I get a call requesting a home inspection in a nice town in MA. The description of the home sounds a bit small for my expectations of the typical home in this town. I proceed to give a price estimate and schedule an inspector to be there at the agreed upon date and time.
After the phone call, a few clicks on the internet and I find the home we discussed. The listing ad shows this home as significantly larger than we discussed on the phone. Well this is no way to start a business relationship. Before I give him a call back, I decide to check with the assessors office web page, just in case it was a mistake on the listing.
The address is not a valid address in the town! Nothing on the assessors website with this street.
Maybe I'm really doing something wrong, so I decide to call the assessors office and see if I can figure out where I'm going wrong. After a few minutes on the phone, the assessor is able to determine the house in question, and then gives me the official address as well as the basic info (sq. ft, bed, bath, etc.)
A call back to the client with the correct information... and the result is oh, yeah, I did some more calling around and found someone cheaper.
I'm guessing he probably told the cheaper inspector it was a really small house or a condo.
I'm glad I confronted the client before arriving on-site.
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