DonTx

Let me start my disagreement with Mike by saying I don't leave flyers/brochures in any realty offices and I don't care who does or does not. However I look at this strictly from a business standpoint, If I'm running a private business, then I should get to call the shots about who or who does not get to leave stuff in my store. If I was King [:-king], there'd be no flyers/brochures left in offices. And to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, whether real or imagined, there'd be no realtors referring HI's or any other trade that could affect the transaction (such as pest control companies, appraisers). I'd make a declaration that any consumer who was too lazy or stupid to do their own research to find an HI, doesn't deserve to own a home anyway. [:-dunce] I'm glad to see that the JD is going after the big boys. It should be a good fight. Our state RA [:-witch] has been whining and trying to undermine the FSBO companies in the state for some time now. I love to see the little guys win. [:-thumbu]

I find that asking them questions about their home and items on the disclosure, and letting them see you write the answers down, pretty much sends them scurrying out of the way. I start by asking how long they've lived in the home, if there have been any termite treatments, foundation repair or other repairs/upgrades to the home. Around here, most of the agents tell the Sellers not to be at home during the inspection. I find the hardcore Sellers are generally just curious/anxious about the inspection.

My guess would be asbestos as well. Some of the older homes in downtown Houston have asbestos shingles on them, but I don't think I've ever seen one laid in a Dutch fashion either. I believe you were working with a early 1900's roofer who was thinking outside the box. P.S. Was there any underlayment? It's common to see the shingles outlast the underlayment in this area when asbestos shingles are used.

I heard the same thing (stinky stuff in gas corrodes copper) and I believe our SOP requires us to call it out (I'm going to recheck now). As I understand it, propane stinks naturally and is not corrosive to copper.

Kurt's got the right idea. The ideal flip is get it turned around before you have to start making payments. Some homes need just a little spit & shine, others need major overhauls. I was glad to see he pulled the plug on that termite infested POS. I knew the chic had gotten emotionally involved by the way she talked. Like many buyers, she simply fell in love with that old junker and lost focus on what she was really buying it for. It was amusing to watch the happenings with the AHJ. I had a feeling that Richard had connections at the city when he started making phone calls. Had he made those phone calls after the first incident, he'd probably got it settled without having to go down to Code Enforcement & Planning. What do you wanna bet he makes contributions to their election campaigns? [] Captain, why would you think the Realtor should lose his license? You don't have the Realtor confused with the Investor (Richard Davis) do you? Just curious. Overall I like the show pretty good. There's another show call "Flip that house" on The Discovery Channel. It's a 'milder' version and not near as fun to watch. The last show I saw the guy took 4 months to overhaul an apartment. Way too much time to have you money tied up unless you're going to lease or rent the unit out. Then, it's not really flipping, it rennovating/remodeling.

Our friends have owned one for over a year and love it. She drives it about 100 miles round trip each day to work so the miles have racked up fast. I thought the ride was as comfortable as our Tahoe. She says that she averages anywhere from 19-21 on her mileage depending on how much she drives in the city. Good Luck and keep us updated on your new ride..

After I spent a grand on new sheetrock, tub and shower surround, I move stuff if I have to! Like most, my contract says I don't do it. However, when 2 and 2 are coming up 3 1/2, I'll move what I have to. For example, kids toys don't go in a linen closet behind a tub and shower. I knew that and thought it odd the day I was there, but I didn't take the toys out. 2 weeks later I found out why they were there, to hide the mold and water damaged sheetrock! Nice catch Chris and good lesson for all of us to remember! BTW, where did the termites come up from...drain pipe or crack in the slab?

I was surfing today and found this show. According to A&E, it's a new series. Pretty good show overall. Look forward to seeing other episodes. http://www.aetv.com/flipthishouse/index.jsp Even the wife likes it. If I have to sit and watch a "makeover" show, I want to see some money made off of it. Speaking of makeover shows....is it me or is Debbie Travis' butt getting bigger?

