hausdok

Yeah, Well, duct cleaning doesn't get it all - especially if you've got any wound-wire flexible return or supply ducts. During construction and renovations most contractors in my area don't even bother to cover up duct openings after the HVAC is installed. Consequently, sawdust, drywall dust, dirt and everything else ends up in those ducts when the site's do-it-all gofer sweeps the floors before the floor coverings are installed. Even professional duct-cleaning firms can't always get all of that crap out unless someone goes into attics and crawlspaces and physically shakes those flexible ducts during the process to dislodge all that crap lying in the bottom of those flexible ducts - especially that heavy drywall dust - and get it airborne so that it will be sucked out to the truck with the rest of it. It's possible to purchase reusable filter media that can be cut-to-size/shape and installed under the registers to capture most of that . You can periodically remove the material, rinse the schmutz out of it and reinstall it. You just have to be sure not to overdue it, because covering those air outlets with too heavy/restrictive a filter media will affect the systems balance and in some cases cause performance issues with the furnace. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Mold testing = Total Bullshit. Why not just point out the window and exclaim to the client, "Oh look, a polka-dotted hummingbird," and when they turn to look out the window pick their wallet out of their back pocket? Nothing gets my knickers twisted faster than seeing home inspection companies that push "mold inspection' as a legitimate/ethical business practice. Here is a given - EVERY home has one or more varieties of so-called toxic mold somewhere in the house - even if one can't see it. Is it because fungi has recently arrived and something has changed on the planet? No, not really - fungi in all of it's forms has been around longer than humans. It's true that the way we build today, with tighter homes, is more conducive to fungi growth than in the past, but that still does not legitimize a home inspector charging clients money for 'mold testing' because there is no need to test it - just clean it up. Is it necessary to hire a commercial firm to safely remove it? Probably not, unless you're allergic to fungi spore of any/all kinds, but, if you don't like dealing with funky smelling gunk that disgusts you, why not? Just don't think that it's absolutely necessary in all cases to hire a mold clean-up firm when you see a little mildew on a bathroom ceiling. Yeah, to get rid of a heavy infestation it's going to require cutting out and replacing drywall and cleaning wall cavities and such, but that still doesn't require any testing to identify fungi species. For most of my career in this gig I told clients at the beginning of the inspection that if they were worried about mold being in a house they've chosen they might as well stay in the home they are already in, which I guaranty them will have fungi spore present already, because there is fungi spore in every domicile/structure occupied and used by man - even hospitals which are constantly cleaned. I tell them that if I should see it I'd point it out to them, but that if I didn't see or report any visible fungi to them that they should not assume that the home would be mold-free, because a fungi-free home is an impossibility. When they tell me they know that but are only concerned about 'toxic' mold, I tell 'em that the so-called 'toxic' fungi that the mold-is-gold mold-testing companies blather about has always been in homes, and that the degree of presence is a question of a locations environment and hygiene. Some regions have more of the so-called 'toxic' mold spore in the air than others; but, even in a region where there are low concentrations you can have a house where there's high concentrations of any kind of fungi - even when you can't see it - if the occupants don't regularly clean and ventilate a home, and conversely in regions where there is a high spore count outside a home can have low concentrations of any kind of fungi if the occupants regularly clean and ventilate the home. Sometimes, I'll ask mold worrywarts if they have any living grandparents; and, if so, how old those grandparents are. When they tell me that grandma is 92 and still fiery as ever, I ask them how that's possible, because Granny has been inhabiting structures that have had present one or more varieties of so-called 'toxic-mold' fungi spore for her entire life. It's fun to watch the shadow of confusion lift from their eyes once they consider that statement and realize its implications. Can fungi spore cause someone with a compromised immune system to get sick or become sicker if they are already sick? Yes, but people with a compromised immune system can be affected by lots of stuff that won't make a normal healthy person