Creating a Better Customer Experience

The difference between a successful home inspection business and an extraordinary one often comes down to something that can't be captured on a checklist: the customer experience you create. Mike Ortiz of Homefront Inspections returns to share the hard-earned wisdom that has transformed his business from agent-dependent to client-driven through the power of exceptional service.

"They want to feel taken care of, they want to feel warm and fuzzy, they want to understand things, they want to feel like you care about them," Mike explains, cutting through the misconception that technical expertise alone builds a thriving inspection business. Through revealing personal anecdotes and practical strategies, Mike demonstrates how customer experience begins before the first phone call and continues long after the report is delivered.

We explore the art of setting professional boundaries without compromising service quality, handling difficult post-inspection situations, and creating follow-up systems that transform one-time clients into lifelong advocates. Mike's approach to customer interactions has evolved through "389 mistakes" that have shaped his current success, offering listeners a roadmap to avoid similar pitfalls.

Particularly valuable is Mike's guidance on navigating challenging scenarios—from anxious buyers and defensive sellers to post-inspection complaints that arise months later. His techniques for de-escalating tense situations while maintaining professional standards provide a masterclass in communication under pressure.

Whether you're a solo inspector looking to build initial reputation or managing a multi-inspector firm seeking consistent quality, this episode delivers actionable insights that will elevate your business beyond basic technical competence to creating meaningful client connections that drive sustainable growth. Subscribe now and transform how you approach every client interaction!

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*The views and opinions expressed in this podcast, and the guests on it, do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Inspector Toolbelt and its associates.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction with Mike Ortiz
• 1:36 The Impact of Good vs Bad Customer Service
• 5:30 Setting Boundaries While Maintaining Service Quality
• 9:13 From First Phone Call to Confirming Appointments
• 18:22 Building Trust During the Inspection
• 27:06 Managing Client and Agent Dynamics
• 30:44 Addressing Client Questions and Concerns
• 37:39 Handling Post-Inspection Complaints Effectively
• 44:14 Follow-up Strategies After the Inspection
• 46:32 Final Thoughts on New Construction Expectations

Transcript

Ian Robertson  
Mike Ortiz from HomeFront is back on the show. How are you, Mike?

Mike Ortiz  
Good man, how are you doing? 

Ian Robertson  
Not bad. You were just telling me how busy you are. Congratulations. It seems like you get just busier and busier all the time, and that's just a testament to your hard work. So, great job.

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, we just brought on, I'm training two new inspectors now, so you know, it's just a lot of work, and I may seem burnt out in the way I sound, it's because I'm just a little bit tired. That's about it.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, the whole onboarding situation with a new inspector is always the most time intensive.

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, I think it is. And it comes down to, um, getting to know them really. Honestly, the actual ride alongs, and the training, all that's easy. It's the getting to know their personality part, which is so much more important. You would think that everything else is but everything else is easy. Anybody can learn it. It's just, if you do it the way I need you to do it, that's the only thing that matters.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, well, that's good. And you know, your success in the industry is based on a lot of skills that you have honed over the years. And today, you're willing to share more with us. And today we're going to talk about, this is a thing that you brought up to us, creating a better customer experience. 

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, that's a big one. 

Ian Robertson  
It is a big one, right? You know, when you brought it up, actually, earlier today, I was even thinking about it. I'm like, I had a really bad experience with a company recently, but in my head, I'm just like, man, that company was awesome because I had good customer service, bad product, good customer service. And it was funny how it just got completely turned around in my mind to a good experience. And then obviously, we've all probably had the reverse of that, decent product, good meal, great tires on our car, whatever the service is. But then if it's garbage customer service, or even just not great customer service, leaves a bad taste in our mouth.

