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Michael Leavitt & Co Inspections, Inc. |
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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER |
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Message prepared especially for Members of the American Institute of Inspectors® as well as Home Inspectors abroad |
GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.....
It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! The summer season is in full swing. The phone is ringing off the hook and the schedule is full. I have found that every inspection that I agreed to perform last week was the direct result of previous work that I had performed. I received a lot of phone calls from looky lou's, but I conveniently couldn't work them into the schedule. Jon Gudnason's advice a few weeks back about controlling our schedules was right on the money and I am attempting to put it into practice. I hope that all of you are succeeding in your enterprises. Please pass along your tips at how you have built your businesses so that we can share them with the readership so that we can all be successful together.
JORDAN BUCKLEYJordan Buckley is the new addition to Nathan and Misty Buckley's household. This little angel steels the hearts of all who see her.......
BOILERPLATE FOR MS OUTLOOKMany of you use Outlook for your e-mail program. I converted back to the Evil Empire software as I started to use the Pocket PC to read my mail. The iPaq and other little machines have the Microsoft mini Outlook and Internet Explorer built right into them. I was previously a die hard Netscape fan and have since dropped all allegiance to Netscape due to a lack of Pocket PC compatibility.
So here is the challenge...... How do you deal with those repetitive e-mails that you send out? I send at least two of my custom client inspection report e-mails a day, as well as weekly MMM notifications. I also have several e-mails dealing with the MMM passwords and sign off information. Outlook has the ability to draw upon the high power Microsoft Word program to take advantage of the Auto Text feature. Here are some instructions how to use it with Outlook.
Outlook can use Word’s Auto Text feature to insert the boilerplate with minimal effort. First make sure that Outlook is set to use Word as the e-mail editor. Choose TOOLS, then OPTIONS, then MAIL FORMAT, and make sure that there is a check in the use Microsoft Word to Edit E-mail Messages check box. Then you'll be able to create or insert an Auto Text entry whenever editing messages.
To create an entry, type the text in the message and select it. Do this by dragging your mouse and highlighting the text. Then choose INSERT, AUTO TEXT, NEW, and then enter an easy to remember abbreviation and choose OK.
PLEASE NOTE: When you close Outlook or Word, you may get a message that changes have been made to Word’s global template and be asked whether to save them. Answer "Yes."
To insert an Auto Text item that you've created, either type the abbreviation and then press F3, or choose INSERT, AUTO TEXT. Then find and select the abbreviation in the list of entries, and choose INSERT.
With that, here is what I do for my client notification e-mail. I simply open a new e-mail and go into the text box and I type ir1 followed by F3 and the following comes up in the text box........
This speed feature allows me to be able to add the address, subject line and attach the report and send it off. I can also go in and add text or modify as needed. Of course, I had to take the time to pre-design the e-mail template, but that is a different MMM article altogether. Play around with the feature and let me know what you end up using it for.
MMM FEEDBACK TIP BY JON GUDNASONFolks are sure to notice that most of the time there are a limited number of the same people that respond to Michael's feed back opportunities in the MMM. It only takes a few minutes to put down your thoughts and sharing our knowledge is part of what makes this association worth while. It occurs to me that some of you may be intimidated by the awkwardness of writing in the little box provided in the MMM for your feed back. It just strings the text out and there is no spell checker. The solution is simple. Open your word processor, Word, Word Perfect, Word Pad, or anything like that, and type your text. When you are happy with it simply cut and paste it into the box in the MMM. I use this same method sometimes when working in 3D because the full blown word processing application is so much easier to work in than 3D’s word processor. You can cut and paste text directly into the 3D Report Writer or Custom Form Studio.
COMPAQ & HP MERGERI found this information at http://www.pocketpcmag.com/News/HP_Compaq.asp
Having successfully dealt with stockholder challenges, Hewlett-Packard celebrated its merger with Compaq on May 7. On the same day, HP announced that it will phase out its Jornada Pocket PC line in 2002. According to HP, the Jornada Pocket PCs will continue to be manufactured and marketed for 3-6 months. The recently introduced HP Jornada 928 Phone Edition device may be the only Pocket PC to survive this cut, but HP is still evaluating that decision. HP will provide support for existing Jornada Pocket PC customers and honor all warranties.