sick. For these people, even fungi spore in a quantity that's so small that it can't be seen can be 'toxic' to them - or not, if it's an allergy to a specific type of fungi and none of that type is present in that particular place. I once asked a noted scientist, who has been researching fungi for more than a quarter of a century, and whose PHD thesis was related to his fungi research, how much so-called 'toxic mold' spore in an average home it might take to cause a normal normal healthy human, who didn't have a proven allergy to fungi spore, to get sick. He guessed, because nobody has ever determined what threshold of what fungi triggers reactions, that the normal healthy human might have to ingest about a wheelbarrow full of ordinary household fungi (which he said will most-probably also consist of stachi or other commonly-called 'toxic' fungi) to actually get sick. A WHEELBARREL full. Imagine some mold-is-golder trying to snort or spoon-consume a bunch of fungi spore in order to prove that the stuff is in-fact toxic. Think about the size of that stuff. Even if you scraped the stuff off of every surface in a house badly infested with the stuff, it could take decades to accumulate that much fungi spore. Hell, why bother, the stuff is disgusting - most folks will puke from the smell, taste or thought of what they're putting into their bodies long before they reach a cup's worth and it won't be because they'll be suffering the effects of toxicity. I never recommended mold 'testing' or charged anyone a dime extra over my regular inspection fee to make them aware that there was 'toxic mold' fungi present in a home I'd inspected - doing so would be like recommending that they get testing done to confirm the presence of air in the home and would be, in my opinion, just as unethical. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that iNACHI and Nick have appealed. They are in it up to their necks to the tune of just over $600K combined, with an annual interest rate of 6% until it's all paid, as the document below will affirm. We all know that I'm incapable of doing even second-grade math; but, if I pushed the right buttons on this calculator, that amounts to over $36K a year in interest alone. That's one huge Ouuuuuuch!!! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike S0708904.PDF

I'm with you Les. From day one I've done a walk-n-talk that I've always called 'The School of the House." Most customers loved it - those who didn't seemed to be the very young tech types who were constantly distracted by something they were gazing at on their smarty pants phones. Realtors who repeatedly referred me liked it - those who saw my inspection once and never ever referred customers to me after that hated it - some even complained that I was taking too long or was talking too much. They were promptly told, politely but ex-military-cop firmly, to STFU and go sit down and read a paper, work on their listings or go down to Starbucks and get a coffee. You get clients who say things like, "This is great. I'm learning so much I wished I'd brought a video camera 'cuz I'll never remember all of this." That's when they got assured that they'd see 10% pf everything they'd learned again when they received their report. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Laughed so hard I peed my pants. My wife feeds this one little bastard peanuts every morning in the back yard. Tomorrow I'm gonna begin construction of a new squirrel cata....uh, er…., "feeder" for her. This oughta be good! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Thanks for the compliment, Marc, but I, frankly, don't think my reports can hold a candle to Jim Katen's. I'm in awe of that guy's ability. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Absolutely the best advice ever. I carried E & O for the first 4 - 5 years and dropped it after a nutcase threatened to sue me for obvious earthquake damage and the insurance company agreed, after soaking me for a $1000 deductible, to refund her the $350 fee. For the next 18 years I never went to any arbitrations, never had to go to small claims court, and was never sued. I figure I saved the equivalent cost of an M class Mercedes by not carrying E & O and simply concentrating on doing the absolute best damned home inspection I could, calling everything out, documenting it, and letting the chips fall where they may without giving even one second's thought to whether or not my being "too picky" would affect the number or future referrals or cause agents to lose my phone number and forget my name. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Where I grew up, the term squirrel could be applied equally to furry gray or brown rodents that nest in trees or to anyone that exhibited odd trashy irrational behavior. Today we usually refer to such folks as meth heads. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hee hee, Don't need 'em. I live in a place where weed is legal and you can't drive half a mile without running into a pot shop. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