Mike Ortiz  
I just recently actually had an issue. We had a custom kitchen island built at our house. And you know, the guy was quick to take the money, you know, and it ended up being where, you know, and I understand contractors wanting to make sure they get paid and all that, but a lot was left unfinished, right, and to me, I'm not picky. I hate being nit picky, just stuff that shouldn't have been missed. But I wasn't being, you know, in any way difficult. I was just saying, hey, can we just get this done? And the quality of workmanship was not what I expected. So instead of becoming an issue and saying my experience was really bad, you know, so I just said, you know what, I'll just deal with it. I'll fix it myself. I'll figure it out. Thank you. Here's your freaking $12,000 and just, please, just go, get out of my house. And, you know, my thoughts and I don't know if they think this at all, but now I'm not going to refer that company. I'm never going to use them again. You know, the amount of money, yeah, they got that, you know, 10-$12,000 really fast. But the amount of money they just lost by not dealing with me on a professional level, they won't know, because, you know, my connections in the area, in the neighborhoods, and everything, the networking I've done, it would have opened up a lot for them, unfortunately. And I hate that, you know, and then I always think like that myself, like, hey, treat every customer that same way, and we deal with nightmare customers all the time.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, and that's a good point. We never know the business that we lose. There's a lot of us walking around saying, I give customer service, I write a report. They get it same day. That's not creating an experience for them. And I heard one guy say, he goes, I'm not here to create an experience, I'm here to inspect the house. I'm like, yeah, but that's not what they're expecting. They want to feel taken care of. They want to feel warm and fuzzy. They want to understand things. They want to feel like you care about them. And that happens through a lot of micro-interactions. And you know, we're walking around like, oh, I don't have any work. I'm the best inspector in the world. Hey listen, if you sell the best car in the world, but you're not enjoyable to be around for customers, your customer experience, people aren't going to go to your dealership.

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, and I think a big thing, there's a couple of layers to it, too, when you and again, I want to preface this by saying that I am where I am because of a ton of mistakes that I've made. So whenever I speak about how we're doing now, just know that it's because of 389 you know, mistakes that I've already made. So when I speak about my success or the success of our company, I don't intend it to be in a bragging way. It's because I know how much we've done to get to where we are, so in regards to where we are now and the experiences we've had with our customers. So the people that we interact with the most are the customer, so the sellers, the buyers and the real estate agents, right? And so those are the three main ones that we interact with. As you go, even as a solo inspector, as you gain a reputation, like we have in our area, then you have more control over how you can react with people, you know, because everybody's used to the tire kickers checking the price and calling and saying, can you beat this price? Can you do that? And now we're in a comfortable position to say, not no, but to kind of back up our pricing, and also the biggest accomplishment that I've made in the past, I would say, six to seven months, is now I don't feel beholden to the real estate referral, because we have grown in such a tremendous way locally on Yelp and Google and just SEO and reputation and word of mouth, especially, we have a lot of new construction where we are in Southern California. On top of that, we no longer, you know, I have agents that, you know, hey Mike, make this happen for me. You know, all those things where I didn't set clear boundaries in the past, which are really hard to create those boundaries where you don't want someone to push you around a bit, but you have to kind of take some of that in the beginning while you're trying to get work. Now it's like, you know what? No, I can't, I can't do that. I'm so sorry. I was like, I wish I could. I know I used to be able to do that and fit that in, and do this for you and that for you. But unfortunately, this is the fee, or this is the service, and this is why, and I hope that you respect that. And, you know, it turns off some agents, and at the end of the day, we get more people. We get,80% of our phone calls are now direct to consumer which is why that's such an important thing. I know there was a separate podcast we did about direct to consumer marketing, and it's because if you focus everything, all your eggs in one basket on agent referrals, while that's a great revenue source, like you said before, it's low hanging fruit, right? The hard one to get to is that local reputation.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, and I do want to make sure that, because you said something very important there about setting boundaries. We've had lots of podcasts about setting boundaries. Good customer service and setting boundaries are not two separate things. We can have great customer service while setting boundaries. I'll give an experience. One time I went to a restaurant, and it was a Denny's and bad customer experience. I mean, it's Denny's. Nobody's expecting a whole lot. But, you know, I walk behind the counter, like a half a step. I'm like, oh, hey, I meant to give you this. It was her tip or something. The lady just started freaking out, you can't be back here. Literally, half my foot's over the line. I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. And she starts saying, step back, sir, step back. And it's like, okay, you set a boundary, but that wasn't really a good way to go about it. We can still have good customer service and set a boundary. I'll save you the other story, that kind of does it, but Mike, starting from the beginning while keeping boundaries, what are some ways that you have found, through your mistakes and triumphs, to have a good customer experience at any point in our interaction with our clients.