The truth is, for projects around the house, any saw will probably work and last you a while. Personally I like power and lots of it. 99% of the time I don't need it though. Go down to Sears, Lowes or HD and get one you like. However, if this was a saw you'd be using day in, day out to put food on the table, then you'd want a reliable workhorse and spend the extra $$$ for one. I'd check ebay also and see if there is one in your area for sale. Who knows, you might save enough to buy another power tool with!

Now that's a "Featured Inspector" picture you could leave up for a while![]

I need either some standards or installation instructions for granite countertops. Two of the issues I have is the use of a sub counter and moisture barrier (are they needed/required) and where seams can occur. On many jobs, I see the seams at the sink. My Residential & Light Commercial Construction Standards book says seams should not be near sinks, but they give no references. Any suggestions?

Hi Paul, If you strive to be the most thorough inspector around and write better reports than 99% of the other inspectors in your area, you'll be able to command your own price. Don't get bummed when people hang up and go shopping. It's a numbers game. You're going to have people who only want a cheap inspection no matter what. Then you'll have people who want the best inspection they can get. Those are the ones you want but your work will have to exceed their expectations. It use to burn me up when I'd spend time on the phone with a prospective client only to have them use a cheaper inspector. Now, I could care less. When the hang up and go shopping, there'll be someone else call shortly who is willing to meet my price. In time, this will happen to you. If you're truly offering quality inspections and reports, then start out a little higher than your competition and explain it to your prospective clients why you're more expensive. Another thing, when you charge more, you'll have to do less inspections to make ends meet. Even if you're the cheapest inspector, you're not going to book every inspection. Don't fight it, just charge what you need to and let the crumbs fall where they may. The longer I'm in this game, the more I find myself picking the low hanging fruit. I was recently turned on to eLance for some outsourcing. eLance is where you post a work project and freelancers bid on the project based on your job description. On many projects you can see what other Freelancers are bidding on the same project and on accepted projects you can see the winning bidder. Rarely does the lowest bidder win these projects. From browsing through the projects, I'd say that the majority of the projects are awarded to the upper end bidders. People will pay for quality service. Stick to your guns.

Jeff, Thanks for the links. Good info. However, the last one wouldn't work for me.

Hi Chuck, You'll find KB Homes putting a 5 ton unit in their 2 story homes up to 4200 sf. They swear that it's more than enough. My common reply is "Perhaps it is if we were in Michigan, but not South Texas" What I normally do is tell the Client that the unit will not likely cool adequately to keep them comfortable, especially if both upstairs and downstairs zones are going at once (I've actually documented this several times on 1 Year Warranty Inspections). I also state in my report that the system needs proper load calculations performed by a qualified and licensed HVAC contractor. If the system is really bad, I just put in the report that the system needs evaluated by a Mechanical Engineer who specializes in design and repairs of HVAC systems. So far, the few times my Clients have actually had an independent HVAC contractor out to do calculations, the builders HVAC team have been way off. I generally recommend either Central City Air or Kingwood Air. Either of those companies are really good, especially David @ CCA. By the way, the new TRCC Performance Guidelines state that the system is suppose to keep the inside temperature at least 15 degrees cooler than the outside air temperature. Pretty lame but I've seen times where I could actually use this against the builder. Good Luck,

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. They are appreciated. The one shining light that I can see that came from this is, Robert signed up to be a organ donor a few months ago when he renewed his drivers license. That's the first time he'd ever done that. Thanks again,

My dad called me Monday night and gave me this news. http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbc ... 6278712665 Robert the cab driver passed away today around 1:30. Robert was my cousin and about a year younger than me. We practically grew up together since my Aunt and Uncle lived close by and my Uncle worked for my Dad for a period of time. I guess we were around 14 or 15 when my Uncle moved to take another job. Didn't see much of him after that. The last time I saw him was a couple years ago at a family reunion. He'd gotten into trouble a while after getting out of school, but had straightened it out and was getting back on track. Driving a cab was an extra job he did to help pay his child support from a previous marriage.

