Philosophical, SOP, opinion or legality responses welcome.
Call from a potential client that is currently living/renting the house she wishes to buy with a USDA loan. The home has a crawlspace. I advised the client that I would not be able to inspect the house as due to a knee surgery I can not enter the crawlspace at this time. Three different times I advised her to get someone else that could enter the crawlspace. She is insistence I do the inspections as her friends have highly recommended me and she stated that since she currently lives in the house she is not concerned with me inspecting the crawl. I explained the reasons she should have it inspected and she is still insistent I do the inspection. I told her I would do some research and get back to her. This link to the USDA inspection information states a whole house inspection is needed.
https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/IA_hp_Home_Inspection_Information_022318.pdf My concerns, 1:I don’t feel like I am doing a quality inspection. (My personal ethics), 2: USDA calls out a whole house inspection, structural soundness, etc. (So am I meeting the USDA requirements?) 3: Bottom line is it the right thing to do for the buyer?
I don’t understand the problem here. Tell her you are out on medical leave and cant do the inspection you just had your knee operated on . If she wants to wait until you are all healed up that’s fine otherwise find another inspector.
I agree with Alan and “the doctor forbids it until my knee is sufficiently healed or I will do more damage to myself and my knee.”
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You could also outsource the crawl to another inspector and add their fee to yours.
Give her a timeframe of when you would be able to. If you can’t maneuver in a crawl space right now I’m guessing an attic or a roof won’t be much easier.