InterNACHI launches "Counsel On Call." One-on-one legal advice whenever you need it.

Jim writes:

LOL. :stuck_out_tongue: Yeah, go call some lawyer who has never seen an inspector’s Standards of Practice, doesn’t know what a home inspector does and what he/she doesn’t do, and has never written a pre-inspection agreement for advice.

The legal profession is highly specialized. For your local attorney who handles DUI cases, Will preparations, and whole hodgepodge list of general legal services to try catch up to a specialized attorney who has spent thousands of hours working on inspection-related issues would take him/her a decade or more.

Yes, unlike Mark, your local personal injury lawyer or collections agency lawyer is licensed to defend in your local jurisdiction should you ever have to go to court, but that isn’t what our “Counsel on Call” service provides anyway, so it isn’t an advantage to you anyway. And even if you believe it is, you wouldn’t want to pay your local lawyer the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees he/she would need to charge to do all the research and acquire all the specialized knowledge that Mark already possesses. It would be smarter to simply have your local lawyer add Mark on as co-counsel, should you actually need to go to court (an event so rare in our industry, that it is almost unheard of).

I’m going to make this as clear as possible in one sentence: When it comes to the inspection industry, your local “we do it all” lawyer doesn’t know what he/she is talking about. But don’t take my word for it… Just look at some of the pre-inspection agreements some of these lawyers have drafted for your fellow members (in a couple billable hours). :roll:

As for the

I’m also involved in other industries. For example, I’m a licensed & insured wastewater treatment system installer in my county. Boy oh boy, I sure wish I had unlimited consultation with a lawyer who specializes solely in issues related to septic system installations. That would be a dream. The last last time I had a legal question regarding my septic company, I couldn’t find anyone who could give me any specialized advice. Mark had a few general suggestions, but he admitted that he had no experience in my industry. I called another lawyer who specialized in construction issues, but had never done any research into my particular issue involving a septic system installation. He billed me for telling me that he would need to charge me more money to “look into it.” :roll:

Anyway, inspectors are businesspeople. Each inspector is free to decide what the “value” of having one of the few attorneys in the world who specialize in their inspection business… on call. If you think it isn’t worth $299/year, don’t sign up for it.

Nick does not agree with me. I didn’t expect him to … for all of the obvious reasons.:wink:

Your best advice will come to you from the lawyer who can … and is licensed to … back it up. If you are in Colorado, this is a good investment. If you are not, you are best to always remember that for every legal opinion you ever receive on any topic — there is a skilled attorney with an opposing opinion ready to take the other side against you. In that regard, you should rely upon the advice provided by the attorney that is able to represent you in the state where you live/work … and can back up his advice.

Gimmicks might work in rare marketing occasions … but when it comes to protecting yourself and your business, get your advice from the lawyer who will be standing beside you if and when his advice is ever challenged.

Yep, he/she will be standing beside you (but not covering your losses of course) when you lose because you let some local yocal lawyer screw up your pre-inspection agreement. Yours is the only one he/she had ever worked on. Hey, at least he/she will be standing next to you to comfort you. LOL

Every time a member posts one of those pre-inspection agreements for me to review, I point out one glaring mistake after another (and I’m not even an attorney, I’m not even a high school graduate!). Not only do some of those pre-inspection agreements fail to protect the members using them, they actually put the member at greater risk than not using a pre-inspection agreement at all.

Like I said though, inspectors are businesspeople. They should do what they think is best.

P.S. If you have a pre-inspection agreement (not InterNACHI’s of course) that you’d like to have reviewed for free, post it in a new thread in this forum.

I suppose there is a solid marketing principle behind selling this service like a carnival barker … but “because a guy in Colorado told me it was legal” just doesn’t go too far in my state.

So, is that the reason Mark is not here answering questions about his product, because he is not licensed in all states and Canada, and this would be deemed as advertising his services? If he uses a ‘Barker’, he always has “plausible deniability” as to what the claims made were.

First off, it’s not “his product.” And yes, as general counsel of InterNACHI, he is free to consult with InterNACHI members all over the world and he has been doing just that for many years. He doesn’t represent inspectors in court though, even in Colorado.

Inspectors get a lot of informal complaints (just the nature of the business). Most of them have no merit. Which is probably why very few of those turn into filed lawsuits. Being named in an actual lawsuit is just not something that is likely going to ever happen to you in your career, especially if you have prepared in advance and handle your informal complaints well. It’s much better to have your complaints go away quietly (because Mark helped you prepare in advance) than to fight them in a court of law. But you’re all big boys, you decide what is best for you. I only lead horses to water…

P.S. If you have a pre-inspection agreement (not InterNACHI’s of course) that you’d like to have reviewed for free, post it in a new thread in this forum.