No doubt the gnomes from Victoria Island got inside the damned server and began unplugging s**t. I keep telling ya to invest in some rat poison but do you peachniks listen? Noooooo………………………. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Marc, That hasn't been the case here in Washington state. We now have ten years of licensing behind us, our state's seven-member board is 100% home inspectors, and home inspectors' reputation and consumers' overall impression of inspectors here is far better today than it was prior to licensing. It used to be common to hear of consumers complaining about inspections or suing inspectors here - now it's a rarity. Virtually every one of the dire predictions made about all of the self-serving things that licensing and a licensing board would cause have never transpired. Give some credit where credit is due - believe it or not, not everyone who chooses to serve on such boards is a self-centered jerk only concerned with feathering his or her own nest. Some actually advocate strongly on behalf of consumers. After all, many of those consumers are their families, friends and co-workers. If the board they serve on is always making choices that benefit the inspector and screw the consumer public, doesn't that mean they'd be voting for choices that will screw their own families, friends and co-workers? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You don't want one of my reports. I write full-narrative and it's guaranteed to put you to sleep - especially if you're brain has been conditioned to social media where you are limited to posts less than 148 characters and you've developed too short of an attention span. What Jim calls "mushy mush mush" report writing I call inspectorspeak because it pervades this profession. There should be a dark room somewhere staffed with hundreds of retired fifth grade English teachers sitting in front of computer screens. Every home inspection report created anywhere on the planet should have to be emailed to them for proof-reading and correction before being sent out to clients. This profession's reputation and respectability quotient would see a huge uptick if that were the case. The geezer English teachers would probably appreciate it too. Like Jim, I like to write like I speak - even if the bluntness of it shocks the crap out of all agents present and sets their teeth on edge. More than one report I've sent out said something like, "The deck stairs look like they were constructed by a fourth grader who watched one episode of This Old House," or something similar. Tell it like it is and don't mince words. One of the advantages of never sucking up to agents for referrals is that you can get away with that kind of s**t and the phone will still continue to ring, 'cuz it will be past clients and their friends, relatives and co-workers calling you most of the time instead of agents. Oh yeah, and your hair, or at least what's left of it, will gray more slowly - hah! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

120 years old and six stories. I'd suspect it was structural brick and not veneer but it looks like it transitions to something else. Is it a wood building with a brick façade or possibly a cement block structure with brick façade? Is that a straight joint all the way down? If so, it might be there for expansion. Any more pics? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Things that make on want to go, "Hmmmm?" In light of a certain recent verdict in the State of Mississippi, is it wise for infrared users to be advertising on social media that they use, or have used, IR devices for inspections, if they haven't paid a certain patent holder for a license? Hmmmmm? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

One could get away with calling it a pediment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pediment . I'd call it a f*****g mess. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, A growing problem with teenage squirrels - sewer gas huffing and huffing parties. A side effect is the urge to gnaw on the nearest object. The squirrel authorities are concerned and want to get the message out to all squirrel parents that sewer gases contain methane, hydrogen-sulfide and other toxic fumes and that huffing sewer gas can lead to death. The teens aren't listening. In fact, a week ago, three of them under the influence of sewer gas knocked over a walnut cache and overpowered and killed the elderly security squirrel guarding the nuts. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It was done to make it draw better. No wonder the hearth was covered - that stack is taking on water and they never figured out it was due to the cracked and almost non-existent crown (If you can call it that).

