HI Guidelines

[John Kogel]

I reference the ASHI and State SOP's in my pre-inspection agreement, which is emailed to the client prior to the inspection, and in my report. The references include a link to my website where I post copies of the SOPs. If clients and their agents wish to read the SOPs, they drive traffic to my website.

Something similar. I added a SOP page to my website. They say it's good to have lots of web pages, more chance of being picked up in searches maybe.

We hand over a binder with stuff in it, general good info, including the SOP which I'm sure nobody can read and make sense of, but they have it there if it ever comes up.

[resqman]

My contract says the inspection is peformed in accordance with the state SOPs. The intro section of the report says it is performed in accordance with the state SOPs. Don't provide them, don't give hardcopy, don't email them, don't have a copy on hand to give out or go over with the client. They are posted as .pdf on the state licensing website.

Several mandatory CEU classes have said that the place for dislcaimers is in your contract, not the report. The only disclaimers in the report should be for those items you were supposed to inspect but didn't and why you didn't. (crawlspace was too dark and scary, roof was too high, etc.)

[Garet]

I reference SOP in the agreement and provide a link when I email the agreement to them (as soon as possible after booking). I've never had anyone ask questions and have never had to dig out the copy I have buried somewhere in my truck.

[John Dirks Jr]

I mention and link to Maryland and ASHI SOP in the agreement. I do not provide copies.

There's a preface in the report (1 page). It includes a statement that points to the agreement for anyone interested in limitations and exclusions.

Limitations, exclusions and disclaimers are kept to an absolute minimum in the body of the report.

I email the agreement ASAP in advance of the inspection and ask that any questions be brought forth so they can be hashed out prior to the appointment. Rarely do I get a question. At the appointments, 99 of 100 times, they sign on the line without hesitation.

[mthomas1]

I reference state SOP the standards in the contract, which is provided to the client by e-mail as soon as possible after the inspection is scheduled, but not in the report.

However... the report layout reflects the state SOP, and my reporting method automatically enforces compliance (at a minimum) with the SOP - there is a section of the report that maps directly to each requirements of the SOP.

For example the state SOP requires that I report on the presence of a heating source in each habitable room. So the Heating section of the report has a section that does exactly that - I'm forced to either report that I found them everywhere they are required, or report where they are missing.

(BTW, I read my competitions reports every chance I get, and *very* few of them are sufficient to demonstrate that the inspection met the minimum requirements of the SOP- likely because it's actually quire a bit of work to so.

Its also the case that "narrative" reports I've seen *rarely* do so - I believe narrative reports are inherently superior to their "check-list" counterparts in a number of important ways, but they are a more work to complete in full compliance with a typical SOP.)

[kurt]

Why do you say "it's quite a bit of work" to comply with the SOP?

[mthomas1]

It's more work in a narrative format, for example you end up describing the heating system, instead of just checking a box that says "GFAH". Even if you have highly automated the process, that's still more time.

The result, as I've seen reviewing other's narrative reports, is that inspectors often end up "reporting by exception" and don't for example meet the state SOP for the required "inspect" and "describe" of many items.

But the bigger problem is the way many inspectors are using commercial "narrative" reporting software.

You (I'm quite sure) have carefully read the SOP, and thought through how to make sure your reports meet it. Heck, you have written your own report writing software. I've done pretty much the same by writing a IL SOP compliant template in Homeguage, and writing 4.6Mb (to date) of pre-formatted comments - there is little resemblance to any other HG report, and none of the original comment language remains.

However, many of the inspectors I know who are producing narrative reports are still using mostly the generic boilerplate that came with the software, and have never set their report side-by-side with the state SOP and reworked the templates to insure that they are meeting even minimum state requirements.

Probably, your attention to detail is typical of contributors here, and as a result there is likely a world of difference between reports produced by most contributors here - whatever their reporting style and method - and many of the reports produced by inspectors reporting with narrative software run in a pretty much "out of the box" configuration.

[kurt]

OK.

It's why I've moved completely away from straight narrative. Reading the descriptions in narrative report systems puts me to sleep, and it adds untold pages to wade through for the poor customer.

On top of that, it always made more sense to me that the descriptions are a flat file database of the house; the inventory, so to speak.

Why would one want to do a house inventory, or any inventory, in a narrative (MS Word) format? (I can hear the rationalizations flooding the airwaves now......)

It's all part of my larger belief that folks report systems are derived (and restricted) by the software they bought. Even though everyone "customizes" their narrative report systems, it's all derived from the same restrictive software.

Some narrative systems are much better than others, largely due to the writing ability of the creator, but at base, they're all the same.

