Please Advise

Hello Paul,

I knew I reset the GCFI’s until I got a call from a client I done sellers inspection for. I told me that his receptacles in the master bathroom did not work. He only lived a very short drive from me so I went over. It turned out that I did not re set the GCFI properly. There was no harm done and he was grateful for me coming out but it does go to show it does happen.
Whist your client does sound like an A Ares hole I would pay him, get him out of your life and at least he then hopefully not bad mouth you. Remember if the sale did not go through he will be in contact with a lot of Realtors showing the house to there clients. Who knows what he will say to them

Or you can use my customer relations officer

IMG_0001 (Small).JPG :mrgreen:

does he get paid by the hour of job. He looks very convincing!!

Hey, Carl, ref. the cute doggie picture, and from one expatriot Brit to another, attorneys in America serve these as hors d’oeurves.

Hello Keith
I told Oakley what you said about Attorneys he did not seam to worried!!

Oakley.jpg :scuba:

Oakley.jpg

Thinking of you today Paul.:wink:

Thats what my fridge looked like when I was single. Oh happy days!!

Come on, Carl, you’ve only been married a few weeks. Get off the message board and go and see if she-who-must be-obeyed would like somethin cool to drink, or perhaps she might want you to read some poetry to her.

:cry: :ack!: -X ](*,) Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Keith you made me come over all faint

Carl. The same here.

No one told me that if I joined NACHI that I would have access to valuable inspection input with a level of comedic entertainment that made learning so much fun! I can’t thank you all enough for you input. I decided to respond with a letter explaining that I do not feel I am responsible for his crabs, (the ones that went bad in the refrigerator). I’ll wait to see if he responds again. I have spoken to both the sellers realtor and my clisents realtor and both fell that the guys being unreasonable. I found some roof issues with his house and in my report suggested that the roof be further evaluated by a licensed roofing contractor. My clients realtor said that he gave them a very hard time with that issue. Ultimately the company that did the original roof repairs that I reported as improper ended up redoing portions of this guys roof. You think he would be happy we caught the stuff but instead my clients realtor said that this gentleman appeared to be aggrivated with my report and findings. Tune in for the next episode of A-Hole Inspection Files. Same A-Hole Time…Same A-Hole Channel!:nachi: :nachi:

Good luck, Paul

Paul…nothing to do with Crab Legs, but rather roofs.

I have found instead of recommending further evaluation by a licensed roofing contractor as an method to defer the roof condition, I state in the report:

“I recommend the roof be repaired by a licensed roof contractor”.

“I also recommend you get three quotes from different contractors, prices vary, the cheapest might not necessarily be the best option either”.

“Checking for possible complaints against all contractors at the Better Business Bureau is also highly recommended”.

If there is clearly something wrong I explain in short sentence what the problem is, and tell them to have it “repaired”. Whether they do or not is no longer a concern.

I figure if I cannot determine the roof needs repair “now” by a contractor I shouldn’t be telling them to have it “further evaluated”.

People know what have it repaired means, having something further evaluated leaves a window of opportunity open regarding whether there is really something wrong with it or not.

Some people take “have it further evaluated”, the wrong way I have found.

Sorry to hear about his unfortunate “Crabs”…:smiley:

Thanks for the input. Further evaluation is a phrase that I notice a lot of inspectors use. Do you think noting a defect or problem without suggesting further evaluation is the way to go? For example: I noted a leak under the Master Bathroom sink at the trap. I suggest repairing the leak as soon as possible as to avoid any further water damage. End of story…Is that a better way than further evaluation by a licensed plumbing contractor is needed.?

I flat out say it needs to be either repaired or replaced (no evaluation or guessing needed by anyone).

There are some people like myself which regard the phrase as “maybe he really doesn’t know”.

I know a lot of people use the phrase further evaluation, but repair or replace it seems to get their attention better.

I agree with this most of the time. However, sometimes I put things in my reports mainly to cover my own butt for those items that will need repair soon but not right now. Recommending that it be evaluated fits that bill because I am a generalist. If they don’t have it evaluated, I am off the hook because I told them to. If they do, the licensed “expert” just assumed my liability.

I don’t understand something which will need repair soon. If the roof (for instance) needs someone to look at it again now, because something is going to be wrong with it soon? Doesn’t make any sense.

That is the problem I see with all the reports I have from inspectors inspecting my homes I’ve sold, none of them seem to know enough to determine if something is alright or not without recommending a person who might look at an item again.

I’m talking about problems in clear view “The roof is shot”, no further evaluation needed, bring material and labor, things of this nature.

I do not think a generalist inspector can call repair or replacement on certain issues. That is when referring an issue for further evaluation is juistified. Let’s say that the A/C unit is not cooling. Let’s say that the separation you are getting is approx 10 Degrees. The A/C is obviously functional but you know that it is not functioning properly. What do you have repaired or replaced? I would refer my clients to a Licensed A/C contractor in this case. What would you do? You have inspected the condenser unit and the heat unit of the heat pump system. You inspected the coils and condensate line. You noted the disconnect within 50 Ft and the slab is level. You’ve measured the difference between the intake and returns. You made sure the right breaker is in the panel. Get the picture? I am rather new in the business and really try to pick everyones brain. This seems like a good issue to knock around.

Paul,

If a Heat Pump was supplying 59 degree air and returning 69 I wouldn’t say anything.

If it was supplying 69 and returning 79 I would say it needs to be serviced and repaired.

The point is, I talk to Real Estate agents quite frequently regarding my own properties. They know I’m an inspector, but when I get these inspection reports from people disclaiming everything in the building it makes them look like a jack-a$$, the Realtors agree.

Like the inspectors are so afraid to say get it Repaired.

But than again the inspectors could be sleeping with the agents also, trying to make the report look just about as confusing as possible.

The remark I see most often in reports for my properties is:

“Recommend Further Evaluation BY Qualified Licensed Contractor”…and there is nothing to further evaluate, there are things which need repair or replacement, but no evaluation.

If the inspector said to have three licensed contractors bid on the repair, that would make sense. That way the person buying the property is not wasting precious time waiting for one bid, generally from an unknown contractor.

I for one will suggest that a client get several bids before hiring anyone to do work on their home. My report, however , merely says to have the problem repaired or at least evaluated by a licensed professional.

It would be very nice if all home inspectors were experts in all areas of construction. That is not very practical though. It takes many years of experience in each area to be expert. We are all trained to identify problems and then we defer to the experts. Basically we say “if it is borke, fix it” or “this doesn’t look quite right, have an expert look at it”