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, and anyone listening, I understand that if your main goal for this podcast is because you want to figure out a better way to make more money, get more inspections and all that, stay into the podcast, because I know how the thought process works, like, okay, this episode is not going to make me any money. I don't really care about customer service. It's very key to making more and to making good quality money, and especially after the inspection, because if you're going to start ramping up and you're going to get clients coming to you, you have no idea how much good customer service and a good experience will kind of help, not help, but it'll drive people to want to refer you to, want to brag about having used you, and things like that. So right now, listening to this won't get you that next inspection. What it will do is that when you get that next inspection, it'll create more value in that inspection for you and your clients. So that's the key, is starting off thinking that way. So I know a lot of us get tired, mentally and physically tired of inspecting and just the long drawn out process of doing it properly. Because if you're doing it right, you should be tired mentally. If you're just taking a bunch of pictures and leaving and then figuring out at home, then yeah, it's the wrong way of doing it. So the way it starts is from the beginning, especially if you're doing like advertising or on Google or all that, people are going to call and they only want to know two things, are you a home inspection company? How much do you charge? And I love how they ask, and they just don't say, like, it could be any size house, doesn't matter, how much do you charge? You know, it's like, okay, well, hi, you know, I just need to know the square footage of the house and any kind of ADUs or pools or extra services you might want, because for the standard inspection, it's going to be 400, 500, 600 bucks, and then everything else after. And the way you explain it is, you're gonna have two types of people you run into, it's like, oh, okay, yeah, of course. When can we get you? When can we schedule you? And you try to make it very, you know, especially because I started off small by myself. It's all about that personal. You know what I do? I always tell them all the information, and then this kind of helps me, nowadays, people are okay with this, and I know this because I do it every day. Is it all right with you if I text you at your number all this information as well? Because some of them want to get off the phone and say, you know what, I'm gonna talk to my wife, or I'm gonna go ask my realtor if this day works, because a lot of them are unprepared when they call you. They just want to know the price. So instead of losing that call. It's like, hey, reach back out to me. What you're doing is you're gonna go ahead and create a separate line of communication where a lot of people like us are used to, I mean, me and you texted before this meeting, right? And everybody else in the world pretty much text each other when they need to get something important off they don't want to call for. We're running into that generation that is used to texting. So I say, hey, here's a reminder. Hey, this is Mike, great speaking with you from HomeFront. We quoted you this much. That way I remember the price I quoted, because it's always changing here and there depending on the season and all that. And you know, we have availability this day and that day, give them three spots and then say, let me know when you're ready to schedule. All I need is the buyer's name, email, the address of the home, and then we're good to go. And then we can collect other information we need later. And what that does is they'll see that text message. They might call other people to price check, but at least you're communicating with them. They don't have to scrounge for your number and try to call you back, you know, and see, oh, man, I forgot which one I called, who it was, they'll have a text from you. And most inspectors that are out in the field, they're gonna be like, oh, they'll call back, and they'll just hang up and go back to their inspection, what they were doing, because most of us are answering our phones. I unfortunately am still answering the bulk of our phone calls, which sucks so much. But it's, one of those things that I just have not figured out a good way to delegate. And again, I'm still failing even as I'm succeeding now. I'm failing at delegating a lot of things right now, and I have to work on that. But yeah, the beginning starts off with a very personal good intro. Don't try to be smart, don't try to be the most knowledgeable person. You're just trying to be friendly because they're out of their element. So treat them that way.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, I like how you put that, that they're out of their element. Basically, when people are buying a house, they send them out into the wild to find treasure, but didn't give them a map, and they've never been in the wild before.

