I started this inspection at 10AM. I finished the inspection at 2 PM. I started the report at 3PM and just got done at 7PM.
This house had more systems then the norm.
3 fireplaces including a wood burner.
A basement & more crawl spaces then I have ever seen. The basement was in the middle & the crawls went around each side & the front & there was a crawl off a crawl. I could not get in this area as the access had a pipe running through the middle. Area was also F uped as the floor, insulation, flex vents were messed up.
Home had a forced warm air furnace, wall heater, boiler.
First metal roof with no gutters. (Except for a section about 10 ft long)
Plumbing & drainage were F uped. Everything was old & leaking.
** Anybody have any good report disclaimers when there are numerous plumbing issues?**
Dryer vented under the deck and the sump was covered by the laundry sink.
The report took for ever as I had to add FPE, metal roof, crawl area, pictures.
I also did a radon & WDI.
8 hours is about 2 X the normal inspection. I am glad I am done.
Thanks for listening.
Yesterdays inspection had an alligator, Hot tub & wood burner in a garage.
The gator was hissing at me. It was about 3 feet long.
I use:
Plumbing is not professional quality; some work may have may have been done by past homeowner or handyman. Consult with licensed plumber.
I had one of those long inspections a little over a year ago. Realtor said it was about 3500 sq ft…not that big. But it had 9 variations of heating systems (wood heating boiler with 2000 gallon hot water storage tank, oil and electric heating boilers, 2 wood stoves, a wood burning fireplace insert, a regular masonry fireplace, a few electric baseboards as well as 3 heat actuated blowers on some of the hot water baseboards), 2 wells, 3 electrical panels, and 3 full kitchens…took 6.5 hours on site. And the buyer balked when I wanted more $$$…sheesh…eventually got $500 from him and got him on the next house since he didn’t buy the above monstrosity!
Bummer…I hope you charged at least 7 or 8 hundred dollars for the inspection (just because of the time you spent). I know it’s antiquated, but this is one of the reasons that I still use a pre-printed check list type of inspection report with comment sections. When I’m done with the inspection, the paperwork is done on site. When I leave the site, the customer has his report, I have my check, everything has been explained to the customer, then this inspection is deleted from my mind. Two years ago, we (I have a partner in this business - he’s about 2 hours south of me - we cover all areas in between) went with one of the computer system reports (no names mentioned, but it was one of the more popular programs) . I liked the system enough but after getting complaints from the Realtors, and multiple phone calls from the customers to answer questions, we went back to the pre-printed “check list” reports. The Realtors love it and the phone calls from the customers have stopped (except for the occasional few). Our report is very informative, and I truly believe a ten year old could read it and understand it. Believe me folks, this report is an incredible time saver…when you leave the site, your work is DONE, no computer work at home. My home time is mine! It’s easy to charge a customer for the time spent on sit, but hard to charge, and justify, for the hours spent at home on the computer, like in the case of dmacy (no offense intended). How many customers have you had that would spend that kind of money on an inspection? Time is money!
As for disclaimers about multiple plumbing issues, it’s simple…write up in general what you can and then…“Recommend a licensed plummer to evaluate and estimate the entire system”.
David; Where in gods name do you start with something like that?
I think my report would be consolidated to a one page report.
"Everything on this dwelling needs to be repaired or replaced, :shock: unless you want a book full of negatory remarks as to why you should not buy this house and if you think you can repair it yourself, go for it. " My Inspection fees will have to be twice as much. :roll:
Hows that for a disclaimer?
Stephen,
You are looking at the wrong software then…you need to use software that can be used to collect your data AS you do your inspection and then print it directly without doing ANY work at the office. Using a checklist type of report form on a huge house like that is almost an impossible task. You can’t just automatically add multiple water heaters or multiple kitchen sinks to a paper form automatically where a computer program can.
After doing one of these with multiple additions, oddly placed water heaters, a crawl space of minimal proportions, and lot’s of drainage issues, the borrower and the agents called the next day even after being with me during the inspection of 4 hours and wanted to review it again multiple times.
Some are simple and some are not… I still like doing this job !!!
Dave; The last one I did in that condition, I was only done the exterior and the client told me not to bother inspecting the exterior. I said OK, and the Inspection price was the same.
I did volunteer to go inside for a walk through just for the sake of writing a have decent report as to why he did not buy the place. ha. ha.
No disrespect intented Jeff, but the type of checklist report I (we) use does allow me to add an additional plumbing page, or electrical page, or whatever page is needed …it might take me an axtra 3 or 4 minutes to do so. This is still (in my opinion) way better than spending hours of “home time” finishing the report as stated by dmacy (again - no offence or disrespect meant towards dmacy). Some of the information is written right on the report as I go, and the rest of the info is written in after I’m done with the inspection. For example…if I have a 2-1/2 to 3 hour inspection (lets say a 2500 square foot home), I then have about 15 minutes of paperwork to do, approximately 10 minutes to go over the report with the customer (excluding of course the occasional nightmare inspection), in which case I still only have probably 15 or 20 minute review with the customer. At that point…here is your report and invoice…I collect the check and I am DONE with that inspection, and go on to the next.
I have performed litterally thousands of home inspections over many years and I still feel this system works the best for me. I’m honestly telling you the truth when I say that Realtors and the buyers him (or her) self prefer my inspection report over a computer generated program report simply because of the ease of reading and understanding it. Most home buyers today have had home inspections done before on properties previously purchased. So many of the computer generated reports read like a novel…people don’t understand them…if they read them through at all. As I previously stated in an earlier post, I think a 10 year old could read this report, AND UNDERSTAND IT (quickly).
One thing I did leave out…you MUST have good legible handwriting.
My self-generated report sounds a lot like yours although I don’t write stuff in as I inspect. Spend about 1/2 printing it in later…doctor’s handwriting problem!!
My question: How can you spend only 10 minutes with the client afterwards?? I’m usually 30-60 minutes on every house.
If the client is on site, he has seen most of the issues as you go along, so when you go over the report, he already knows what you’re talking about.
That’s one thing that I never understood, is that some home inspectors don’t want the client at the inspection…WHY? It makes your job so much easier if you find something unusual on the inspection, you can show them. Then when you go over the report with them, or they read it later, they understand what you are saying, and don’t have to make those annoying phone calls asking you to explain what you meant.
Unless the customer is extremely “anal”, my review of the report is ten minutes or less. Don’t get me wrong…I also get that “anal” customer too from time to time, but you learn over time, to deal with them in such a way that time is not much of an issue with them either.
I apologize to the “new” inspectors out there that think I’m making this sound too easy, but I have been inspecting homes for at least 14 years, and with time comes confidence, a little more speed, and just a working system that gets you through the inspection process more professionally, and quickly. It becomes quicker to head off stupid, or redundant questions easier and faster.
God Bless the home inspection industry and NACHI, it has provided for a good life for me, and I hope it continues to do so for years to come.
Sorry…I know my posts tend to be a bit long winded…Sorry again…
