Mostly just a curiosity at this point, but would this be breaking any common regulations?
My first thought is it would be fine, as long as I don’t capture the client or say the address. Plenty of inspectors make youtube videos of their inspections, after all.
Thoughts? I’m in TX, for what its worth.
without consent.
Edit: or with. not outside the realm of possibilities
More importantly, the Homeowner!
Feels like way more downside than upside. Who are you hoping will watch live? Potential clients or agents? If you want to publish a video of yourself doing your job, I would make sure it is edited to be interesting. Just too much time with nothing happening if done live.
Check with your insurance company. Years ago the question of a client video taping an inspection came up in a CE class and the E/O agent presenting didn’t like the idea. Basically, just more material to hang us with. The report really should be all that remains. Personally, I think there’s still plenty of risk for anything we say regardless of if it’s actually on tape but I suppose I can see his point. This was probably 15 years ago so things may have changed.
Some inspectors are now wearing body cams. Any recording tech can cut both ways.
the only good way to do this would be to have someone follow you with a camera, and record it. as if you are doing the recording you will miss something, and first person footage is always weird to watch and follow.
But you should only do it on a vacant property or somewhere that the home owner gives permission to film in their house, as you may capture personal belongings etc.
If/when you decide to do this, for whatever reason I would not know, better be sure you don’t miss something that’s obvious in the final video.
Valid point, i thought about that.
Not for realtors/clients. For people not in the industry. It really is mostly a curiosity. I repeat: this is a pipe dream. But I have wondered about how successful some kind of home inspection reality show might be. Shows like holmes on homes and this old house are hugely successful. Very informational and entertaining. Many shows these days get started independently on youtube or some free streaming site.
My big, far in the future idea is: Haunted House Inspections. The main host, me, would travel around the world and meet supernatural enthusiasts to tour a known haunted building. Some old asylum, a castle in europe, etc. The two of us would tour the house/building and go back and forth pointing out (a) structural deficiencies or (b) areas of possible supernatural activity. Once in a while, there would be a cut scene where there would be a reenactment of either (a) a past case study of a catastrophic structural failure or (b) a past well known supernatural incident, that relates to what we’re observing. It would be chilling.
I once went on a “haunted hotel tour” at the Jerome Grand Hotel in Jerome, AZ. The building was once a hospital when Jerome was a booming mining town, so the ~100 year old building has lots of gruesome history from mining accidents and early surgical practices. Some dude supposedly got crushed to death under an elevator. These days the town is a sleepy ghost town so the grandson of the current owner runs these tours for extra income. The guy who ran the tours was super chill and plays up the stories nicely, I bet he’d do the pilot with me. The guy actually filmed a Nat Geo show about ghosts there already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvs63eZxcUo
I love just inspecting, but its just fun to think about. I most likely wont be live streaming my inspections.
I get that. More of an entertainment thing than a marketing thing. I know one thing for sure, if History or Discovery Channel followed me around during one of my inspections, they would leave within the first hour thinking this is the most annoying guy we have ever seen. Think Cliff Clavin.
Haha that would be a funny angle for a character too. Constantly getting annoyed by all the substandard repairs you encounter. You’d have to have a strong New York/New Jersey/Boston accent and call the homeowners knuckleheads.
Sellers consent as well as anyone else on camera would probably make it ok. Do not let go of your “Haunted Home Inspector Dreams”
In fact, you could add “supernatural detection” as an add-on auxiliary service right below sewer scope and just above Thermal Imaging.
haha sometimes I joke with clients that my thermal gun can also detect heat signatures of ghosts. At the haunted hotel tour I went on, they gave us a thermal gun, a voice recorder and digital camera to sniff out evidence of ghosts, they told us. They later sent me a cd-r with all the photos I took with my girlfriend and sister, lol
My wife and middle daughter showed me a list yesterday of Sunday Funday things they want to do. One of them was a ghost hunters tour. No idea where it is but must be in Minnesota somewhere. You got me thinking, I’m going to show up with my thermal camera, moisture meter, infrared thermometer, co detector, and yes, my body cam, all strapped to my hip. We’re going to do this right!
Take a trip to Jerome! It was fun, they have display cases throughout the hotel with old surgical & medical antiques. They take you into the machine rooms in the basement. Old school fancy restaurant downstairs. Cool little ghost town. The singer from Tool, Maynard Keenen, has a winery in Jerome you can visit.
Flagstaff and Sedona are close by. Really beautiful area.
I think there should be no big deal about this but you have to take permission from the client because some people value their privacy a lot.
