Beneficial suggestions to ensure your report has credibility.  Good info!

Great blog, alot of informative information for the buyer.

Joseph,

Walking on roofs is not necessary, nor should it be a prerequisite for finding a good, professional home inspector. I know many good inspectors, including myself, who do not walk roofs. If needed viewing the roof from a ladder from the edge will suffice.

A good list, looks similar to something I wrote a while back and the HUD list.

James, 

I have discovered numerous items I know for a fact that I could not have discovered without walking a roof.  The roof edge does not provide proper visibility, especially on a large home's roof.  If it's a hazardous condition, I won't walk a roof.  Otherwise I am doing myself, and especially my clients, a disservice by not doing so. Having not walked on some roofs for a short while and then making the decision to do so, I can tell you that I will walk a roof in all circumstances unless it's hazardous...

but every market is different and maybe not walking roofs is fine in your area.  Every housing market is different.

James does remind me to state that overall my recommendations were made for people is Southern California.

Take care.

Joseph,

The market area has nothing to do with the decision to walk or not walk a roof. My point was simply that it should not, no it does not fall under a qualification for hiring a good, professional home inspector. As does the crawlspace qual. also.

Your list is actually all the things you do and as such anyone using it will find you fit all the criteria. That being the case it is therefore not a fair and objective list of home inspector qualifications. It is your set of qualifications.

Here is the HUD Ten Important Questions to Ask Your Home Inspector. You will notice some similarities to your list which is to be expected. Yours is a good list except for the "qualifications" I have mentioned.

Okay, if you don't crawl under houses you can't see the above foundation supports that needed immediate repair.

I'm not going to place myself or my clients in that situation.  It's not about outdoing my competition, that's always nice, it's about giving my clients what they deserve, a thorough home inspection. It's not just a house you're inspecting, it's someone's largest financial investment of their life and they're usually sacrificing a lot to move their families into that house.

Joseph,

You are missing the point I am trying to make specifically about your list of home inspector "qualifications". You are mixing qualifications with procedures. Inspecting crawl spaces and walking on roofs is a procedure, not a qualification. I am not debating that you should be entering crawlspaces or if you can and choose to do so, walk a roof. Those are inspection procedures, methods, not an inspectors qualifications.

A qualification is background, experience, training and education. You also mention association memberships. Another qualification.

Speaking of associations, they all have Standards of Practice. No SoP that I am aware of, including State licensing SoP, mentions that you must walk a roof or enter a crawlspace. The SoP describes what should be inspected, but the method is not specified.

If you walk roofs, that's great. I am sure you use that as a selling point to potential clients as well as entering accessible crawlspaces. It is very apparent that you are dedicated to giving your clients a good thorough home inspection. I would also speculate that you are aware of competitors in your area that do not put that much effort into their inspections. This I would again speculate drives your list of "qualifications".

A good list should be fair and objective, just like a good home inspection.

I like your pics. Heres one I found last week. This is a temporary support that was installed as a permanent structural pier. There were eight of these in this duplex. Very good probability the neighbors side of the building was the same.

The topic of the blog is "What to look for in a home inspector", and the first sentence reads, "Here are some basic questions to ask when selecting a home inspector:"

I did not state it was a list of qualifications anywhere in the blog. My last statement of the blog sums it up, "I hope this gives you a little more information when selecting a home inspector."  I did not state it was the only or ultimate list to use.

Now to claim it was a biased list, I personally take offense to that.  Having a bachelor's degree in Behavioral Science I am quite aware of biases. I made the questions themselves quite neutral.  I would have added many more items if I wanted it solely to highlight myself. Now in my rsponses to the questions, of course those are biased in the sense that I made them quite personal to myself, but I also made it obvious that the answers were about me.

Joseph,

I did not write or claim that your list was biased, although you may have inferred that from my comments. I believe you are debating semantics. Your list is indeed presented as a list of home inspector qualifications. I am not trying to offend you, but simpling trying to have you understand the difference between qualifications and methods.

Walking roofs is a method of inspection. Checking the roof from the edge on a ladder is a method of inspection.

Being a member of ASHi is a home inspector qualification. Having performed 1000 home inspections is a home inspector qualification.

Do you see the difference?

I see the difference and agree that methods and qualififcations are different issues.

However, asking a home inspector what methods they use are very relevant to a buyer and therefore should, in my opinion, be included in a list of questions.  I did not distinguish between methods and qualifications in my blog, nor do I think I needed to. We are having quite a good discussion about the topic, as home inspectors. But we probably lost most realtors a long time ago.

Thanks for engaging in the discussion. It's nice to talk with other home inspectors because most don't take the time to get invloved.

Joseph,

I also enjoyed the exchange. There are many good blogs here on AR that generate good and interesting discussions. You will find there are regulars that contribute good insight into many subjects.

I know you and I are on the same page concerning customer service and doing a quality job. And that is what really matters.