[hausdok]

I've tried to explain this before,

Won't waste breath or finger power on it today; the report is a permanent record of what you see, smell, touch and hear at the property. A narrative report is more important to the inspector than it is to the client because it is the inspector's permanent record of what he saw and did. Without proper context, a report heavy on photos and short on proper description cannot tell the whole story.

The report could very well be the thing that saves an inspector's ass in court or arbitration when the client or the client's lawyer is trying to show that an inspector didn't do what he was supposed to. Looking at a bunch of checkmarks or 3 to 4 words along with single photographs will only tell part of the story and ten years down the road might be nearly useless to an inspector without something to jog the inspector's memory.

I get that folks don't get it, most non-cops don't, but those who do know why a carefully constructed narrative report is invaluable to themselves as a tool.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[mgbinspect]

Quote: Originally posted by hausdok

I've tried to explain this before,

Won't waste breath or finger power on it today; the report is a permanent record of what you see, smell, touch and hear at the property. A narrative report is more important to the inspector than it is to the client because it is the inspector's permanent record of what he saw and did. Without proper context, a report heavy on photos and short on proper description cannot tell the whole story.

The report could very well be the thing that saves an inspector's ass in court or arbitration when the client or the client's lawyer is trying to show that an inspector didn't do what he was supposed to. Looking at a bunch of checkmarks or 3 to 4 words along with single photographs will only tell part of the story and ten years down the road might be nearly useless to an inspector without something to jog the inspector's memory.

I get that folks don't get it, most non-cops don't, but those who do know why a carefully constructed narrative report is invaluable to themselves as a tool.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

That being made clear, Mike, is there any portion of your findings and observations that are not conveyed in a narrative fashion?

This dialog is really going to weigh heavy in where I go with this total makeover of my reporting system over the next five days or so.

Thanks folks, this is going to really be helpful.

[Marc]

I don't get all this discussion on checklist versus narrative. I use a lot of boilerplate when I write reports which I enter by clicking a rectangle on the screen on my pocket computer onsite, but probably 89-90% of it is custom altered later on my laptop before sending it out. So tell me so I know...is my method checklist or narrative?

Marc

[hausdok]

Mike, is there any portion of your findings and observations that are not conveyed in a narrative fashion?

No,

Mine is a full-narrative report. I've recently begun adding photos but they only reinforce the narrative. For the 14-plus years of reports before the photos, clients, contractors, engineers and attorneys have said that the narrative descriptions were more than sufficient to provide them what they needed to understand what the issue was and where. it was.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[mthomas1]

None. It's 100% narrative.

However....

Most of the straight "descriptive" stuff required by my state SOP goes in a separate section at the end of the report, so the client gets to skip learning (for example) the material(s) of his or her supply plumbing or the manufacturer of their boiler, or its input BTUs, or from where it draws its combustion air, or how many gallons the water heater holds unless they want to read that final section. (I know, however, that *I* have observed and thought about these things, as my inspection and reporting protocol forces me to do so)

In front of that is an "FYI" section, with FYI items (ex:, "Why you *really* should put a pan under that washer in the utility area off the hallway with the hardwood floor, though it's not "required" that you do so"). I know from experience that my clients DO read this section.

In front of that is a section were I identify gas, water and electric shut-offs per the SOP. I know that clients do read that one as well.

In front of that is the "meat" of the report: limitations and observed defects, essentially, I am "Reporting by Exception" in this section of the report.

This information gets supplied in two forms:

1) A "full report" which contains all pertinent observations, all disclaimers, and pictures, diagrams and other relevant information, with the "descriptive" SOP requirements fulfilled in the final section of the report.

2) A "Summary Report of Potential Action Items", which contains limitations and suggested further investigation and defects and recommendations for remediation from the main report. This reproduces the first section of the report sans pictures and the supplemental material - and this is what the attorneys usually work off.

I like this method, my clients like this method (Angie's List Super Service Award), I'm convinced it lowers my liability, and it insures that I'm almost never fielding calls for additional information after the inspection and report (though I encourage clients to ask a any question at any time).

It produces the kind of referral from previous clients where I'm often not even asked what the inspection will cost, and surprisingly it has not killed my referral business from a certain kind of agent even after I've killed a deal or two - they know I have reasonable reasons for what I report, document them thoroughly, and then let the client decide what to do about it. And frankly, I don't have to go around trying to scare clients to prove I'm doing my job - if the house is scary, the report makes it very clear why.

It can take 4 hours or more to write such a report, but I do not do more that one full HI a day (I might do two condos or a HI and a water intrusion or IR on the same day if I absolutely must, but I try not to) - my goal is to give clients a day of my life, and get paid appropriately.

Before I settled on this method I tried others, but this was the one that ended up working for me - my inspection and reporting styles sort of evolved together, and continue to do so.

YMMV.