Hey, Andrea - If I wasn't busy I might try gouging every caller for all I could get out of them - LOL.

Hey, Larry - Glad to have you back. Hope you had fun.

Hey, Irene - I was even proud of myself on this one - LOL.

Hey, Linda - I'll head up your way for the right price - LOL.

Hey, Andrew - If you say it with sincerity in your heart and voice, you won't get questioned. And that is the first compressor that I've found that was covered with something other than vegetation. I almost asked him if the picture was from Minnesota and he was pulling my leg.

Hey, Shoshana - Some of our compressors are in constant hibernation. Mine, for instance. I think I've used it maybe seven times in the seven years I've lived here. I'm up on a hillside with good wind blowing, windows open, and ceiling fans. I think Mother and Father Nature did a pretty good job of creating the fresh air, so I try to enjoy it whenever I can.

Hey, Tammy - At the risk of starting another brouhaha about why I don't walk on roofs.... But when the facts are the facts, and the truth is the truth, one can only keep on keepin' on.

California doesn't license home inspectors but it does license roofing contractors, so the essense of licensing is that any roofing contractor, regardless of how young and with a license that is only hours old, inherently knows more about roofs, and how to walk on roofs, than a lowly unlicensed home inspector, even if the home inspector worked in another state for 30 years as a roofing contractor. It's a flaw in the law and a reason why I write to my legislative representatives the first Saturday of each month trying to get licensing for home inspectors.

Those home inspectors who do walk on roofs are usually former roofing contractors who have struck out on their own. I know a couple of them who have maintained their roofing contracting license. If a prospective Client asks me if I know any roofing contractors who would walk on the roof, I refer to them. Better for the prospective Client to be happy with his home inspector than to sue the home inspector (and anyone else involved in the transaction) because he's not happy.

About 50% of our homes here are concrete tile or clay tile, and they are extremely easy to break, so even those who do walk on roofs usually won't walk on concrete and clay tile roofs.

Many attorneys, mine included, advise home inspectors not to walk on any roof rather than to be inconsistent in picking and choosing which roofs to walk on.

Additionally, I have a very old life insurance policy that I purchased in 1973 when I was a freshman at Texas A&M University. It has specific exclusions in it which would void it if I were doing one of those exclusions, such as flying an airplane, parachuting out of a perfectly good airplane for thrill (like President George Bush did on his 85th birthday a couple of days ago), and working in a licensed profession without a license (fraud and misrepresentation). Both my contract attorney and the insurance company, Allianz, have interpreted "working in a licensed profession without a license (fraud and misrepresentation)" as meaning that since California does not have licensing for home inspectors but does license roofing contractors, there are certain things that I as a home inspector should not do at risk of voiding my policy. Walking on the roof is one of those certain things. Ergo, I don't walk on roofs.

After the February brouhaha about my insurance policy, it looks like I'm being boycotted by some AR members here, such as Steven Smith and Charles Buell, among others, because of that. They want me to simply state that I don't walk on roofs and not claim that it's my insurance policy that won't let me walk on roofs. Well, it's a combination of factors. If they don't like that combination of factors, that's their problem, not mine. My Clients are happy, and I've gotten many a Client new roofs or tens of thousands of dollars in repairs, lower prices, escrow credits, etc., even without walking on roofs. It's not necessary to walk on roofs to inspect them -- one could even dangle from a tree in order to inspect the roof without ever getting on that roof. All one needs to do to inspect the roof is get higher than the roof. That can be done here by walking around the neighborhood, since we have lots and lots of hills here, using binoculars and telephoto camera lenses, etc. Where there's a will, there's a way. Where there's the prospect of an unhappy Client, refer them out to someone whom the State of California thinks is more qualified. That way, even if the State of California is wrong, they can't be sued for giving a yo-yo a license just because he passed a test.