Chris Bernhardt

Ya, I know I won't ever be able to bullit proof my writing but talking to the Arabic speaking realtor caused be to see some weaknesses in how I phrased the recommendation. I wrote: "Have a carpenter reinforce the floors under the interior walls of the two bedrooms." They somehow got focused on "reinforce the floors" so it was communicated to the repair person to throw some more posts down there under the wimpy 4"x4" beams. On retrospect I think I should have worded it to focus attention to adding more longitudinal support under the walls. The way I worded it was ambiguous and made the floors the object of the verb and not the walls. Anyway the whole fiasco reminded me that I still got a lot a work to do in checking logic, accurate use of words and phrases, and making sure I have made the point clear and quickly not the usually secondary and ambiguous way I do left over from years of passive writing. Chris, Oregon

Is there anyway to learn this skill without trying out your report writing on your grandmother or a willing stranger? I am quickly coming to the conclusion that this might be the only way to do it because I suck at it. Another frustrating messed up repair job on a reinspection. Client and realtors first language is Arabic and sellers and sellers agents first language is Russian and mine of course is Oregon English. Chris, Oregon

What a bonehead, what a missed opportunity for that guy. I am sure his report said that the attic and crawlspace were not readily accessible and included some verbiage like if the insulation is covering the ceiling joists or the access is less than 18"x24" blah blah blah. Just like there will never be too many good people, there will never be too many good inspectors. Guys should take an opportunity to learn and better themselves. I always try and ask clients what they do. You run into some amazing people and I have learned alot about things that I would have otherwise never been able to learn. Chris, Oregon

Would you say that an inspector would be remiss in this day and age for not using a moisture meter in a visual inspection? If the answer is yes then how much use is expected? Should one follow one of the published moisture inspection protocols? Chris, Oregon

A follow up question is have you ever found a moisture anomaly that you could not have found thru a normal visual inspection using a moisture meter in normal HI work? Chris, Oregon

For those inspectors whose personal protocol basically has them performing a moisture analisis at all windows at points inside and out, have you ever discovered problems that you could not have identified via just a visual inspection? And if yes then how often does that occur that you find moisture where there is otherwise absolutely no visual clue or defect that would indicate the possibility of a problem? Chris, Oregon

Thanks. I have been writing up grandfathered items like the way Walter suggests. I would like to give credit to Mike O. as he gives an excellent model on how to do this in my "Unsafe" post. I started thinking more about this when I read about NC's proposed HI SOP that would prohibit and inspector from making recommendations concerning grandfathered items and I started wondering if HI's were parsing grandfathered items already and trying to make a distiniction between them and other defects. I haven't been. I just put them on the same list along with everything else. Chris, Oregon

So, Kevin are you saying that you do give such items equal weight in your summary? Chris, Oregon

For those HI's out there that are using IR equipment, are you using or promoting it mostly for separate moisture and energy surveys or do you mainly use it and promote for everyday normal HI work? Chris, Oregon

Do you give improvements in safety to grandfathered items equal weight with any other normally reported defect in your summary? Chris, Oregon

I remember back when the construction contractors board here in Oregon finally announced the requirements for continuing ed. One RE but kissing inspector complained to the board that as a result of allowing credits for building code classes inspectors would start writing things up that were grandfathered in and mucking things up. The board came back with why wouldn't you want to inform the client of such issues that could be important to them. Obviously there were no realtors on the board. Chris, Oregon

I would have handled it differently. I would have probably called her and talked to her and asked her some questions. But that's me, that's my style to ask questions. In her message to you it sounds like she was complaining that you keep finding too many things wrong. But so what, that's what she's paying you for like you said. I would not even have addressed that complaint. Instead I would try to inquire after the clients goals and focus discussions on that. You said that you would be glad to go over her punch list. I assume that was her list of things she wanted to hit the owner up for. I have made that mistake before. Jim Katen told me to act like the owner doesn't exist - at least thats how I took it. Give your advice as if there is no seller or realtor. Then let the client use their own brain to make decisions in their negotiations. But as far as I am concern I try to act like the seller doesn't exist. If you act that way there's no reason to be concerned about keeping your conversation confidential. Now I also have to credit Hausdok for repeatedly slapping me upside the head for considering sellers, realtors and the negotiation. Chris, Oregon

Did you take that picture or did you get it from somewhere? What a nice metaphor. Chris, Oregon

