Property Inspections & Energy Audits

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Anyone seeking a Home Inspector should do several things prior to actually contacting potential providers. First, check with the licensing agency that licenses your inspector and read over the Standards of Practice to find out what your home inspection should entail. Second, have information about the home ready such as the square footage, number of floors, if the house is built with a crawl space below and if the utilities will be on and third, the apprimate date and time desired for the inspection.
If you are seeking an inspector "cold", that is with no references or other referrals, use a trusted source or site like Service Magic, Thumbtack, Angies List or others to get a list of potential candidates. With the information at hand and the knowledge you have gained about what is supposed to be done, you are ready to call your contacts.
-- Do not call and simply ask for a price quote. If you do, he will already know your just looking for the cheapest price and really are not interested in the product you will recieve. If he is a quality inspector, you will most likely NOT get the cheapest price. You do, in most cases, get what you pay for.
-- Give the inspector the information he will need concerning the property and ask him what is covered in the inspection and if there are any special services that are performed above what is required. For example, Thermal Imaging may be included but is not required by the SOP's.
-- Ask him how long the on site inspection will take. Be wary of inspections of 1hr to 1 1/2 hours duration unless the property is very small, such as a small condo.
-- Get his quote for the service and ask him how long it will take for the report to be delivered to you.
-- Finally, ask for a Sample Report to review. One of the best ways to compare potential candidates and get a feel for his work is through his delivered product, the Inspection Report. Look for things like the presentation; is it a check off list or comprised of simple one line call outs or is it in a narrative form which takes longer to prepare and is generally more descriptive, Is it clear and understandable to you, are the pictures included of good clear quality pointing out the deficiencies.
If you do the above with each contact, you will end up with the means to effectively evaluate each candidate based on Price, Service and Product.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. As a potential customer, I would naturally wish to know what an inspector is supposed to do and report. If you are in a State that requires licensing for inspectors and yes, there are some that don't, then you probably have access to the "SOP's" (Standards of Practice) as defined for inspectors in that state. Generally they will be on some State Agencies website.
By reviewing these standards, you can readily ascertain what an inspector's responsibilties and limitations are regarding an inspection of your home and be in a much better position to interview a potential service provider.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Real Horizon's product stands out from others due to its meticulous attention to detail while conducting our inspections and energy audits. While many other inspectors will perform as many as 3 inspections per day, we will only do one. This allows us to take time with our inspections and prepare reports which are clear, concise and accurate. We also endeavor to investigate the source of problems we find, such as with moisture issues, and point out exactly where the issue really begins.
Most compelling however, and what our clients continually praise us for, is the product that they receive, the Inspection Report. Our reports are never a check off list or single line call outs but are in a narrative form explaining what was found and its importance in the total evaluation of of the property. All photos taken during the inspection are included in a separately attached "Photo Album" and are never included in the body of the narrative which are often small and unclear. Each of the photos are presented in a PowerPoint format as slides which are numbered and text annotated with graphics used to highlight and pinpoint the issues being described. Essentially, the photo album is a report in and of itself providing for large, clear pictures and a short explanation of the issues addressed.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. In a nutshell, the answer is Helping People. In the case of property inspections, the ability to provide a service which will help people to make informed decisions on what is likely to be one of the most important and financially impacting ones in their lives. For Energy Audits, it's helping people to reduce their energy costs and providing them with a healthier home environment.
Most of all, it's that call or rating review telling us and everyone else about the great service we performed for them.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. The answer to this depends on what service is being requested, a Property Inspecton or an Energy Audit In the case of a typical Home Inspection, the questions focus around Price, Availability and Delivered Product. In the case of an Energy Audit, questions are generally pointed at Price, Expected Benifits of the Audit and What they can do specifically to enhance their home's efficiency.
In each case, we will spend a considerable amount of time explaining to the potential client what we do, how we do it, and the time it will take to complete the inspection. We will also offer the client a sample Inspection Report for their review. After completing the above, we will provide the customer with pricing, availability and when they can expect to receive their reports.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. What I would like customers to know about me is that I do this service because I like to and not because I need to. What I would like customers to know about this profession is that the service we perform is a Professional service, much like a plumber, electrician, carpenter, roofer or any other professional entity. While each of the above is expected to be proficient in their particular area, Inspectors are required to be knowledgeable in all of these with regard to code standards, installations and functionality.
Generally, most expect that employing a professional for any of the above services will likely be expensive and one should realize that hiring an inspector may probably be more than what might be expected as well.
What most people do not know is that the actual inspection is only part of the process and usually incurs the least amount of time while the report preparation is the most time consuming since pictures must be organized and annotated, inserted into the report and preparing the narrative in a manner that is understandable and clear to the customer can oftentimes be quite challanging.