Ian Robertson  
So people lean on 90% of the time, okay, I'm gonna default to how much do you charge, and I'll start from there. Even educated buyers are like, let me start from there. Although buyers are getting a little bit more savvy over the years. I do like the follow up, and I have mentioned that to other home inspectors before. We become very reactionary when we have a lead. So most of our marketing and everything is going to be no click marketing. You know, top of mind marketing, making sure that we have a good reputation, etc. Then when we finally have a physical, actual lead, we're like, oh, good. They called. Let's see where it ends up. It's like, no. I mean, not aggressively. Like, you should never send a text and say, hey, you only have three days. I can only hold that price, you know, schedule's filling up like crazy. I can't fit you in. Just send a nice, polite text message. And when my dentist does that, even after if I get a filling or have an appointment, and do I know that it's some secretary or somebody sitting behind a desk that's even automating it, maybe, but it made me feel warm inside, I'm like, oh, that's nice. They checked on me. You know, people want to feel cared for more and more, that's what most people say. I want to feel cared for, and from the beginning, that works. So after you send that, how do you continue the good customer experience.

Mike Ortiz  
Exactly. 

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah. So after that point, then they're gonna, they might have more questions. I think the one I get the most is like, what do you guys cover? What do you do? And I'm just so used to hearing that. So I'm like, roof, walls, floor, ceilings, windows, plumbing, electrical, until I just say all the things so that they don't have a question at the end. They're like, oh okay, do you guys do thermal imaging? Do you, can you? And then there's people that, you know, and here's the thing, this is where patience comes in key. I had a conversation with someone. It was a 40 minute conversation to get a condo inspection, but it was an 89 year old client who just had to tell me the entire story of why they're getting this condo. So in my mind, I said, I have to do this inspection, because if I send one of my guys, I already lost money, because I've already used up 40 minutes of my time with this client. I might as well be the one that shows up. And it just comes down to, for now, while you're starting out, you know, that personal experience, that experience where you remember their details and things like that. So when you schedule, a big part of it is the CRM software that you use, right? Like you said, checking in, you want to make sure you put that inspection on the board quickly. Because what we ran into in the past was, I would get 15 leads, not leads, but I would get 15 inspections that we have to book for next week, and I haven't put any on the board yet, because I have to move things around, see who's going to go where, figure out, you know, because I pay mileage, I have to make sure everybody goes somewhere close to home and things like that. But if you wait too long to put people's inspections on the board, they might not, they won't see a confirmation email right away. Usually, people are used to getting a confirmation right after they schedule, like a dentist or doctor, whatever. But if you're out in field inspecting, you don't have time to open up your phone, schedule the inspection really quick, by the time the end of the day comes and you send that confirmation, they're like, oh, we went with someone else. So you have to be very, you know, concise and quick with getting it on the board, and then that's when those reminders start going out to them, and that's when you can also, any questions like with your inspection agreements. You know, you want to make sure that they read everything and they understand all their questions. You don't want to wait till the night before to put the inspection on the board, and they call you at 10pm like, hey, I forgot to let you know that I didn't want this inspection anymore, and you already told someone else that you couldn't do in the morning because you scheduled something already, and it just messes up your schedule. So clear communication is key, making it personalized. Whatever CRM software you're using that sends automated text and emails. You go in and edit it, and you go in and say, hey, this is so and so with you know, HomeFront Inspections, we're just letting you know that we're excited to see you. Make sure that you know, if you can, let the seller know that we just need access to as many places as we can. Here are some things that people don't typically think about. You know, we would like to have you at the inspection, if possible, so we can explain summary findings to you. The inspector usually gets there 15, 20, minutes early to start on the exterior, things like that. And that way people already expect something out of you. I tell my guys to get their 30 minutes early, just so they can get set up. Look up the house. They should look up the house the day before, but if they can't, look at the house on Zillow, whatever, if anything pops up like, oh, there was a pool that we didn't spot when we first scheduled it, you bring that up in the beginning. Hey, by the way, I see you have a pool. We offer pool inspections. But basically just comes down to keeping that, now, keeping that attitude, what it does is it makes it more difficult for them to question you, to not trust you, to you know, and it's easier when dealing with customers, when they feel like you're on their side. That becomes difficult when the agent refers you, because then it looks like it's you and the agent on the same team. So just keep that in mind, how it might look to, how a customer might perceive it, if you and the agent are on great terms, and you see each other and they feel like the outsider at their own inspection, that is detrimental to your business as far as word of mouth goes. Yeah, you might be great with that agent, but agents are a dime a dozen, and they move, they quit, you know, their jobs. Imagine trying to sell houses for a living, there's only a few that do actually well for extended periods of time, they end up transitioning to other careers. So, you know, it's not something you can always depend on. That's the whole eggs in a basket thing. So keep that in mind when you're at the inspection and you know everybody, you're Mr. Popular, but your client, who this is their first time doing it, is going to feel like an outsider when you work for them. You know, they're paying you for your time to work for them. Try to keep that humility as well.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, and that comes back to micro-interactions. Most of our customer service is going to be smaller interactions compiled together to make one good experience. Interesting, there was a psychology video that I was watching, and I kind of do it on, as like a hobby, I read psychology, but this one happened to be a video. And they talked about people's level of trust in a parasocial relationship. So in other words, people you don't know. Why do you trust them? And it showed this one actor, and he made sure that whenever he walked into a room, he said hello, and looked everybody in the eyes, and not in a weird way, but gave everybody individualized attention, and never made anybody feel excluded. So he would win over entire rooms of people in just 10, 15 seconds, it wasn't a big deal. Make sure that we give people personalized attention to let them know, hey, you matter to me. But I think I have a question for you on that note. You mentioned at the end of an inspection you should be exhausted, and you mentioned making sure everybody feels included, particularly your client, and then reaching out to them, answering questions, 40 minute phone call with that client, with the condo. That comes down to making connections it sounds like. And is that why it's so exhausting, too?

