Thread: Sometimes ...Out of the blue

I was having lunch at a local pub today and a guy came up to me and said that I had done an inspection for his cousin. They didn't buy that house because of all the stuff I found and reported. He and his wife were looking at a house and they had gone with an inspector who was $50 cheaper. He followed with, " That inspection was nothing like yours and was the worst mistake I could have made. I'm still paying for that $50 savings." He apologized.

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Yep, we'll get people stopping us in the grocery store, sticking out their hands and saying "Hi, Bob! Satisfied customer. Thanks for the great inspection!" It's kind of embarrassing when we don't remember them, but hey, we remember houses, not clients.

Yeah, earlier in my inspection career I could remember every inspection and client. I'm pretty far beyond that now. I'm the one apologizing and asking them to refresh my memory.

Originally Posted by Welmoed Sisson

Yep, we'll get people stopping us in the grocery store, sticking out their hands and saying "Hi, Bob! Satisfied customer. Thanks for the great inspection!" It's kind of embarrassing when we don't remember them, but hey, we remember houses, not clients.

How true.

I've sometimes wondered what type of inspection people get when they decide to go with another company to save $20.00 and they really ended up saving money at all in the end.

I'm to the point and age when a person will call and ask me about the house I did last month or so and I have to say that I don't have a clue. Can you let me get to my computer?
I just about remember to pick up my daughter in the afternoons. You really shouldn't have children after 50

jlmathis

Originally Posted by John Dirks Jr

Yeah, earlier in my inspection career I could remember every inspection and client. I'm pretty far beyond that now. I'm the one apologizing and asking them to refresh my memory.

And I thought it was just my aging mind! Yep, I used to remember people, names, houses, and some specific issues linked to them. No longer; it's all a big gray area. I have to look up the reports too. I often recall the inspection after looking at the report. But the people? Sorry I don't connect a face with a report. Maybe I'll start taking a picture of the client and adding that to the file or report. Perhaps, the client standing at the entry of the home.

Home inspection ,it's a love-hate relationship. I love the inspecting - hate the report writing part.

I was shopping for a refrigerator last week when some guy stopped me to tell me that he was looking for a fridge for that house I had inspected for him six weeks ago. I still have no idea what house or who he was, but at least he seemed happy to see me.

I rarely remember a house a week later unless there was something very unique about it. They just start running together. There are a few houses and people, that I will never forget.

If someone tells me their name on the phone I will immediately remember who they are. The house may be a bit foggy but after a couple questions it kicks in. Now as far as faces I remember them all. I just cannot put a name with that face in the grocery store or restaurant. Funny how you can remember the name, the home, the face, but to put all three together gets a bit sketchy for a while until some clues are thrown in. I am not sure if that is age. I think it is a bit of information overload. After all I do the entire inspection with no notes or recorder and remember it all. I will do 2 inspections in a day and will remember each item on each inspection when I am doing the report. To be expected to remember all those items and both homes and put 2 reports out I guess I can forgive myself for not putting names to faces or faces to names.

I get a kick out of someone that approaches you or calls you on the phone that you did an inspection for 2 years ago and immediately starts talking to you like they just left you 10 minutes ago and you are suppose to immediately put all three items together.

As far as longevity? As long as some clues are thrown by I can remember an inspection from that 2, 3 or more years go and can go into pretty good detail.

Now, where are those keys.

I remember a client calling and we discussed his house in detail and went over all the things that I had written up, after about 45 minutes and as we were finishing our conversation, he said something about the color of the house (being blue or something like that) and I told him that I thought the house was yellow, and that everything I just told him was about a yellow house, so it must not have been his house *I* was remembering - he said it did not matter, that apparently his blue house had the same or very similar issues as the yellow house and that I had answered all of his questions, so me discussing the wrong house was okay with him.

I gotta say I recall some largely forgettable details about houses. I have done an inspection for somebody where the sale fell through and they don't get back to me for another inspection until 6 months later and I recall things from the 1st inspection that I should have forgotten long ago.

Dang, this is an encouraging discussion.
I thought it was only me that forgot things on homes from yesterday and figured it was due to getting old.

After a couple of months, I need to see a picture of the house, and it has to be recognizably unique, (not another hardiplank hacienda on hazelwood place). Portraits of clients would be a really good idea. Delete the ones you never want to see again.

I can remember the general part of town where I saw a certain defect.
If I need a pic of a drain pan full of rusty water, I can remember Where I saw one. Find the street name in Google Maps. Now with the street name, I can punch that into my Access database. All the inspections I've done on that street come up from first to last. I can flip through them until the date looks about right, July of 2010, yeah that one. Then I go to my pics which are all filed by date on an external HD.

Who needs brain cells when you've got Access?

I'll never forget my first inspection, nor my last. It's the ones in between that are like my hair, a little grey.