MMustola

One of the big benefits of this forum is that most guys have pretty thick skins. I like that people are passionate about the way they view their business and our industry. I am happy to see views different than mine because that is how I learn. I may not agree with some of you but I resect you and have always learned a lot from you.

I really don't agree with this. I will freely admit that I market to Realtors. You can accept Realtor referrals and still do an unbiased thorough inspection. In my market many many realtor think I am too picky and call me a deal killer. There are over 1000 realtors in my small county, if only 10 percent are decent people thats a 100 good realtors. If only 5 precent have integrity and appreciate a good inspection thats still 50 agents. If they all sell a half dozen houses a year thats 300 inspections. On top of that I still get many referrals from satisfied customers. As a business man it makes no sense to ignore Realtors as a referral source.

What about high winds or tornado's, couldn't they lift of twist a structure enough to take pressure off those post's? If so the post's could shift or fall down then wind the winds died down you could have a major failure that might not have happened if the post's were secured.

I find that I don't need very heavy gloves for inspection work. I'm not outside all that long compared to people who really work outside. For example, my hands get much colder shoveling my driveway than doing an inspection. All I need is a glove that keeps the wind off my hands and gives me some protection when handing cold things like my ladder. Mostly I wear nylon work gloves with "leather like" palms and fingers. I get them at home depot, 3 pair for $9.99. With these gloves I can work with tools and take pictures with removing them. When they get dirty or smelly from going into a crawl space I throw them away.

That's a good question. I have run into that same setup a few times before. I thank the technical answer is yes, it is a sub panel. The two panels are so close and bonded together by the conduit connection I believe there is no practical reason it wont't work properly as is. As far as calling it out as a defect I probably wouldn't if that was the only thing wrong with the panels. I sure someone else can give you a more technical answer.

Maybe you could get your company logo in the form of a tramp stamp tattoo. That way when you are bending over at your inspections your customers and Realtors won't forget who are. Remember branding is everything!

Chad, That was funny!

I made the switch from PC to a MAC book pro about 6 months ago and I will never go back. For me the learning curve painful. Like Scott said, I love the fact it boots up in about 2 seconds. The battery lasts me about 8 hours. I had been using Palmtech for about 7 years but they do not make a MAC version so I switched to Home Inspector Pro which also turned out to be a good move. Switching report writing software is such a big under taking I would not have done it unless I had to, even through I wanted to for several years.

The size of a soda can? To big for me. I like a flash lint that fits nicely in my back pocket.

Wouldn't that force crap into the tank?

Thanks guys, this gives me some idea's. You would think most agents would know enough to prepare the seller for the inspection but they don't. Too many times to count I have showed up for the inspection and found things like: - The seller is surprised it well take more than a half hour. - Cars parked under the attic hatch in the garage. - Locked storage rooms in the basement. - Items blocking access to things like the furnace, electrical panel, water heater, etc. - Animals running loose, kids running loose, kids napping. Also like I mentioned in the original post I think it would be a good marketing tool. If I send it to the listing agents, many of which do not recommend me, its one more chance to show my professionalism and helpfulness. It can't hurt right?

Does anyone have a document that they send to the seller or seller's agent on how to prepare their home for an inspection that they would like to share. I what to create a document to send to the listing agent when I schedule an inspection. My thought is to put the document on my when site and send the agent a nice email with the link. This might be good advertising and drive agents and sellers to my site. Also if I am lucky, just once I might have an inspection where the attic hatch is not blocked by tons of clothes and junk in the closest. I know I could write one myself but it would be nice to not reinvent the wheel if there are several nice documents already written that I could use.

Chad, do you ever just relax?

In my area the SEC is always exposed when the service is over head. There should be a clamp every 30 inches.

I have a generator so I have the basics. My furnace, well, and some lights. We turn the generator off at night and our house is at about 50 degrees by the morning. My friend does not have one so I take my generator to his house every day for a couple of hours so he can get some heat and water for a little while. They are saying we should have our power back on sometime today. All the stores have waiting lists for generators.

It's cold inside also. I have not had power since Sunday afternoon. Consumers Power says it may not be on until Friday or Saturday.

That document is a good example of how things in the real world don't measure up. Has anyone ever seen panels set up on edge and spaced to acclimate for a few days? At best a stack of panels may sit in the front yard for a few days before they are installed.

I carry it and I'm not required too. It gives me piece of mind. The price for E&O has really come down. It is 75% less for me than it was 15 years ago.

For me, the ideal situation is to have the client at the inspection but doing their own thing. I like them to see how hard I'm working for them and I try interact with them. When I find something wrong it's nice to show it to them and give them a nice verbal explanation so there are no surprises in the written report. I diffidently do like people looking over my shoulder for three hours.

Does anyone else but me wonder why it's the guys wife who is communicating with us on this board. I mean if the guy really wants to learn HE needs to be the one asking questions. Maybe his heart is really not into this gig and his wife is pushing him. On the other hand, if his writing/interacting/communicating skills are not that good, then he will have an uphill battle making it as a home inspector.

" I would suggest that setting limits to the post-inspection negotiations while encouraging more dialogue during the contract phase is a great combination " So the inspector finds that the house in need of a $10K new roof and the realtor says too bad we only allowed for $500 in post inspection negotiations. I wonder if that guy know how dumb he sounds now the he sees it in writing.

This is from the 1956 Edition of the "ARCHITECTURAL GRAPHIC STANDARDS" Download Attachment: Scan0002.pdf 651.9 KB

Was the TPRV installed into the side or the top of the tank? If so, most likely 1979. If the valve was in the outgoing hot water pipe than mostly 1964.

I printed and delivered on-site thousands of reports but have not done so in several years. When I look back on those old reports I am kind of embarrassed at their quality and content but that was the standard in those days. The funny thing is that clients and agents always told me how great my reports were. I think kurt M. always said that the clients think anything you give them is great because they don't know any better. After 20 years inspecting houses you would think that things would get easier, but today the actual inspection takes me longer and now I have additional report writing time at home. But the good news is I now get more referrals from past clients that agents so I like to think I'm doing something right. To the OP, delivering reports onsite is were the industry was 10 years ago. Take your time and produce a top quality report. Your future success depends on it.

Shooting sports and camping. I belong to a private sportsmen club that even has an indoor pistol range that is open 24 seven. Often times I stop into the club between my morning and afternoon inspections to shoot a quick 50 to 100 rounds. Also, I have a fifth wheel and a small truck camper. I spent maybe 40 nights a year in the campers. A dozen of those nights are deer and duck hunting, the rest are with my wife. Last winter we hauled the fifth wheel all the way from Michigan to key West and spent two glorious weeks there.