“The easiest part of my job is telling you what’s broken. The hardest part is managing people climbing my ladder in dress shoes.” Real talk on why client presence during home inspections is both challenging and necessary imo: https://inspectortoolbelt.com/should-your-client-be-on-the-home-inspection-with-you/
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I must be lucky. Since starting as an inspector 17 years ago, I have not once had anyone try to climb my ladder. Nor has anyone tried sticking their hands in the electrical panel.
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I have only had to get stern with one client so far. She was turning shutoffs (under sinks and toilets) and ran the dishwasher before I got to it and pulled a shade off the wall. When “please don’t do that” didn’t work, I explained to her that since I booked the inspection, I pay for anything she breaks. She sat with her hands folded the rest of the time and gave me a 5 star review.
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@tdeutsch Yeah, I don’t have many issues either. They are a rarity IMO
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@jspencer It doesn’t happen a lot to us anymore - because we give a speech a t least a couple times to let them know not to, and its in their agreements as well.
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I leaned my ladder against the roof, not “set” mind you, just sort of leaning up there and I was planning on coming back after walking the perimeter.
As I round the corner, I see that the buyer was coming down.
This was a 3500+ foot home with 11 foot eaves. I always put the stabilizer bar on for those high ones. He just didn’t have a care in the world, climbed up and roamed around a bit I guess.
Fortunately I have a good ladder that is very stable, but still, I learned not to have it extended and ready to climb except when I’m climbing.
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I’ve had both happen. One instance was where I was on the roof inspecting and turned around and there was the client up there inspecting it with me, I wasn’t happy but at that point it’s too late, so now when I head up on the roof or into an attic, I tell people that I’ll be right back and that I will go over my findings with them then.
Several years ago I was inspecting a new McMansion that had 400 amp service with 2 each 200 amp panels side by side in the basement, I had the covers removed from both panels and was inspecting the inside of the panels when the client walked up and stuck his hand in the panel and asked what’s that. He not only was within a fraction of an inch of getting electrocuted, but he also almost gave me a heart attack when he did that. So now I always tell clients to stand back at least 5 feet, and if present, to remove any children from the area.
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Agreed. Adding to that, the best habit is to always put your ladder back in the vehicle as soon as you come down off the roof. Even if I think I am going to use it again later, still better safe than sorry is my thinking.
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I can’t say I’ve ever had issues with a client doing something they shouldn’t do during an inspection.
Our issue is clients feeling like they don’t need to be there, or worse their agents telling them to only come at the end.
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And I 100% agree with Ian that it saves time when they are there. Because they see the process, and get their questions answered along the way simply by watching. And the wrap up takes like 15 minutes tops. Where as the people who come at the end ask way more questions and want a reenactment of the inspection and the wrap up takes 45 minutes of asking basic questions like “did you go on the roof” “Did you go into the attic?” “Did the heater come on”? Where as if they were present, they saw all that happen and don’t need to ask.
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Ian and Ian have now both convinced me of the benefits of the client being present the entire time, not just at the end. I have been suggesting they arrive towards the end with the assumption I could provide them a better inspection if there were less distractions. However the pros of them being present the entire time seem to outweigh the cons.
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I’ve done it both ways.
I prefer to not be distracted and I think I do a better inspection when the customer comes at the end. That said, I think being shadowed gives the customer a better feeling about the inspection, even if I may get taken off my stride.
Selfishly, I prefer to be alone in an empty house. I really take my time, often spending 3 or more hours on even a modest home. There is value for the buyer if they are with me. It leads to fewer issues or questions later. I sort of think them being around but not on my heels the entire time is the best. They can observe, ask questions, but if they give me a little space, I am more focused on finding issues rather than explaining what I was thinking about 5 minutes ago.
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@imayer Exactly - 
@clambrecht2 The Ian’s are in agreement! Lol
I think thorough documentation during the inspection process helps in the residential roofing vertical. We’ve never had a homeowner want to climb the ladder, but will invite them (after) the inspection if it seems they want to get “hands on”. Usually detailed inspection photos will do in this case though.
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talk to your insurance about this.
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Personally, I prefer they come at the end of the inspection. But I do tell them that if they have measurements they want to take, or if they plan to treat it as another “showing,” to please arrive early and get that out of the way prior to the walkthrough review. Once the review is done, I need to get the home locked up and get on my way. My walkthrough reviews average about an hour, and clients love them as they get a lot of insight into the home in that hour.
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The inspection I did today was for a client from RI. He called last week and said he was flying in to look at the property, didn’t have it under contract yet, so I suggested to hold off on the inspection until he saw the property, liked it and got it under contract. After viewing the property, he texted me back and wanted to go ahead with the inspection before making an offer to get an idea of what $$ it may take to correct things. No problem. No client, no agents, just me and all the time I needed, plus…I said I will get him the report by tomorrow afternoon. His reply; “Awesome!!”
I like these types of clients… 
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Should Your Client Be on the Home Inspection With You?
Yes. Of course. Many inspectors ask the client to show up at the last 30 minutes. I enjoyed doing more than 10,000 inspections with my client from the very beginning, all the way through to the end.
Why?
Because when I came home at the end of the day, I didn’t want to have any phone calls or emails of client questions about the report.
My goal, each of my inspector’s goal, and my company’s standard, was to satisfy our clients expectations and needs by the end of inspection.
And there’s really one way to do that… invite the client to walk with you as you tell the story of their house to them.
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