looking for experienced carpenter advice

[Jeffrey Gagnon]

My father is a life long carpenter and he has a large problem with the photo i have attached. i was wondering if anyone could give me input on the situation. Is this an easy fix or is this something that could get pricey the issue he has is the 2x4's supporting the roof. any input from experienced carpenters is much appreciated. my dad has incredibly high standards for things so i am trying to get a second opinion.

[Mike Reynolds]

@Jeffrey Gagnon I have been a contractor all my life. What you are seeing are the purlins. There may be no issue at all as this is the way it was done for years. It is still done this way in many places. With the invention of trusses they have mostly gone away. Now, with that being said, there still could be issues. 

If the purlin is not on a load bearing wall its not correct. Move the insulation away from the bases and check to see if they are on an interior wall. If they arent there is an issue. Go outside and check to see if the roof is straight with no sags in the middle areas. If there are sags they werent built correctly. 

Either way its a pretty easy fix. If the former just install new purlins onto a load bearing wall before you take out the existing ones. If there is no load bearing wall nearby you will need a stiff back (header) to span two load bearing walls and install them on that. If it is the latter you will need to redo and check your sags with a string line. At this point you will likely never get it perfect but you can get it straight enough for your dad to sleep at night. The time for getting it perfect was when it was built. 

Not sure about the costs in your area for a professional but I would say around 1-3k.  If you havent bought it yet you could use that as a discount off the sale price. But fixing this yourself would be fairly easy. If there are really issues with it that is. It may be just fine like it is.