Jim Morrison

Agreed. Take 5 minutes to run the kitchen appliances, give them the classic Jowersy "Most things in a house last about as long as a dog" talk, and get on with your day, Lads. It always helped me justify my fee and in 25 years I never paid a claim on a kitchen appliance. #aintworthgettinworkedupover

What did I miss? The Louisiana standards look about the same as every other state standard I ever read, weak, vague, and pretty generic. But there's nothing unethical about saying, as these standards say, the inspector is not required to report on abestos, mold, and all the rest. If the standards prohibited you from reporting on dangerous things, that would be unethical. Also, I didn't read anything in there that said you were prohibited from exceeding the standards. It looks to me like the standards let lazy inspectors off the hook because they don't have to report on those things, but they do nothing to prevent an honest, industrious inspector from finding and reporting on them.

Can there be a single inspector on this board or in this world who isn't trying to charge as much as s/he can for an inspection? That doesn't make you a used-car salesman. It makes you a businessman.

Seems to me that it's a waste of time and not a small bit of hubris for anyone to tell home inspectors how they ought to think or act as a profession. For me, Hancaviz, Blum & Mitenbuler's posts ring with the loudest truths. After a few years, each inspector develops a pretty danged good idea of who their clientele is, and each can be trusted to come up with a site who'll attract them. No site will grab every homebuying eyeball, so go figure out who your peeps are and then figure out how to get them to your homepage. I never posted my price online for good reasons. Other folks post theirs for good reasons. There's no one, holy, catholic, and apostolic way to design a website, or any one of a thousand other things home inspectors do. I think these threads are the most productive when people write about what they do, why they do it, and how it's working out for them. I don't see anything particularly noble about having high fees, nor is there anything wrong with having a low one. We're all in this business to make as money as we can doing what we like, right? I doubt that folks who run five star restaurants in your towns spend much time griping about the appallingly low price of a Big Mac. I always figured it was up to me to find my place in the market and exploit it as best I could.

Remember, the same boiler can be used for either steam or hot water. Maybe that bad boy had a different use in a previous incarnation.

If the smell wasn't delicate, then your description of it shouldn't be either. If it was awful, say so. The tricky part for me would be: What do you tell them to do about it? Observation: The smell in that room would knock a buzzard off a shitwagon. Analysis: It's uninhabitable. Recommendation: Consult with a reputable room de-smeller? We used to have a firm in the Boston area that guaranteed they could remove any smell from any room, but they left the area a few years back. What do other folks recommend?

A while back I did an inspection for a single mom in the next small town over from mine. I didn't recognize the address, but as soon as I showed up, I knew the house. Less than a year earlier, the owner's ex-husband walked into the house with a shotgun, hurried past his young daughters straight up into the master bedroom where he shot his ex-wife while she was on the telephone. A few minutes later, he turned the gun on himself in the basement. When my client showed up, we chatted for a few minutes and I asked her if she knew about it. Turned out, no one had told her. We continued with the inspection and I don't know if she ever bought it or not. I tell clients every last material thing I know about a house. It may not all be explicitly stated in your state SOP, but it's what they expect.

I've always used bungees and keep extras in the truck for them they break. Cheap and effective.

I called the company years ago and they told me 90 days, but that's dated info now. I'd give them a call.

I strongly doubt that your undervented eaves is ever going to pose any kind of a problem, but any additional vents you install can only help. The Cape is a funny place climatically and they get away with skirting nearly all convention there without consequence.

Chad, remind me. What is this interNACHI thing, again?

Chad, remind me again who this interNACHI is, again.

The MA law prohibiting selling agents from referring home inspectors has had zero impact on the profession. Zero. If you want Realtors out of the equation, you have to ignore them, slowly build your business without them, and in a few years they'll merely be an annoyance.

If you'll forgive my word-nerdiness, why would any HI speak about intentions at all? We don't know intentions, we observe conditions. I just replaced every last window in the house I bought a few weeks ago. What were my intentions? To quiet my wife? To fit into the neighborhood? To save money on installation? To impress my mother-in-law? Talk about what you see, what it means, and what to do next. Don't give some recent law school noob enough rope to hang you with. Jimmy

A lot of Mexico is like that. I don't think it's an issue with the treatment there. It's a clogging issue. Newer buildings are fine, but it's the older ones where you see those signs. I suspect they paid less attention to pitch and pipe diameter back in the day.

Inspectors are haters by nature, pay us no mind. Ya done great. Preserving the orange shag woulda been greater, but whaddaya gonna do?

That seems a little harsh -- or at least presumptive -- to me. I don't think John was asking his question as a prelude to any planned pontification in his report; nothing in his post leads me in that direction. And I don't think speculating on the cause (in this forum) is anything to criticize. I think John was asking a legitimate question to further his knowledge. As I see it, that's mainly what this forum is about. Kevin, you're very likely right. In any event, I was unjustifiably harsh on John. Inspectors who say things they don't understand or cannot justify are a particular pet peeve of mine because they are, in my opinion, a major contributor to the downfall of our profession. But none of that is John Dirks' fault. John, I apologize for being a jerk in my last post. I owe you an adult beverage of your choice, and I hope you take me up on it when our paths cross.

The bricks aren't obviously soft, they're obviously spalled. Why speculate on the cause or pontificate on what you don't understand, John? Note the issue and recommend your client consult an expert. Or as my father used to crudely tell me, "Don't try to fart any higher than your arse."

He's clearly not playing from a position of strength. He sounds more like the drowning man fighting for his final breath of air before going down for good. It's sad, even offensive in a way, and I feel for him, but it wouldn't affect my long-term strategy. He is not your competition.

You should be proud. Thanks for posting that.

I don't think my post was ambiguous.

Home inspectors who test for mold are either ignorant, charlatans, or both.

Hire someone who knows what they're doing? Listen to Gary now or wish you had later.

New York Times op-ed piece

Harvard University, creator of The Ivy League has pulled the ivy off of all but a few ceremonial buildings. Who am I to argue? I universally recommend removing the ivy if for no other reason than it covers the wall, making maintenance all but impossible. Very Little Upside + Plenty of Downside = Easy Decision. Call me a Philistine, Jimmy