Thread: Two man inspections

I have enjoyed reading your threads and posts. One article was very interesting. The category was Inspection Blues, topic: A Serious Question, By Mark Dobbs, in March of 2007. The subject: Starting Home Inspection at 48. Also postes by Jack Feldman, “. . . what kind of shape are you in now?... ,. . . able to get up and down ladders … Crawling around under houses or in attics?
Also, posts by Joe Griffin and Scott Andersen and others, “this industry is actually perfect for older people who have come from a construction background.”
At this point, I am now a young 60. I can climb ladders, crawl in crawl spaces and attics. I am still an active remodeler, and I also referee high school football games, which I usually run more than a mile in every game.
My question is, why should I have to climb on roofs, crawl through attics and crawl spaces, when I can have a young helper do that for me? I have a young carpenter working for me at the present time, who would be able to help me during some of my future inspections. My helper would be instructed on what to look for, and take pictures of all items under consideration. If he saw a major problem, he would take a picture of it, and then I would look at it myself. During this time, I would be inspecting the other component’s of the home.
In all my reading in the Inspection News, I have not read anything about a two man inspection. Is this something out of the ordinary? Or are there any problems with the two man inspection that I am not aware of, or are there legal problems? (I know, there are always legal problems, because there are attorneys.)

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Tim,

We have a number of husband and wife teams (or is that the other way around) as well as "older guy/gal" and younger apprentice or helper teams.

Most work off of 2-way headsets or have portions of the report they are responsible for.

I worked with another inspector during his recovery from surgery and did most of the grunt stuff while he entered the data in the report from my photos. I'd swing by his station in the kitchen every 20 min. or so and drop a batch of photos then go do some more of the house. We were fairly proficient after 3-5 houses, but he is and was a knowledgeable seasoned vet.

As long as you run your biz by the laws of your state I don't see this as a problem, except for your co-workers learning curve. Sounds like there may be little if any.

Further questions and required answers should be directed to your attorney and the legal department of your state governing authority.

I also do some tag team inspections with a few of the local guys when things gat slow for one of us or a large property(s) are involved.

A couple of things come to mind...
1) If your state requires licensing (and I think it does), then probably your partner would need to have a license (of some level) and have his name on the report as well.
2) You might want to find out if your Errors and Omissions Insurance carrier covers both inspectors, especially if one is not licensed.
3) Then there is the liability of having someone else miss something that you may have otherwise not missed
4) The other person may break something in the home or damage a window with your ladder...
5) The other person may get hurt on the job.... who pays for his injuries?

Several items to consider.

It's standard procedure for me when I bring someone new on board, or when there is a very large house to inspect, or when business is slow.

Richard is right on target too. TN requires anyone that is there as an inspector (or helper) to have an active HI license. TN HI license requires E&O insurance.

In my case, I want to know that the person that is working for me is going to be doing the same inspection I'm doing. There is also the issue of learning my computer system.

More importantly, I want that person to also handle people in the same manner I do. After all, he is a reflection of my business.

I won't go into the details of how I do the training tag team inspections here. If you're interested (Tim), just can send me an e-mail and I would be happy to discuss it with you.

I have found that inspections do NOT go twice as fast. It does cost ME more money to have another person there helping. However, I'm also not working as hard during the inspection.

JF

Tim,
When I worked with HomeTeam Inspections 6 yrs ago we used two man teams to inspect. House under 2500 SF in under 1 hour twenty mins. Separate HVAC inspector, separate pest inspector, all part of the team.
I don't know if they still do it that way or not.
Russel Ray?

I work alone now and like it better.

Even without doing HVAC, I'm not sure I could do 1/2 of a 2500 SF house in less than an hour twenty - even if it was a vacant slab home.

Takes me more than 20 minutes to import photos and piece together the report from Pocket PC.

The question that begs asking is; just how good is your helper? (assistant)
When it hits the fan you will be held legally responsible for the report so me thinks they better be at least as good as you, but preferably better. Nobody will protect your ass-ets better than you!