Russel wants to write rules for inspectors who he perceives to be lazy. Russel knows that there are inspectors who do not belong in this profession. Russel runs a successful business. .But what Russel fails to understand is that a standard of practice helps ensure a duty of care.
For anyone who carries E&O insurance, you may be aware that upon notification of a pending lawsuit to the carrier, an adjustor or investigator will always ask which SOP you follow and if notification was included in your inspection agreement. There is a reason for this. Also, if there is a State Mandated SOP, your ability to obtain E&O and the price you pay may be affected by that very SOP. The more you are REQUIRED to inspect, the higher the chance you have of MISSING SOMETHING.
Once you write a rule and promise to follow it, you BETTER do what you say you do. We all exceed the SOP in one way or another, and depending on the client and the circumstances. When we start to advertise we exceed the SOP is where we start to run into trouble. And, if you develop your own, and profess to follow it, my advice would be to develop and follow a process by which you guarantee you do that in EVERY case.
Let’s take the refrigerator example… I may peek behing the refrigerator, but NEVER move it. When the floor gets scratched or the water line breaks after we leave the dwelling, I will be on the hook for the repair. When the seller proclaims that all was fine until YOU touched it, now the fridge doesnt work anymore, YOU will be stuck with the repair or the crappy reputation. And for what, exactly?
We, as professionals, already carry far too much liability for the pay we receive. Personal injury, sickness, damage to personal items, damage to appliances, perceived damage, failure to find a defect… whatever.
The SOP provides a minimum bar. Want to exceed it, fine. But, at least meet it, and when you cant, explain why.
Someone go back and look at what Keith Swift proposed for our new SOP. I killed it quicker than s%i# through a goose. Why? Because it was way to long, way to complicated, and served no real purpose. Aside from that, we had very bright people look at the NACHI SOP and agree with what it stated. In fact, we modified our COE to reflect that one needs to simply substantially compply with our SOP to not run afoul of the COE requirement. The majority of SOPs are pretty close to one another, and for good reason.
Change the SOP? I do not think so. Not at the whim of those few that participate in this message board as compared to the quantity of members we have.
I follow my state-mandated SOP, which substantially complies with NACHI’s. I will exceed it in instances where I believe it to be warranted. When I do, I have justification as to why I may have done it in this house, but not in the next.
Want to be a hero and inspect EVERYTHING? Be my guest. Just dont require me to do so. And the CMI designation is not representative of a different inspection PROCESS, just a level of experience.
The saddest fact of all is that we would likely garner a better reputation by baking cookies for clients, as opposed to performing a 4-hour inspection. Had one yesterday where the client told me that their last inspector did nothing like I did, and I simply followed the SOP.
Another well known inspector in my area performed an inspection on a 4500 sq. ft. dwelling in 40 minutes (a single inspector).
Unfoortunately, legislation wont fix this, a new SOP wont fix this, and the RE community will NEVER fix this.
The people with the legal duty to watch out for their clients is the RE agent and the attorney. It is not our job to protect the client. Sorry, but if you believe you do this, you are wrong. We are hired guns tasked with trying to figure out how a house lived over the past yesrs, in a 3-hour timeframe. We inspect and report to the best of our ability, following a recognized minimum standard. The client takes that data and shares it with an agent who is scared s%i^less that the deal will go south, and an attorney being paid a relatively small amount (in comparison to the sale commission).
Just do your job.
