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Welcome to the InspectionNews - Home Inspection forums.
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06-27-2008, 05:41 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Just registered
Hello everyone. I just now registered with this forum. My name is John and I'm looking forward to participating in the discussions. I hope you all have been hanging in there with this supressed market. I sure hope it comes back sooner than later.
Last edited by John Dirks Jr : 06-28-2008 at 03:04 PM.
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06-27-2008, 06:55 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Memphis TN.
Posts: 1,602
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Re: Just registered
Hi John,
We can use a man like you.
Jump in when you can. 
__________________
It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.
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06-27-2008, 09:23 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 1,228
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Re: Just registered
I hope they come of the price boom in Maryland for your sake and all inspectors. I once lived in the Boston Mass area, I just do not understand where the service folks live up there anymore. My daughter bought a 1500 square foot home that was 70 years old for 450. Sold it a year later for 485.
Like I said where do the simpler folk live in those kind of prices.
I think the slow down is shorter lived. Gas will drop some and things will pick up. The oil companies will not let the world market crash with what they are doing. I think we should line them all up and hook them up to a faulty electric cord on a faulty GFCI
Just me
Ted
Welcome
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06-27-2008, 10:09 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 284
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Re: Just registered
Welcome, AHI.
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06-28-2008, 02:05 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Oregon
Posts: 225
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Re: Just registered
AHI, Dirks.... who is this guy..... just kiddin..... welcome aboard to another great site. |
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06-28-2008, 05:28 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Philadelphia PA
Posts: 1,317
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Re: Just registered
John -
Typo on your website you might want to fix:
"Since you are reading this, I suppose you need hire a home inspector."
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06-28-2008, 02:10 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Re: Just registered
Hello Brandon and Brandon. It's a small world huh? I'm branching out, yeah..that's the ticket.
John, where is the typo? My foggy brain can't find it.
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06-28-2008, 02:50 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Spring Hill (Nashville), TN
Posts: 1,750
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Re: Just registered
Hi John and Welcome.
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06-28-2008, 03:12 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Re: Just registered
Originally Posted by Scott Patterson
Hi John and Welcome.
Hey, I recognize your mug too. |
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06-28-2008, 03:13 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Philadelphia PA
Posts: 1,317
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Re: Just registered
Originally Posted by John Dirks Jr
...John, where is the typo? My foggy brain can't find it.
"Since you are reading this, I suppose you need to hire a home inspector."
I added the word "to" above. |
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06-28-2008, 03:45 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: San Mateo, CA
Posts: 1,103
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Re: Just registered
Welcome John
I read your sample inspection report and respectfully advise you to get some professional help on report writing. I saw enough glitches in it to cause you more than a few potential legal problems. Please accept my opinion in the light it is given, that is with well meaning and an attempt to be helpful. |
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06-28-2008, 04:46 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Re: Just registered
Originally Posted by John Arnold
"Since you are reading this, I suppose you need to hire a home inspector."
I added the word "to" above.
I fixed it. Thanks a bunch for catching that for me. |
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06-28-2008, 04:47 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Re: Just registered
Originally Posted by Jerry McCarthy
Welcome John
I read your sample inspection report and respectfully advise you to get some professional help on report writing. I saw enough glitches in it to cause you more than a few potential legal problems. Please accept my opinion in the light it is given, that is with well meaning and an attempt to be helpful.
Jerry, I accept you opinion as well meaning. Thanks. |
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06-28-2008, 05:26 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Re: Just registered
BTW Jerry, I respectfully disagree with you about the quality of my sample report. I have put it to the scrutiny of some well seasoned inspectors in another forum. Some of them also work as expert witnesses in cases involving home inspection issues. They never said it was perfect but they surely didn't react like you have. Maybe it's a matter of my style not appealing to you? I don't know.
It's tricky figuring out who to trust sometimes. Also, many people in the housing industry including builders, real estate agents and even home inspectors have no clue what a home inspectors job actually is and where their responsibilities lie.
I have been using this reporting style for 8 months. I have had a few realtors not happy with my reports but that is expected since I put the buyers interests first. I have never had a complaint from a buyer. Only one time so far have I had a client call back and ask for further explanation.
I stand by this style in general and the sample report in specific.
Last edited by John Dirks Jr : 06-28-2008 at 05:30 PM.
Reason: spelling
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06-28-2008, 06:36 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ormond Beach, Florida
Posts: 7,635
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Re: Just registered
Originally Posted by Jerry McCarthy
I read your sample inspection report and respectfully advise you to get some professional help on report writing. I saw enough glitches in it to cause you more than a few potential legal problems.