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah. You know, I always tell the agents that I know, that I've known for a long time I say I don't know how you guys do, I don't know how you smile all the time. I would be dead tired of always being positive. And you know, the job is a little difficult in the ways that you have to be just positive and happy and somewhat easily approachable all the time. As an inspector, a lot of people got it,especially in these Facebook groups and forums, you get it into your head that, you know what, I am the best inspector in my area. So then that cockiness comes in, right, where it's like, I don't need agents. I don't need customers. Like, if they want me, they'll come get me, and they'll work on my time, my dime, as if people aren't paying you for your time, you know what I mean. So that kind of attitude, that's great if you want to do five to eight inspections a week, and you'll make great money, and you honestly will probably be fine for the rest of your life. So this is catered more towards growth, and even helps with personal growth, both at home and in your personal life as well is that having these positive, micro-interactions with people help in a lot more ways than one. So when you're asking, why are we so spent? It's not mentally, it's not just because of the inspection, but it should be because you're doing everything within your power to put yourself in the shoes of the client. So even though you just finished a full three hour inspection, they're going to want to talk to you at the end. And automatically, my mind used to go to, you know what? I just want to get in my truck and go because I'm done. I am exhausted. But you take a breath, you prepare. You get your phone out. You say, okay, let me look at the summary. Let me see what we have. And then you, with your best effort, provide that, you know, hey guys, you guys ready to talk about the house, and we have a couple things that we need to discuss and recommendations that I'm going to make. A lot of it will be in the report, but I just want to go over the most important things, and then you cater to their concerns. My biggest thing that I train my guys to do is ask as many questions as you feel like they're asking. So even though I'm finishing a long paragraph about what's going on with the HVAC system, I still say, did you have any other concerns about it, or any questions? And it kind of forces them to really dig in, because the last thing you want is, yeah, if you can get out of that inspection quickly and go, that's great for you temporarily, but then you're gonna have a client that didn't feel like they had all their concerns addressed, and they're gonna reach out to you later. And then you're gonna have to dig through inspections and figure out which one they're talking about, or what they're looking at, and then you're not even at the house, and you can't remember, and they're like, what do you mean by this and that? Should I be concerned about this? And what it does is it creates more of a mental load for you later, and more work later, and if it's slightly annoys you, that can sometimes be perceived unknowingly, and the client can see that. And if you go out of your way in that one shot while you're at the inspection, if you just give it your all till the end, not only will they remember that, they'll feel satisfied, they'll feel like they got their money's worth, but that'll stay with them. A big thing too that's never mentioned is that it doesn't always help to be cold and unappealing to the seller just because they're there some of the time. A lot of our inspections have been from sellers asking for our info because of the way we carry ourselves and our professionalism. They know that we're there to point everything out wrong, but I try to train my guys, like show them, hey, these are not ridiculous things we're pointing out. These are important things. And I understand the negotiation process, but should you be looking for a home? We can definitely help you out too. And people call us and say, you know, you did an inspection on my house, and I had to pay out the butt, you know, to fix these things. But I want you on my side now. I want to use that, you know, because I saw that you've looked everywhere. You were inside, outside, all over the roof, in the attic, and it's everybody in the room, and then the agent now, again, that I'm in the position that I'm in now, is not as important. They are there to help facilitate the inspection for their client, but that's pretty much it, in no way..and then they're there for the RRs, to do the request for repairs. It's great to keep a good relationship with them, but it should never look like you're the agent's inspector.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, and that's fantastic information, and I like the part you brought up about the sellers too, because now we've moved from before the inspection with customer service to now we're in the weeds of it. I mean, there's always going to be a level of angst in the room with the buyer's inspector and the seller, but that is where real skill comes in, of being able to present the same crazy information, that's an upside down defect, your house is going to explode. Give them that same information, but in a way that everybody can handle it.

