Winter Inspections

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by iniquette

Exactly, you have to be even more diligent in interior areas that are affected by what you can't see outside, so in these cases, the inspection may take longer, not less time. Good points Jeff and David.

Thus my post (#12) about charging by the hour

[Brad Chasse]

I want to thank everyone for their input. I've been doing inspections in the Pocono's for 10 years in all kinds of weather conditions. This client was just extremely difficult. It's all in a day's work. Did 3 inspections since then in the same conditions and didn't have any issues with the clients. All water under the bridge at this point and a good lesson on prepping people under these extreme conditions.

It's good to have the work these day's given the current market!

Thanks again.

"Just treat your clients as you would want to be treated and you can't go wrong"

[Rex K. Morioka]

I agree do the best you can photograph and document any restrictions and put it in your report as a disclaimer.

I did an inspection on a ground floor split level condo unit, lower portion was below grade. It was 20 degrees middle of December, ground was covered with snow. Brought attention to my contract and verbally noted that the common areas are not apart of my inspection and maintained by the HOA. I also noted during my inspection that there was a possibility of below grade water infiltration but due to new finishes this could not be verified. Moisture meter did not detect anything out of the ordinary.

About a year and 1/2 later middle of July after a week of straight rains I get a call from the client stating there is water in the basement the wood floors that were "newly" refinsihed at the time of the inspection were ruined the "newly" finsihes walls were ruined, and that what was I going to do about it. I pulled the report read my findings to the client then read my contract and disclaimers, and told her the best I can do is possibly recommend a water proofing contractor.

Moral of the story CYA, document it, because it can still come back to you.

[Rex K. Morioka]

Oh and another thing she did not have a copy of the report, so I sent her another PDF copy via Email.

[rmaday]

Originally Posted by mnahrgang

You should have explained prior to the inspection that your inspection is a visual, non-invasive inspection. And that there are limits to what you can see. Some of those are because of finished interiors, some of those are owner belongings, and some of them are because of nature.

Well said. That's the key - setting the expectations.

You may loose a job or two, by being upfront about the limitations, but, IMO, it's better than not bringing it up and having an upset client at the time of inspection. If folks really expect you to get up on the roof with a foot of snow on it, IMO they are unreasonable. Better to loose the job than find out when you arrive that their expectations are different than yours.

[ecolclasure]

You could always offer to shovel the snow bring in heaters and a giant tent for the house and charge a minimum of ten grand for a winter inspection. Should only take a few days per inspection.

[tchristopher]

I have in my contract right after, inspection date, time, weather permitting
I make them aware of this just as I do with other pertinent info that sometimes presents a problem. One idea would be to add a small box for them to initial by this too. I don't give any refunds for this type stuff, if there is time after snow melts, I will run back & take a quick look if time before closing. One other thing I have learned to do in an area that has winter weather is, if the weather forecast calls for snow, I try to run by & do the exterior or at least the roof prior to gthe bad weather hitting....

[Larry J. Michael]

Not visible. Recommend inspection of those items once visible.