If you’re confident in your experience, it pays to inspect appliances and make the customer happy

The Standards of Practice are where you find guidance for performing home inspections. But you won’t find much, if any, information about home appliances, whether you’re relying Standards from a national, state or local association. From a customer’s perspective, an inspection should cover all of the elements in any home. And that leaves you with a conundrum.

If appliances aren’t truly covered in the Standards, but your customers expect to learn whether the refrigerator gets cold or the oven heats up, you’ll probably err on the side of pleasing the customer. So the obvious question is, how?

What Current Standards Say

Most Standards of Practice are pretty straightforward about not inspecting appliances, or at least leaving that at the discretion of the home inspector. For example, the NAHI Standards, under section 10.3.8 state that the inspector is not required to operate freestanding or built-in appliances.

But “not required” is a lot different from “shall not.” And if your customers expect appliances to be inspected, you’ll have much better luck pleasing them if you include that in your services.

You’ll have to draw boundaries somewhere, as not every inspector knows every appliance.

Risks of Inspecting Appliances

With every home inspection, you run the risk of being held responsible for anything that’s not in good working order, at least if you don’t report it. If the roof leaks and you didn’t detect it, chances are the customer will want to know why. But without Standards to guide you, you’re in a riskier area.

If you inspect appliances, you won’t have Standards to back up your methods if the customer has questions later. But if you don’t inspect them, you run the risk of losing customers. The answer, says NAHI, is to use a better standard of care.

Your life experience has taught you how to operate common appliances.

How to Protect Yourself

Where the Standards stop short of describing how to inspect appliances, Claude McGavic, NAHI blog contributor, recommends that inspectors operate the appliance where feasible, and look for the following:

Your general knowledge of how to operate appliances in your own home obviously constitutes some level of expertise. And where you’re faced with any appliance that you aren’t familiar with, then you can fall back on the Standards that say you should only report on what you know.

Appliances are a gray area in home inspections. They’re generally not required, but your customer probably doesn’t know that. And even if they’re informed, it’s better to make the customer happy than to risk losing business. And that leaves you vulnerable. The best way to mitigate that is to use a general standard of care, and avoid giving an opinion on anything that you truly don’t know.

Home inspecting is rarely the same from one day to the next. Where one customer is well-informed and knows just what your job entails, most others have no real idea. You can offer more services than the Standards require, but always remember to cover your own back.

The right information is really what makes customers happy.

Is your marketing strategy killing your chances of standing out? Unfortunately for a lot of inspectors, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Your target customer base might not know how to inspect a house, but they do know a little something about the inspection process. So do yourself and them a favor – use your valuable marketing budget more effectively. Use it to make a real name for yourself.

Customers are Much More Savvy Today

The home inspection industry began because so few people had enough information about the inner workings of a house to make an educated buying choice. But people buy and sell houses more often now, so chances are your customers have worked with an inspector before.

The Internet has also brought information to the masses. Customers have a wealth of resources at their disposal, including ratings services such as Angie’s List. But with all of this information and experience at their disposal, there’s one thing that can’t be generalized. That’s which inspector is the best one to hire.

Marketing dollars well spent have a better chance of coming back to you.

Misused Marketing is Wasted Money and Effort

When inspectors overstate the obvious, that’s like a shoe salesman explaining how to manage lace ups. Of course customers will need to lace their shoes. But chances are, they already know how. Working RE magazine says our potential customers already know that you’ll inspect the roof, the foundation, the basement, etc., etc., ad nauseam. Your job is to tell them what they don’t already know.

Focusing on the obvious is a waste of your time and theirs, and it’s a waste of your good marketing dollars. A flyer with a diagram of every inspection point on a house won’t be used as a reference; it’ll probably be tossed in the trash with at least (hopefully) your business card saved.

It might take a little research, but you’ll turn up at least a few areas where you’re the better inspector.

