Nolan Kienitz

My fees are between me and my clients (directly).

I do NOT share them with any realzoid or anyone else for that matter.

I just went through the process and got a new/refurbished laptop from Dell with their business line called: Latitude.

I've had Latitudes for years dating back to when I was with AT&T Labs. They are (for me) a rock solid laptop.

The new unit is now my main inspection/business unit and I've moved the other laptop over to my Ham Radio work.

The laptop I was using for my Ham Radio will soon be scrubbed and I'll be handing it down to my neices' kids.

The new units all have Windows 7 and it works well for me as I migrated from XP-Pro that I really liked and was stable.

W-7 might (repeat 'might') be as long term stable as XP-Pro at least for what I use the O/S for. I'm avoiding W-8 like the plague.

With the two Dell Latitudes in my office/Ham Shack and the one my wife has we're currently at three in the household.

After reading and re-reading posts from KM about Apple and their products I just couldn't bring myself to make that jump. I do have an iPhone and iPad and enjoy both very much, but figured I would be wrapping my mind around too many things to get things done that I can rather easily do now.

I'm sure it is all about learning and understanding the Apple OS, but I just wasn't willing to step on that ice.

Attached is a page from a list of some 'administrative actions' takes by the TREC Enforcement group in Austin.

This is not all inclusive and that there is more documentation that goes into each of these actions, but some of the verbiage is very troubling.

IE: An inspector gets admonished (Advisory Letter) for noting something as "Deficient" that was not part of the SOP.

The IAC (Inspector's Advisory Committee) asked TREC Enforcement for an explanation of such a finding and Enforcement and they could not answer.

If this is the trend for inspections in Texas it is a very sad day and troubling for all honest, hard-working inspectors. The $199 / Drive-Bys won't give a flip as their soft reports will allow the deal to close and the agents to make their 3 to 6 percent.

Go figure!!! [?]

Download Attachment: enforcement_2.pdf

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I had two clients this past week that I spent a fair amount of time with explaining mold and 'mold is gold', etc..

They finally 'got it' ... albeit one couple's wife was still a tad hesitant, but the light bulb finally did go on for her after another conversation with a State of Texas licensed mold inspector. He is 'honest' about the whole thing.

I also received a cold call this past week from a company (I think in NC) asking if I was certified to do mold testing for my clients? Turns out this company was wanting to sell me some course that I could take (and spend $$$ on) and become a mold specialist and do those inspections and sell them for additional revenue from my clients.

I about lost it, but held my tongue and told him that he obviously doesn't know the rules in Texas that mold inspectors have to be licensed and certified by the State of Texas. Anyone else claiming they do mold inspections without that certification (from the State of Texas) is a sham and operating illegally.

The call ended rather abruptly.

Bottom line is that there are folks/schools out there still beating the drum for this.

Come to think of it...a lousy exam that frustrates HI hopefuls might work in favor of the existing practitioners by dropping the pass rate and reducing the incoming competition that they have to reckon with.

I wonder if some of that figures into what's happening in NC.

Marc

No, that is really not possible if you know how the board and most HI boards work in the various licensed states. In NC it boils down to jurisdictional pride over the exam by the person that is in charge of it. They feel their exam has no problems, yet they will not invest the dollars required to update it. I don't think it has had a major update in around 7-10 years.

NC looked at using the NHIE but after a couple of years of thinking about it the Director that is over that board decided that they were happy with what they had in place. NC and for that matter any licensed State can use the NHIE at no cost to that State. They can even have a State specific module of around 25 questions designed at no cost to that state. It makes no sense that a state would want to spend the money to maintain or not maintain an exam when they can use the best exam for the profession that is updated every year for free.

Case in point ... Texas has had "their own" test since TREC licensing started. They have been considering the NHIE and it has been lobbied for by several folks for years.

TREC finally took the step and as of January - 2013 the NHIE is the exam for the TREC licensing of inspectors in Texas and it also has a "Texas Module".

Of course fees to sit for the exam went up significantly.

Well now ...

Born/raised in a small farming community in NE Montana. Plentywood and Outlook, MT.

After college & trade school worked in commercial broadcast radio (announcer & engineer) for many years.

Associated Press, rose through the ranks from field technician to Communications Executive in charge of all data/news/photo delivery for AP worldwide (technical side ... NOT news content).

American Airlines, in charge of building customer service call centers and special projects related to "music on hold" for waiting customers. Yes, that was a big deal years ago.

Teleport Communications Group, designed and PM'd builds of fiber-optic networks in many cities after telco divestiture and was on ground floor of designing/inventing "internet web hosting" data centers.

TCG group acquired by AT&T Labs, continued as Program Manager for the build of 9 internet web hosting data centers throughout US. Following 9/11 I was a Program Manager for building "classified" data facilities for the FBI, Secret Service, NSA and such.

Laid off in 2002 when AT&T was downsizing to sell themselves to SBC. I got my Texas TREC license and starting inspecting residential and have not stopped since. Albeit I have slowed down a whole bunch this past year.

