- Home inspector Bryan Standley has become TikTok-famous for roasting flipped houses.
- In his videos, Standley highlights ways that house flippers slip up and cut corners.
- Future home buyers should look out for 3 red flags when inspecting a kitchen, Standley told Insider.
Kansas City home inspector Bryan Standley, 35, has become a TikTok sensation for roasting flipped houses.
Standley has inspected thousands of houses over the course of his career. Inspired by a friend, he joined TikTok in January 2020 to share his tips and experiences. His videos have been liked over 550,000 times at the time of writing.
In one of his most viewed videos, Standley walks viewers through an unoriginal flipped kitchen, highlighting elements that he sees all the time in renovated homes.
"If this isn't every flipped house, then I don't know what is," he says. "Look at that kitchen: The gray weathered wood, kind of vinyl flooring, white subway tile, just the most basic kind of granite or quartz, whatever kind of countertops those are. And dishwasher not installed. Cheap cabinets. This is every time ... every time."
TikTokers responded comparing their own kitchens to the one Standley was inspecting, and the similarities were uncanny:
While Standley enjoys pointing out cookie-cutter elements in flipped homes, a lack of originality and making sure you have the highest-end products shouldn't be points of concern for future home buyers, he told Insider.
Read more: A woman who lived in a 400-sq-ft London apartment showed us how to 'maximalize' a tiny space without making it cluttered
Instead, they should focus on looking for renovation slip-ups that affect the safety and functionality of a home.
Home inspection is about making sure that "what gets put in gets put in well, and by someone that knows what they're doing and has experience," he said.
Standley told Insider that there are three hidden problems he often finds in flipped kitchens and shared his tips for how to identify them.
1. Bad cabinet spacing
If a cabinet looks wedged between appliances or is installed in a corner, it may not open correctly, Standley told Insider.
"The best way to check for a poorly laid-out cabinet package is to open and close every door and drawer," he said. "You may find a drawer is blocked by the oven handle, or you have to open the dishwasher in order to open the oven in order to open a drawer."
Standley illustrated this process in a duet with TikToker @militaryhousingan, which he set to the Tetris theme song:
2. The dishwasher is not properly installed
Of all kitchen appliances, Standley has found that the dishwasher is most often the one with installation issues.
If it is simply not installed, the home buyer would need to make a service call to the plumber, which could cost around $200 depending on their location, Standley said.
Read more: People are loving this TikToker's fresh laundry hack, but a professional cleaner says it could ruin clothes if you're not careful
If it is installed, but incorrectly, that could lead to more costly issues down the road.
In one video, Standley explains how dishwashers are often connected to the garbage disposal without removing the knockout plug, an essential step that prevents drainage issues.
"When it goes to drain, it just pops the hose off because it's deadheading against the plug, and it makes a huge mess all over the newly refinished hardwood floors," he said.
The best way to check dishwasher functionality is "to open the door all of the way and lightly press down on the door," Standley told Insider. "If it feels like the dishwasher is going to fall forward, it isn't properly installed."
3. The air vent is missing
Air vents are an essential part of every house, allowing air to blow into a room, but Standley said house flippers tend to overlook them in kitchens.
"I don't know why, but the guys that lay the gray, weathered wood grain tile hate cutting around air registers. They just tile right over them," he said.
Without an air vent in the room, that room will not be heated and cooled by the home's HVAC system.
Air vents can be located either near the floor, on the wall, or on the ceiling, so Standley recommends conducting a thorough visual scan.
While Standley enjoys sharing tips that can help future home buyers identify hidden problems in a house, his biggest recommendation is to hire a qualified home inspector.
To see more of Bryan's videos, follow him on TikTok @bryanstandley. You can learn more about his home-inspection business at inspectkc.com.
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