HP will rename Compaq’s iPAQ the “HP iPAQ Pocket PC,” and develop and promote it as their “smart handheld” platform. HP will continue to develop and market its popular Jornada 720 Handheld PC line, including the newly announced Jornada 728. It is unclear whether HP will re-brand it as an “iPAQ” or let it keep the Jornada name.
According to HP, “the best of the current HP Jornada technology will be engineered into the HP iPAQ Pocket PC platform.” This means that HP will incorporate custom applications and proprietary technology into future editions of the HP iPAQ Pocket PC. For example, they mentioned that the HP Pocket Camera will be re-engineered to work with iPAQs. HP’s new handheld division will be located in Houston, in the former offices of Compaq.
PHOTO CHALLENGE FEEDBACK #104
I would sell this as a "fair weather" laundry hookup. It was installed so that one can do the laundry outside during those hot summer days, thus eliminating the heat and humidity associated with doing laundry inside the home. Every home should be equipped with one. Folks in snow country are accustom to draining and winterizing plumbing for freezing weather, so that should be no trouble.
Seriously, when I see weird laundry hookups I say: "While the laundry hookup may be functional, it is unconventional." In this case I would also comment on the freeze potential. One wonders where that drain ends up at its terminal end. Jon Gudnason - Placerville, CA
Jim Lucas, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek responded....... I'll give one of Jon Gudnason's "don't give your opinion" answers and say it looks like backhills Appalachia to me. Jim Lucas - CA
Here you have a less than standard installation for a washer hook-up and drain system. It is outside and appears that it might have a severed pipe on the cold water side. Piping is also insulated, which might mean that the pipe is not severed. Hope that the window is not to a bedroom - vent pipe is too close?
Wow, I thought that I had seen it all, or at least most of it. Ron Cloyd - K. Falls OR
ELECTRIC SHOWERHEAD FEEDBACK
Michael: To start with I really thought you were shining us on. I cannot even imagine being wet in a shower and being that close to electricity (probably not even GFI protected).
BTW, in the previous post of the cremated frog, I just want to reemphasize the need to report weatherhead connectors. Jim Lucas - CA
Jim, I assure you that there was no "Shining on" in my Brasilian account. I shudder every time I think back on the third world wiring. GFCI's were not in the Portuguese language back then and I had no real protection. As for your comments on the importance of weatherhead connector reporting, would you be so kind as to do a little write-up for the MMM including some pictures as to what we should be looking for and reporting. I must admit that I probably have not paid as much attention to this detail as I should. What "Rules of Thumb" would you use to evaluated the weatherhead connectors? I look forward to your information.
3D BEDROOM REPORTING METHODSMichael: Need a push in the right direction. I am trying to report using "The components of this room appear to be durable and serviceable except....etc." Now, my question is: Since we are required to report on windows, and if there is nothing wrong with them, how do we enter them in the report? Am I making sense? In other words with the D&S except, we are only reporting the three "D"s. but we are required to report on the doors and windows also. Ted B. Harris - OR
This is a great question Ted. I will broaden the topic and go into it in depth here for all of the MMM readers. A couple of years ago I was struggling with the vast amount of items that we were reporting on. I spent time reviewing my past reports. Please keep in mind that the majority of my homes have 4 or more bedrooms and multiple family rooms, game rooms, offices etc. In other words there are a lot of dry rooms. I noticed that I was entering comments for every component within the room. This was adding pages to my report with line after line of "Good" remarks. Depending upon the size of the home it could add up to 5 extra pages to the report.
I spent a lot of time talking with my good friend Brent Foster and he pointed out the harsh reality.
That conversation (which took place several times), combined with the use of the little Pocket PC machines was forcing me to re-evaluate the method of reporting conditions in Dry Rooms. Please note how I keep stressing Dry Rooms verses Wet Rooms. To this day I still report on everything specifically in a wet room. A Wet Room is a kitchen or a bathroom, whereas a dry room is all the rest of the rooms inside the home that don't have plumbing fixtures.
