Well it has happened and I can absolutely verify it.
Insurance companies are using our pictures for a great many reasons and we should not have to provide them the photos under the guise of wind mitigation inspecting.
Pictures prove nothing and are dangerous and useless. People are also using pictures from other homes to perpetrate fraud. We as trained professionals can see and verify what we see without having to show pictures to anyone.
If you have been injured trying to get that photo or know someone that has please post the story here.
Well luckily today’s injury was not serious and would have been comical if it had not happened to me.
I was walking around a lovely home in Boynton Beach and was taking a picture of the back of the house.
I was in a nicely kept wide open back yard and was backing up to frame the house nicely in the shot.
Next thing I knew I was on my a-s camera held up and looking at the sky.
I had backed into a Cable junction box and it knocked my legs right out from under me. I landed on my back and left shoulder and my shoulder is really starting to bother me. I am sure it will be sore tomorrow.
Normally my biggest fear in backyards is stepping in Dog Sh-t but I have a new one now.
It just goes to show you anytime you are not paying complete attention you are likely to get hurt. Here I have been pushing to remove the picture requirements for some time because I feel they are dangerous and go figure i bust my butt in the wide open outside with nothing around me. I was as I said taking a picture that is not needed and it did result in my injury. Hopefully I did no serious damage. I would not have been so far away from the house and I would not have been walking backwards if I did not have to take a picture for some insurance guy behind a desk. I knew and visibly already verified what type of roof the house had.
Today’s story is probably funny to most and I hope some of you have smiled but it just goes to show concentrating on framing the perfect shot can get you hurt and one day someone is going to get killed trying to photograph something they did not have to.
Please lets make sure the OIR fixes the mistake they have made by requiring these photos that the insurance companies are abusing and using for so many other things by making sure that requirement is NOT on the next form.
WHILE THE PRECEEDING STORY WAS EMMBARASING TO ME I FELT IT NEEDED TO BE SHARED TO HELP PROTECT OTHERS AND YES THE FIRST THING I DID WAS LOOK AROUND TO SEE IF ANYONE SAW ME
I hope someday we get to meet. that will be great fun for me.
I posted that embarrassing story just to prove it can happen anywhere not just in attics. The plain fact is it happened doing something that does not need to be done. Pictures should not be required.
Please look me up if you ever get the balls to visit South Florida.
Injuries can and will happen. My wife was conducting an inspection over a month ago and while taking the outside photos the owner let their dog out. It attacked her and she ended up at the ER. She has just returned to work after missing 4 plus weeks do to her injuries and her leg is still not 100%.
BEWARE CITIZENS POLICIES DO NOT COVER DOG BITES!!!
I also know another inspector who fell through a ceiling earlier this year while trying to hold a flash light, tape measure and camera all while trying to balance to get the right shot for some desk jockey because they can’t determine the length of the nail. Are we going to have to measure the depth of the rings on a ring shank with a micrometer next.
Funny how we have heard these stories and a guy like Don Meyler has never heard of anything like it happening.
Please post what you know so hopefully we can keep someone from getting killed trying to take pictures that are not needed.
My shoulder is actually getting really sore and I all ready took medicine. I have a feeling it is going to be a sore weekend
Maybe I can get a massage out of it
Jerry that sucks. I have worried about that as well.
Crawling around trying not to fall thru and trying to photograph something you can verify from a distance. I cannot tell you how many times I have leaned on some metal with my hand or scratched a leg or something.
We do not need our work checked by those who know nothing. If we say it is so then it should be unless they care to pay for an inspection themselves.
Hey Don, Here is another one.
Please keep the stories coming because apparently the oir and a great many of other folks in the business have never heard these stories before and the believe pictures are a good idea.
