If you’d been in the home inspection business a while, it’s probably happened to you. It can go wrong several ways. The appointment is for Tuesday at 9:00 AM at 26 Birch Ave. You show up on site, and there’s no one there. You wait around, knock on the door, start to look around the outside and begin to wonder. You realize something isn’t right.

Your cell phone rings and it’s the real estate agent, hopping mad. Turns out you’ve got the address wrong and they are all the way across town. The agent and the client are waiting, along with the seller of the home who has booked off work to be there.

That’s bad enough, but this one is even worse: You’ve just started an inspection with a client and agent at 26 Birch Ave., and another client calls, expecting you to be at a different address at exactly the time! What do you do? Did you double book? Did they make a mistake? It doesn’t really matter, it’s bad news either way.

These are no-win situations, the kind you want to avoid. We have been there, done that, and never want to do it again. That’s why we use confirmation e-mails, sent to the client and agent once an inspection is booked. The date, time and address of the inspection are all documented automatically so there is no confusion. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

With our Horizon home inspection report writing software, e-mail is generated automatically, so there’s no need for double entry, and no room to make a transcription error. The appropriate inspector also gets a copy of the confirmation e-mail automatically.

You show up at the inspection on time and ready to go. The client and agent are there and you go through your introductory remarks. Straight to work with the attentive client, and happily the owner is not there. A great situation! You get through the home, summarize for the client and provide a report summary.

You collect your payment, thank the agent and client, and you’re ready to be on your way. It’s then that the agent says, “Do you remember being at this house 18 months ago?” Your heart sinks. What did you say the first time you were there? Is the old report around? What happens if they compare the two reports? Why didn’t you remember the house?

If you’ve lived through this, you know embarrassing may just be the beginning. If your reports do not track, your credibility may be hurt, and your liability may be significant. At Carson Dunlop, we worry about this and that’s why we built a tool into our Horizon home inspection report writing software that gives us a heads up when booking an inspection if we inspected the house before. Not only that, we are only one click away from the previous work order and one more click away from the previous report. We can always see what we said before. A valuable tool? Absolutely. In some cases it’s a real lifesaver.

Canada’s first licensing law for home inspectors was passed in January 2009. By March 31, all home inspectors will have to meet the requirements of the National Certification Program for Home and Property Inspectors www.nca-anc.com, requirements of CAHPI-BC, (Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors - British Columbia) www.cahpi.bc.ca, or the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia (ASTTBC) www.asttbc.org. All home inspectors will have to carry Errors and Omissions insurance and General Liability insurance. There will be a $100 licensing fee, and home inspectors will have to carry an identification card. There will also be a criminal record check.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that real estate agents will not be allowed to recommend home inspectors. Instead they will send consumers to the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority, a non-government, not-for-profit organization. (www.bpcpa.ca) This authority will also handle consumer complaints related to home inspection.

Those who are not a member of any of these organizations may have their credentials assessed by the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority at a cost of $250. This option is only available until March 31, 2009, and those who are approved will have to become members of one of the three organizations within two years.

No license is required for commercial property inspections. For more information from the Authority, click here.