Yeah, I missed that one somehow. The original breach of contract complaint filed by Homesafe against InterNACHI went to trial in Oxford Mississippi in August. Homesafe won the suit. Supposedly, the judgement was approximately $300K against InterNACHI and $300K against Gromicko personally. I'm sure someone somewhere in the inspectorverse knows more about this and can provide more details about it. To answer Marc's question - probably. Now that a precedent has been set in Mississippi, Homesafe's attorneys can use that judgement as a cudgel when going after inspectors in other states. Lots of judges are lazy - if they can get a case closed more quickly when one of the parties' attorneys makes a motion for a dismissal or declaratory judgement, by pointing to a judgement elsewhere - even in other states, they often go with the judgement that set the precedent instead of going through a trial. InterNACHI could have stood with the other associations and sued Homesafe in federal court at the outset, arguing jointly with the other associations that the patent was invalid and that neither the technology nor the process of using it for home inspections originated with Homesafe, and that the technique was in widespread common use before Homesafe filed for a patent. By caving and entering into their license agreement with Homesafe in 2013, interNACHI essentially acknowledged Homesafe's claim as being legitimate, though it wasn't. The optics were really bad. Here one saw the inspection association that claims to be the largest on the planet kow-towing to Homesafe and forking over cash for a license, providing reinforcement to Homesafe's assertions. That decision to cave has probably screwed every home inspector in the business who uses, or is considering the use of, infrared technology far into the future. What a shame. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The customer is the one who calls it off. Even with the worst house possible, it's ultimately the customer's decision. Here's what I think happened. The inspector already knew the house. He returned with the second client, realized that major issues found during the first inspection hadn't been corrected, revealed those issues to the client, plus the fact that they hadn't been corrected, and gave the client the option of stopping, paying less money and then calling him back, or hiring another inspector, when the client finds another house - thus saving some money on the fee - or going ahead for full fee. The customer, hearing about the severity of issues in the home, opted to terminate the inspection. It's perfectly legit. Why sit there waiting for several hours for the inspection to get done and then have to deal with an agent who will pester the crap out of you, trying to convince you that what the inspector saw wasn't as bad as it looks in the report, when you can simply cut the inspection short, pay less of a fee, and find a better house? Jim's suggestion that it might simply be a dump goes right to the heart of it, and those suggestion that the O.P. simply hire her own inspector to inform her of what the issues are make perfect sense. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm surprised nobody has responded to this by now. Here is the gist of it. Back when Homesafe began making rumblings around suing home inspectors that use infrared technology to do their inspections, InterNACHI, instead of fighting Homesafe's patent, entered into a license agreement with Homesafe in exchange for money paid. After Homesafe threatened some InterNACHI members in Mississippi, interNACHI sued Homesafe in the state of Mississippi for breach of contract and lost. Then InterNACHI filed an appeal, arguing among other facts that Homesafe's patent was invalid. InterNACHI lost again. Finally, InterNACHI filed an appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On March 11th of this year, the 10th Circuit issued its findings. The court made a judgement upholding the lower court's decision without hearing oral arguments, and said that InterNACHI had missed its chance to introduce certain facts at the original trial, therefore they'd lost the right to try and have the verdict overturned on appeal based on those facts. In other words - INTERNACHI LOST IN ITS ATTEMPT TO SUE HOMESAFE FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI. End of story (For now) ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Here is a link to the 10th Circuit's decision: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4598509/internachi-v-homesafe-inspection/

Hi Les, You know me well enough to know that short and concise isn't my thing. Besides, I could put a little out, respond over and over again, and, by the time the thread dies I would have said just as much as I said in one post. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Good philosophy. I have a single response I use a lot - either when the client wants to know how long I'm going to be there or the agent starts getting antsy. "I'll be done when I feel there are no more unanswered questions in my mind about this house. I only have two speeds - slow and careful."

Jerry, do you have any more photos of those? They say they can't provide a response based on just that one photo.

