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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER

Message Prepared For Members of the American Institute of Inspectors®

March 15, 1999

GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.™

It's a great day at Michael Leavitt & Co Home Inspections! I'm currently recovering from a little elective surgery and am looking forward to getting back to normal lifestyle. It is odd that just a couple of weeks back I read everybody's e-mails regarding inspecting multi-unit apartments and motels. Tuesday will find me driving 75 miles to the north and inspecting a 1930's 3-story 12-plex. I was unable to drive by the property before quoting the fee, so I asked all of the detailed questions that experience has taught me the hard way to ask and then I made my bid.

Quoting fees for Commercial properties is an intrinsic art form. I used to give just one fee verbally over the phone and most of the time would not get the job. I have since learned that you have to fax a hard copy bid containing multiple quotes to the investor. The main reason that I now multi-quote is that I am never quite sure what the investor has budgeted for the job. I now include quotes for the following:

1) a partial fee
2) a complete inspection fee
3) a complete with Lead-Based Paint fee
4) a complete with Lead-Based Paint with Termite
5) a complete with Lead-Based Paint, Termite and Phase-1 Environmental Screening fee.

If the investor really has the financial resources, then they take advantage of the whole ball of wax. Most of the time, however, it is an investor who is dabbling and does not have a real strong financial backing. These investors end up taking either the complete or the partial inspection only. Either way, I earn a good fee and am able to limit the amount of liability that I assume by the amount of money they are willing to pay. Offering multi-dimensional bids also helps the client to see that they get whatever they are willing to pay for. This erases the misconception of the Property Inspector carrying all of the liability. This process also broadens your professional image and raises you above any other inspectors.

INJURY FEEDBACK

Steve Jordan responded back to last week's MMM regarding injuries that occur in the attic and crawl spaces. It seems that I am not alone in receiving these injuries. His "straddling the joist" experience made me wince at the thought of the pain. Thanks for taking the time to compose your thoughts Steve.......

Michael - Thanks for MMM 3-8-99.

Crawl space protection: After a lot of experimentation, I have found what works best for me:

Cheap rubber boots that come a few inches below the knee. These are pull-on's with no buckles, laces, etc. I put on coveralls first, then boots, then knee pads. The result is GOOD protection from the knees down. The boots work great when I encounter mud or wet dirt, and they are easy to slip off when I am ready to go back in the house.

Hard hats: I give up. The blasted hard had is always slipping down blocking my vision, or knocking my respirator aside when I bump a joist. I tend to be a little claustrophobic, and the hard hat seems to increase that tendency. Also, anything that overheats me seems to increase the claustrophobia, so I keep as cool as I can. Instead of a hard hat, I now use a baseball cap or similar (bill turned backwards so as not to block my vision) to keep the spider webs out of my hair. I DO get a few head bumps, but nothing more than a temporary "owie". Part of this problem is that I wear blended bifocal glasses, and I have to move my head around a LOT to get specific things in focus. I know A.I.I. recommends hard hats. I have given them my best try and they just don't work for me.

Injury #1. In one attic space over a garage, I lost my balance and stepped off a ceiling joist. You got it! One leg went through the ceiling sheetrock on one side of the joist and the other leg went through on the other side of the joist. OUCH! Injuries: some scraped skin and bruises. This was on a late Friday inspection. I found a lumberyard open, bought a half sheet of sheetrock, went back to the house and did the repairs---finished about midnight. Of course I conferred with the selling realtor first---who encouraged me to do the repairs. This was a semifinished garage with the sheetrock seams taped and mudded, but not 100% painted. My repair, when done, blended in OK with the rest of the ceiling, and no one ever complained. Since then, my name has been Mr. Careful.

Injury 2: Spider bite (I suspect) on the inside of my wrist. It turned into a round red swelling about 1" across. It felt feverish, but not too painful. It went away in a few days. Now I wear gloves with a gauntlet about 3" long above the wrist (Common hardware store variety) and have not had any more spider bites. Speaking of spiders, I consider the black widow spiders to be my friends. I find that they often build their webs near damp or rotten wood, where other bugs abound (so they have lunch handy). A concentration of spider webs always tells me to look for moisture or rotten wood. When I have to get in a spidery area, I wind the webs and egg sacks up with my trusty 14" screwdriver, and then wipe them off the blade with my gloved hand. I worry about Brown Recluse spiders, but have never seen one to my knowledge. I understand their bites can be very serious, and can take several months to heal. That's it for the injury tales! See y'all. Steve Jordan on the Spidery Oregon Coast.

HOT TOOL TIP

It was about six months ago that I was reading some inspector suggestions on lighting, when I took somebody's advice and searched out what I feel to be the finest, most relatively affordable, and best tool on my custom tool belt. Before I share it with you, I think that it is important to share with you what I was doing before making this last lighting purchase.

In my initial training for AII™ certification, I was informed that we call our lights...... lanterns..... no, maybe that was flood.......... no, maybe it was lamp...... Whatever it was, the name did not stick with me and I still call mine a flashlight. The Hot Tip of the time was the 3-cell Maglite. It was ideal because it looked impressive and large. Afterall, you can tell how good the Home Inspector is by the size of his flashlight...... Right?!?!

I bought a black one and loaded it with three Duracells and because of its weight, I had to put it on one side of my belt and place all of the other tools on the other side so that I wouldn't lean when I walked. It was large, it scraped down cobwebs well, and it lit up a whole lot better than the kitchen variety 2 cell $1.99 unit that I had previously. The candle power of the Maglite was so much brighter.

