You guys ever lose sleep at night?

[mclark2 (Michael Clark, CMI)]

@cbottger

Hey you old fart its just my 52nd reunion for my deceased ship :p:D

Sorry, Charley, but your ship was deceased long, long ago, after it made it through the Great Flood, and all the animals got off, two by two. :mrgreen:

http://216.150.3.251/uploads/noahs-ark-zoom.jpg

Have a Great Vacation!!

[radams5 (Russell W. Adams, HI-4077)]

Awakening at 3AM allows me time to reflect and sort out loose ends from my non-stop 12 hours days managing 3 small service businesses - and realized one recent witching hour in horror that I had inspected the wrong house.

[kgriswold (Kirk k. Griswold, 1068)]

I definitely share those feelings. It is not uncommon to come home after an inspection and realize that I forgot to check on an important item. I had an agent who decided she had to leave for an appointment before I was done. Upon driving home, I realized I had not been in the attic. I asked permission of the home owner to come back and found a serious rat infestation. Glad I went back!

[jhutchings (Jeremy P. Hutchings, IOS.2284-RES)]

@kramm

That’s why I go over reports in the morning and drink coffee while its quite, no phone calls to deal with at 5.30 am.

I am growing accustomed to using this technique as well. Peace and quite is important and I feel that I benefit from looking over the reports after a good nights rest before sending them off.

[gromicko (Nick Gromicko, CMI)]

Frank Rotte writes:

I only lose sleep the night before a concrete pour.

OMG… ME TOO! This is unbelievable. I can’t believe you posted that. It is so true. I can’t freakin’ get to sleep before a concrete pour, I’m up all night and then exhausted after the pour. Wow. Everything else in construction is totally pressure-less. Work at your own pace, and for safety, that’s usually a slow pace. Concrete is the exception.

Regardless of how prepared I am, I can’t get to sleep. I have a foreman who calls for concrete in the morning for the afternoon and then starts forming. Drives me nuts.

[mmaizel (Marvin Maizel, CMI® Fl State Lic HI 681)]

@gdeshayes

The home inspection world is pretty fast paced with reports being done within a few hours to a day. Sometimes, due to the time constraints, it is always hard to choose the best wording or to include all observed deficiencies. Sometimes reports are submitted to the client and the next day you realize you forgot to include something minor which was observed on site. You guys ever get haunted about all the what ifs? I’d like to hear some thoughts.

I do not believe there is any good reason not to be able to amend your report shortly after it is delivered. Certainly within the next 24 hours.
An email stating the issue and saved to a pdf for your files should do the trick.
Unless I am missing something (No pun) there is no reason to lose sleep. Making a note and knowing that you can send an addendum in the morning should be just what the doctor ordered.

[bburleson (Brian Burleson, CMI)]

@gdeshayes

Hey Tom, thanks for the advice. I spend about 2 to 2.5 hours on site but because I am just starting out with my templates report writing is a pain. I take no notes and around 200 pictures per house. I’ll share a sample report with everyone when I get around to turning one of my real reports to a sample (removing house names, people names, etc on report).

I’ve been doing commercial building inspections including low income public housing for the past 10 years. Typically for those inspections you only make mention of things requiring more than $1,000 cost and everything else is routine maintenance.

I feel with these home inspections I am too detailed and its hard stating a deficiency and also the implications of the deficiency if left in current state without using too many words. I usually provide at least one picture per deficiency and sometimes 2-4 depending on related issues.

The sleep losing for me is trying to be a perfectionist and turning in a report the same day and then the next day realizing I forgot a small thing - improper dishwasher drain, etc. I guess it will get better over time like everyone is mentioning.

You may want to listen to your gut and just nix the same-day report delivery until you’re comfortable. I deliver the report the same day, but didn’t start doing that until I was comfortable that I’d developed consistent on-site methods and comfortable with the software.

[tspargo (Tim Spargo, CMI)]

@kshepard

Gary, over the years, on many threads, what keeps getting repeated again and again is that to avoid misses, inspectors do the inspection the same way every time. Everything in the same order. That way anything out of the ordinary really gets your attention.

Good advice Kenton,

And it’s true… at least for me, I approach all buildings the same way, res, multi, commercial etc. IMO, inspection methods should allow for the physical process of such as well, inspecting upstairs before downstairs to help leaks become apparent, post running water through fixtures… when you notice defects or installation mistakes, making note of them to compare to areas on interior and attic etc…