Pest Inspections and Repair Requirements

As you enter into the home buying transaction, you will be given the opportunity to have inspections performed. Commonly these will either be a Home Inspection, a Pest (WDO or Complete Wood Destroying Organism) Inspection, or other specialty inspections. For the purposes of this article, let us consider the Pest, or WDO Inspection.

When you choose a WDO inspection only, understand that the scope of the inspection is quite limited compared to a whole home inspection. Some components of the home such as the heating system, electrical, attic and roof will not be inspected. Further, the WDO inspection only focuses on three items: First are any signs of Infestation of Wood Destroying Organisms. These generally include Termites, Wood Boring Beetles, Carpenter Ants and Wood Rot Decay. Second will be any Damage from the aforementioned organisms such as exterior siding decay or rot to a bathroom floor. Last will be Conducive Conditions. In general, conducive conditions are things which promote infestation and moisture such as plumbing leaks or downspouts which don't drain away.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture, WSDA, is very specific about how the WDO report is to be completed for a Real Estate transaction: To begin, any report which identifies the aforementioned infestation, damage or conducive conditions must follow WSDA guidelines and the person performing the inspection must be licensed by WSDA. By law, the report must have a WSDA assigned Inspection Control Number (ICN) noted on the top 1/3 of the first page. The ICN is unique to the Real Estate transaction involving the subject property as well as to the buyer and seller.  This means that that the report cannot be sold or transferred to another individual for another transaction of the same property. Any report which does not have an ICN is not a legal or valid report for purposes of the transaction. Lastly, any report with documented findings is required to either have a diagram attached or language present which indicates the inspecting firm has a diagram available on file.

WSDA guidelines are also very specific regarding home inspections and essentially require a complete WDO inspection as outlined above any time a whole home inspection is performed. Inspection reports and/or inspectors who do not follow these guidelines are out of compliance with WSDA and Washington Administrative Codes and again, the report will not be valid or legal for the Real Estate transaction.

When you receive the WDO inspection report there will typically be recommendations based upon the inspection findings which you may then decide to pursue through the transaction negotiations. In general, the recommendations within the report are just that, recommendations. They are not repair requirements and it is not within the inspector's purview to ensure recommendations have been completed. Regardless, your lender may want to make sure any items on the WDO report have been completed prior to closing. In the past the inspector would perform a re-inspection and provide a Final Pest Inspection for the lender. Because of the liability associated with re-inspections most inspectors try to avoid going back to inspect the work of others and in fact the Final Pest Inspection form has been eliminated. If work needs to be performed your best protection is to insist that all work be performed by experienced, licensed professionals who can provide a description of the work they performed, an invoice and a warranty.

L. E. Stamp AD, BS, RREI

Cameo Home Inspection Services