Jerry, I shot off an inquiry, along with a copy of your photo, to the APA-Engineered Wood Association help desk in Tacoma to see if they'd ever seen anything like that. I'm awaiting an answer. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Steven, If you want to enjoy what you do, and want to be at it for a long time, don't feed at the realtor trough. Most agents have only their own interest at heart; and, if your inspection doesn't fit what they want, they'll fight you every step of the way and try to remake you into what they want. With a different agent on every home, with different likes and dislikes, that can cause you a whole lot of stress that you don't need. Or, they can simply toss your card, nod and smile at your and accept whatever swag you want to try and bribe them with and still forget you. (Below, I'll tell you how to get started with agents - no, it won't be hypocritical - anything but. You'll see.). Figure out how you're going to do your inspections; and then, from day one, do them that way no matter what. As Jim remarked above, some agents will like you and some won't, so if you are consistent and thorough and concentrate on good customer service skills with your real customers - the buyers (Most of the time). Agents that are truly concerned about their clients and who want a good inspection will remember you - the rest can go sit on a salt block for all I care. The biggest reason folks feed at the realtor trough is that they believe that there is no other cost-effective way to market directly to the consumer. It's BS. I know because I started in '96 and quit marketing to agents 9 months into this business. If one can't succeed in this gig without marketing to agents, how did I manage to keep at it for 23 years when 80% of all new inspectors leave the business after only two years? Flyers? Newspaper ads? Radio? Television? Yellow Pages? Constantly visiting agent offices and dropping off gifts? Spending 16 to 20 hours a week going to brokers opens? Nah, none of that - I literally spent about $20 bucks a year on marketing - what it cost to have a thousand business cards printed up by Vistaprint, and I haven't crossed the threshold of a real estate office (except to talk to my agent about my own home buying) since about 1998. You have to think outside of the box that most home inspection trainers, real estate agents and established inspectors will try to keep you in. Before you start officially, do some inspections on the homes of your friends - as many as you can. Find out where you are comfortable and where you need to do some more studying. Establish a comfortable rhythm and then stick to it. Decide on a report format and use each of those practice inspections to get comfortable with whatever method you are using to write your reports. When you are ready to start, go by realtor offices in your area and strike up a friendly relationship with the receptionists. Your object will be to find one that will be willing to provide you a copy of the schedule of the brokers' open houses. It took me about ten offices, where I casually left little gifts with the receptionists along with my card before I found one who was willing to provide me a bootleg copy of the weekly schedule of brokers opens. For the next few months, I dropped in on her every Monday morning, chatted with her for about five minutes and left her a little box of candy. Like clockwork, when the schedule for the brokers opens came out, she'd fax the thing over to me. (After I got up and running, I didn't need her lists anymore, so I stopped visiting and didn't have to drop off any more poggey bait for her). On brokers open days, go by and visit as many as you can. Don't hang out and try to suckup like so many do - that is only going to give them the opportunity to interrogate you to find out what you are all about. For most, that means determining whether you are malleable and not a deal killer. Don't give them that chance. Just stop in, say hi, introduce yourself, tell 'em that you know they have their own preferred group of inspectors they like to work with, but that you are betting that, once they've worked with you just one time, they're either going to add you to that list or bump someone else. Then look at your watch, tell 'em you have to go because you've got an inspection to get to, and get the hell out of there. Most of them will act like you've got a hole in your head. Don't try to convince them, just be matter of fact and, as you're going out the door, say something like, "Seriously, it'll only take one time and I know you're going to want to have me on that list. Don't think so? I dare you to refer to one of your clients one time. You'll see." It's like tossing chum into the water for sharks - they get curious and want to investigate. Figure that most are going to wait until you are out of sight and then they'll toss your card - but a few will keep it. How fast one or more of them actually take you up on the dare depends on how many you manage to bait. For me, I got my first bite using that technique later in the same week. She was what I call a realtorzoid - a manipulative b***h that didn't care anymore about her clients than she did about a bug on a windshield. I arrived on-site, did my thing with the client and contract and got started. All during the inspection, she kept trying to catch my eye and kept sending me body English clues that she wanted me to pick up on - I ignored all of them. As the length of the inspection went past the length she expected me to be there, she started getting fidgety and kept looking at her watch. She even tried pointing at her wristwatch while standing behind the client where I could see her while I was talking to the client. I ignored her. At the end of the inspection, I could tell by the look in her eyes that I'd never hear from her again, but I didn't care - I had gotten a job and got paid and I knew that I'd hear from the client again and the client's friends and relatives. So, what did I do there? I did a bait and switch on her. When I stopped into her open house and dared her to refer me, I left her with the impression that I'd be