When you hear the following sentence beginning, what ending comes to mind?

My home inspectors MOST important skill is…

…experience.

…knowledge.

…ability to be on time and produce quick accurate reports.

…thoroughness.

While all these are important, and I do have all these, the most important thing is:

Effective communication.

Sure it is important that I can identify features and defects. Yes its important that I arrive on time and get the report out quickly. Being knowledgeable and experienced is also great. But without the ability to effectively communicate with my client, real estate agents, sellers, etc… that other stuff is useless.

If I identified a defect but was not able to effectively explain why a feature is good, bad, defective, etc…what good is it? Not so useful.

If I go overboard and add drama to every defect, all I do is terrify the buyer, when in reality nearly everything is fixable. This makes everything sound earth-shattering leaving no distinction between an item that really is a big deal and smaller, run-of the mill items, that are in nearly every home. Conversely, if I go monotone on the whole thing the buyer has no real way to know whats more or less important.

The key is to effectively describe and identify defects in the home. Peace of mind only comes from accurate information. Accurate information is only useful if correctly communicated to all parties involved. While I consider myself to be a great inspector who is technically capable, thorough, timely, and professional; My ability to communicate verbally and through mywritten reports may be the most important skill I have.

Mike Auger, CMI

RI Home Inspector

401-578-4878