Less fluff, more home inspection report please

I've always been proud of the home inspection reports that I produce, but a recent peer review of my reports turned my pride to embarrassment.  I swapped home inspection reports with a couple of home inspectors in different parts of the country for a brutal review of each others reports, and had my inspection report torn to shreds.

These home inspectors spent several hours going over every line and every sentence in my inspection report, and I did the same for them.  They pointed out awkward sentences in my reports, photos that weren't clear, opinions on how much info was being conveyed, and so on.  The most pervasive issue with my inspection reports was too much useless information... or fluff.

What is a home inspection report?

After this review, I decided to re-think the entire purpose of a home inspection report: the main purpose of a home inspection is to educate a potential buyer on the condition of a home.  A home inspection report documents the findings of the home inspection; in other words, a home inspection report documents the condition of the house. The key word here is condition(not components).

Maintenance manuals?

Over the years, many home inspection reports, including my own, have morphed in to a homeowner's maintenance manual that waters down the condition of the house by including oodles and oodles of maintenance information that may or may not be of any use to the new homeowner.  A lot of page space also gets dedicated to documenting the components of a building; the condition of these components isn't always easy to determine.  I once attended a week-long home inspection 'school', and was shocked at how little time was spent teaching new home inspectors how to identify defects with houses.  The majority of the class was spent teaching new home inspectors how to fill out a home inspection report, and how to properly document the components of a home, rather than the conditions.

With all of the extra homeowner maintenance information and documention about whatcomponents exist at a home, the most important part of the home inspection report can be tougher and tougher to find.  Why am I including the brand of air conditioner in my inspection reports?  Why does the beginning of my inspection report have a warning about lead paint in old buildings?  Why do I have so much fluff?

I've decided to get rid of all the fluff, and I've also decided that my home inspection reports are not going to imitate a homeowner's maintenance manual.  I still discuss homeowner maintenance during the inspection, and I still include items in my report that are in need of maintenance, but that's all.  If a new home buyer wants a homeowner's maintenance manual, they can buy Home Maintenance for Dummies for ten bucks on Amazon.  I'm sure there will be much more useful information there than I could ever try to cram in to one of my home inspection reports.

My new home inspection reports

From now on, my home inspection reports are packed with photos and comments that explain the photos, as well as recommendations that tell my client what to do.  As an ASHI Certified Home Inspector I follow the ASHI Standards of Practice, so I'm required to document severalcomponents in a house, such as the type of foundation, the type of siding, the size of the electric service, etc.  This documentation is now going to be pushed to the very end of my inspection reports; I think this is the least important stuff that I report on, so it belongs at the end.

I've always included a summary for my inspection reports, but my summaries have always beenway too long.  My new summary lists the items that, in my opinion, are most likely to affect someone's decision to purchase a property.  That's it, that's all.  Here's a sample.

I'm sure in five years I'll look back on this report with disgust, as I do now with the reports I was writing five years ago... but hey, change is good.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- ASHI Home Inspector Minnesota



 

"You Won't Find Anything Wrong With This House"

I'm sure we all have a few phrases that we hear on a regular basis that make us cringe.  Here are a few of mine (all of which I recently heard in one day).

Confident Real Estate Agent:  "You won't find anything wrong with this house."

If you brought your infant to the doctor for their one month checkup, would you confidently tell the pediatrician that they won't find anything wrong with your child?
If you took your dog to the vet for an annual checkup, would you confidently tell the veterinarian that they won't find anything wrong with your dog?
If you hired a heating contractor to come out for an annual furnace check-up, would you confidently tell them they won't find anything wrong with your furnace?
I just don't get it.

Homeowner: "Why didn't the other inspector find that?"

Of course, I always answer I don't know.
You'd think that this would be a rhetorical question, but most homeowners genuinely want me to answer this question.  Here are a a few answers that I always want to say, but never do:
You hired a lazy inspector.
You hired the cheapest inspector you could find.
Your real estate agent picked an inspector that wouldn't 'blow the deal'.

Same homeowner as above: "I thought the other inspector did a good job... I mean, they gave me a nice three-ring binder and everything."

If you go to a restaurant and you get a free toy with your meal, do you expect it to be a good meal?
If you go to a hair salon  and you get a free fanny pack with your haircut, do you expect it to be a great hair cut?
Some of the most confusing (and worst) home inspection reports that I've seen have been accompanied by colorful three-ring binders.  Here at Structure Tech, we stopped giving out three-ring binders about eight years ago.  That's when we started focusing more time and effort in to really writing our reports - not checking boxes.

Homeowner: "I had the gas company out, and they couldn't find any problems."

My suggestion is usually to hire a licensed contractor.  The gas company does not send out licensed contractors, and I'm no longer surprised when they don't identify very real gas leaks.  For more info on this topic, click any of the links below.

• Gas Leak Video
• Why Can't The Gas Company Find These Gas Leaks?
• Furnace Certifications Might Be Useless (don't call the gas company for this).

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Minneapolis Home Inspections



    

"How Much Do You Charge?"

Would you call a retail store and ask “How much do you charge for a TV?”  Probably not.  You’d have to do research and decide what you want to buy before asking for prices.

One of the toughest calls that I get as a home inspector is “What do you charge for a home inspection?”

Home buyers ask me this because they’re trying to find the inspector that offers the best deal.  When buyers are only concerned with price, they have already made an assumption that all home inspectors offer the same thing, and they assume they’re comparing apples to apples Sony Bravia 32" LCD HDTVs to Sony Bravia 32" LCD HDTVs.  This just isn’t true.



Here are a few key things to research before deciding on a home inspector, and to help make sure you’re making a fair comparison when it comes down to price.  This is all information that home inspectors typically list on their web site (yes, I’m assuming they have a web site).

• Find out how long they've been in business for.
• Read client testimonials.  Are they from clients or real estate agents?  Do they have testimonials from three delighted clients, or thirty?
• Read about their qualifications and experience.  Look out for clever wording like “10 years of industry experience.”  This doesn’t equate to 10 years of “Home Inspection” experience.
• Most importantly, view a sample inspection report.  If there isn’t one available or you need to send the inspector an email to request one, it’s probably for good reason.  Home Inspectors like me that are proud of their reports practically want to push the report in to your lap.  See, look, I'm doing it right now.

When reviewing a sample report, there is much more to look for than just photos and illustrations.  Watch out for useless report writing that is designed to cover the home inspectors butt, not yours.  A bad report would contain a lot of phrases like “This was observed, recommend further evaluation and correction by a licensed blah blah blah”.  When I first started inspecting, I was told by a professional home inspection instructor that this was the best way to write a report.  As I’ve written more and more reports over the years, I’ve come to realize that home inspection schools teach this style only to protect the inspector.  This doesn't provide a service for the client.

If you want an example of a good looking report that was poorly written, just Google “home inspection report” and click on the first sample that comes up.  You'll find more than a DOZEN recommendations for additional inspections.  Is the buyer really supposed to follow this advice?  That's ridiculous.

When picking out a home inspector, spend some time researching inspectors, even if you receive three different names of inspectors from your real estate agent.  Many agents give out three names because they don’t want to assume liability if their client isn’t happy with the inspection, not because they have three companies that do great work.  For more tips on finding an inspector on-line, read this post by one of my favorite bloggers:  How hard can it be to find a good Home Inspector?

After you've decided on an inspector, book the inspection.  If you've narrowed it down to two inspectors and you just can't decide, go with price.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Detailed Home Inspection Reports