What does it mean to be a Home Inspector?
By John Bouldin - Kaplan Inspection Report, May/June 2006

• Home Inspecting is a mission.
• Home Inspecting is an opportunity to serve.
• Home Inspecting is a passion for excellence, and a genuine interest in people and homes.
• Home Inspecting is that great feeling you get when you alone of all the people in the room actually see, feel and hear what the house is telling you about itself.
• Home Inspecting is managing client expectations so they will know ahead of time what they are hiring you to do.
• Home Inspecting is to under promise, and over deliver.
• Home Inspecting is to know your limits, and not have to apologize for not exceeding them.
• Home Inspecting gives you the ability to say “I don’t know” in such a way as to build client confidence, rather than weaken it.
• Home Inspecting is that moment in time when all parties to a transaction are looking at you and listening to what you have to say because of their absolute faith in your professionalism.
• Home Inspecting is the fine art of practicing your craft without so much as approaching the appearance of a conflict of interest.
• Home Inspecting is the ability to select your own agents and clients based on how closely their values and ethics meet your expectations, rather than being controlled by other’s ethics.
• Home Inspecting means driving and working long hours in uncomfortable environments for people who may not even recognize your sacrifice.
• Home Inspecting gives you the power of applied reason and intuition to understand the interplay between houses, their sub systems, their environments, and their occupants.
• Home Inspecting means to wake up every day and re-commit to your professional and ethical standards, and work hard to improve your skills.
• Home Inspecting means understanding that no matter how many inspections you have done, you haven’t seen it all – not by a long shot.
• Home Inspecting means giving back to the industry that has helped you.
• Home Inspecting means helping people who cannot possibly repay you.
• Home Inspecting is a higher calling than simple commerce or financial gain.  We never know how many injuries, calamities and financial disasters that simply fail to occur because of our efforts.
• Home Inspecting is pushing through the barriers of self limitations, and to never even recognize the limits others try to put on you.
• Home Inspecting sometimes means being falsely accused of negligence, and being held responsible for outcomes completely outside of your control.
• Home Inspecting means that once an inspection has begun, there is no longer any thought about whether the fee you charged is enough to put up with the unexpected situations you must deal with.
• Home Inspecting means loving what you do, doing what you love, with the complete confidence that the marketplace will eventually reward your passionate dedication beyond your expectations.
• Home Inspecting is the easiest job to fail in, and the hardest job to succeed in if your heart is not in the right place.
• Home Inspecting means your integrity shows through everything you do, and that you become the kind of person everyone you meet will be glad to say they know you.
• Home Inspecting means being satisfied with having improved your small corner of the world that day for your clients.
• Home Inspecting means that you are often the one person a client totally trusts during an entire real estate transaction.
• Home Inspecting means to be a selfless source of information to your clients, and to those who are not, but who may one day be your clients.
• Home Inspecting is a talent that cannot be bought, a dedication that cannot be undermined, integrity that cannot be stolen away, a passion for your work and a compassion for your client that cannot be taught.
• Home Inspecting is a way to change the world.