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My Real Experience

U.S. Army My Real Experience

My Early Experience

I would have to say my experience began as a child. My father was a maintenance professional and did about everything himself. I helped him on may jobs throughout my childhood, learning how to use hand and power tools and exercise construction skills and mechanical aptitude.

While in high school worked as an auto/truck mechanic and was Michigan state certified in brakes and front end alignments. When I was 18 I was manager of a large tire and repairs shop. I was ready for a change and joined the Army.

Army Engineers and General Contracting

I was a non-commissioned officer in the US Army Engineers, served 4 years in the US and Germany. My work included building bridges, large housing units and roads. I was also an instructor at a few Army engineer schools. After the army I went to a Bible college for 4 years, majored in communication. During which I had a part time job as the “Campus Energy Conservation Officer”. A fancy tile  but consisted mostly of little energy saving jobs like caulking and weatherstripping. I also served as an electricians apprentice for a year on a large job renovating a historic library.
After college  I moved to Ithaca, New York and worked for a year with a “Four Seasons” patio franchise company installing very nice, custom sun room additions with insulated glass ceilings and glass walls over cedar and redwood framing. After that, I did various sub contracting including some new construction.
I decided to go on my own and started a general contracting company which I ran for 16 years. I did a lot of kitchen and bath remodeling,which requires a little bit of everything, including, plumbing, electrical, ceramic tile, etc. We also did roofs, siding, windows, doors, flooring, additions, renovations, and some historical restoration.
I was a small company, usually doing most of the small jobs myself and often teemed up with other contractors for bigger jobs. I did custom design and build work. I was a dealer authorized installer for Peach Tree windows and doors. I also had maintenance agreements with investment property owners performing all the needed repairs for rental properties.
At one point when I relocated, moving to Syracuse, I lost my client base, I took a job with a Large plumbing company who needed a remodeling specialist. I worked with them for a couple of years and became very prficient at all types of pluming jobs and emergency plumbing service.
Then I worked for one year as lead carpenter and plumber with a local builder after which I re-started my own contracting business. With a lot more plumbing experience under my belt, I developed a niche, specializing in major kitchen and bath remodeling.

Transition From Contractor To Home Inspector

I had not heard much about home inspectors during most of my contracting years. Through the 1990′s however, home inspections became more and more popular. In 1996 in Syracuse, as I recall there was one home inspection company listed in the yellow pages. I believe it was a builder or contractor who owned the company and had a few guys he hired to do the inspections. They are no longer in business today.

It was an interaction with one of that companies clients, that motivated me to look into becoming a Home Inspector. A young single mom had bought a home based on a home inspection she had paid for. She moved in and was having a lot of problems with the house and had called me for help.

As I explained the extent of the plumbing repairs she needed she began to cry. I felt bad but the house needed a lot of plumbing work, it had several blatant code violations, including safety issues, most of the drains were backed up and the pipes were old with many in need of replacement. This is not to mention the other things I saw wrong with the house in a quick walk through.

She explained that she had very little money and the only reason she bought the house was that her home inspector had said the house was in great shape, including the plumbing. I asked if I could see her home inspection report. She showed me the report and said that when she first saw the inspector she was a little surprised at how young he was. He was in his early 20′s and she had wondered how much experience he could have. She was also surprised at how soon he finished the inspection, in about an hour.

In 1996 she paid $350 for that home inspection. She got a five page pre-printed form with check boxes that he checked and there were a two or three sentences of hand written comments. No defects were listed at all in the plumbing section of the report. He had simply checked that the plumbing was “satisfactory”.

An Obvious Need For A Better Home Inspection Service

I realized there was a need for a better home inspection service. I had no idea of what was required to be a home inspector, it seemed that this guy certainly should not have been one. I knew right then that I could provide a much better service, without any specific home inspection training.

There were no home inspection schools around at that time. I did a little research and decided to take a Home Inspection School correspondence course.

Today, for that same $350 I provide a very thorough inspection that takes an average of about 4 hours. And my clients get a custom 63 page report in a 3 ring binder. Most homes I inspect well over 500 separate items, sometimes more than 1000 items, and that’s through the eyes of a pro with more than 30 years in the home industry.

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