Go back
Features


CDs

NNSL Logo .
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad Print window Print this page

Making the grade

Erika Sherk
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 6, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - What seems like a lovely new house to an average person - pale yellow paint, thick carpet, and big windows - could be something totally different for Didier Bourgois.

"You can see ... here there was a leak," he said, shining his flashlight beam across the ceiling.

NNSL Photo/Graphic

Didier Bourgois, home inspector and owner of HouseCheck, checks the heating system of a Yellowknife home. He checks about 1,000 tiny details in every house inspection, he said. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

When looking at houses, Bourgois' eyes zero in on the tiny details that speak volumes: cracks that mean the foundation has shifted; dampness that gives away a bad water system.

Bourgois is a house inspector. His company, HouseCheck, has been operating in Yellowknife for six years.

Most of his inspections are done for potential homebuyers, he said. People will agree to a sale, pending a satisfactory house inspection, said Bourgois. That is where he comes in.

"For me it's like a big puzzle - each piece might not be significant per se, but at the end I have the big picture," he said.

After an inspection he makes a detailed report with an overview of the house's condition, as well as a breakdown of its more minute issues.

Originally from the south of France, Bourgois has been in Yellowknife since 1986.

He wanted to build his own house and so began work as an apprentice carpenter.

"I loved it," he said. "Building houses was, for me, a revelation."

He bought the HouseCheck business in 2001. It has been his full-time occupation ever since.

"April, May and June are the three busiest months for buying and selling."

Over the years he has learned that people must be realistic about houses, he said.

"I have yet to see the perfect house," he said, having inspected more than 1,300 houses in Yellowknife.

More and more people are starting to rely on inspections, he said. People's hearts tend to lead them when buying a house, he said.

"People get emotionally attached to beautiful kitchen, a garden, or the view," he said. "Those are important but it's also important that you know and understand what you are buying."

Inspections take from two to three hours, said Bourgois. His standard fee is $450. Dane Gibson, a Yellowknife resident for the past nine years, hired Bourgois to inspect a house he was thinking of buying a few weeks ago.

"We're not experts in home construction," he said. "So if we're going to purchase something upward of $300,000, $400,000 dollars you're going to want an expert to look at it."

In the end, Gibson did not buy the house. Would he have bought it without Bourgois' insight?

"Absolutely," he said. "We were ready to purchase the house."

Bourgois is certified by the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors.