Aubri Devashrayee

@Les Thanks for your kind words. We try our best to provide helpful risk management content. I agree, insurance providers do not set standards for inspectors, nor should they. It's up to inspectors to decide how far they are willing to go beyond the standards they follow and for insurance providers to just let them know the various risks associated with that. Thanks for being open to have these kinds of conversations! We appreciate you taking the time to read our content. Hope you are doing well.

Hi, TIJ readers! Thanks for being a great support and engaging with our risk management content! Due to some recent changes, we will no longer be posting our articles here. If you’d like to keep receiving updates when we publish something new, please subscribe to our twice monthly newsletter. See a conversation on the forum that you think we should be a part of? Tag us or email us at weprotect@inspectorproinsurance.com to let us know. Thanks again for welcoming us! We’ll be sure to be in touch with you on other platforms, like our newsletter and social media. Your Friends at InspectorPro Insurance

@Les You bring up a good point. Perhaps we weren't as clear as we should've been in the article: we always recommend that inspectors get the advice from local legal counsel as to how they should formulate their inspection agreements. We have free pre-inspection agreement reviews at InspectorPro to help with making the agreement stronger. And, home inspectors shouldn't just rely on their insurance to indemnify them. Our stance is that inspectors should mitigate risk on the front-end of their services and inspections and then have insurance as a safety net. Hopefully that can clarify a bit!

@Marc Bob is awesome. That's great you were able to get to know him a little bit more from the article! Actually, he is one of our main representatives for upcoming shows and conferences. When things pick back up, I'm sure Bob would love to meet you.

@Jim Katen You're completely right--Bob has been a trailblazer for inspector-specific insurance and has made big contributions to the industry at large. And, we would love to protect you and your business! If you have any questions or concerns about your quote or our program, don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks for commenting!

@Les We're lucky to have Bob as a part of our team. Thanks for the input, as always!

Hello, everyone! I hope that you are all well and safe during this time. Right now, it's more important than ever to be managing your risk. Read about what Bob Pearson, who we consider to be The Godfather of home inspection insurance, has to say about effectively managing your risk. Enjoy! ---- When Bob Pearson sees a need, he fills it. Having performed over 10,000 home inspections himself, Pearson has a unique and unparalleled understanding of home inspecting. As such, he was able to use his knowledge to create an insurance program for a profession that insurers hadn’t really figured out. He helped develop a professional liability (or errors and omissions) insurance program catered to inspectors. The program featured unique coverage endorsements, like the first ever referring party indemnification rider for real estate agents. And it offered inspectors coverage for a reasonable rate. In fact, Pearson was one of the first people to teach home inspectors about risk management. He began lecturing at various national and regional association conferences. Additionally, he published several articles on risk management. As partners, we value Pearson’s continued contribution to insurance and inspection industries. In this article, we highlight a few of the risk management lessons Pearson considers most valuable. [READ MORE]

Hi, TIJ Readers! This year, we've decided to do a series on the various aspects of pre-inspection agreements. Hopefully, you can glean something from the following article to help protect yourself from possible claims. Enjoy! -------- The following relates an inspection claim that was resolved with a dispute resolution provision. To protect the insured’s identity, all identifiable characteristics have been omitted or removed. “The inspection completed was not only deficient, but negligent. Specifically, the following items were present at the time of inspection and not reported: “1. Major omission of gutters that do not collect water and force water down the rock wall that is outside of the home’s dining room. “2. Major omission of the obvious damage that has been caused to the above mentioned rock wall that includes mortared joints that are worn to the point that they allow great amounts of water to enter the wall and have destroyed the wood sheathing behind the rocks, allowed destruction of the insulation, suspected mold growth on the inside of the drywall and wood framing, destruction of the ¾ inch wood flooring, complete rotting of the subfloor and major visible organic substance growth. This omission came on a day when it rained during the inspection. “3. Major omission of the damage to two doors that lead to the crawlspace. “4. Major omission of the damage caused by a leaking shower drain. “5. Additionally, there is no mention of the fact that the brick veneer was constructed without weep holes to allow any moisture that may get behind the brick a path to escape.” One of our home inspectors received that laundry list just six months after he performed an inspection. The claimant, who prepared his letter with quotes from the ASHI Standard of Practice and pictures taken during and after the inspection, alleged that it would cost $25,000 to repair the property’s issues and that the inspector should cover the cost. Using this example, we will break down dispute resolution methods. [READ MORE]

@Tom Raymond You make some good points. As I mentioned in my reply to @Jim Katen's questions, hold-harmless agreements and waivers of liability are not created equal. And, as you mentioned, most are hard to enforce. But, they can act as a deterrent to possible claims. If you are to use one, it's best to have advice from your personal legal counsel and to take your insurance policy into consideration so you can adapt it to your situation and region. As for why insurance companies would care about virus policies when not covering associated damages, there are a couple of reasons: - As cheesy as it is, hopefully your insurance company has your best interest in mind and is wanting to look out for you as a person and insured during this strange and difficult time. - The second reason is more pragmatic--your insurance company will want to know about inspection virus policies and procedures because claims affect both parties, and there may be some situations that are actually covered in the circumstances. It honestly depends on the details of the situation. Does that answer your questions?

@Erby That's fair. We'll be sure to make note of that. Your input is appreciated.

@Jim Katen Good question. It's always best to follow what is mandated by your state. Especially if you are wanting to manage your risk as effectively as possible. Even so, we will still be covering our insureds during this time. But, our policy, as some have already mentioned, doesn't speak to spreading infectious diseases, so it would be wise to include a clause in your pre-inspection agreement that you aren't responsible if someone gets sick after your inspection. It's true that it would be hard to prove that in inspector spread the disease, but just from a risk management standpoint, it's best to have your bases covered. As for the hold-harmless agreements, they definitely vary in nature of how well they will protect you and how reasonable they are. If you are going to have one, it's best to get one straight from your personal legal counsel with keeping your insurance policy in mind, or adapt one provided by your insurance provider with the help of your personal legal counsel. This way you can make it work for your business in the area you are in--since everyone's situation is difference. We have a waiver of liability our insureds can use, but truly, it acts as more of a formality in dissuading clients to pursue claims, and is only supposed to be used for people who decide to attend the home inspection. And, again, if you are to use it, it's best to get the advice of your personal legal counsel to see how it applies to you and how it can be tailored to your situation. We can't speak for other insurance providers, so it would be best to check with the company you are insured with to see how they are proceeding. Long answer, but hopefully that can clarify things a bit. Covid-19 Waiver.pdf

@Erby Sorry to hear that you are so dissatisfied with the article. It was written to try to be helpful to inspectors during this time since options are so limited. If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve the article we are open to suggestions.

@Les We're sorry to hear of your disappointment in the article. I can say that it wasn't intended to be condescending--but rather be helpful during this difficult time. There are few options for inspectors at the moment, so we wanted to provide general tips they could use to help them not feel stuck and to boost morale. Your comment about knowing our audience is noted. If you have any suggestions on what we can include to improve the article or our future content, we are open to suggestions.

@Marc That is fair. I understand your point. But, I'll also acknowledge that not every business owner has the same experience or success with email campaigns. Thanks for the advice; I will make note of that.

@hausdok You make a good point that the links in that section go to InspectorPro's site. While pure objectivity is a nice thing to have, it is difficult to maintain in a business setting. InspectorPro, after all, is still a business and having a list of competitors isn't in our interest, especially when a lot of our readers are already insured with other providers. We didn't try to assert that InspectorPro is the only option. While we won't be including a list of all insurance companies, we appreciate suggestions. If you have any others, we are open to them.