Inspections for the wealthy

[John Adrian Sopher]

Hey everyone I wanted to start this topic to gather ideas, tips and so forth for doing inspections for upper income homes.  I am about to do my second inspection and it happens to be a 6000 SQFT home.  (Yes I'm nervous lol)  The person buying the house is my fiance's boss, which is how I got the job.  The potential here is that he is hooking me up with a high end realtor for future inspections.  What in-site and experience do any of you have for the rest of us inspectors?

[Dominic Maricic]

Being that its only your second inspection, you might think of posting your report here before submitting it. That way others might have some insight to sure from your pictures.

Take your time with the report, take lots of pictures (even if you don't use them all) and take good notes.

[John Adrian Sopher]

That's a good idea!  I tend to take more pics than I use so I don't think that's going to be a problem.  I've already talked to the realtor and prepared her that I was going to take my time with it, and I didn't have a clue how long it would take me, due to the size of the house. 

I also did a mock inspection yesterday on a friends house for InterNACHI review. That gave me an idea of what I missed and an idea of where I need to really focus my attention at.

[Jay Markanich]

Large homes are not much different than smaller homes.  They have all the usual stuff - which may be bigger or fancier, and have more rooms, windows, doors, and so forth - but the inspection principles are the same.  There may be apparatus that smaller, less expensive homes do not have.  Pay particular attention to any of that.  If you run into anything you are not familiar with, you might just take pictures and say that you will research it and get back later with inspection information.

Wealthier people are not much different than the less wealthy.  But, as you know, we all have quirks.  When we deal with people we have to cater to those.  Each person, while we might treat them with the same politeness or explanations, has needs for specific information or none at all.  Some people are used to directing others and like to create hoops for others to jump through.  Some people are comfortable plopping into a chair and waiting for your wrap up.  Others are quite involved with the minutia of the process.  We need to read people, respond accordingly, and call 'em as we see 'em.

And as to the realtor who caters to more expensive clients, remember who and what you are selling - your service!  You have a varied product, a unique product, a valuable product he/she cannot find anywhere else.  As you are inspecting, of course, you are marketing.  Any marketing products you can drop on the agent doesn't hurt - brochures, cards, fliers, etc.  I ALWAYS send a thank-you card after every inspection, with a little pre-printed blurb, my name and contact information.

Remember, it's the big stuff that you do that impresses.  But it is ALSO the little stuff.

I call that the "Slight Edge Principle."

Check my marketing thread - under "Inspection Discussion," "Marketing Your Business," post #1.

[John Adrian Sopher]

Oh I've read it, its good!  Your hitting of what I've been thinking to myself, houses are going to have the same items to inspect for the most part, just more SQFT'ag to do in.  My main concern right now is attire.  As its going to be approx. 100ºF around here I really want to wear shorts.  But the business side of me is telling me that I should wear something a little nicer (I should dress for the area).

As far as the cards are concerned, that's something I was planning to do.  I thought it was a very good idea.  I've use that for getting jobs in the past and it works great.

Another point I've been setting up for the realtor, is our links.  I've created a realtor section that I'm going to use as a marketing point for them and me.  I can market the fact that when people come to my site they can link directly to hers for more potential business. In return they (hopefully) remember me that little extra bit, and use me as their main inspector.

[William R. DeVries]

Do the inspection like any other inspection, start from the outside and work your way in. Do not try to impress them with cloths thast you are not comfortable in, this will show as your uncomfortable and possibly the cliennt as inexperienced.
our there to do a job, bring the Tyvek suit for the attic, shorts and a couple polo
s for outside so when you have completed the inspection you can changer the shirt to a fresh one and then do your review, re,member pit juice...

If you want to impress them with your attire meet them ahead of time or after the inspection

[Jay Markanich]

No matter the client or the type of house - I wear a shirt with my logo and slacks, not jeans.  If I muddy them up in the crawl space I have a change.  Personally I would never wear shorts, but see them in places like 7-11 - I think professional attire is always best - hot or cold weather.

This is just me BUT - I have many logo'ed inspection shirts, of many colors.  For young couples, first homers, I wear something muted and demure.  For aggressive types I wear bright and bold.  And I take charge of the inspection from minute one*.

*  That's when you first look them right in the eye and give them a real firm handshake.  Show them your self confidence by using your full name first in the introduction and saying theirs, which you should know in advance. 

