Gents, 3 a.m. here on shift and i'm working on the Site Inspection module of the National Wildlife Control Program from UNL... Does anyone have a site inspection sheet or guide they follow that I could take a look at, or do you pros just keep that in your head...lol... I will remember a little of this, but otherwise i'm gonna have to carry this book around on every inspection and look like a dweeb...lol... a lot of info here...

Thanks in advance,
Jered

I do mostly proposals on big jobs.

Will email it to you a little later.

I have one and I've posted it before but I rarely use it. Like you said most of us keep that list in our head. Mostly I use it when I need the second document to push the sale. Like Paul all of my structural inspections whether documented on a seperate inspection sheet or not is going to get a proposal whether they want it or not. Of course if you feel the need to document every step of an inspection you're going to need several different forms a snake inspection is different than a bat inspection. What I would suggest for the new guy and I did this for my techs when I had them. Take your sample inspection page adapt to what you think you need and run off a copy then have it laminated. Basically you've created your own personal check list for your own use. When you do your inspections use a grease pencil and check it off as you go.

Here lately I've been perusing home inspector sites looking for pointers on just how they document things from photographic and video records to going completely paperless (mainly how to go paperless) and an interesting concept kept coming up. Omission insurance. Home inspectors carry a specialized form of insurance to cover them for mistakes where they might miss something. Makes me wonder if we're documenting our inspections and there's a written record and if...... you see where I'm going. Definitely got my wheels to turning.

Warrior, thanks for that... As you stated each inspection is a little different, but as the course talks about it, it is a whole home animal inspection... When you show up they may say scratching in the ceiling... The book says inspection starts at the phone call, ask these questions, then it goes on to site visit, then attic, then chimney... so on and so forth... Then if you link to the videos on the site, it shows a video of a guy doing a whole inspection... even though its a rat infestation, he does the entire inspection... Just seemed to me that even if i was called for a bat inspection, i would give the owner an entire inspection and look for more sales that he/she may not have noticed... Does that make sense?

And just the chimney inspection goes from start at the flue, then so on...and each section has its own, these are the places to look while inspecting the attic/chimney/crawlspace... I guess just looking for a professional form that I could use as a checklist, and be able to say, hey these are all the things I found... i will take care of your bat problem you called me for, but be aware you also have a skunk under the shed out back...lol... Maybe an over thinker here...

I'll take a look at Nates and see what that ole boy has...

Do you remember what the title of your post was that you posted your sheet on here warrior... i searched and didn't come up with anything...

Here is my $0.02 on Inspections in general.

We can usually get a pretty good feel for what the customer has by the phone conversation. Sure this is not 100% of the time but easily 75% of the time just by the phone call you know if you are going to be dealing with raccoons in an attic or skunks under a porch. Do you really need to pull out that inspection form and do an entire home inspection for muskrats caving in the bank of the pond? I would say not. But I tell my customers you paid for an inspection and your going to get one. Sure I am not there for anything house related but why would I not do the inspection?

That 30 minute inspection could easily turn into me installing 4 vent guards, a chimney cap, gutter cleaning, a deck exclusion, or a annual pest control contract.

That inspection is for me to see what is going on that they don't even know about.

I can't remember how many times I was hired to move a wood pile from off the side the building or to rake up dog poop from the yard when I went there for completely other reasons.

How many customers have you had that said they walked around the house a million times and couldn't figure out how the raccoon was getting in when an entire soffit panel was missing right above the front door? Customers are oblivious to what is going on at their homes and a good inspection form that shows the customer the problem, the solution, and the cost will sell a LOT of add on services.

Jsetter83

Like Nate, Warrior and others said a good phone interview asking the right questions on the phone and at the door . When you figure it all out this becomes second nature your biggest problem in the industry will be the customers you have to deal with - not the animals or the buildings they have problems in.

I look everywhere there is a change in building materials on the home. The condition of the building materials on the home. I take photos I share what I see with customers. Somethings I can fix - other things I recommend the right contractor. Example: I would replace a chimney cap but not attempt much more then that on a chimney because of fire safety issues and liabilities.

None of us can go down a street in a neighborhood with out picking up on the obvious flaws or repairs needed on buildings. Every member of my family does this without formal training. I bet your wife someday will be able to to tell you when you are selling a squirrel exclusion exactly which neighbor to leave a card with because she will swear that's where the squirrels are gonna move too.

On a raccoon podcast I did with Ron Jones he shared the same raccoon damage on every house in the same place. Even the critters know the builders. In the case of the raccoons it had something to do with daughters being born in one of the homes . I think its on this podcast http://raccoonremoval.us/podcasts/coons-squirrels-and-more-coons/

Some of the subdivisions you will work in you will know what the problem should be because, of who built it and the poor design of that particular model. I know of several subdivisions and the customer says they live in a certain subdivision that in every model its probably the dormers because its always the dormers.


When you do a site inspection you use all of your five senses. Taste you will rarely use - if ever!
Your real fifth sense will actually be what you know from experience.





Podcasts about Site Inspection

104 Site Inspection for Bats- Brent Saxton, Mike McMillan, Al LaFrance, Bob Evans, Maynard Stanley , Robb Russell and Mike Flick get together to talk about and share their bat control experiences This Is Part One in a five part series.Called Bat Control 101-105 and part one is how seven guys do site inspections . Like the series download the rest

1] Identifying the problem by inspection.
2] How To Address the Customers Concerns

http://www.blubrry.com/wildlifecontrol/324565/bat-control-101/

104B Site Inspection – Electrical Safety & Bats, Birds, Bees

Site Inspection. This podcast is full of safety tips through out most of the two hours. Firemen “Childers & Sims ” , and Fred Dudash Licensed GA State Electrician who was an WCO from Long Island. David McLeod also played a big part of this podcast.

http://trapperrobb.com/nuisance-wildlife...ats-birds-bees/


If you really get serious about the profession. I am sure we can round up some willing Veterans & non-veterans on here when you are back stateside to mentor you in person. Indiana has a great association , great people in your state reach out to them.

Even though you are in Kuwait you can still visually inspect the structures around you. What kind of wildlife do you have in Kuwait? I am not asking you to play NWCO just become a little more aware of your surroundings.

Good one, Rick. I'm very familiar with that "denied access" feeling.

I do not provide a detailed sheet for clients if it is not exclusion based. However for all exclusion/cleanup/mitigation, they get a multi-page document (always pdf emailed to them) that details what I saw on their property. It includes however many pages of thumbnail photos (a bit larger than thumbnail, but large enough to communicate the story), description on each photo page that tells what is in each photo (just because its obvious to me doesn't mean its obvious to the client).

Later in the document it tells them about the primary issues, the solution we are offering, and our warranties, disclaimers and costs for the project.

Now, a disclaimer for this topic. If I had a phone ringing off the hook everyday and I was running here and there all day long every day chasing critters, checking traps and doing exclusion, I'd likely not be doing things the way I do. However I take the jobs I want, make sure I've got time to put the dedicated effort in to get those jobs and make them happy, and I don't worry about how busy I am.

My model is not everyones model and thus me saying how much time and effort I spend on my inspection/proposal form, is likely not going to work for most.

Justin, if you ever decide to trade the southwest for the Midwest, let me know. If we had just one guy like you that wasn't chasing his tail every day, we would love it. ( I, of course, fit that description, but then you have to refer back to that "access denied" post.