Introduction

[Valerie Stewart]

Hello All......My name is Valerie Stewart. I am new to this field inspection business and very excited to take this leap into this new career. I have been in Retail Mgmt & the Hospitality Industry for over the past 30 yrs. I now reside in the Virginia Beach area. I look forward to reading the threads and learning all that I can from you many experienced Field Inspectors. Thank you for your time and TTYS......Valerie

[Welmoed Sisson]

Hi Valerie! Nice to have another female inspector on the board. From what I understand, fewer than 2% of all home inspectors are female!
It's interesting... When I started out, I was worried that home inspecting was a tightly-closed boy's club, and I would be merely tolerated (this feeling stemmed from my experience joining the Rotary Club 25 years ago, right when they first started letting women be full members -- talk about hostile!). However, my experience has been that gender really doesn't make much of a difference at all in this business! As long as I can hoist my ladder and wriggle into crawl spaces, it really doesn't matter.
Now, I do get some surprised looks when I show up (especially from long-time agents), but that's it... Not a single one has made an issue of it.
So, other female inspectors, has your experience been the same? I'm in Maryland, which tends to be pretty middle-of-the-road, but I do get up into some of the rural areas.