I did so many mock inspections of friends houses, that buy the time I did my 1st paid inspection, I wasn’t nervous at all. If anything I was over confident.
By my 3rd inspection, I was nervous when I realized I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was! lol
Hi David just dont loose sight that you know more than they do. They dont need to know its your first.
Have a little swagger, you got this.
It’s always best to do practice inspections on your house, family members homes, etc. that way when you do a real inspection you don’t look like it’s your first inspection. Take your time and stay focused. It’s hard when there are clients that follow you around asking questions the whole time. This is where the “now that you’ve had an inspection” book comes in handy. Hand it to the client and hopefully they stop following you like a new puppy. Tell them once you are done, you can go over everything with them.
The thing to do with client’s to keep them out of your hair is to give them a measuring tape and ask that they open and close some windows for you. They can do the windows, measure for drapes or furniture placement, whatever. They feel like they have something to do and they are not underfoot.
Lots of good ideas mentioned already. My advice: 1) Do several practice jobs first. 2) On first inspection, focus on collecting observations on site. Take pictures of house components in a systematic way. Take enough pictures that you can recreate the inspection when you are back at the office reviewing your work. 2) Once you collect all the observations for all the systems, at the end of the inspection, give the client a verbal overview and give a tour showing the noteworthy items that you discovered. 3) Write a report telling your client what these observations mean. Present the key observations and save the rest as backup. 4) Give yourself a big pat on the back. Completing your first paid inspection is a huge step!
Does the Mrs. know you’re talking crazy talk about your get away with her? 
I actually had my first 3 paid inspections this week. My first house was 3800 square feet and 3 stories so a little overwhelming but good practice I suppose. Like everyone else has said just do the best you can and stay on track. There was a handyman and a realtor present for a bit and they liked to talk so it’s important to be friendly but also not get too distracted.
Good question and great answer!
Thanks everyone.
