GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.....
It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! The week has just flown by. The schedule is still strong and the responsibilities around the homestead are never ending. Next week I will share with you the home inspector nightmare titled "Terror From 48 Inches." Luckily for me this weeks edition pretty well wrote itself by contributions from the readership.
I would also like to publicly thank Scott Merritt from Grass Valley, California. Scott was attending the CREIA inspector convention in California and he saw a home study training course on electrical outlet testers. He spoke with the program creator for quite a while and then got a sample of the course and mailed it off to me. Scott knows that I will be presenting a training at the Portland AII Annual Meeting titled "Electrical Outlet Efficiency Testing" and he thought that the information might be helpful. I was thrilled to open the large envelope from Scott that contained the information. It brought tears to my eyes knowing that there are inspector friends out there looking out for me.
As the result of Scott's efforts I sent off $275.00 to get the materials that he referred on to me and it has been a lot of fun going through the correspondence training on electrical testers. The information reinforces what I will be presenting in Portland and as a group of inspectors we really need to sharpen our skill set well beyond the level of plugging in a $7 tester and being able to distinguish which of the three lights has lit up. We also need to know the limitations of our tools as well as how to make the correct recommendations that will keep our hiney's out of the courtroom. Thanks to Scott's efforts my presentation will be that much better. I encourage all of you to think about inspection information and situations from the perspective of others as you go through your day. I am willing to bet that each of you encounters at least 5 things each week that would benefit other inspectors, yet you are not currently realizing it. Thanks again to Scott Merritt for sharing.
Hello Inspectors and Families,
The Fall weather has really hit us here in Southern Oregon this last week with morning temperatures dipping into the teens. Twelve degrees when I headed out for my walk early the other morning. Since there really was frost on my pumpkins we decided it was time to finish harvesting our garden this weekend. Sure feels nice to get all those greens blanched and in the freezer for this winter. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I live in an area where we have all four distinct seasons. The already golden leaves are beginning to cover the ground and the horses' coats are thickening up, a sure sign of colder weather ahead. As I think about how grateful I am for the small chunk of earth I am currently titled I realize most of you probably think similar thoughts in your own respective homes. We are all diverse in our own lives and own chosen places to reside and truly such small pieces of an entirely tremendous earth, yet we come together in our inspection association with a common goal of being the best inspectors we can be. I joined the American Institute of Inspectors in 1995 after researching all of the available inspection associations and I am still very happy with my choice. I was not looking for the largest inspection association but I was looking for the most professional and I still believe I am a part of that one today. We really do have a great inspection association.
The conference is only a few weeks off, the office here is buzzing with activity as preparations are made. We have been gaining recognition from some well known conference speakers and vendors interested in attending our conference. I don't know why I find myself surprised that they are becoming impressed with our group. It has been difficult to interest vendors in attending our conferences previously because we are not thousands strong in membership. It seems they have not wanted to spend the money to travel and offer their wares unless they had the eyes of many. Conference Committee member Jim Archer has been busy sending out Vendor Applications and word of mouth seems to have spread between some other associations.
There will be about a dozen Vendors at this conference showing various goods and services to improve your business'. Some of the registered Vendors include Errors & Omissions Insurance carriers, washable surgical booties to cover your dirty shoes, Web Site design, Mold Experts, Inspection Software Companies, a new line of A.I.I. clothing & hats, Radon test kits and as you know, the Florida Canine Academy, among others. Some very nice raffle prizes will be given away, including an inspection software package valued at $995.00 by Porter Valley Software. To date we only have one Member registered also as a Vendor. Bill Ball is taking advantage of the opportunity to do some marketing. If you have something you want to offer at the conference get your Vendor registration in right away as there are only a few more spaces open.
For those staying for the Electrical Outlet Efficiency Certification Testing at the conclusion of the class on Sunday there will be a special drawing for a couple of the efficiency testers that Michael is so jazzed about. And, after the class you'll know how to use them!
I hope you all know I really do have a good time putting the conferences together. It is a lot of work but the reward of knowing that we are putting on top of the line inspection training in a fun atmosphere is so worth it. You all work very hard learning at the conferences and we like to reward you with a good dinner and good entertainment at our Saturday night awards banquet. I am still a little stumped with the entertainment. It seems the cost of the chosen entertainment (surprise) has gone way up and I am trying to figure out justification for this one frivolity. Let me know how important the Saturday Banquet entertainment is to you to help me justify the expense. Don't forget I have to account for the budgeting to the Board of Directors so give me some real good reasons to spend the money if you enjoy the entertainment.