John,
I skimmed through your sample report, only getting to page 10 of 17 before stopping, and I agree with Jerry Mc. (known as West Coast Jerry to us here).
In the same spirit as WC Jerry, I recommend you do some re-wording on your report, to help keep you as far from those potential legal problems as possible. |
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06-28-2008, 07:14 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 1,228
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Re: Just registered
I do not post sample reports. No, I don't care about it being scrutinized by other home inspectors. A sample report has absolutely nothing to do with the next home I inspect.
Every home and every inspection and every finding is different than the last home I inspected. I write out every finding to what it pertains to on that inspection.
The only thing that is going to be the same is disclaimers. I use almost no disclaimers at all.
If someone can't figure out that I cannot see thru walls, or a shingle is going to blow off, or a drain is going to back up someday or the HVAC system might stop working the moment I leave the home then I do not want to inspect their home.
I look every home buyer in the eye and tell them exactly that. "When I leave this inspection that water heater could stop working and may just do that but as you can see it is just ducky right now. You do understand that, right"
I posted what the new TREC front page is going to look like and what it includes. Almost to the T of what the front page says is what I have been adding to my report for ever. "We are generalist". "We are here to "reduce" your risk of home buying". "Another inspector may find or write the report differently" "We address safety concerns but it is impossible to find and note all safety hazards (asbestos in a multitude of products in the past) (just an example) (Rats biting into wires)
I do not know if your home is going to be swallowed by a sink hole tomorrow, period.
I took a picture of a cable running thru a hole in brick on a home. A week later the realtor and buyer walked around the home and saw a crack running straight up the brick right thru the hole. The listing agent said it was there and noted in the past by another inspector (liar). (remember the picture I took) . Anyway, did I know that crack was going to take place. Man, the house just dropped on one corner. No, and I am not going to give them a disclaimer for it either.
Shut up Ted. Get back to work. Everyone is scared to death about getting sued.
I did not read your report. Specifics will kill you. Find it, report it. Pass it on to someone else such as an electrician. A more thorough evaluation is needed for this concern by the appropriate tradesmen. If you write a more thorough evaluation is needed and they find other items, you are covered, period.
Suggest a particular repair?????? Only for the simple things. I mean simple, real simple. Leave it open for further more exhaustive, evaluation. You are not copping out.
going back to work now
Ted
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06-28-2008, 07:46 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Cleveland
Posts: 196
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Re: Just registered
Originally Posted by Jerry McCarthy
Welcome John
I read your sample inspection report and respectfully advise you to get some professional help on report writing. I saw enough glitches in it to cause you more than a few potential legal problems. Please accept my opinion in the light it is given, that is with well meaning and an attempt to be helpful.
Hey Jerry, I am very new to the business so I am especially interested in some examples of what you are talking about. I understand that liability can be very huge in our industry and obviously want to reduce the number of mistakes I make and any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks |
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06-28-2008, 08:35 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ormond Beach, Florida
Posts: 7,635
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Re: Just registered
Here is one of them:
"
The vents for the upstairs bathrooms terminate in the attic space just below the ridge vent. Although this arrangement does not appear to have caused a moisture problem yet, it is still an incorrect installation. All mechanical venting devices should terminate to the outside of the structure. If you are concerned that this arrangement might cause a moisture problem in the attic in the future, hire a contractor to correct it. "
That states it is not correct, states where they should terminate, then does not call for correction.
The only call for correction is "If you are concerned ... " - huh? The home inspector is there to tell them what is not right, then tell them what to do (correct it), not put the decision off onto the client. Has the client been trained in what is right, not right, and what happens when things are not right (there are reasons why things are required to be as required in the code, and those reasons are not "If you are concerned", the reasons are real, thus the advice should be real.
Such as:
The exhaust fan ducts discharge to the attic, they are required to discharge to the outdoors as they remove moisture from the bathroom and discharge it. Discharging moisture into the attic *is a bad thing* and *needs to be corrected*.
No mamby-pamby "if you are concerned" - what is your client supposed to do with that information? If they knew, why hire you?
Act like the professional we say we are. Don't be afraid to "write something up and call for it to be corrected" - THAT IS OUR JOB.
Last edited by Jerry Peck : 06-29-2008 at 08:50 AM.
Reason: to correct font size / style
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06-28-2008, 08:59 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Maryland
Posts: 54
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Re: Just registered
Is anything bullit proof when subjected to the vast number of differing opinions?
Every one of the hundreds of townhomes in that community are vented that way. The the place was 12 years old and showed absolutely no signs of ill affects from being vented that way. I stated the facts as they were and made my recommendation. I stand by it.
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