Half, little or big; it's still a lie. "Yea, I know that Martha told a little fib, but it did not hurt one person. It was shown that what she did had no impact on anyone, but herself." Scott, coming from you, that surprises me. By the way, I use to try that reasoning with my Dad. He made sure it "impacted" me in ways I'd never forget.

Paul, that's one of the things that has me scratching my head? It's all I can do to keep from loosing sleep over it....

The day I first read this post. I actually go look everytime this issue pops up on a forum somewhere. I'm sure I'm lacking in the law research field, so I just google "price fixing lawsuit" plus a few other terms and see what turns up. Visa, Vitamins, music CD's and real estate...that's about it...nothing on a bunch of HI's chatting on a forum. Nothing this time except something about a home inspector being sued because he quoted Code....[:-eyebrow

Gotta go with Chuck on this one. Never seen a price fixin' case on HI's or any trades for that matter. I put this issue right up there with the "If you quote Codes you'll get sued if you miss one code violation" issue. I've seen this issue pop up on forums ranging from lawn service to HVAC and some sweat it, some don't. Last time I looked, AG's had bigger fish to fry that some trade bums discussing how much their charging. Now when we all get together and agree to a $500 per hour fee, now that might get someones attention.

I tried ServiceMagic for about a year. There were already several inspectors in my area who had been with them a while and were a lot cheaper on their inspection fees than I was. They also received the 5 Star Provider status. I received exactly 1 inspection from them. Not worth my time to chase all those price shoppers. My experience with the "locator" services has been the same. A lot of "email leads" but darn few actual inspections. I think most of those people are your competition or price shoppers. If you have cut rate prices, they'll probably work for you. Otherwise, you'll have to find another avenue. The locator service on ASHI has actually worked pretty well for us. It may be because there is only 8 (at last count) ASHI inspectors in Houston, I don't know. Just started doing commercial inspections for a RE investment company out of Cal. that found us on the ASHI locator. We've done 2 restuarants and 1 day care for them in the last 2 days. Nice thing is they didn't quibble at my prices. The article for a newspaper thing is good. The last time ASHI is mentioned in the Chronical (which isn't very often), we'll get 3 to 6 inspections out of it. Your best bet is to try different things and see what works for you. Never stop testing, that's Marketing 101.

Mike, if this is too rough, go ahead and delete it, I'll xxxxx a few items. Here's the email just like I received it (except for the "xxxx's"), guy writes really well.... independent? your "xxxx" buddied up with a realtor association the purpose of an inspection is to spend the time inspecting not making a pretty report that nobody reads except the realtors who like to copy it instead of doing a notice to correct form. ashi nahi and joke nachi are also just National Association Of Realtor branches i've taken all their "tuff" test their a xxxxxxx joke www.homespeck.com Still not sure where he's coming from. He obviously didn't read my website or my sample report. He could have seen one of my online articles on another site about inspection orgs...who knows. Didn't sign his name but left his website. I think he should take Whitney Houston's advice she gave out on an interview with Dianne Sawyer...."Crack is Whack" [:-bigeyes [:-propell

Have any of you guys ever got hate mail from another inspector? I received an email yesterday from an Inspector in Denver. I'm not sure what his problem was, however I think he got some bad crack. Never heard of the guy and I'm still not sure what he's talking about. Kinda like I was left out of the circle..lol I figure if I can P.O. someone that bad without trying, I must be doing something right!

Put some Rose colored glasses on that guy and he'd be a dead ringer for John Conlee! Seriously though, you new guys and a lot of you old dawgs need to visit his site and see what real copy writing is all about. MC, if you wrote the latest copy for your website, you missed your calling as a Marketing Guru!

Many new and older Condo's here will have a "sub panel" in the unit with the main at one end of the building. (the 'subs' are wired like a sub also, meaning that the grounds and neutrals float) Does the 6 throw rule apply to the sub panel or only to the system? I say if the system has at least 1 main breaker we're okay. My other inspector thinks there should be main in the sub panel as well. Which one is it?