I have been receiving lessons from Michael the last few weeks on the Hot line so there will be two of us trained to perform the task of making changes. I will manage it from the Executive Office with Michael still involved to give me guidance. One of the more enlightening things I've learned this week is: When you let your mailbox get full we receive an error message every time someone posts something to the Hotline. That's a heck of a lot of error messages, especially if there is more than one person with a full mailbox like there was this week. The only way to stop this is to remove the member from the Hot line until they have corrected the situation. If this happens I will be calling these people to notify them of their removal. If it happens more than once it may take me a while to remember to notify you! I am in the process of reconciling the Hot Line list right now. When I am finished there will be new passwords issued to our members for your MMM access.
Several of the 2003 General Election ballots have been returned but we need 40% of the membership to return their ballots to have a valid election. We have some very fine people on the ballot, please get your ballots marked and send them back in the stamped addressed envelope provided for your convenience.
If you haven't registered for the Annual Meeting you will be missing the best conference ever. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
Sincerely, Betty Buckley - Executive Director
Last week Bill Ball shared information from his "Home Inspector's Code Book" and the questions was asked, "What are your thoughts on using "Code" language during inspections?"
Code language is not a part of my reporting and is so stated in the Service Agreement. If asked by the client, I explain just what Bill and others in AII have taught. The client has always been satisfied with that. Jim Corbin, AII 2002 President - Bow, WA
Do not use the word code. We are not building inspectors. Do you want to get sued? Dennis Riordon - Springfield ,Or
Very informative...Had to use dictionary on a few words..... However I got the drift.... Do a good report and don't try to impress your client with you knowledge. Ed Strohmeyer - Rocklin, Ca
Inquiry of Private Reports: In Calif. It is required to have the realtor disclose anything they know about the house. After an inspection report is completed the listing realtor typically says that it is in their contract from the buyer that they supply all reports. WARNING to all you California inspectors, we are not part of their contract. Instead, we are under contract with the buyer of the report only. I do not know of any law we have to give a report to the seller?? If so, could you please tell me where you found this??
An attorney told me that the 3rd party tests have no precedent in California at this time. So while it is true that we are in between a rock and a hard place on this situation, I put in my contract with the buyer of the report that they give O.K. to give report to the seller. (just in case). The reason I found this out happened when I inspected a home that afterwards the buyer backed out of the purchase. The listing agent then gave the report to a new buyer. They in turn decided to re-model and upon opening up an exterior wall they found pest infestation in the complete wall. This was not visible to anyone before the wall was opened up. Next came the lawsuit.
The buyers, of whom I was not contracted, came after me, the termite company, the roofer, the chimney contractor, as well as both agents and the appraiser. Even though I have a disclaimer for infestation and it's a state law we cannot comment on infestation, and even though it says report cannot transfer we still lost!!! The lady won $68.000 form all of us and we split the settlement equally amongst the parties. Go figure. What to do?
Private Reports: We in Calif as inspectors are not part of the real estate contract. The others besides the buyer do not deserve a copy! Even though I give them a copy! Don't like to, but It is in my contract with the buyer that they O.K. 3 copies. I'm going to change after the first of the year. Only the buyer gets his copy. Rolland Pruner - Livermore, CA
Rolland, why wait until the first of the year? If you have a policy that you feel is important and needs changing, then why wait for two more month?
Last weeks shared report issue revealed a golden nugget as Alan Taylor responded from New York.....
Sharing reports issue. I was sued last year over a report made 2 yrs ago. The buyer I performed the report for decided to not purchase based on my report. 1 year after I performed the inspection, a different buyer purchased the house, and 6 months after moving in sued me for a failed septic system based on my original report. The judge ruled in my favor based on that I performed the inspection for the original prospective buyer and in no way did the subsequent buyer have any basis for a claim because I did not perform the inspection for them, and they could not hold me liable because they did not hire me for the inspection. This was one of the rare instances that I was directed by the original buyer to forward the report to his realtor, as he could not attend the inspection. The realtor subsequently must have showed the report to the new buyers and that was how the information in my report was seen by the new buyer. I was glad for the finding of no fault, but it cost me $250 in legal fees and a half day of lost time. There is no requirement to provide copies to the seller in upstate New York in my area. Alan Taylor - Canandaigua, NY
Alan: Thanks for sharing this information about your successful victory. Were you stressed about the lawsuit or were you confident in a victory? Did you modify the way you report on septic systems as a result of the lawsuit? I don't mean to include language geared towards a second buyer, but did you prior reporting method leave you wide open if a system failed? If you don't mind, I would love to share it next week. Michael Leavitt - Orem, Utah
I DID add an expanded disclosure note on my reporting section under the septic section which says
"Note: You must have a qualified septic company dig up the tank and distribution boxes to determine an accurate condition of the septic system. This inspection is only to be used as a guideline as to possible problems with the system and is in no way a guarantee of adequacy and condition."