Next came the Hot Tip to throw away the Duracells and go out and purchase some rechargeable ni-cad batteries and a charger from Radio Shack. The ni-cads in the 3-cell Maglite made the unit super lightweight. It was still large and I still had a flashlight complex where bigger was better. The drawback was that when a ni-cad battery goes dead it gives you about a thirty second warning. One moment you are in the light, the next you are literally in the dark.

I solved the dead light issue by purchasing more ni-cads and I changed them out before they went dead. I had lightness, pretty bright visibility and a large-sized unit...... Nobody messed with me. What more could I want??? Well, I needed more light. I spent a ton of money on my next purchase through the Professional Equipment catalog.

I suppressed the Big Flashlight complex and didn't buy the 1,000,000 candlepower unit. I opted for the yellow LSI 250,000 candlepower Superlight. It was large. It reported 40 minutes of battery time (don't believe it). They wanted $79.95 for the light.... $29.95 for the large battery pack (highly Recommended), and $45 for the quick charger. This is a wonderful lighting setup. I was later chapped when I found the entire package for much less through the Cabella sporting goods catalog. For crawl spaces, I don't think that there is a light out there that can beat it. It makes it so that you don't have to physically make it to every corner. Many times you will be obstructed from 15 feet away, but with the Superlight you can see everything as plain as day. Go to http://www.professionalequipment.com to see the unit.

To order the LSI Superlight, I recommend that you first look in the Cabella catalog. To get a free copy contact by phone:

Cabella's
812 13th Avenue
Sidney, Nebraska 69160
(800)359-3310
FAX (308)254-2200

The LSI Superlight is a great crawl and attic solution. Steve Bradley opted for 2 of the smaller LSI Hotspots. He brings them both on site and allows the client to use one, while he uses the other. When you consider that it is our professional responsibility to bring our clients out of the dark and into the light regarding the issues in their home, what better way to do it than to let them hold their own LSI Hot Spot????

STINGER FLASHLIGHT

I still had my dilemma of whether or not my large, 3-cell Maglite was the light for my out-of-crawl-space needs. I use my light in every room. It illuminates behind beds, behind furniture, under sinks, in the bottom of closets, and inside subpanels. My light is used more than any other tool except for my laptop computer. I was becoming more confident in my abilities and felt as though I could go with a smaller light without sacrificing my machismo.

I had heard rumors about this little light called a Stinger. It seems that many of the larger police forces across the nation were switching to the Stinger from their standard issue Maglites. People were suing the police forces for unnecessary abuse by being struck with the large metal weapons. To shelter their liabilities they have mandated that their officers will no longer carry large Maglites. Instead, they were to carry little Stingers. The Stinger is smaller, lighter, carries a longer charge and has a much brighter beam than the 3 or 4 D cell Maglites.

This was too good to be true. So how much does one of these units "COST" was my reply. $79 was the reply. This includes 2 separate chargers for both A/C and D/C applications. I was skeptical........ Then came my hands-on use of a Stinger on a California inspection with Steve Bradley. Steve saw my huge manly Maglite and said "Why don't you give this little guy a try." I almost scoffed at its little size...... somehow equating size with quality. Steve went on to say...... "Shine your Maglite against the Kitchen wall." I did so and he then took the little Stinger and flashed it on the wall next to what I thought was my bright light. There was no comparison.

I came back from time spent with Steve and the Annual Meeting in Reno with the resolve of finding a Stinger. This was easier said than done in Northern Utah. With some persistent phone calling, I found the place. It was a law enforcement specialty shop that carried everything for the industry from guns, holsters, clothing to flares. They had every high quality light, replacement batteries and bulbs. They had at least 100 Stingers boxed and ready to go.

Here are the vitals on the Stinger....

Poly Stinger
The Poly Stinger has the same features and size as the Stinger but is made with a tough, non-conductive polymer housing with a non-slip grip. This housing is available in Black or Yellow colors and brings the total weight of the light down to 8.7 oz. While it is not rated for submerged use, it is more suitable for marine, damp, or corrosive environments.

76014 Yellow w/AC/DC Standard Chargers $77.00 ea.
76514 Black w/AC/DC Standard Chargers $77.00 ea.
76024 Yellow w/AC/DC Fast Chargers $95.00 ea.
76524 Black w/AC/DC Fast Chargers $95.00 ea.
Includes UPS Shipping in the Cont. U.S.

You can order the Stinger at: http://www.southernce.com/stinger1.htm

The ordering address that I just gave you is one of many on the internet. I did not get mine from there, but they look reputable. All of the sites that I found advertised them for the same amount. You may want to pull out your local yellow pages and look under law enforcement supplies or police supplies. The bottom line is that this light is fantastic. I quite often use it in the attics and crawls instead of lugging out the big LSI Superlight. Although not as bright as the Superlight, it is triple that of my old Manly Man Maglite. The chargers are extremely well constructed and I have found no weak points.

The Stinger comes in metal or plastic. I opted for the plastic and now wish that I had got the yellow version instead of the black. The yellow would be more visible when the light is dropped or set down. I look forward to your replies on the Stinger. If you don't have one...... Get one. Those of you that already have one are sitting back wondering what is taking everybody so long to get on the boat. I look forward to your testimonials also. Don't delay.... Buy a Stinger today!!!

1999 ANNUAL MEETING

Mark your calendars now. The 1999 Annual Meeting will be held in Las Vegas November 8, 9, & 10, 1999. The location will be at the Riveria Hotel. The registration fee will be $385.00. Look for the information in your mailbox in April/May. We will be combining our efforts with the Housing Inspection Foundation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: All of you may have the same question as me....... Who is the Housing Inspection Foundation??? And why did we feel it necessary to pair up with them???