My client made up his mind to not purchase the home during the inspection. He said for me to stop to not waste anymore time. I finished the inspection regardless. Has anyone else had this happen to them? If so what do you do in that situation?
Collect your payment, pack up your tools, send off your report, go fishing!
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Many times. Collected my fee, did my report for what I did inspect and sent to client.
The client called me again for another property.
I didn’t work for free and my clients recognized and respected that.
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Had a few like that. 
Awesome thank you for the responses! Wasnt sure what to do so just finished it up. I gave my client the option to use the fee they paid for the radon test on their next inspection with me and they were stoked.
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Stop the inspection immediately. Explain that there will be no inspection report of any kind and that you will provide them with a document stating that the inspection was terminated at their request. Charge them a “late cancellation fee” (not an inspection fee) of whatever you deem to be appropriate, up to the full agreed inspection fee depending how long it took them to make the call. No need to flog a dead house.
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I agree with Chuck on this
I always give them the option of paying half the inspection for not writing the report.
Client hired me, i work for them. If they decided part way through not to continue i give them a discounted rate. I usually get their next inspection and they refer my to others. Whey continue just to collect money?
I didnt continue just to be able to collect the fee. I finished because I didnt know if there were any legal concerns with not finishing the inspection. Which my client understood. They already scheduled with me for their next inspection.
You did the right thing. When in doubt, to what’s right. Good on you!!
In most cases by the time they call me to inspect a contract has already been signed so they will need the report to get out of the contract. If you stop short at their request they might lose their deposit so are likely to call you to see if you can patch a report together for cheap or come back and finish…which can be a mess. Even if you ask them if they have a signed contract and they say no it can still be a mess. Best to finish the inspection, try not to say negative things about the home, let the report speak for itself.
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Happened to me few times.
I will never continue inspecting against my client wish and will not provide any report if no additional addendum is signed. We need whole picture of the house facts to make some determinations.
I have late cancellation fees included in my pre-inspection agreement.
Stop Inspection or change of scope of work note should be signed by the client.
-If agreed on new scope of work (partial inspection) I would charge full
contract price and issue partial, conditional report.
-if only stop inspection note is signed I would stop and charge late cancelation fees ( agreed with Chuck) and no report.
I may waive any charges and included that loss in my advertising budget.
What I have done several times is have a private conversation with the Client and the Realtor. I will tell them what I inspected so far and what is left in the inspection (eg hvac, plumbing, termite probing, etc). I will offer two choices. One without any report and a reduced fee for time/travel spent (no risk for me) or an investors report on certain item or items (eg if Roof and Exterior was inspected and the Exterior was really bad including say a lot of deck issues). I would write a Single Item report for the Exterior/Deck so they could get out of contract or a Single Item Roof report etc…They pay for that plus some additional fee for any time spent inspecting items that arent in report.
I do cut them a break but usually will get the second inspection and lots of words of appreciation.
I had this happen last week. I gave the client the option of having me stop immediately and getting a refund (I was almost done with the roof, which is where I start). The client opted to have me finish the report anyway so that the homeowner could become aware of all the issues with the house.
Going forward, I will probably offer a reduced rate for cancellation (I still need to be payed for my time slot being booked out) or I can continue with the inspection and give a full report.
Take the full payment and offer a discount on the following inspection if within 60 days. Like you admitted, you need to be paid for your timeslot that cannot be filled, as well as your time and expenses of just showing up. Damnit man, you are running a for-profit business, not a charity!!.. or are you??
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