Most importantly along the way I got a wonderful wife with her two kids and we now have 5 grandchildren.

Of course depends upon what the AHJ has adopted and (more importantly ... enforces).

Most of the local D/FW AHJs are reasonably current with NEC and IRC.

That being the case, yes the AFCI product would have to be in place as well as GFCIs ... at least in the garage. I am going to assume the SEP is located in the garage.

The receptacle in the ceiling for the garage door operator also has to be GFCI protected. (Don't even ask why on this one)

I know many others know far more about the details for such, but that is the approach I would have.

I switched over to HelloSign as well.

Works very nice and customer service is very good.

Richard,

They had to come in during "high tide" and got hung up at the bar.

Now its "low tide" and there she is!!! [:-slaphap

Its the new "convertible" model !! []

Freshman in college...Quart of beer and a slim-jim = partytime.

I also imbibed far too much Everclear whilst another friend of mine and I enjoyed the companionship of a couple young fillies as we were doing our damdest to run the best track/field events at our college track/field location on campus.

Whooeee ... what a night! [:-party] [:-censore

I had a 67 Opel GT. Slower than a turtle and cornered like a wheel barrow, but the lever operated roll-over headlights were very, very cool.

I had a white one as well. A pretty neat machine.

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I waited one time (about 10 years ago) for payment to closing and the property didn't close. Huge, 'spensive property and similar large inspection fee.

I went into hyper mode and pushed all sorts of buttons and got paid, but the buyer/client was playing dodge-em with me.

Never again did I or will I accept "paid at closing".

RE: Square - I've not heard of any complaints from friends who have been using it and many vendors at fairs/markets that happen love it as well.

I keep it in reserve and use when necessary as the majority of my clients pay via check or cash.

Ditto what Kurt said: Only the complainers post ... seldom hear from the majority who are satisfied users. I had two contacts with their cust svc group when I first got my Square and they were excellent to deal with.

Danny T. -

I'm in the same camp as all who have already posted above.

I provide my clients what I call a "verbal book report" of my findings and that is a preview of what will be in my report that they often get by 10PM or midnight, but usually the next day.

There are so many clues from images captured and reviewed and other data points that involve (not always, but often) additional research that are also added to the report.

Most of the HIs (in our DFW market) who deliver reports on-site are characterized as the 'production' or 'drive-by' (aka: McDonalds) inspector.

Agents love 'em.

Do what is right for you. Be patient and serve your client well.

FWIW ... I went to my local big box HD on a mission for smoke alarms and they had a good supply of: CO, Ionization and Combination.

Not a single photo-electric type on their shelves (at least at this particular HD).

I have not yet ventured over to the big box Lowes yet.

Same here. Very nice.

Douglas, Paddy, Jim and all - Excellent work and well worth the wait for the update to a very good document.

NBC's Today show did a piece on the smoke alarms and featured an extremely well respected engineer from TAMU (Texas A&M Univ).

This was aired on 10/03/2012.

This story was not easy to miss, but seems like many have.

I've attached the links below.

NBC Today - Jeff Rossen Reports (Smoke Alarms)

Texas A&M University - Dr. B. Don Russell

That would be the Benny Goodman Orchestra, IIRC.

Any buzzing is trouble, and I would not try tightening anything myself. I'm not allowed to "perform work" inside an electrical panel.

But if it is humming, it may be arcing or overheating, and if it is indeed a tiny transformer making that noise, it is crying for help. Or it is just humming "In The Mood". []

RE: In The Mood ... Nah, it was Glenn Miller and his Orchestra that brought it to #1 in the 1940s. Albeit, Benny Goodman was also excellent.

Most often when writing reports I'm listening to Big Band Era music.

I'll stop hi-jacking this thread now ... []

Darren,

Did you recognize the tune [?]

(I just had to do it ... you set me up and I was 'in the mood') [:-slaphap

Did a buyer's inspection today on a home built in 2007. Plumber must have not been able to get the right size manifold on his truck for this installation.

So he just extended and made up his own manifold.

Such a deal.

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I stopped doing crawl space properties ~two years ago for multiple reasons I won't go into.

We don't have that many down here, but as Katen and others noted by the time i collected all the information from the client about the property my pricing matrix was then able to provide a fee for that property. Those with P&Bs were always $150 additional due to the time it took to effectively inspect ... no options were provided.

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He should have never said "as early as (last) Monday"......

Very good, Kurt, but your birthday must have short-circuited your patience. []

I'm up on you by a few years so maybe my "patience tolerance level" has extended a bit more already.

Actually, I've been wondering the same thing, just didn't do what you did and I thank you for that !!!

Being up North this is probably a question that is unnecessary ... but what did the A/C coils on the EVAP unit look like and any plumbing or freon lines related to same?

Like I noted ... this Q is out of the ballpark as the separate EVAP coil and condenser unit are not as common up there as they are down here?

I didn't see a TR tab on any of the slots [?]