast forward to a week ago when the GC was doing work on the front porch and noticed there was wood rot, upon further investigation by checking the roof out he noticed there was a decent amount of damage that couldn’t be patched and call for a complete roof replacement. This was all visible if you were on the roof which makes me believe the inspector never got on the roof.

I contacted the inspector and he wants me to resend him the emails of me reaching out to him about the damage because as of this week he’s on a new policy. I’m not willing to do that because that’s potential insurance fraud?

What should be my next steps to get this inspector to cover the replacement of the roof? He already said he only has $1000 to come out of pocket but I know his insurance will likely cover it. Do I contact his insurance or get an attorney involved?

TIA

[Steve K.]

@Stone G. If he’s offering you $1,000, I would take that and be happy all day because usually inspectors have you sign an agreement that they are only liable up to the cost of the inspection, which I’m assuming was considerably less than $1,000. Also seeing as he covered his butt and recommended in writing that you have a separate roof inspection, I don’t see how he’s liable for anything technically, unfortunately. This may not be typical, but what I do is meet my inspector at the property and go through the entire inspection with him. My inspector is great and enjoys having me tag along because I crack jokes and make it fun. I doubt he enjoys working by himself crawling through nasty crawl spaces and attics all day, so I think he actually enjoys the company. He’s a wealth of knowledge and I almost always learn something from him and occasionally he learns something from me. I always learn a lot about the property we’re inspecting that I wouldn’t if I wasn’t there. He takes a lot of photos if I’m not there but photos only tell you so much. He also gives me a big discount because he hates writing up reports and if I’m there with him he just does the minimum required for the lender/insurance and we discuss the rest in person so he saves to me uploading a ton of photos and completing a detailed report. If I don’t have the time to spare to do the whole inspection with him, I at least meet him at the end and he does a quick walk-through with me looking at the trouble areas he found. I’m usually looking at occupied MF buildings so this is my only time to see inside the occupied units anyway. One other thing about inspectors and not sure if it’s the same in Texas, but in CO there is zero certification or regulatory body for them so anyone can walk off the street and call themselves an inspector, so you’ve got to vet them well on your own. I would definitely be on site personally when working with a new inspector to see if they actually know what they’re doing, see if they actually go on the roof, etc. Good luck!