“You’re breakers are double tapped; consult an electrician.” “You’re furnace has one burner that isn’t firing; consult an HVAC contractor” “You’re roof looks kinda funny; consult a professional roofer” “You might have mold in the closet; consult a licensed mold mitigation expert with at least 80 years of experience handling mold problems in closets in this neighborhood” Funny how most inspection reports read this way. Why not skip the inspector (the generalist) and hire the expert (the specialist)? I could make a case for either, but i’ll defend my own and thus myself with this post. #1: By de ..read more

Chances are likely that this is one of those events that you won’t do many times! I meet homeowners everyday who tell me that this is the first home that they are buying and that they simply don't know where to begin the process! I like to hear that, simply because it means they are open to what I have to say. They can take the information I give them and allow it to sink in. When they turn around and sell the same house in 5-10 years, it will be in excellent condition if they followed all of the advice! We operate a little different than most inspection companies. This is not a hobby, or a p ..read more

You buy a home in June. The day after moving in, your air conditioner goes out. And you know, it’s not like you need that since the temperature is only in the low 90’s that day. It sure would have been nice to know this before you bought the house. This happens from time to time and the blame always falls back on the home inspection and the inspector who told you that the air conditioner was good. Maybe had he done his job properly, he would have known that the HVAC unit was about to give out in only a matter of weeks, right? Or wrong? Of course, as home inspectors we receive a lot of that bl ..read more

According to several leading websites (from my Google search), the average yearly salary for home inspectors is somewhere around $50,000 - $75,000. When we dig a bit deeper, we find that in the State of Alabama, that average seems to come out around $70,000 for full-time inspectors, with the average home inspection costing around $325. I think we can speculate that if our state was not regulated, our average cost would be much lower and our average salary would be under $50,000. This is the benefit of living in a state that requires the national exam. So how accurate are these numbers? Let’s ..read more

In every industry, there are always those who are really good and really bad, and most of the time we just hope to end up somewhere towards the upper range. My industry is not different, except for the fact that in my state we are regulated (Thank God) and in other states, they are not so much, which makes it easier to eliminate some of the bad “inspectors”. Yet, even despite this, because someone is certified doesn’t mean that they have any idea what they are doing. I’m going to outline several tips below, to avoid choosing a bad inspector. Can anyone be a Home Inspector? Check the credenti ..read more

I’m fortunate to have built a business in an industry that serves a ‘need’. As long as people buy and sell homes, and as long as people have jobs outside of the construction trades, there will always be a need for home inspectors. The thing about this job though is that it truly does serve the best needs of the client, and I love playing that role. A home inspection often ranges in cost from $200 - $800 depending on numerous factors. I’ve never done a $200 inspection ($300 being my lowest) and I’ve never done an $800 inspection ($750 being my highest residential inspection) but you’ll find th ..read more

The home inspection process itself is one of the steps in a real estate closing that I have found most agents worry over the most. This is often felt on either side, whether the agent is representing the buyer or the seller. The inspector comes in and everyone holds their breath and waits for the results as if it were a test coming back from the doctor! As a full-time inspector and a part-time realtor (I’ve sold 4 homes this year, from family and friends), I understand completely the struggles from all sides of the transaction. Let me ease this process just a bit and show you how to ensure th ..read more

I recently sat down with an excellent book written by Simon Sinek entitled “Start with Why”. I’ll be honest, this book has sat on my shelf for some time now, and though I’ve picked it up once before and thumbed through the introduction, I felt that I had more pressing reads to attend to at the time. Titles such as “How I Raised myself from Failure to Success in Sells” or “Fanatical Prospecting” or “Good to Great” seemed to peak my interest more, and make me feel that those books were more relevant to my current situation. Yet, upon the recommendation of a professor I decided that i’d give it ..read more

Our industry is still relatively new. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the home inspection industry was born. Prior to this, buyer’s typically didn’t know what exactly they were getting themselves into, and certainly didn’t have the knowledge of security that modern homebuyers have after the inspection is complete. According to Inspection Certification Associates, “Before the 1970s, most people bought homes without the benefit of real knowledge. But in the early part of the decade, a new term cropped up: contractor’s inspection. That’s according to John Bowman, a home inspector, author, retire ..read more

If you were to ask me, “Spencer, what’s the single most common thing you see as a problem on any given inspection?”, i’d tell you the mundane answer that you were not expecting: blocked gutters. I’m surprised now that you are even reading another sentence! Do you really care to hear about this stuff?! Well to be fair to both of us i’ll keep it direct and to the point. When gutters accumulate debri from nearby trees and bushes, they cannot simply flush it as it were water. Instead, what happens is that the debri stays stuck in the gutter and prevents the very water that they are designed to ch ..read more