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Criticized for being excellent
When Tiger Woods wins yet another golf tournament, the accolades flow like Niagara Falls. “Best golfer ever” ,“What a talent”, ”No one better”. It seems like no one can say anything bad about him.
Ansel Adams is recognized as the epitome of black and white photography. His skills took decades to hone, and his talent is widely recognized.
These are examples of people that have a talent for what they do, they have practiced their craft, they work hard at getting better, and they take pride in their work. There is a marked distinction between them and the rest of the people that are in their field. They are recognized for their accomplishments and admired.
Home inspectors, for the most part, also take pride in their work. They work hard at getting better, by taking continuing education classes. They practice their craft by doing inspections, the more they do, they better they become. Some even reach the level of the “Tiger Woods” in their industry.
A good home inspector is going to try to find everything in a home they can, so that their client can have as much information about the property as possible. They take pride in being objective and telling the truth. There isn’t a need to “make something up to justify their fee”. If the house doesn’t have anything wrong, then there’s nothing to report. It is what it is!
On the other side of the coin, it’s just about impossible for an inspector to “create” a problem, just to report on it. You know, make a pipe leak, so we can write it down.
A really good inspector will probably find things wrong, that even the home owner may not know about. They may even find things a less experienced home inspector didn’t. The key word here is “experienced”. The golf pro at the local country club may be the best golfer in the region, but if he played a round with Tiger Woods, it would be very clear at the end of the day how far he has to go to be in the same league. Yet, until he played with Tiger, he was perceived as “the best around”.
Good home inspectors seem to be the only professional that is criticized for being excellent at what they do, for telling the truth, for pointing things out that are wrong, and for recognizing problems.
It is not generally recognized the potentially high liability that the inspector incurs during an inspection. The best protection from liability is to do an excellent job.
The next time you find yourself at an inspection, either as a buyer, seller, or a Realtor, remember that the inspector takes pride in his work, has practiced his craft, and works hard to continue building his skills.
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