Find Your Perfect Marketing Niche

So what is it about you and your business that’s unique, or at least rare or special? That’s what you need to focus on. The way to find that out is to study your competition. Are you available for a wider range of weekday hours? Do you work on weekends? How fast is your report turn-around time? Anything that sets you apart from the competition in a good way is where your marketing attention needs to be.

Customers don’t care about refrigerator magnets anymore, and they already expect you to protect them from buying a house with problems. Discover what makes you different and promote the heck out of that. If you can’t find a gap in the industry that only you can fill, then find something that your competition is doing, and do it better. Marketing is about finding why you’re at the top of the game and then letting everyone know.

Home buyers aren’t naive anymore, so they don’t need a sales pitch about the parts of a house that you inspect. Most of them already know, or they at least have a good idea. What they really need is the best value for their money, and you have the opportunity to provide it.

Licensing is one of the last official hurdles between you and a career as an inspector.

The FABI Home Inspector Exam is accepted by the Department of Business and Professional Regulations, and it’s offered as several locations around the state. The central location offers it year round.

Here’s what you need to know before you sign up:

What’s Covered on the Florida Home Inspection License Exam?

When you sit for the Florida exam, you’ll have 2 1/2 hours to complete 100 multiple choice questions. Because this is an FABI exam, you’ll be tested on your knowledge of the association’s Standards of Practice.

FABI says the exam also contains modules for Reports, Inspecting a House, Roofing, Structure, Interiors, Exteriors, and Insect Damage. Additionally, you can expect questions on Electrical, Plumbing and Gas, HVAC, Appliances, Pools, and Sprinklers.

Give yourself ample study and review time before committing to an exam date.

Which Study Guide is Recommended?

You can order the book from FABI, or any other major book retailer. The Association suggests reading the book a chapter at a time, and taking each chapter’s review test at the end. You’ll have a feel for whether you know the material well enough or need more study time based on how well you score on the practice reviews.

Where Can I Sit for the Exam?

Some locations offer the FABI exam at one appointed time, while one location offers the exam year round by appointment.

If you plan to take your exam in Orlando, the address is:

Classe Management

3751 Maguire Boulevard, Suite 260

Orlando, FL 32803

Think about the exam fee as one more investment in your future.

What About Exam Fees?

Nothing in life that’s worth having is free, and the FABI exam is no different. The Association offers two different fee options, one for non FABI members, and another for FABI Associate Inspectors and students of affiliate schools.

A busy home inspector is a happy one.

Ever wonder why some home inspection businesses boom while others just chug along, barely getting by? Part of it is knowledge and professionalism. The importance of your skills and work ethic can’t be overestimated. But doing a good job is only part of it.

As a business owner, you’re in charge of everything. That’s a lot of responsibility. But it also gives you a lot of freedom. You might not elect to use every option that’s available to you. But knowing what you can do, and what others are doing, helps you design a business strategy that works.

Here are 5 ways that you can improve your business, starting today:

#1: Educate Your Customers

Many customer complaints stem from misunderstandings. A quick Google search turns up a host of articles that assert issues with inspectors that might not be valid. It makes sense, because customers usually have no idea what home to expect. So the only way to protect yourself is to educate your customers.

Something as simple as an informational handout sheet or static page at your website should help. That way, customers know in advance that you don’t tear into floors to find asbestos and can’t issue estimates on repair scope and cost of defects.

Real estate agents have a wealth of potential customers for you.

#2: Meet Real Estate Professionals

Referrals and leads are the name of the home inspection game. Unless you work with someone who buys and sells a lot of real estate, you won’t have a lot of repeat customers. Referrals give you a steadier stream of work. And one of the best ways to get them is developing a relationship with the right people.

Real estate agents and banks see a steady stream of buyers who need inspections. Past customers are another good source, since friends ask friends for advice. Hand out your business cards and treat these people like business associates. You might not get more inspections today. But when their usual inspector isn’t available or a friend buys a house, there you’ll be.

