Most homeowners don't know a lot about building inspections. While it is something that they will only get involved with a couple times in their lives, building inspection could be one of the most important services homeowners ever use. The reason is simple, a home is most likely the largest and most expensive thing most of us will ever buy. Although it is such a major purchase, there are no guarantees. If there is something wrong, the homeowner is responsible and will likely end up a little poorer, unless they had a building inspection done. This is why a building inspection is so important, it doesn't make your home better, but it stops you from being faced by costly surprises.

Because building inspections are not something with which most homeowners are familiar, the real problem for most homeowners is that they don't know how to find a good inspector. Compounding the issue is the fact that the building inspection industry is completely unregulated in Toronto ? and everywhere else. Anyone, regardless of her training, experience or if she knows anything at all about buildings, can legally call herself a building inspector. While homeowners need to look out for building inspectors who really can't do the job, the worse situation might be the building inspector who, while knowing a little about what he does, could never meet minimum qualification standards. This sort of building inspector can make himself look like he knows what he is talking about, and he may even belong to an industry association, which all add up to make him more difficult to identify. The problem with having a building inspection done by an under-qualified inspector can be two-fold. First, if you had the building inspection done to a home you were buying, you will pay a certain price for the home based on the building inspector's report. If the report is inaccurate, you may have paid more for the home than you would have done with an accurate report ? not to mention the costs of repairing anything the building inspector missed. Secondly, you would have paid the building inspector for nothing.

The first place to start looking for a qualified and trustworthy building inspector is through the various industry associations. In an unregulated industry, even the industry associations can take many forms and some can be local, covering Toronto, regional, provincial or national. One of the problems with building inspection associations is that they let anyone become a member. Fortunately, to stop under-qualified building inspectors using the association's name and logo to gain credibility, most associations require that members attain a certain level of experience and/or knowledge before they can use the association's logo or name in marketing and advertising.

If you have any doubt about a building inspector's status within an association, simply contact the association. Most building inspector associations are sensitive to the fact that it is an unregulated industry and they want to do everything they can to make you comfortable in choosing building inspection services. When you contact the association, they will be happy to tell you a building inspector's standing within the association and whether or not he is qualified to use the association's name and logo.

Unfortunately, even if you manage to find a building inspector who checks out with industry associations, it does not mean you have found the absolutely best person to inspect your building. There are still other steps you should take to find the best person for the job. If you were searching for a home renovator, you probably know that it is smart to ask for at least three references. You should do the same for building inspections. You will likely never have heard of a building inspector before, and may never need to deal with them again. Unless you check references, you don't know the sort of work a building inspector does, how much experience he has or if people are satisfied with his work.

While it may take a bit of work, arranging for a thorough building inspection might be the smartest thing you do when buying or selling a home in the competitive Toronto and GTA market.

The building inspection professionals Allmax Home and Property Inspections are members of the National Association of Certified Home inspectors (NACHI) and they serve Toronto and the GTA.