So what do our SOP's say we have to report on in a Dry Room?
11.1 The inspector SHALL observe and report on:
11.2 The inspector SHALL:
11.3 The inspector is NOT required to report on:
Now what do the SOP's mean? Do they say that you will report on each and every strike plate and door hinge screw? Do they say that you will report on each room separately? Do they say that you have to identify the type of material used? The only real specific reporting must be the TYPE of window used.
The next person I turned to was Carl Fowler at 3D and he agreed with my plight of having too many items to report. He shared with me a great idea. He said that I should set up some standard paragraphs which described the component in its entirety. This method was meant for component descriptions such as a water heater. He said that I could make up 18 different full description paragraphs with each having a different set of items wrong with the installation of function of the unit. Then with just one click I could have all of the reporting done on the water heater. This is a great idea, and I have yet to implement it yet, but it gave me a grand idea.........
Instead of reporting on every component in a Dry Room, why not lead the Bedroom section of the report with a descriptive phrase of what was looked at in the room and that only the items that need attention would be reported on specifically. This sounded like it could work, but what would my repeat clients and steady referring agents think. After all, they loved me and they loved my reports. Would they scream when the reports dropped in size? Would they quite using me? Would they think that they were getting cheated? I am being very frank here and letting you know the struggles that I went through. Whenever you are contemplating the change in reporting style there is an inner struggle with whether or not you will lose business.
I realized that the client needed to know what I was inspecting for and what was wrong. The rest was neither required by the SOP or anything more than just vain fluff to puff up the size of the report. The item by item reporting was the direct result of the pencil and checklist days where the client could see every item that you could report on. When they can see all of this, then they would occasionally feel cheated when I didn't check off a box. I remember when they would call 3 days later to clarify whether there was a sink installed in the kitchen because I had failed to check off that it was present. How stupid could you get? They saw the sink on the walkthough. I reported on the faucet and the drain, but because I missed a checkbox I was having to deal with a follow-up phone call to find out if a sink was even installed.
Hence the beauty of the computerized report. If you don't fill in a line, then the information falls out and the client never realizes that it was something you could have reported on. The report form sets that I created came from the original check box hand filled reports, so a lot of the reporting methods carried over from the old way of doing things. This is why change can be so hard. This is why Ted and others are having a hard time with the switch in reporting methodology. So how did I change the forms? How does it affect the method of data entry? And how does it simplify the reporting process?
Let's look at the bedroom section of my report. I start it off with a description of what was inspected.......
With the "SCOPE" defined it then frees me up for only documenting the "Reportable Conditions" and not every specific item. Next I have several comments to select from for the "CONDITION" line which is the second line of the bedroom section. The first line is the location description of the room. The comment choices are as follows.......
The first three are the most common choices. If everything is installed and working as designed I choose the OKw/SMOKE comment and go on to the next bedroom. Many times everything is working, but it is an older home and no smoke detector is installed. In this situation I select the OKw/oSmoke comment. More often than not I am selecting the D&SExcept comment and then going down to the specific line in the bedroom section that has the comment that describes the Reportable Condition. Here is an example......
So let's return to Ted's original question, "Since we are required to report on windows, and if there is nothing wrong with them, how do we enter them in the report?" We cover ourselves with the SCOPE description in the beginning of the Bedroom and Dryroom sections and then we double protect ourselves with the window section that is in the Interior General section of the report form. Please keep in mind that most inspectors nationwide do not do individual room reporting. The majority have bathroom general section, and interior general sections. While this streamlined approach makes reporting super easy, I think it robs the client the specific room by room details that they are looking for. I look forward to your collective feedback.
PHOTO CHALLENGE #105
Would this photo cause you to rethink your profession of choice?
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QUOTABLE QUOTE: "It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it." Vince Lombardi |
HAVE A GREAT WEEK! Michael Leavitt & Co Inspections, Inc. The Most Qualified Inspector in Northern Utah! |
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