Hey Dave!  Yesterday, on one of my inspections, the water heater TPR had no where to drain...  With a tear in my eye, I told my buyer (investor, six houses) of a home inspector friend in Colorado who ran across the same thing a couple of days ago.  He was impressed - this does not happen often.

I told him that in your case there was no easy solution.  At this house, a 30 year old pre-fab ranch plopped onto a poured concrete foundation, the improperly wired and plumbed water heater was beside a foundation wall through which a hole could be drilled and the TPR drained to a sump pump at the bottom of an exterior stair well.  The solution was a little difficult, but possible.

We looked at the sump pump.  It was plugged into a three-pronged interior extension cord, sharing that extension cord with a freezer and space heater on the screened back porch above.  The grounding prong was cut off of all three devices, well, so they could be plugged in.  The extension cord comes out of the bottom of the door.  It is plugged into an outlet on the wall.  The outlet (no cover) is hanging on the wall attached to Romex which goes into a hole leading into the house.  This Romex comes into the only bathroom, half way up the wall, leads down onto the floor, around behind the toilet and up the wall beside the sink.  It goes under the bottom of the cover plate on the GFI on the wall and pig-tailed into it.  The GFI was tripped (can't imagine why).

This GFI is doing yeoman's work.  When it is tripped so is everything in the bathroom - light, fan AND electric wall heater (!!!).  AND half the kitchen outlets, including the fridge and disposal.  AND the dining room outlets and light.  AND half the living room outlets.  AND both front bedrooms, outlets and ceiling fans.  AND another Romex coming out of the top of the cover plate, similarly pig-tailed, leading to a hole in the ceiling, and servicing a similar outlet box (no cover) in the attic, into which is plugged another interior extension cord.  Into this extension cord is plugged a hanging light bulb AND an attic fan.

This GFI is the equivalent of the Kennedy magic bullet!  I turned it back on thinking I would explode, but didn't...

On the sales contract are five male names, apparently heads of the various households living there.  In the house I counted 13 children's cribs and beds.  This does not mean that there are only 13 children living in the house.  Everyone shares this one little bathroom and the Yeoman GFI...

There is no point telling you about the other electrical, plumbing, appliance or HVAC issues.  YIKES!!!

But I am happy to report that we figured out how to discharge that TPR valve!

Oh, the stuff in the freezer was all moldy.  And in the fridge...  And the sump pump did not work.

I am NOT making this up - it was my most fun inspection all day!

Ahm afeered it ain't agonna git no better...

Three officially, with "three" in the basement...  I see it all the time.

¡No, no, no señor!

Yikes! I'm not seeing that here in Denver yet, but I'm sure its here. How long did it take you to write the report? How many sq. ft.?, what do you charge there. Sounds like your earning your $$$.

$1 per thousand what?
I just performed a New Construction Inspection here today, about 1500 sq.ft., I spent 4 1/2 hours at the home, and then 2 1/2 hours to create the report and upload it to the web. That's 7 hours so far and I charge $225. Thats aprox. $32 per hour and I'm not done yet time wise phone consulting etc. + fuel etc.     

He also needs to switch to Home Inspector Pro if it's taking 2.5 hours (cough cough, hehe). There was a nice post by Bob and then Bert here: http://www.nachi.org/forum/showthread.php?p=360061#post360061 where Bert talks about HIP cutting his report time in half.

Dave, I think Jay is saying he charges based on the homes selling price, $1 per thousand dollars. Do a $250,000 house would cost $250 for the inspection. Am I correct in that Jay?

Dave - If the house costs $385,000, I charge $385 for the inspection.  Or, in other words, $1 per thousand in value.  My minimum is $250 and max is $500.  For real expensive houses that maximum is a great price around here.  There are realtors here who specialize in the high-end stuff and they all know me.  Still, despite a good price, you have to render a great inspection - most veteran realtors are real savvy and know when you screw up and it gets around an office pretty quick.  For the amount of time your process takes you, Dave, it might sound like you are not charging enough...  but, your market really determines that price, not you necessarily.  Your clients do not appreciate the amount of time you spend, only the product you come up with in the end.