I am curious as to the percentage of Home Inspectors who wear ties when arriving at inspections and meeting clients.
The following was added after I read the poll results.
I am really disappointed with the showing of my shirt and tie poll. First off, it was meant for Florida inspectors and that is the reason I put it in the Florida Geo area. I suppose I should have been specific in my intro to have non Florida inspectors keep away so to speak. I was also very disappointed with the flip attitudes and smartass remarks of some. Each and every day I am continuously underwhelmed by those willing to help with opinions that have absolutely nothing to do with the thread at hand and almost always colored with a fair amount of smartass bullshirt. After re-reading some of the posts I realized that anyone with such a mouth and so little to share would almost always be against wearing a tie under any circumstances. I suppose if you don’t think like a professional nothing I say will ever change that. I also was amazed at how many excuses were offered up of why it would discomforting or be a danger to wear a tie. I dont know how the hell you guys do inspections but no inspection I ever did put my neck or tie in harms way. As to the crawl space, my coveralls do a find job of protecting me and my tie. Yes I do remove my jacket. And someone even brought OSHA into the fray. FYI, most if not nearly all home inspectors are sole proprietors and therefore NOT employers and OSHA only has jurisdiction over employers.
Wearing a jacket and tie has been a personal and professional trademark of mine when doing home inspections. No Florida client or member of this group who knows me, or any other professional associate has ever seen me without a jacket and tie, EVER!. The closest any of the above has come to seeing me without a tie is my membership photo which I also copied over to my websites. In fact, I even wore a jacket and tie for the FLNachi H.I. proctored exam and the FLNachi Mold proctored exam in Orlando. Now this is my choice, I dont propose that everyone follow my lead and after viewing the poll results I can see that will never happen.
I just think that in order to offer myself up a professional inspector I need to look like one. None of my P.E. friends would ever show up on a job sans their shirt and tie and I don’t think we should feel any less professional though there is no question their educational requirement is about 10 years greater than ours and the PE exam is the mother load of exams (ask me how I know). In fact, in NJ, Home Inspectors come under the auspices of the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. So as you can see they are thought of perhaps on a little higher plain than in Florida. Perhaps we need to try and jump in bed with the engineers of Florida and totally extract ourselves from the Building and Real Estate industries & lobbies.
I’d like to close with the following observation that I experienced first hand in Florida about five years ago. I’ve had property in Florida since the early 60’s. When I semi retired in NJ I decided I might like to come down to Florida and develop some of this property. My first trip to a county building inspection office was quite an experience and I walked out of there knowing less than when I went in. I sat on a bench with a bunch of folks in coveralls, jeans and shorts. I too, wore a polo shirt and jeans and when I finally got to speak to someone I was told there was not enough time to complete my request and that I needed to request an appointment with one of the code officials. I left the office without making an appointment as I was heading back to NJ for personal reasons later that day and thought I would approach the appointment thing on my return. Anyway on my return I forgot to call and make my appointment but when I returned to the county complex I had a suit and tie on as I had gone to a semi formal luncheon with some real estate folks earlier. When I entered the office I was amazed at the difference in the attention I received. There were more than a half dozen jean and short wearing folks in the office waiting in line before me but I was almost immediately escorted into a conference room and after what seemed like only seconds was joined by a county property development coordinator who sat with me for about an hour. This by the way was in Hernando County. I was amazed.
This happened again in Pasco County when I visited an office in order that someone help me with a flood level determination code. I had been told during my initial telephone contact that it normally took three or more days and that I had to come to the office in person and fill out the form and it would be processed and mailed to me. Once I arrived in the office, yes I was adorning a suit and tie, not only was I attended to immediately, the gal who headed up that department personally disappeared into another office and five minutes later returned with my official determination.
So please, if you think that people dont take notice of your professional look, or lack thereof, you are sadly mistaken and because it is not common in Florida it is even more obvious there.
Bruce Gregory
Florida Home Inspector 1167
Florida Mold Assessor 450
InterNACHI Certified HI# 10120503
http://HomeandBuildingInspectors.com
http://BoatSkipper.com
Seriously, a tie would just get in my way.
