Sometimes I just have to shake my head in amazement and wonder how some folks are able to do what they do. I did an inspection for a very nice couple this morning. They brought their 2 year old and also the wife’s parents. The dad was a builder for 30 years and is now a full time electrician. (No pressure there!) Nicest folks in the world!
I am working in the master bedroom when the wife (buyer) walks in and very quietly and sheepishly says “Should I flush all of the toilets in the house or do you do that?”
I first thought that she just did not understand what my job as a home inspector in Mesa, Arizona entailed. I answered with “No, that’s what you hired me to do. That is included in the home inspection that you hired me to do”.
She went on to tell me that she and her husband were looking at a different house last week and used a different inspector. That inspector told them that “He didn’t do toilets”. So naturally they wondered if they needed to be checking the toilets in this house themselves.
It’s probably good that they opted to pass on the other house when they found out that the one I was inspecting today became available over the weekend. There is no telling what else the other inspector “doesn’t do”.
So of course that got me to thinking, which is usually a dangerous thing. Maybe I, as a home inspector, don’t do enough to tell Realtors and clients what my job as an inspector does and does not cover? It has never been an issue for me but today pointed out that maybe I can change how I do things to make it even easier for Realtors and clients. I already have a page on my website that tells “what your inspection includes”. I also have a very detailed page showing the Standards of Professional Practice for Arizona Home Inspectors as mandated by the Arizona State Board of Technical Registration. And a third page detailing the NACHI Standards of Practice for Inspecting Residential Properties. Between these three pages it is pretty clear what a home inspection does and does not cover.
But I think what I learned from today’s inspection is that I need to do a better job of explaining these details to Realtors and clients. There is enough going on for the buyer during the “crunch” time of dealing with paperwork, lining up the inspection, their nerves, etc. So I took something away from today’s inspection that will make me a better inspector.
It’s kind of scary and frankly it makes me mad that there are inspectors in the field working that don’t follow the Standards of Practice. They are giving all of us a bad name.
FYI – I do follow the SOP’s, I’m good at what I do and, I proudly do toilets!
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