If that is true then I would expect a feeding frenzy by investors when the market corrects next year. In about 2 years there will be another wave as those now start heeding the FHA call. From what I hear FHA is pounding the streets trying to take advantage of the death of 100% financing, subprime, and stated income loans. Chris, Oregon

So what you are saying is that there might be a problem then you say you found no evidence of a problem. Hmm... thats the way I think a client might see it. Also when you say that " I found no evidence to indicate an existing problem" does that apply to both conditions or the last one? That statement is ambiguous. I think they will buy your assessment of no problem over the areas that you could access and look at but will most probably be concerned about the painted area that you couldn't get to. I would separate the two conditions and address them separately. They are probably going to want to know why only a portion of the ceiling got spray painted and are going to think it was to cover a moisture stain. If the owner is availible I would ask him why. Chris, Oregon

In the crawlspace of a POS house a day ago (I know I know, raise my prices!) the uncovered ground started to collapse under my elbows. I immediately remembered Hausdoks story of hundreds of rats running around him. Luckily nothing came out. Would you report the condition and recommend further investigation? Could it be some other concern other then burrows from varmints? Chris, Oregon

As far as I know I have never gotten a single client from any advertising I have bought or done in say 8.5 years and a few thousand inspections! I can think of only one realtor that I won by cold calling and the only reason I got lucky with that one was that I was offering servicios en espanol at the time. I am not saying that you can't build a business thru marketing efforts; it's just I never did. With so many starving realtors out my way I can't imagine any marketing getting anywhere. My business grew mostly because I got referred to newbie realtors or realtors that had gotten pissed off at their HI, or their favorite HI retired, moved away or left the biz. It's hard for me to imagine any of the realtors that I know falling for some HI boasting about all of his or her credentials when they already got one they are reasonably satisfied with. Clients on the other hand care more about credentials but still I find that they usually go with the first guy that answers his phone. Chris, Oregon

To summarize this post, if an HI says "repair" it implies that it be done right. If we agree on that then does it really matter if we have some statement in the report that defines what the HI means by repair? I have had such a statement in my report in different forms for years but it's never made any difference as far as I can tell. I want to remove it on the basis it's unnecessary. What do you think? Chris, Oregon

Weyerhaeuser and masonite both made that pattern. But I don't recall seeing any with that groove near the drip edge from either mfg. Chris, Oregon

A few months ago I got a vista box as a loner while my main XP box was in the shop. I had to buy a new printer, upgrade to office 2007 and adobe 8. What a nightmare. I was cussing for a good week. After using Vista for a month I got use to it and even started liking some of the new features. Chris, Oregon

Well, like I said I have broken tiles by walking on them, hasn't anybody else? Anyway its really hard to get a single clean break like those in the fotos. I have never broken any while walking on the head lap; you have to step in the middle of the tile. Now it might be in some cases that they initially break along one line but as your weight travels down to the deck it has always for me produced secondary breaks and it looks just like someone stepped in the middle of the tile and the tile tends to break into triangular pieces. Swarga or Prickett should have some insight like Hausdok said. Chris, Oregon

Well, I have broken tiles like those in my dumbass days by walking on them and thats not the way they break when someone steps on them wrong. They don't have a case. They can't prove that you broke the tiles. Chris, Oregon

If the natual draft gas appliances are not on the same floor and taking combustion air from the same space, wouldn't they require separate vents? Chris, Oregon

Would you comment on substandard tile work? In other words would you alert your clients to the fact that the work doesn’t meet with best practices which could lead to failures? For example the development of loose tiles or an overly deflecting floor leading to cracked tiles and damaged grout or problems with excessive lipping. Or do you ignore the fact that the work is substandard and address only the actually defects and deficiencies present in the work when you look at it? Chris, Oregon

With respect to unsafeness the ASHI SOP and many others based on it, talk in terms of day to day use. Under the "unsafe" definition am I required to report old garage passageway doors that don't conform to current fire safety standards as unsafe? Now, I currently report them and alert the client that the current practice has changed and recommend their upgrade as an improvement to safety which is different from declaring them unsafe. It makes sense to me that things like safety glazing, stairs, garage vehicle doors are covered because people interact with them normally on a day to day basis. But what about items which are normally never interacted with by a home owner or which the frequency of a hazard is low for where building regulations have changed? Are those also intended to be covered under the "unsafe" definition? Chris, Oregon