New Inspector, first paid inspection tomorrow! Any advice?

Hey All,

I’m performing my first paid inspection tomorrow and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. However I’ve been practicing a bunch, I’m pretty good with my software and my routine, but I still have the first real time jitters!! Anyways I just wanted to see if anyone has some last minute advice for me. I really appreciate it! I really enjoy this group of people on here and look forward to many years of work! I’m blessed to have a wife that owns a very successful mortgage company that has access to over 4,000 agents. Most of her agents know me quite well and have been ready for me to officially open my doors. Thanks everyone!

v/r

Jason Neville
TREC 22221

SHHHHHHHHHHH explain things but do not talk to much listen close and I am sure it will go great Congratulations . Get on the inspection and have a question call tell my wife Char why you are calling Cell Number 613-827-2011 .
All the best… Roy

thumbs up.jpg

Be yourself and treat your client like a new found friend.

Take a Lot of photos in case you forget something, which you most likely will.

Awesome guys!! Thank you all for the kind words of advice. I will most definitely take lots of pictures. I’m a very personal guy to get a long with so I will definitely treat my customers like friends! Kindness usually goes a long way! Thank you all!

Jason

how did it go?

You noted an ‘inside track’ to an agent connection. I strongly recommend that you keep much more than an arm’s length away from most all agents.

It won’t take you long to learn that many with chew you up and spit you out in a heartbeat.

Be strong and INDEPENDENT !!!

Hey Nolan I appreciate the advice! Yeah I’m very weary of some but my wife is only passing my the real true agents that she has worked with and been friends with for years that know me personally, but I still wont let my guard down. The inspection I did Monday was a co-worker friend of mine, and the agent is a good friend. I found a TON of deficiencies in this home, to my surprise the agent was extremely happy with my job and finding all that I could find. He told me he would rather me find as much wrong as I could instead of sugar coating it. I told him ultimately the client is who I work for and he is the only one that can make the decision to pursue the purchase of the home and he was extremely pleased. My client was very happy and so far all is well. Off to the next 3 lined up the rest of the week!

I agree with Nolan. Be careful with agent relationships and keep them professional. You don’t want to be accused by your client of collusion.

Hey Bruce I totally agree. I appreciate the advice! I plan on doing exactly that!! Thanks again, this is a great forum and great to learn from the seasoned veterans! I’m not trying to market to just agents, I have a stack of business cards and while I’m still active duty military I try and pass out at least 5 business cards a day to people. I’m going full time in June when I go in the reserves.

Good luck

Take your time and stick to a routine. If the client is present explain to them you want to insure they get all their questions answered but you can not jump from room to room and still insure you cover everything. If they want to follow along let them do it in your order. Trust me they do not follow for long. They will get distracted by their agent or something soon enough. As someone stated take a lot of pictures. They cost you nothing. As an example, take a picture of the front of the house, all sides and the roof from all angles including from ground and on the top. Take pictures of all rooms. Even today I take a picture at the entry to a room, a picture of the ceiling making sure to include the smoke detector if present, and from a rear corner to see the walls facing the door. Then a picture of any finding. Bathrooms the same. In the kitchen I take the room shots, pictures of each appliance and a picture of the cook top with the burners functioning. Always take a picture of all sinks and basins with water running. I also take a picture(s) underneath of drains, p-traps and angle stops.

Just starting out this will help you with that “What room was that in…” panic. As you progress with more inspections under your belt you can modify what you shoot.

Best of luck and welcome to the industry.

2 Likes

So… how’d it go?

Hey All the house was in terrible shape and I could consider it the “got the bad one out of the way” but it went well, the client was very happy as was the agent. The client ended up walking away because the seller didn’t want to fix anything that I found including a roof with 4 holes all the way through the ridge! But I have done 5 more inspections since then and they have all gone well, Like you have all suggested I have taken a lot of pictures and have dramatically improved my routine and process just since from my first one! I am feeling a lot more comfortable and getting better each time! I’m actually having fun!! I mean what job do you get to point out problems as long as you follow the rules and get paid well for! I had one last night that was a dream inspection! Very nice home with very minor deficiencies!

Hey Willy,

I greatly appreciate your response! I do take a lot of pictures and make notes I built my own checklist according to TREC SOP but it is working well so far. As I get more inspections under my belt I’ll get better. I starting to get booked up! Almost 1 a day and I’m still active duty Military, once I go full time and I’m able to commit 100% to my company I should reach my goal of probably having to end up hiring another inspector with me!