People aren’t magically “worse” overnight, but the stress level in public life is undeniably higher, and home inspections sit right in the blast zone. We kick back for another Drinking With Jay conversation and get blunt about what we’re seeing: ruder behavior, shorter fuses, and more conflict showing up at the exact moment buyers are already maxed out emotionally and financially. We dig into the why, using real-world inspection stories alongside anxiety and incivility trends that poin...

Your phone rings while you’re in an attic, your inbox is full of scheduling questions, and you still need to train new inspectors without burning your week. That’s where AI can actually help, but only if you use it for systems, not shortcuts. We sit down with Beau Brown from C and H Inspections in Salt Lake City to get specific about higher-level AI for home inspectors. We dig into what it takes to build an AI receptionist that can answer real questions like pricing, services, and availabili...

Clients don’t judge your inspection against your standards of practice. They judge it against the story in their head and that story is often wrong. We talk through one of the most overlooked skills in home inspection: managing expectations so your solid work actually lands as “great service” instead of confusion, frustration, and follow-up arguments. We dig into two common flashpoints that drive complaints. First, the code compliance assumption: buyers, agents, and even contractors may expe...

Most inspectors think liability is solved by one thing: being right. But lawsuits don’t run on righteousness, they run on economics. If it’s cheap to chase you, even a shaky complaint can snowball. If it’s expensive to fight through your process, most unmeritorious claims die early because the math stops working. We walk through the “layers” approach to home inspector risk management: building practical friction into your inspection agreement, your report language, and your day-to-day workfl...

A single software change can ripple through an entire industry, and that’s exactly why we open with the Spectora Fixel blowup. When an ad appears before a client can download an inspection report, the immediate question isn’t “is it optional?” It’s “who owns the client relationship?” We talk through why inspectors reacted so strongly, how conflict-of-interest fears spread fast, and why platform trust is hard to rebuild once the “snake bite” moment happens. From there we shift into our Q2 202...

Growing a home inspection company is supposed to feel like progress, but sometimes it feels like you are sprinting just to stay upright. We sit down again with Mike Ortiz, one of our favorite returning guests, to unpack the real “growing pains” behind scaling from a solo inspector to a seven-inspector, multi-county operation in California. The wins are real: more services, stronger reviews, better tools, and bigger opportunities like solar inspections. The pressure is real too: payroll every ...

Someone is going to get emotional during a home inspection. It might be a client who is stressed, an agent who is defensive, a contractor who disagrees, or a family member who wants to argue about a minor detail. When that moment hits, raw logic is not always the best tool. Control is. We start a Quick Tips mini-series with a simple, practical conflict resolution technique: deliberate breathing before you answer. I walk through the exact pattern I use and why it works in the real world, not ...

Commercial inspections aren’t a bigger version of home inspections—they’re a different ocean. We sit down with Lance Kaufman of Focus Building Inspections to unpack what separates a true commercial practice from an ancillary add-on, and why the winners think like advisors, not technicians. From decoding ASTM requests to shaping proposals around lender and owner needs, Lance lays out a practical path for scoping, pricing, and delivering work that holds up in real transactions. We dig into the...

Looking for the “one big thing” that fills your calendar? We make the case that there isn’t one—and that’s good news. Real growth for home inspectors comes from a thousand small moments: the first second someone sees your face online, the way you answer the phone, a crisp driveway speech, a clean pair of boots, and a follow-up text that arrives before anyone needs to ask. We break down how first impressions form in a blink and why trust lands before your qualifications do. Then we map a simp...

Feeling the grind without the gains? We sat down with Mark from Inspector Empire Builder to unpack why so many home inspection pros hit invisible ceilings—and how to break through them with identity, focus, and smarter systems. We challenge the idea that “experience is the best teacher” and offer a more durable path: growth by insight. By getting crystal clear on four anchors—who you are, what you’re doing, how you’ll do it, and who you serve—you can make braver choices, like raising prices, ...