House Review - Site Visit without report?

[Ben29]

Would you do a cursory review of a house without providing a report? I was contacted by a man who just wants a SE to walk a house with him that he is interested in purchasing. He doesn't want to pay for a report. Quite frankly I don't want to do a report because they are so time consuming. But I am interested in walking the house to point out structural issues that I see.

It all comes down to liability, I know. So if you feel a report is absolutely required, how can you write a report in such a way that it takes less than an hour and also has CYA verbiage built in?

 

[ANE91]

It is hard for me to believe any judge would side with the customer on this. It is a he said - she said situation. Especially since the customer chose not to get a written report.

It very much depends on the state, whether a jury is involved, etc.

 

[ANE91]

Excellent point, (even better, cursory review) it is funny how simple words can get you in trouble with a crafty lawyer. One of the biggest problems with defending your methodology and reporting skills in a deposition is when you get questions you weren't expecting and start your response with "Well, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh".

I see here you say it was "most likely not an issue", so you admit there was a reasonable chance it was an issue. Well, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

They have degrees in arguing. It’s their job to find something with which to critique you. You’re winning if they’re attacking your credentials, because it means that they found nothing else worth digging into.

 

[jerseyshore]

We do site visits only from time to time for people who don't want a formal letter. Sometimes we'll do short emails.

Single family residential is high liability no matter what we do. There's a reason why insurance costs are so damn high even for small outfits. Performing a site visit and not writing a letter barely changes that IMO. Most times I will still take photos so that I can go back and say "these are the things I looked at".

Only once did I have someone come back and say "I'm selling my house, remember 2 years ago when you said my 30 ft tall 4-tier railroad tie retaining wall is fine, can you write a report?". Yeah no.