How do you know.......

I have been training with my father in-law who owns his own business. I have been with him for 6 months. I am already doing inspections with him shadowing me. And writing the reports and sending them to the potential buyers. The one thing that I have not done yet is actually talk to the buyers and go over the some of the “issues” I found during the inspection.

My question is:
How was your first meet and greet with a buyer go over? Were you worried about “crashing and burning?” I feel that I am ready to do everything on my own but I have that gut feeling that I will have a buyer that will question a lot of my findings and I wont quite know how to answer them without looking like a fool.
Any insight will greatly reduce my worries…

Thanks in advance

Welcome to the crazy world of home inspecting.

Talking to people is part of this business.

I walk my clients around pointing out the issues I have found and give them several opportunities to ask questions.

I also ask them is there is anything else they notice or have concerns about.

Unless you catch someone on a bad day, most will respond to the confidence you display when explaining things and answering questions.

Don’t ever BS your way through.

If you can’t explain something or don’t have an answer, tell them that’s a good question and that you will find out. Make sure you understand what they want.

You belong to a great org here and there are always people ready to help.

Take pictures and post them here so others can learn.

Edit your profile to show your location so you get better regionally based advice.

Good luck. You’ll do fine.

When talking to clients, you need to get your message across without unnecessarily scaring the bejeebers out of them.

I try not to use the word “issue” and most of the time replace it with the word “concern”. Roy Cooke advised me of this a couple of years ago, and when I discussed it with my Lawyer he said this was sage advice.

“Issue” has legal connotations. It suggests an indisputable fact. Many items we see are more a concern.

For example, we might see visible signs of a moisture problem, the fact is most of the time we can never be 100% guaranteed we know what the source of the moisture is. So while visible moisture might indeed be an “issue”, visible signs of moisture can only be a “concern”. The cause of the visible signs may have already been fixed, and there is no longer an “issue”

On the other hand, I did an inspection where the basement had visible signs of moisture which were a “concern”, leading me to a conclusion that there might be water penetration through the foundation wall at slab level, then there was a downpour, and upon returning to the basement for a second check around I saw water pouring out of the wall/slab crack like an artesian well. This was then an issue as there was no denying we had found the source of the moisture.

The term “concern” is also less scary to most clients than the term “issue”, because is is subjective and not objective.

Like in carpentry where you measure twice and cut once, think twice and speak once.

If you know your job then you’ll be fine, the verbiage will just start to flow and all that hard work and study will start to pay off. Never make things up, presume or assume, only ever state what you believe to be correct.
Good luck

Welcome, and good luck.
Sounds like good advise from all.
Interesting thoughts on verbiage, for years I have replaced “problem” with “issue”, after considering this thread, I think “concern” is probably a better term. “Item of interest”? “Situation requires observation”? Could be other viable options.
For years as the “fix it” guy, someone would say “we have a problem” and the response would be “we don’t have problems, we have solutions”. I can’t tell you how many smiles of confidence and comments similar to “I like your thinking”, that response has brought.
Look people in the eye, speak from the heart, always tell the truth. You will do fine.

Sage advice. As usual.

Some great stuff here.
Good luck & welcome Matt. :slight_smile:

While you’ve been doing these inspections have you been talking as you go with the clients? I always give them a running commentary on what I’m seeing/looking for or what I’m not seeing, like a missing pressure regulator for instance.

That way you’re educating them as you go so there are fewer questions at the end.
If you are stumped by a question just tell them you’re going to do some research on it and will get back to them.

Remember, for the most part a home inspector is a generalist, you’re not necessarily going to know as much as an HVAC tech.

Thank you all for the insight and welcoming into the nachi organization. I think I will use the “concern” word instead of “issue.” My father in-law does most of the talking, and he allows me to chime in if he forgets something (sometimes on purpose) so I can get the feel of things.

A.T. Martin Home Inspections

“Making your dream home from becoming your worst nightmare”

“Making your dream home from becoming your worst nightmare”

One other unasked for thought!

I think the slogan would read better this way,

“Keeping your dream home from becoming your worst nightmare”

just a thought…

Lol yes

IMO, worst nightmare casts sub-conscious negativity for marketing.