Recently, I was writing content for a website, putting together a series of FAQs about the home inspection process. One of the articles was intended to explain to prospective homebuyers why it is important to obtain a copy of the Standards of Practice their home inspector follows. I explained that this document defines the scope of the inspection: what the inspector is, and is not, expected to do. And then I wrote this sentence: “If you know ahead of time exactly what you are paying your home inspector to do, there is much less chance of having a misunderstanding later.”
Upon rereading, I was struck by the importance of this statement to our home inspection career. By making a slight modification to the sentence, it can easily serve as a mantra for home inspectors everywhere:
If your customer knows ahead of time exactly what they’re paying for,
there is much less chance of a misunderstanding later.
It seems like this statement would be a common-sense thing. Unfortunately, this flies in the face of the standard operating procedure of most home inspectors. As humans, we are programmed to try to get the most value from the least amount of work. It’s simply easier to take care of things when we’re at the home inspection. But this reasoning can lull some of us into complacency, allowing bad habits to creep in almost unnoticed, and bad habits can come back to haunt us, especially if we’re unlucky enough to end up in court.
Fortunately, making changes to our bad habits can be accomplished by intentionally starting new, good habits. The first good habit we should adopt is making sure every client has our SOP/COE in hand at least a day before the inspection. By providing this information ahead of time, we give our clients a chance to review our standards before the inspection starts. This gives clients with unrealistic expectations time to reconsider what they expect from the inspection, discuss those expectations with us, or seek out another inspector.
Previous court rulings show that if a client is not given an opportunity to read our SOP and contract prior to seeing them for first time at the inspection, they can successfully argue that they were forced to sign “under duress.” The essence of this argument is that the client was not allowed a reasonable amount of time to review the paperwork before signing, which denied them the opportunity to address their concerns with us before the inspection. Starting an inspection without getting the SOP in our clients’ hands ahead of time can seriously hurt our ability to defend ourselves in court.
Another good habit to develop is getting our home inspection contract signed before the inspection. Giving clients sufficient time to review the agreement, and the opportunity to decide not to hire us, is an important part of protecting ourselves should a dispute ever end up in court.
Doing so demonstrates that we were proactive in communicating the scope and limitations of the inspection and gave the client an opportunity to review both our standards and our contract beforehand. It also helps establish that we made a good-faith effort to ensure that the client’s expectations aligned with the realities of the home inspection process.
If we ever find ourselves defending our actions in court, these seemingly simple steps can help demonstrate that we acted professionally, transparently, and with our client’s best interests in mind, all of which can go a long way toward strengthening our defense.
This procedure may also help weed out problem clients by moving the inevitable confrontation to the front end of the process. It is far better to discover that a prospective client has unrealistic expectations before the inspection than to have that same realization after the work is done and the money has changed hands.
Of course, these conversations can still be stressful. But when they happen before someone officially becomes our client, we retain the opportunity to suddenly realize that our office has apparently double-booked us for that time slot and we won’t be able to do their home inspection after all…
The simple habit of providing this information ahead of time can help identify problem clients earlier in the process. Recognizing those potential problems before the inspection gives us an opportunity to address them before investing valuable time and resources in a business relationship that may be doomed from the start.
Few things are more frustrating than losing an inspection slot, one of the limited opportunities we have each day to generate revenue, because an unreasonable client forces us to cancel at the last minute. Identifying those issues early gives us time to step away from the relationship and, just as importantly, an opportunity to fill that opening with another inspection. In other words, spotting a problem client early doesn’t just reduce our risk; it helps protect our earning potential.
Simply adjusting our routine, moving the delivery of important documents to the beginning of the process, can pay valuable dividends. Yes, it may initially feel like an inconvenience, requiring us to invest a little more time and effort before we ever arrive at the house. But that small investment on the front end can save us considerably more time, aggravation, and expense later.
Always remember the home inspector mantra: If your customer knows ahead of time exactly what they’re paying for, there is much less chance of a misunderstanding later. A small investment of time can lead to more satisfied clients. And you can’t beat satisfied clients for making your business (and life) much easier!
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Thanks, Joe