"Hi, I'm Jay Markanich and you must be Skennecktidy Phleghmtingleschmuck.  I'm happy to meet you.  Let's get started!" 

I had an inspection last Saturday morning with a very wealthy, powerful business leader (you ALL know his name well) and called him by his first name the whole time.  It was NOT intended to be impolite, simply to say that here I am on an even par, if not in charge.  I am CERTAIN his employees do not do that...  And I wore a bright red shirt (black and white logo) with tan slacks!  He bought a cute little 8,000 sq ft bungalow in Leesburg, well over $1 mil, for his son to live in.  Tomorrow morning I have a 10,000 sq ft in McLean, over $4 mil, same kind of buyer.  We're going with bright yellow (black and red logo)!

P.s.  DON'T use words like - "like," "um," "uh," "dude," "like," "I mean," "hey," "stuff like that," "like," "you know," and on and on ad nauseum (try not to use the word "like" if I didn't say that before).  Proper sentence construction, good vocabulary, complete thoughts, all spoken clearly -- say it all!

So go do that voodoo that you do so well...  Git'r dun...!

[John Adrian Sopher]

One of the things I was thinking about today is getting some golf shirts with my logo on them.  That way when/if I have to change, I'm not drastically changing my appearance.  All that in due time though.

[Jay Markanich]

Sí Señor...

[John Adrian Sopher]

Okay guys, my report is on my site for (fourth house) for your review.  Take a gander and let me know what you think.  I'm going to go over it again in the morning and then print it for my customer.

[Jay Markanich]

Looks good John!  Not much wrong with that house.

My report would have had some different wording:
    - Regarding the vegetation growing on the house I would have used the word "remove" instead of "trim."
    - In the shower where the light does not work, I would have said, "Light not working in the (whatever) shower?  Evaluation by a specialist is recommended if replacing the bulb does not correct the problem."  I say that because the problem could be the fixture, switch, wiring, wiring connections OR the bulb.  You don't know...

Your inspection photos are not intended to be a photo tour of the house, just items that are of interest or concern.

You have put together a terrific report - I am sure your client will be pleased.  Do you have your company name and logo on your folders?  Definitely should...

Adelante y arriba...  (onward and upward...)

[John Adrian Sopher]

Those are good points on wording, changes have been made.  Having the photos helped out immensely,  I found that the hardest part of the inspection was keeping all the rooms separate in my mind.  Normally I wouldn't have put so many pic's in the report.  The more I do this line of work, the better I will get! 

[Brian Doles]

Great job. I'm sure the client was impressed. So what was your attire?

The summer months here are hell and I do wear khaki shorts and an embroidered polo and yes a hat with my logo. I used to wear long pants in the heat, but by the time the inspection was over they were almost to my knees! How professional is that!?

The shorts keep me cool, I'm clean and look professional. Looking professional is the key. I've got the coveralls to get in the crawlspaces to keep clean. It's always a good idea to keep some hand sanitizer to clean off before you shake the hand of your client before parting ways.

"Look professional, act professional - get PAID like a professional" My motto!

[Brian Doles]

Oh BTW,

On page 45, the comment about the steamer. Did you mean to state it was "inoperable" at the time of the inspection?

[Dominic Maricic]

Just a note for anyone helping to review reports for other guys. Even though the reports are 128 bit encrypted, we still left the ability to copy & paste from pdf's, which makes it easier to paste things here to review.

Hey John,

Overall I think it looks real good, especially for your first real inspection with the program. A few suggestions.

I'd move the text you have after the cover page like:

Bathrooms can consist of many features from jacuzzi tubs and showers to toilets and bidets.
Because of all the plumbing involved it is an important area of the house to look over. Moisture in
the air and leaks can cause mildew, wallpaper and paint to peel, and other problems. The home
inspector will identify as many issues as possible but some problems may be undetectable due to
problems within the walls or under the flooring..

to actually appear above the bathroom page (or at least above the first bathroom page). There's really no reason to have it at the beginning (just my opinion).

The same with the other sections. Was there are particular reason you thought about moving it all to the top?

For the attic I think this is a little confusing as you say accessible but ten did not inspect. You might need some more detail to clarify what you mean. Maybe specifically say, you were able to get access to 2 areas and not 1, or something along those lines. Though your pictures later on do help to clarify this a bit.