I perform a septic dye test etc. on approximately 25% of my inspections, and am quite thorough in my examination of the systems, however it would be interesting to see how other inspectors perform septic inspections and how they use any disclaimers.
I appreciate your newsletter, and keep up the good work. The exchange of ideas are always a highlight for me, as it reinforces how we do our jobs as professional inspectors, and sometimes points out a response of "Gee, I thought I was the only one that had that happen to me". Alan
Then came another response from Alan......
Forgot to answer your question as to stress in the lawsuit. The answer is YES!! Even though you think you do things reasonably right each inspection, when lawsuits happen, I am always stressed wondering what the result will be.
The only other lawsuit I have been involved in was a water well problem, which resulted in the seller, 1 year after the closing, being held responsible for $5,500 for a new water well. The day before I inspected the seller had a truckload of water dumped in the well, so when the inspection was done everything seemed ok. Surprises never cease to amaze me.
I would be interested in how others perform inspections on septic systems and private water systems. I do these on 25% or more of my inspections, nice extra "add on" inspection fees, but I am always searching for more effective ways of performing limited tests. Alan
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Fanimation Design and Manufacturing Inc., of Lebanon, Ind., is voluntarily recalling about 60,000 ceiling fans. The hanger bracket can break, which could cause the fan to fall from the ceiling and seriously injure anyone standing nearby.
Fanimation has received four reports of hanger brackets breaking, including three instances where the fan fell from the ceiling. No injuries have been reported.
The recalled ceiling fans include the following models: the Islander series with model number FP320 and date codes 01-00 through 03- 02; the Louvre series with model number FP1320 and date codes 01-00 through 03-02; and the Tropicana series with the model number FP1600 and date codes 12-01 through 04-02. The model number and date codes can be found on the manufacturer's sticker, located just above the motor of the fan.
Lighting showrooms, fan specialty stores and electrical distributors nationwide sold the fans from February 2000 through July 2002 for between $550 to $850.
Consumers should stop using the fans immediately and contact Fanimation at (888) 284-8938 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday for a free, easy-to-install backup bracket. Customers will not have to disconnect the fan or remove the existing bracket. For more information, consumers can log on to the company's website at www.fanimation.com
Many of you are aware that I have been using a spam e-mail blocking program know as Cloudnet (www.Cloudnet.com). It is free and works with Microsoft Outlook. I successfully block about 1200 e-mails a week. This means that the program identifies the junk mail and sends it automatically to a junk mail folder.
WARNING: I reviewed my junk mail folder and found that I had several e-mails from MMM readers that had been sorted to the junk e-mail folder by mistake. If you use filters and spam blocking programs you must be careful to check the junk folders for important messages. I will occasionally make a new filter rule and it will block out non-spam messages too. I endorse these programs, but at the same time add caution to their use.
In the crawlspace, a multitude of wires are hanging loosely from the underside of the floor structure, with phone, cable and electrical service wires involved. At least one metal junction box is without its cover and constitutes a fire hazard. The presence of handyman wiring is an undesirable condition which should be corrected by a licensed electrician. Often times, wiring and connections are installed in a haphazard manner, with an increased potential for shock, safety and fire hazards. The installer may be familiar with particular precautions which he/she has grown accustomed to taking when operating equipment powered with such wiring, but as a purchaser, you or your family may not be. One of the most common issues is the use of inappropriate wire in exterior or damp locations, like crawl spaces. Doubling up of wires on circuit breakers and incorrect routing and attachment of wires, along with incorrect wiring of fans are other often seen occurrences. Costs for correcting wiring of this type can accumulate rapidly, as correction of one deficiency sometimes uncovers the existence of another. Every instance of handyman wiring present may not be detailed in this report. Carl Fowler - Somewhere in the US
I would recommend that a licensed electrician evaluate the wiring in the crawl space. I would further state that it appears to have been wired in a non-professional manner and that none of it is properly supported. I would state that some of the wiring does not appear to have a termination point and could be energized, which presents an electrical hazard. If, after seeing the entire system, I'll bet that the entire electrical system needs inspection by a licensed electrician. Ron Cloyd - K. Falls, OR
Today's three picture photo challenge comes from Ken Ives in Sacramento, California. The question is what type of insulation is being used in this home? Ken stated in part, "Found in a house that was built in the 20's but likely "updated" with the insulation of the attic in the 40's. House was in the bustling metropolis of Woodland, CA (just northwest of Sacramento)."
SHARPEN YOUR PHOTO CHALLENGE SKILLS FOR NEXT WEEK WHEN NATHAN BUCKLY SHARES WITH US HIS PERSONAL WATER HEATER
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