ABC-7 Listens: Home inspections questioned

A woman’s concern about the city’s home inspection process prompted ABC-7 to investigate.

West El Paso homeowner Laura Stewart said that improper grading in her backyard caused damage to her pillars.

“We have complete dry rot on all our pillars,” Stewart told ABC-7.

Three of the four stucco pillars lining the porch have exposed wood from the concrete porch up to a foot up the pillar.

“Because of the grading issues in this backyard, the water all drains toward the house,” Stewart said, adding that her backyard floods during brief rainstorms or after the sprinkler system turns on.

Stewart said she took her complaints to an independent inspector. “She told me, ‘They can’t guarantee that a home is solid. … They are just doing a visual inspection.'”

ABC-7 spoke about her concerns with Larry Nichols, the director of planning and inspections for the city.

“Those inspections are recordized and we keep a record here, so we know if work passed inspection, or not,” Nichols said, adding, “I don’t know if you would say that would be a guarantee, but it certainly is followed up on and recordized.”

Stewart told ABC-7 that another concern is the the inspection process itself.

Stewart said she was told by officials in the city’s planning and inspections department that many of the home inspections are conducted by a third party. She also told ABC-7 that she spoke with the third-party inspector who looked over her home. The inspector told her that she performs all the home inspections for the developer who built Stewart’s home.

“How unbiased can she be when she’s getting her bread and butter from a builder?” Stewart said.

Nichols confirmed to ABC-7 that many of the home inspections are contracted out to third-party inspectors.

“They have the same credentials that city inspectors have to perform the work,” Nichols said. “When we find that we are lagging behind on inspection time, then we will call them and ask them to come help us do inspections and catch up.”

But Nichols disagreed that this would lead to a conflict of interest.

“I would not characterize that arrangement as a collusion by any means,” Nichols said. “The city still issues the permit, and we still do the final issuance of occupancy certificate.”

Stewart acknowledged that the developer is offering her a solution to alleviate the flooding in her yard and a fix to the pillars.

Stewart told ABC-7 that she is declining the offer because she feels it is insufficient.

She has asked for the builder to either buy back the home or prepare for a lawsuit.