How Often?

I was telling a friend of mine the other day about the business I’m getting into, and he was asking normal questions about what i look at, what kinda schooling, etc. Then he stated how nice it must be without pressure of someone watching you and checking on you while your doing your inspections. So I told him that clients do follow around, and need to be educated about their possible future home, then he asked how often, and that’s my question too, how often do clients do a walk-through with you, verse how many just trust you and your notations?? (not including clients who know how good you are, and don’t need to be there)

So far, I’d guess 95% or more. Not many out-of-towners lately.

Noone Else?.. thanks jae

I get about 60% client with me. That can be broken down into categories.
Commercial 10% walk with me.
Residential 80%.
Loan Inspection or draw 0% (so far).
Invester 25%.

2 Hours, 7 min from original posting.
Have a little patience.
:roll: :roll:
90% cust there. Of those 50-60% follow around entire time, 40% half time other half doing ???

The reason I wrote it was because of how many views and so little answers.

Simmer down now Adam…some of us have to work during daylight hours.:smiley:

I would say that 80-90% of the time the client is there at the house during the inspection. It actually is easier when they are present, if there is a concern you can point it out to them right then and there and explain the issue…quesitons are answered on site and in person instead of on the phone at 7pm…again.

Dave

Adam …
You want 100% of your clients right at your side.
Clients are educated , and learn what you are looking for as they begin looking for them selves to help you out.
This is a good thing since you want the report to reflect what best serves your client.
I understand how you are thinking at this point.
You are thinking that at the first inspections you want to be left alone so it is easier to hide your lack of knowledge.
Well my freind just keep learning and after you get a few under your belt you will hope for the biggest audiance possible to show off what you know.
This trade is not for the shy.
Think of it like a pool full of chilly water and you just gotta dive in.
I was lucky to have Will Decker with me on my first one to do a ride along and keep the client and agents busy.I was nervous as hell that I was going to mess it up and forget something major.
These fears disappear fast.
A client that is at your side is less likely to sue when they see everything through your eyes.Less chance for mis_understanding.

I have 100% of my clients walk through their prospective home right alongside me. If they can’t make it (roughly 1%), I have their representative walk right next to me as I explain away.

I’m a talker and every one of my client’s actually enjoys the walk through.

How do I know? Because they all tell me how much they learned from me as I’m closing the home inspection process. I’ve even had many Realtors tell me that they are going upgrade specific items in their home that I’ve showed my clients at their prospective home.

I have heard many Realtor’s tell me about other home inspectors who want to be left alone during the inspection. That’s not very professional IMO.

  1. 35 views is not “a lot” IMO

  2. If you notice the other threads on the board you will probably have 10% responses/view ratio. So with 6 responses and 35 views you’re better than twice the average.

  3. I’ll bet (no data to back it up) that most of the responses will be after 5pm when guys who are busy (unlike me :frowning: ) get done with their work.

  4. I’d also be willing to bet that the “How do I start being a HI” threads are prioritized (probably subconsciously) after…

  • Tech questions with report pending
  • Tech questions in general
  • HI political posts
  • Threads the member was previously involved in
    (no necessarily in that order :wink: )

That is not to say that you will not get the answers, you certainly will as you can see the people here are helpful to everyone.

Just please, have some patience.
Better yet, JOIN and you can get http://www.nachi.org/benefits.htm

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Adam

Its not just an inspection, its an education. It would behoove you to convey that message to all of your clients.

That being said, looking at my past numbers

99% on a buyers inspection
33% on a pre-list, the owner only wants to know what was discovered
25% on an investor, they usually want to know about the majors
10% on commercial, nobody wants to hang around all day or more on a commercial property

The better relationship you have with your client, the better off you’ll be if something should come up, post inspection time. Answer all questions, ask if they have any, and for heavens sake, if you don’t know the answer, don’t fake it, get for them. You can dazzle em with brilliance or baffle em with bs for only a short time before it bites you back.

PS. pony up and buy a membership already so that you can get into the members section and spend some time in the marketing and other forums.

Paul

I advise all my clients to be with me on my inspections, so I can explain things as we go.
It helps later when they read the report, so that they understand what we spoke about.

Well put, I also insist upon having my client with me. It will only help you later on. If you are worried about them distractiong you, just ask them to hold any questions until you are finished with each room. Example; you are in the middle of checking out the bathroom, they have a question. Have them hold it until you are done with the bathroom, then take all questions they have about that room. Do this for every room. Then you will not be distracted and miss something. If you do this for every room you get a routine and feel very comfortable, and your client feels involved and gets their questions answered.

And that is what is most important.

Thanks everyone, I will be more patient (sorry) and yea i am a bit worried about the pressure, I’m trying to be the best possible and hopefully (no offense) the best around, but you have to shoot high to get high (no pun intended). what do you do if you miss something, doesnt it look unproffessional to go back to a room you spent 20 min. in?

Nope

It would be unprofessional not to go back. Missing something could be what exactly happens if you loose control of the inspection process. Its a balancing act between the inspection process and answering questions. Sometimes it happens, when you forget something and have the opportunity, go back, get it done, apologize if you have too. Use your checklist, thats what they’re for and another reason why when starting out, not to do on-site reports and print-outs.

Paul

So I was thinking, since I’m still in the beggining phases of the process, i was going to write up a checklist with more then just what to check(how to check certain things; what to look for and check on the furnace, water tank, etc) has anyone else done this and if so can anyone send me a copy,ive been trying to set one up myself but it would be alot easier to have a platform to start with…

thanks

Adam

Yea I didn’t mean for it to sound as if i would just leave without finding out, but what if you went home for the night and relize while your writing up the official report, how do you approach the situation, esp. because now it’s making the client have to be at the location just for seomthing that would take ex. 10 min?

Be yourself and hell with the way it looks.
Thats what comes across.
They know you care, if you do care.
Sounds like you do.

With the possiblities in this career field, the good money, be my own boss, meet new people and locations on a daily basis and I get the chance to be a very signifigant apart of a very important moment for alot of people(clients) I think this is an amazing field. And I can see what everyone has been talking about how, so many people take a class pass the cert. do some cheap work get sued then dissappear. It’s very possible, but why? why risk this profession when it can take very good care of you (and thats just what i read).