On today’s noon financial report they mentioned that Countrywide’s CEO got $120mil or $150 mil in bonuses. Yeah maybe they need to tighten up. What a joke. On another note I did my 3rd draw in 5 days on the same house. No Change Since Last Inspection is all I note because there was no change. Sometimes they don’t get it.
With DDN I have not had anything changed through their “quality control”.
But for Trinity is a different story. On Tuesday I did one for them. The foundation was 100% complete and they changed it to 30%. I had good pics to show it was complete but the dumbass at “quailty control” must have no idea of construction.
In this pic it is apparent that the foundation is a retaining wall at the top of the hill then as the house goes down the hill they will frame the walls with lumber. This is a very common practice in construction b/c it is cost efficient to build the walls out of lumber than masorny. It is so apparent in the pics that the one course of block is for a slab. They will build the exterior walls out of lumber. If I were the contractor I would be mad since I would not recieve full funding for the foundation.
I am going to call the builder and tell him I gave him 100% on foundation.
Then I am going to lender with my pics and my printed report to show them that Trinity screwed up. This way I hope I can get their local business.
You’d be over stepping your bounds in doing so. It’s not up to us to decide how much should be funded. It’s simply our job to provide photographs and our opinion as to percentages complete.
When we report something as 100%, this does not obligate the lender to fund on it, and you owe no explanation to the builder. In fact, you are likely contractually obligated not to speak to the builder about such issues.
Bobby, I agree with Jeff. You should be invisible to the builder/owner. I call just to make sure that I can get on site without any problems. Your money comes from DDN and if DDN changes their report to the bank so be it. Like I said earlier I have only met the builder/owner a few times while inspecting and I told them I would take pics and write up my report based on what I see. If I start getting calls from builders/owners or subs I will make sure they never get access to my phone number again.
Dick
I did over 500 draws last year and only had 2 builders call me. I explained to them that I was a third party inspector and any discrepancies would be handled by the lender. End of conversation. Goodbye:o
Yeah you guys are right. I was just being hot headed at that moment.
But I still want the local lenders business and I will still try to get it.
God Bless America!
Bobby Skinner
The only way I’d be taking 100+ pics on a draw inspection would be if the house had 90+ rooms. Too much info to process for the lender anyway in my view.
I was basing my qty of pictures on responses from the draw company. The homes I am doing are multi million $ homes and are big. In the beginning I was being safe but backing up my reports with pictures. I am now in the 15 to 40 picture range. If it is a final inspection with a large amount of rooms and baths it will be on the upper end. If it a foundation or a cleared lot then less.
Dick
It depends on the bank. I was contracted with a construction inspection firm out of California to perform draws on a 45,000 sq ft addition to an existing commercial enterbrise. Lots of renovations to the existing structtures, retainage basins, parking areas, etc.
The paperwork I received originally was a milestone chart for a residential house. I called and said it was unacceptable. Then they sent me a non-deciferable percent complete chart.
They complained that I didnt take enough photos. At the time, there was a hole dug in the gronund. That’s it.
Mind you, I was also told I’d be spending 20 minutes on site. it took me over 20 minutes just to FIND the site engineer.
I was spending over an hour on site and really gettng frustrated. I requested that they coordinate the bank milestone with the project milestone, and map the percent completes to the requests for payments as submitted by the project manager and site engineer; that way, they would have paperwork ready for my inspections and we could quickly walk the site, take photos, etc.
This was apparently too difficult to do. For $100 per visit, even with 9 planned over the course of 9 months, I was spending far too much time on the job for it to be remotely worth my time and energy. I quit after the 3rd visit.
There was literally no legitimate way to verify percent completes, or anything for that matter beyond the obvious. I also saw what the project manager submitted and was paid for. Nothing mapped. I mean nothing. The answer they gave me was to correct THEIR sheets. I wasnt beng paid to do that.
I always assume that there is a possibility of an audit or litigation. This is why I will not fudge anything. Bit, I think that it’s about time we are paid for what a draw inspection really is supposed to be:
We are given a request for payment based on a milestone that the builder conforms to.
We do not go to the site until te builder is notified what we will need to see, what we will need to photograph, how much time we will spend on the property, and what documents will need to be presented. All need to tie to what was actually done, what was requested, and to the milestone.
“Close” only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and tap dancing. The banks and the draw companies arent living up to their end, IMHO.
The company for which I do the majority of my “draw inspections” does not really expect an inspection from me. By that, they are not asking for an analysis or a description that they will nail anything to.
Instead, this company is looking for pictures (raw data) as to where the house is in the construction stage. My photographs (20 to 40, depending on the stage of construction and size of the house) are reviewed and interpretted by engineers and architects.
Without the site and building plans in my hands as I walk through a house (which I never have), I am only guessing at percentages anyway.
This company calls them “draw inspections” but in truth I am simply the eyes and ears of the bank, providing my raw data to engineers for their analysis and interpretation.
It’s the same with the foundation certifications. From my photos, an engineer certifies the condition of the foundation. I am a photographer more than I am an inspector on these types of “inspections”.
Hence, the relatively low fee for which I lease out my camera while it is not being used for real inspections.
I was asked by a national draw company to go to 2 area casinos,get a rough measurement of the exterior and estimated height of the building, took 15 exterior photos. A count of parking spaces was required which I got from the management. A rough sketch on plain white paper was also needed. I did this for 2 golf courses also. Paid $150 a piece.
In my rural area of Wyoming, the draw co’s & ins co’s I did business with last are offering less than they did last year to go further, I just don’t get it, but they still seem to find some knucklehead who will drive 100 miles for $50. I give…