home inspector

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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Follow-Up Home Inspectors: It’s a Different House!

Tip 27 - Follow-up Inspectors: It's a Different House!You walk into a house that had already been inspected. There’s glaring issues in the basement – a massive crack in the foundation plus some apparent moisture stains. You ask yourself, “How did the initial home inspector miss these easy-to-recognize issues?”

It’s a good question, one follow-up home inspectors don’t ask enough. They are too busy looking like the hero to their client while throwing a professional colleague under the bus.

Instead, follow-up home inspectors need to recognize they are inspecting an entirely different house. What questions should they ask themselves during the re-inspection? How should they proceed with detailing the defects?

I examine these issues in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog.
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All Home Inspector Insurance Companies Are NOT The Same

Myth 5: All Insurance Companies Not SameMold identification is not within any home inspection standard of practice, but a home inspector told me that his insurance company settled a mold claim for $250,000. That truly made me question the sanity of the claims executive.

Yet, that story isn’t an outlier. Stories like this happen every day, as insurance companies many times would rather settle and get rid of the claim instead of fighting it.

Why is this bad news for many home inspectors? Watch the video above as I illustrate the issue and offer an easy resolution to a reoccurring problem.

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Understand Your True Liability and Risk

Tip 25 - Understand Your True Liability and RiskMany home inspectors are SHOCKED to hear that their corporate entities (sub-chapter S or limited liability corporations) do not insulate them from personal liability for doing a negligent home inspection.

These home inspectors say that their attorneys told them about this protection when they formed their corporations. It’s simply not true.

When can a disgruntled client come after the corporation for restitution? When IS the corporation sheltered against charges? I go through the initial myth and more in this week’s video blog.
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