Lie vs. miss is relative. Every single inspector in the US at least has liability that only extends to the cost of their inspection (or, sometimes, 2x their inspection cost...). Hardly enough to cover any losses if there is major damage that is overlooked.
I had a friend who bought a house with major termite damage (i.e., every wall had to be removed to repair the studs basically), and 2 inspectors overlooked the damage. He said in retrospect (after doing a bunch of research on termite damage), it should have been obvious to inspectors, but they missed it.
He tried to pursue legal action against either the seller or the inspectors, and basically was told: impossible to prove seller knew (as there was no repairs done), and inspectors are not held liable.
Hah yes, inspectors try to be as minimally liable as possible. Ours went to great lengths to get us to have someone come out and check the "stains" underneath a bathroom sink without actually saying the m-word that rhymes with cold :)
If you really don't know anything about houses (or feel as if you do not), then having someone walk you through some of the things you may have to face living in a particular house is probably a good idea.
However, even as just an enthusiastic amateur, I know more about home construction and repair than most home inspectors. When I bought my current house I skipped the home inspector, and hired an electrician, a roofer and a structural engineer. It cost me more, but I got seriously informed reports about the property, not just boilerplate fill-in-the-blank PDFs telling me that one of the windows rattled.
I like your solution of gathering subject matter experts and getting individual reports. Did the 3 of them cover all aspects of the house? I am not an expert so I don't know if anything is left out, does the structural engineer also cover plumbing? Or is that not an issue?
I know enough about home construction and repair to be able to assess other items. Actually, I can do my own residential wiring and stud framing etc., but I was moving into an adobe house. This required a knowledge of wiring, construction and roofing that I did not have from previous work that I've done. If the plumbing had been a part of the adobe construction itself, I'd have asked for a plumber too, but it was not.
I had a friend who bought a house with major termite damage (i.e., every wall had to be removed to repair the studs basically), and 2 inspectors overlooked the damage. He said in retrospect (after doing a bunch of research on termite damage), it should have been obvious to inspectors, but they missed it.
He tried to pursue legal action against either the seller or the inspectors, and basically was told: impossible to prove seller knew (as there was no repairs done), and inspectors are not held liable.