#3: Represent Your Business Online

Your customers are used to finding what they need online. Whether it’s looking up the phone number for pizza or finding the closest home improvement center, the Internet is fast and easy. With a website of your own, you’ll be easy to find, too.

Websites aren’t as intimidating as they might seem. WordPress, for example, has several free and low-cost templates. And PC Magazine has an updated list of the best places to buy your domain name (for example, YourInspections.com). The best reason to have a web presence? Your competition already has one.

Social media makes it easy for customers to tell their friends about you.

#4: Use Social Media

You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating. Social media lets you reach hundreds of thousands of potential customers, and it only takes a few minutes a day to work it. You don’t need to be online 24/7. You only need a place for customers to interact with you and share your business with their friends.

Facebook is the social media giant. And according to ZD Net, they’re joining with Shopify to make monetized, business social media easier. Soon, your customers could find you and schedule inspections from social media.

#5: Always Keep Learning

If your state doesn’t have continuing education requirements, an inspection association that you belong to probably does. But even if you’re not a member of any group, continuing education is how you stay on top in your industry.

Your knowledge and skills are only part of what makes a thriving home inspection business. It takes dedication, some business savvy and the willingness to learn and try new things.

Never climb until you know that your ladder and practices are safe.

Although ladders are one of the most longstanding tools in the inspection industry, they’re also the source of most labor, maintenance and construction-related workplace accidents. Using this basic tool seems fairly straightforward. You probably use one every workday. But according to NIOSH and OSHA, ladder safety is of the utmost importance.

While ladders account for about 20 percent of fall injuries of all workers in every industry, the numbers leap to 81 percent when it comes to inspectors and others in related fields. And those are just the reported injuries that require E.R. treatment.

If you haven’t thought much about your ladder and how you use it, it’s worth your while to check your equipment and assess your safety procedures before the next time you go aloft.

Ladder Accidents Rank Highest in Serious Injuries

Whichever Standards of Practice you follow, it’s fairly clear that they exist not just for consistency in inspections but also for inspector safety. That’s part of the reason why inspectors aren’t required to move furniture or access risky areas such as roofs with an extreme pitch.

The Centers for Disease Control explains that not only are labor, maintenance and construction-related jobs at the highest risk of ladder fall injury and fatality, self-employed people had by far the highest rate of both. But the bright news is that the statistics are preventable.

Before you inspect any house, be sure that your equipment is safe.

Safety Begins with a Safe Ladder

You inspect houses for a living, but when was the last time you inspected your ladder? If you have to think about it, it probably wasn’t recent enough. Safety methods are only as good as your equipment. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says portable ladders should be inspected every time that you use them. Every time.

The reason for such strict guidelines is that damage can happen from regular use and storage, or from bouncing on your truck as you drive down the road from one job to the next. It’s just not worth it to take that risk. With so many different types of ladders, you’ll want the right inspection methods for yours. Check out the DOE’s ladder inspection handout.

Be sure that your ladder is rated for your weight, and that you only climb and stand where it’s safe.

Setup and Climbing Habits Round Out Ladder Safety

You already know some elements of ladder safety. For example, standing on the top of a stepladder isn’t safe, whether it’s 2 or 8 feet tall. You should only use the rungs and not the bracing on the back side to climb, and always ensure that the folding braces are locked in place before you climb. Extension ladders take other precautions, such as keeping a 1:4 angle ratio and never setting it up on uneven ground.

Because ladder safety depends heavily on the type of ladder you’ve got and the location where it’s set up, the safest way to use your ladder really can be a case-by-case basis. NIOSH has developed a free smartphone app that takes a lot of the guesswork out of inspecting and using your ladder. Click here to download the app for your iPhone, iPad or Android.

The more that you use a ladder, the more you might be tempted to take it for granted. It’s not rocket science, after all. But considering the hazard statistics, you should think about safety every time that you climb. The future of your job and the health of your noggin depend on it.