How Inspected: Accessible • Did not inspect, unable to access attic due to hatch
inaccessibility. Recommend review of the Sellers Disclosure Statement regarding the
condition of the attic prior to close. • Limited access due to finished attic area. • Multiple attic
accesses.

For the garage vacuum, I don't think you need the additional caption for the photo since you already have the comment directly above. In the future there will also be an option to remove comments from the main comment area if they are in use in the caption.

You probably don't need to say trim the bushes so many times.

Looks great overall! Make sure to use a fake address on the website, or ask the buyers permission for posting online.

[John Adrian Sopher]

Oh BTW,

On page 45, the comment about the steamer. Did you mean to state it was "inoperable" at the time of the inspection?

No, actually I worded it correctly.  That was a specific space they wanted me to check.  They were not sure if it worked because the owners were using it as a storage room.  I checked to see if the heating element came on but informed them there was no water in there to create steam.  I added it into the report to satisfy the buyers.

[John Adrian Sopher]

Just a note for anyone helping to review reports for other guys. Even though the reports are 128 bit encrypted, we still left the ability to copy & paste from pdf's, which makes it easier to paste things here to review.

Hey John,

Overall I think it looks real good, especially for your first real inspection with the program. A few suggestions.

I'd move the text you have after the cover page like:

Bathrooms can consist of many features from jacuzzi tubs and showers to toilets and bidets.
Because of all the plumbing involved it is an important area of the house to look over. Moisture in
the air and leaks can cause mildew, wallpaper and paint to peel, and other problems. The home
inspector will identify as many issues as possible but some problems may be undetectable due to
problems within the walls or under the flooring..

to actually appear above the bathroom page (or at least above the first bathroom page). There's really no reason to have it at the beginning (just my opinion).

The same with the other sections. Was there are particular reason you thought about moving it all to the top?

For the attic I think this is a little confusing as you say accessible but ten did not inspect. You might need some more detail to clarify what you mean. Maybe specifically say, you were able to get access to 2 areas and not 1, or something along those lines. Though your pictures later on do help to clarify this a bit.

How Inspected: Accessible • Did not inspect, unable to access attic due to hatch
inaccessibility. Recommend review of the Sellers Disclosure Statement regarding the
condition of the attic prior to close. • Limited access due to finished attic area. • Multiple attic
accesses.

For the garage vacuum, I don't think you need the additional caption for the photo since you already have the comment directly above. In the future there will also be an option to remove comments from the main comment area if they are in use in the caption.

You probably don't need to say trim the bushes so many times.

Looks great overall! Make sure to use a fake address on the website, or ask the buyers permission for posting online.

To answer your first statement, I looked at the report with the verbage in both locations and thought it looked better at the beginning.  That was my only reasoning for putting it at the beginning.

On the attic issue, I wasn't quite sure how to word the fact that there were four or five attic accesses, and I could only access two while still trying to make the statement usable for any other inspection I might do in the future with the same circumstances.  That was why I decided to add the pic's; they would help clarify what I was trying to say.

As for the caption point, I agree.  I wasn't too crazy about the caption being in both locations.  Seemed like a redundancy.

And the address is my business address, name, number, and so forth.  That way when people look it over, they are getting my advertisements again! 

Also, to let everyone know, the realtor Lady freaked out because the report was sooooo long.  She thought she was about to loose the sale or something.  And this was a HUGE sale for her.  She should have look the report over but jumped to conclusions by the shear number of pages. 

The buyer was SUPER happy with the report and was bragging to everyone about it.  He also let the realtor lady know that I did exactly what he asked me to do.  There were many items I could have left out and would have for most other inspections.

I think there are a few factors I had to look at here, One is the fact that he is a VP for a huge company.  Two, he gets what he wants!  Three, my woman works for the man.  And he made sure I knew, if he wasnt happy, my girl would make me miserable for a loooong time!!!  lol

Anyways, thanks for the comments.  If anyone else has any, let me know.  I like the feedback!

[Dominic Maricic]

Nice job John! Congrats

Regarding the attic you could add a new narrative along the lines of: "Only 2 of the 5 attic spaces had doors that were accessible."

Then next time you need it, you just send it over to black, double click on it and change the numbers to what you need.

[John Adrian Sopher]

Got it in and ready for next time!