her guy, and, to verify it, she took the dare and referred me the one time that I needed her to. It put a fee in my pocket, food on my table and I was able to identify a 'zoid and knew what to expect on the off chance that she'd call me again one day (See did, years later - to inspect a home for a client who was a powerful local litigation attorney. In that case she wanted thorough and careful.). You continue doing this for as long as you need to in order to stay afloat long enough to get on the list of agents that don't expect you to feed at their trough. You are mining - mining for honest non-manipulative agents that have their client's interests at heart and will most-probably refer you in the future. Are you making enemies? Sure - but you don't need them as friends. Afraid they'll run back to their offices and drop a dime on you and nobody from that office will ever want to refer anyone to you ever? So what? If they are that kind of office you don't need their BS anyway - best you learn it early. Besides, I found that even in those offices with the most manipulative agents there were always one or two who, hearing the other agent bellyache, had jotted down my name and called me later on. A few even told me about how upset the other agent had been with me and told me it was because of that they'd referred me to their clients. That's the kind of referral you want - not one that you got because you were sucking up, feeding at their trough and putting up with their b**ls**t. Now, while you are doing the bait and switch, build the foundation for your business. Everyone today is on social media. Get yourself a FB page and learn to use it to your best advantage. If you aren't familiar with it, take a night course at your local community college on FB marketing and web placement. There are other similar platforms. I haven't bothered to use them 'cuz I don't need to. You can explore them too. Go to Google and search "The largest employers in (list your area) and take down that list. Then, starting with the one that employs the most people, find out if they have some kind of intranet forum (similar to this one) where they talk to each other. It used to be that only really large employers like Microsoft, Google, G.E., G.M., Ford, etc. had those, but these days just about every moderately-sized employer has them. It can even be a private, company-only group on FB as well as a dedicated back room on their company website. Figure out where you are going to price your work. Don't make the mistake of low-balling. If you start off as a bottom feeder, you'll always be a bottom feeder, and, most of the time you'll end up doing the kinds of inspections home inspectors hate. Find out who the ten top HI companies are in your area, find out what they charge, calculate the average price for an inspection and then add $50. Then, as people begin calling you to talk about scheduling an appointment get to know a little bit about them so that you'll know what kind of a customer you'll have and will be prepared on the day of the inspection to either deal with someone who hasn't the faintest idea how a home is built or how they work or you'll be dealing with someone who is good with his or her hands and once worked construction. While you are finding that out, find out where they work. If the person works for one of those large employers that has an internal forum of some sort when it comes time to discuss pricing, give them the quote but then ask if they want to save $50. They'll never say no. Explain that, after you've completed your inspection, if they like the thoroughness of the inspection, and if, after receiving the written report, they like the completeness of the report, they'd be willing to tell their fellow employees at such-and-such-company about your little company, you'd be willing to take $50 off the price of the inspection. I've never had one say they were not willing to do that. I've had a few ask, "Well, what if I don't like the inspection or the report - will I have to pay the extra $50?" I just smiled and told them I was sure that wasn't going to be the case, but, if they did not like my work they did not have to post anything and the price reduction still went. It starts off slow but then it speeds up. Before you know it, if you are consistent and you are diligent about having those folks tell their fellow workers about you by putting the name of your company on that internal message board where they can always come back and find it again, you'll be getting calls from folks who called you because they know they'll not only get an awesome inspection, but because they'll know that all they'll have to do is share some info about you on social media and they'll get $50 off the price of the inspection. In 2008 - 2009, when over 15,000 agents a month were losing their shirts and getting out of real estate, a whole lot of inspectors who feed at the trough went along with them. Without those agents, they had no idea what to do and they lost their shirts. I know one guy who had several investment properties - he had to sell one at a loss in order to keep his head above water. At the same time, because I'd concentrated on the largest employers in my area, when other homeowners began losing their homes many of those employees were in a position to purchase those bank-owned properties at fire sale prices and they called me up - sometimes to inspect two or three jobs in a row as they searched for investment properties. Instead of worrying about where the next job was coming because of the recession, I was referring jobs to other inspectors because I was booked and couldn't handle the additional work. It's a business where you have to play the long game and you have to do it like a pro. If you start off begging for work and selling your time at lowball prices, that's where you'll always be - going hat in hand to the agents and doing POS homes. Concentrate on the solid employers with well-paid employees who have staying power and accept referrals from honest agents instead of from 'zoids and you'll still be around years from now. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike