Being a professional home inspector can be a stress-inducing job. It seems like things in our industry are forever changing. As soon as we think we’ve learned everything that we need to do a good job, there’s some new gadget, some new technique, or some new wrinkle in the code that we need to figure out. The amount of knowledge required is a constantly moving target, and we need to do our best to keep our eyes on the prize.
Having a deep understanding of all our different tasks, the building blocks of a thorough inspection, is crucial to survival as an inspection professional. The more items and processes we can pluck from our memory banks when the need arises, the better we’ll flow through an inspection. It helps having all the pieces to the puzzle, but we need to be able to discern the pattern they belong to.
If we’re unable to figure out how put the pieces together into a product that provides value to our clients, we’re likely to find ourselves on the outside looking in.
The best inspector, the one that’s a true professional, isn’t the one that knows the most stuff. We don’t win just because we’ve got the most certifications. We’ve got to be able to put all that knowledge to good use for our clients. Knowing a lot of stuff is a wonderful thing, but if we lack the understanding needed to leverage that education to produce a quality product, we’re doing nothing but spinning our wheels.
The interesting thing isn’t what the building blocks are, it’s the pattern. It’s not the particles, it’s the pattern.
Max Tegmark
Think about the process of building a house. When things are just getting started, the site looks pretty cluttered, with different things strewn about all over the place. Lumber laid out here, the electric wire over there, and ripped bundles of shingles lying around next to the port-o-let. There’s lot of the items that can be considered the building blocks of a new home, but until a skilled contractor comes along to put things together using the right pattern, we don’t have a home, just a bunch of pieces and parts.
The accumulation of knowledge is a wonderful pursuit, and a journey that every serious inspector should undertake. But with that knowledge, we also need the wisdom necessary to see the patterns, to understand exactly how to best address the needs of each individual client and to deal with each unique situation.
What good does it do, if someone claims to have knowledge but does not prove it by producing a quality inspection report? This kind of knowledge cannot save him, can it? Knowledge, by itself, if it does not prove itself with a quality report, is dead.
paraphrasing of KJV Bible, James 2:14,17
We need to keep learning, not only what to look for, and not only what to say but when, where, how, and why to say it. It’s the one thing that may keep our home inspection career from dying.
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Thanks, Joe
