home inspection claim

3 Ways a Home Inspector Can Eliminate Anxiety and Sleepless Nights

Ways to Reduce Anxiety and Sleepless NightsAs a professional home inspector who cares about your craft, the anxiety center in your brain likely never turns off. It causes you to sit up or pace the halls at 2 a.m. unable to sleep and left wondering if you missed a leaky pipe or something else critical during a home inspection the preceding day.

A client, who is all too interested in whether you are insured, is likely to trigger this anxiety center. And this client isn’t an anomaly, but rather the type A client you see and hear from time and time again.

How can you reduce this anxiety and work without worry? Follow a few simple cardinal rules I outline in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog.

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Claims on Concealed Issues: Why Didn’t You Take The House Apart?

Tip #38 - Concealed Home Inspection ClaimsA California home inspector recently contacted me about about a claim one of his prior clients was lodging against his former inspection company – the company that conducted the inspection in question.

This firm is exceedingly risk averse – so much so that it gas a standard practice of settling meritless claims at a moment’s notice. It’s a SOP (standard of practice) that I thoroughly discourage.

This claim in question dealt with an issue that was concealed at the time of the home inspection. “But why didn’t the home inspector dig up the kitchen flooring to find leakage in the sewer pipes?” (I asked this tongue firmly planted in check).

This week’s video blog looks at the prototypical concealed claim and why home inspection firms can’t make a practice of caving in to these complaints in the means of “customer service.”
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E&O Insurance Is Even For The Mistake-Proof Home Inspector

E&O Insurance for the Mistake-ProofHome inspectors often ask me, “Should I have professional liability insurance?”

Conceptually speaking, anyone who offers professional services for a fee has potential liability exposure of unknown magnitude. The genius of insurance, however, is that it converts an uncertain, potentially devastating loss into a known, small cost for which you can budget.

With that said, many inspectors still inquire about E&O insurance’s relevancy and necessity in the profession. I detail the pros of having E&O insurance as part of your liability protection in this week’s video blog.
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Stop Refunding Home Inspection Fees

Keep Your Hands in Your PocketsRefunding fees to every unhappy client is a revenue-crippling business model.

You are a home inspector, not a psychic. You can’t predict the future. So, when a monsoon hits your area six months after an inspection and a client resurfaces to complain about water intrusion through the siding, you need to ask yourself this question.

“Is my client unhappy with me and my inspection or is he dissatisfied with the result? And if the result has nothing to do with the quality of my inspection, why am I refunding his fees?”

I examine this issue in more detail in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog.
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Make Sure Your Clients Read the Inspection Report

Read Home Inspection ReportA home inspector’s friend was recently buying a home and had a home inspection completed. However, he never read the inspection report!

When he took ownership of the home, he discovered a huge crack in the kitchen’s granite countertop, a defect that was never disclosed on the seller’s disclosure, BUT was detailed in the unread home inspection report.

What recourse, if any, does the new homeowner have? I detail what happens next as well as the importance of reading a home inspection report in this week’s video blog.
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Don’t Just Rate It, State It in Home Inspection Report!

Don't Just Rate It, State It in Home Inspection ReportWhat home inspection report methodology works best – narratives or checklists? Many home inspectors have varying views on this issue, but I provide a logical assessment in support of one of these methods from a legal perspective.

What method keeps your business safe? What method is more likely to safeguard you from reckless clients and their meritless claims? I analyze each method and their pros and cons in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog below.
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Why You MUST Follow Your SOP

SOP is Your Best FriendFollow your SOP. It’s a theme I ingrain in the minds of home inspectors who attend my Law and Disorder Seminar. It’s one of the 6 key strategies to diminish your chances of being successfully sued by an enraged, irrational client.

One thing that can NOT go unnoticed in the thousands of SOPs I’ve read across various states and professional organizations is this: “The home inspector is not required to:” followed by a litany of issues for which the home inspector is NOT responsible during a limited, non-invasive home inspection.

In this week’s video blog, I examine the SOP’s key elements and how to utilize your own SOP as a safeguard against clients who want to come after you for a result you did not cause and/or an issue you weren’t required to inspect.

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Spreading Home Inspector Education Nationwide

Joe Ferry Educating Home Inspectors NationwideI have traveled across this country, well the lower 48 anyway, educating home inspectors on ways they can minimize risk, maximize business reputation efforts and protect themselves from meritless claims.

I have met over 5,000 home inspectors in the last five years while presenting the Law and Disorder Seminar, and I enjoy providing these competent professionals with education they need to safeguard themselves in this litigious culture.

I also find learning about each inspector’s unique value proposition, business similarities and structural differences is a valuable exercise in better understanding the industry.

In this week’s video blog, I talk about my travels, my thoughts on the interactions I have with industry professionals and how you can see me at your chapter or association event in 2015.
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Paying Out Your Dollars in All The WRONG Places

Tip #28 - Paying Out Dollars in Wrong PlacesThe No. 1 compliant I receive from home inspectors is that some insurance companies cave like tents and pay claimants even when the inspector did nothing wrong!

An insurance company’s only interest is in settling the claim on its own terms, not ones that are necessarily favorable to the home inspector. Accordingly, many home inspectors don’t adequately protect themselves. They carry high deductibles to lower premiums.

Yet, as I always say, you do NOT have to conduct a negligent home inspection to be accused of doing so.

I examine why and detail the near horror story of one home inspector in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog.
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