What would you do?

[cbass]

Here is what happened to me today. I woke up to a quarter inch of ice today, on top of around a foot of snow from various other recent storms. I always go to my jobs around an hour early to look around and do whatever i can for the roof and exterior. Todays job was a vacant 3 bedroom, 2 bath rancher. It was postponed once already due to de-winterization issues. I get to the house and there is a work van parked at the end of the driveway and nothing else is plowed or shoveled. I parked in a nearby development and walked to the house. The house was believed to be de-winterized at this point. I go in and there is a plumber working on various "issues" that were uncovered during the original de-winterization process (all fixtures leaked and the boiler failed a pressure test). Im fairly new to the business, this is around my 500th paid inspection, and this was probably the worst house I've come across to date. From the time I was there (about 10 minutes) I was thinking tear down. The boiler could not be inspected due to no water in the system, he said there is no way he was getting to it today. The basement was flooded with water from him working on it,he had the water off, the roof was covered completely by ice and snow, the exterior was covered in snow completely, and there was huge branch on the roof from last nights storm. Pretty much, all that was ready for inspection was the electrical system. I decided to call the agent and tell him what the situation was and tell him that the house really wasnt ready for inspection. He was glad that i called him and did call to re-schedule. We charge for go backs for utility issues, so technically I turned down money. I just felt that it was the right thing to do. The job was only around ten miles or so from my house.

What would you guys have done considering the entire report would consist of limitations?

[Darren]

I've done the same thing.

I don't believe in 'sticking it' to my client. I sure your client will thank you when they find out what you did.

[Erby]

You can shear a sheep many times, but you can only kill em once!

I don't know about the other sheep stuff. Ask Chad.

[Jim Katen]

I probably wouldn't have gotten out of my car before making the phone call.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Brandon Whitmore]

Shoot, around here I wouldn't show up to inspect the house if the roof was covered in snow. Wait a day, or few hours and it will usually be gone. Then, I can do a full inspection without disclaiming anything. I say you did the right thing, even in snow country.

[gtblum]

Shoot, around here I wouldn't show up to inspect the house if the roof was covered in snow. Wait a day, or few hours and it will usually be gone. Then, I can do a full inspection without disclaiming anything. I say you did the right thing, even in snow country.

I look at it like this.

Click to Enlarge

5.7 KB

Folks who choose to live in a place that on a daily basis gets what Chicago got today, understand, I just can't wait until Mothers day for a do over of the roof. Can you imagine the golf courses that would go out of business because of the number of closings they'd have to wait to do in the spring?

[Brandon Whitmore]

Yeah,

Gotta look out for the best interests of the golf courses for sure (kidding).

My golf season is from Oct. thru Mar., with an occasional summer round. I think I'd go stir crazy if I lived in those parts. No wonder there's videos floating around of people jumping off of snow covered houses.