Sorry guys just don’t see the big deal about photos. We take about 65 -75 photos of every inspection we do. Customers love the photos makes things clear and easy for them to understand defects when show with a photo. Yes in wind mits photos can be used from other jobs but only by the inspectors who don’t want to do the job correctly and give their customers the best inspection possible. We climb on roofs through attics and into back yards with all kinds of obstacles. Like any job there are risks. Pay attention and do the job right for your customer. Photos are here to stay. Sorry Meeker
That’s funny. I think I will be fine but it is getting sore.
Some people just will never get it and just do it because someone tells them to.
I hate to tell you but the photos are NEW when it comes to wind mitigation inspections. They are useless, dangerous and not necessary. If you don’t get it I cannot help you.
I was doing something unnecessary and busted my a–s in a wide open back yard. Do you think I am telling you all this to be cool. No it is embarrassing but true. If it can happen in a wide open back yard then it sure as heck can happen in an attic.
Hey Jerry, Do you have any kids?
What if his little jolt were to kill him? What if he lost his balance and fell through a ceiling and broke his neck.
Just because we do dangerous things on a daily basis does not mean we should risk our asses for a stupid reason.
Pictures are here because so many of you have a butt kissing attitude and now that you are instant “PROFESSIONALS” you can do it all.
The sad thing is someone is going to die and it will be for nothing.
Anything I can take a picture of I can probably verify from a safe distance without additional risks.
Thanks Roy. I do think I will be sore but i doubt anything is messed up.
There was nothing within 15 yards any direction except that box. backing up to get the house in full frame one second admiring the pretty sky the next.
I think this is just about the whiniest post I have ever read.
You really want to blame an insurance company because you tripped while walking backwards? Stop walking backwards. Use the zoom to frame your shot. Problem fixed. Imminent danger is averted!
Perhaps it is unfair of the insurance company to ask you to actually visit the property. If walking across the lawn is too dangerous for you, driving should be totally out of the question.
I am not blaming the insurance companies for anything. You have no clue. Worry about things in Texas.
I was performing a unnecessary task and was not paying enough attention.
The task i was performing was not necessary and has not been necessary in all wind mits before this form.
My problem is with the OIR and them putting that one little line on the form. I can check the box saying what something is and do not need an untrained idiot behind a desk reviewing my call. This is not accepted in any other profession.
I would still take the photos for my records but to not give a client a deserved credit with photographic “proof” is asinine and photos prove nothing. If you think a photo proves anything now days then you are a fool. Most 6 year olds can make a “photo” prove anything they wish.
When some one dies doing something that is unnecessary then all of you who spout off will feel like idiots. Quit being doormats and grow some balls get the OIR to fix their mistake and remove the picture requirement before it gets someone killed.
You know the sad part? The guy that gets killed will die because he was not paying enough attention also but does that make it right?
The point is the picture requirements are unnecessary, dangerous, and not good for anything other than for the insurance companies to get free pictures of the property. Sometimes they use the free pictures to further bust the clients balls about other things that they just happen to notice in the photos.
You are missing the point, chuck.
I agree that this is a little bit in left field, so to speak, but, do you crawl all the way the the support wall to get a picture of something that isn’t a defect?
Even if it is a defect, how clear does the picture need to be?
I agree with Mike with regards to the picture requirement.
If the insurance company thinks that I am wrong, send their guy, at their expense, out there to prove me wrong.
I can see a single wrap form 15 feet away…getting a clear picture of it on the other hand, isn’t quite as easy.
The first picture is the wall attachment. The second is what I had to crawl through to get it.
The third and fourth pictures are self explanatory.
This is a great example of what John is talking about in his thread/poll about closing off the Florida section to public view. This thread alone should kill business for one inspector posting. If I was a potential client looking for an inspector in Florida, and I came across this thread, I would run for the hills from anyone associated with this org.
If you can see it, you should be able to take a clear picture of it. Stop buying those cheap-*** $39 camera’s, and buy somthing more appropriate for the job at hand.
Be the professional, utilizing the professional tools, performing the professional duties, of the professional industry that we are part of…
