Poor old lady...

Well,…should have double check the address…Yep…wrong house…

So i arrived on location an hour early as always, and start before every one gets here. Get all of my stuff out , open the PC and GO… about 45 min into the inspection, this sweet old lady (about 80 y.o.) comes out

-Hello!? (she said)

so i walk toward her , ready to shake hands and indroduce myself.

-Hello , I’m Patrick , the home inspector, i hope you din’t mind , i already started with the outside…

She said (in a very confuse tone):
-Ho…ok…i don’t understand…i have been living here for 45 year….:shock::shock:

I explained to her that my client was coming in a few minutes and if she had any questions i,ll be more than happy to answer them.

again , in a very confused tone…

-What?? , i’m moving?!!?? i didn’t know i was moving?!!:shock::shock:

i paused for a few second…started to get confused myself…than i look up at the numbers next to the door…’‘25’’…i was supposed to be at ‘‘27’’…

sH**, WRONG ADDRESS…:roll:…(said to myself…)

Told her that is was my mystake , i had the wrong address, she smiled and gave me a cookie…

i will remember this one for a long time…loll

Just wait until you show up at “Road”, “Place”, “Street”, “Court”, etc… and you are supposed to be on “Lane” !!!

was the cookie any good?

oreo…hummmmmm

It’s people like that who make living fun.

…or is it the oreo cookie???

its the cookies Jae…

she was a very sweet lady ! big smiles

You had to introduce yourself to the homeowner first and then start your inspection. Could save you a lot of time:mrgreen:

yeah but.my client told me no one was there…so in my mind a was alone…loll

I always knock/ring the bell… just in case (fair warning) :twisted:

good advice Jeff…i’ve never given it much thought before…

And that BTW what you suppose to do always. Otherwise - it is trespassing. Seriously. Remember, this is not your house.

Hey Patrick, I actually inspected the “wrong” house :shock: (I posted situation here) :smiley:

An hour early is a bit much, most you should need is 15 mins knock on the door to state your here and what your business is, then prepare your tools and laptop if the case should be, walk around the home to fimilar your self with the layout and when the clients arrive meet and greet walk them in setup mini office and begin with client.
Running around will only make you do it a second time for free and it cuts in to the bottom line of your profit, now your 2 1/2 hour inspection just became 3 1/2 hours and your footing the first hour for free.
Never get ahead of your clients so that you’ve completed half the inspection prior to there arrival, they may think you smoked them and there getting half of what they paid for.
some food for thought

imho

I always know on the door, they will shoot here .

House was vacant and I routinely tell my clients I will get there early if it helps them with their work schedules, etc. 15 minutes early is actually late for me;-). I’ve never left money on the table. This inspection was actually my most profitable… The rest of the story form my 1/08 post is that the client fired her agent, asked me to inspect another house 2 weeks later which she walked away from due to findings, and another inspection which she eventially closed on. She is also a young engineer at the airline I work for. As new engineers are coming in and buying their first homes, I have become their go-to-guy for inspections. To date, 8 referrals plus the 2 for her. Not bad for doing a good deed. Each situation is different so it pays to be flexible;-).

Had a situation about 8 weeks ago in which I arrived about 45 minuites early. The house was a vacant full 2 storey which had some chimney repair work done at the cap. So I took the opportunity to leisurely get ahead of the game and started the outside including a trip to the roof to view the chimney cap, stainless steel liner, etc.

Just as I was was coming around from the rear of the house with my collapsed/folded 24 foot JAWS ladder, I met the client. He asked me if I had been “on the roof”. When I said “Yes”, he began to shake his head and proclaimed “This can’t be happening again!”

At his last home inspection 10 years ago, as he got there , the HI was walking from behind the house with a ladder and told him he’d inspected the roof. As it turned out, it appears the HI had not inspected the roof (or didn’t know his stuff), the high rear roof had to be replaced within 2-3 years…he had been told there was about 10 years left on it.

Luckily this home’s roof full roof had been replaced within the past 2 years, so I got the binoc’s out so he could see it. I told him I especially went up on the roof to view the chimney repair, which seemed to calm him.

By the time I was about 2 hours into the inspection, he mentioned to me that this one was not at all like the previous one and he was totally surprised at the depth of information he was receiving from my commentary as I was inspecting and to their questions about changes they wanted to make, etc.

I like to arrive early. It gives me a chance to walk around the house and familiarize myself with the layout and conditions. When the client arrives I can give them a tour with full explanation of what we are seeing without appearing to be surprised by issues. I find that it gives the client a feeling of trust and comfort.

I will not go up on the roof unless there is someone there however. I think that the client likes to be there for that important part of the inspection. As well it means that should I fall off, there is someone there to call 911 and having clients there, gives me something soft to land on.:D:shock:

You may not be so lucky someday…

Let’s see…

Squatters with a meth lab in the basement…

You start making all kinds of noise, and they hear what they think is the SWAT team on the roof…

Bang-bang… :shock:

No thanks… I’ll keep on knocking first!!! :wink:

Jeff, I swear I’m not making this up, I’ve done a few vacant homes and noticed upon arrival a/c condensers stolen, etc. I knocked and then made a ton of noise coming in the front door hollering, “POLICE”!!!:oops::|.) I carefully check all the closets and then lock myself in. Never had a problem but you never know.