Mike Ortiz  
Exactly. 

Ian Robertson  
So if you're in there, like this is garbage. I would never let my family live here and this and that, or even that's in the back of our head, you mentioned that, that's going to be perceived in how we carry ourselves and how we think. Now if we step back and say, okay, guys, like I've done this with sellers. I've had good interactions with sellers and bad, I've had some where it's just like, oh man, this guy wants to fight. And I've had other times where I'm like, okay, let's step back and look at this objectively. Is this doing what it's supposed to? Well, no. I'm like, okay, can you understand where I'mcoming from? Because I want to help you, and this will make it nice and clear, and everybody will be on the same page. They're not happy, but we made a human connection, and everybody's a little bit happier or a little less upset about the defect that we found. It's good bedside manner. A good doctor can tell you you have a terminal illness, and you take it the best way possible. Maybe not happy about it, obviously, but you take it the best way possible, whereas you have kind of a jerk of a doctor that just swings in and says, you're gonna die, and then off he goes, you know.


Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, exactly. And I think that the biggest thing too, in that thought process, while you're now, if you're just starting out as an inspector, right, or if it's a new trainee, or you're starting out with a company, to err is human. When we're in these inspections in the beginning, and the seller's there, and you're like, you know what? I couldn't get the furnace to turn on. It looks like the thermostat's not responding. And then the seller walks over and he's like, you got to press this, this, this, and it's on, and you're in front of your clients That's a key moment for you not to get flustered, but for you to explain yourself and maybe learn something too. And you're like, okay. I was like, oh, okay, great. I'm glad that you're here to show me and my clients that. I haven't run into this thermostat yet in this area. Or, you know, that is typically too many steps maybe to get it to where it needs to run properly. You know, it might be great to have that instruction manual or having that discussion with the buyer. Don't make it about you not doing your job right, but make it about, hey, we're all kind of trying to help each other out. That way, the seller sees that you're making an effort. And you're going to run into situations where there's always an explanation for everything. You know, you're going to say, this garage door is not closing on its own, coming into the house. And so it's like, oh, well, I adjusted the pens and all that. You know, I can change that. And, I mean, you're like, that's great. That's amazing. It's gonna go in the reports, because I see it now. But if that's gonna happen, you know, communicate with the buyers, and that should be no concern. And then, you know, it really just comes down to, people are gonna come back to you and they're gonna push back, and you're gonna run into situations where you think you're done almost, and then the buyer is like, oh, did you see the crack over here? And to you, it's like, it's not really that you missed something giant or huge, and sometimes, in rare instances, you might have missed something that was overlooked, right? We're all human again. And you're like, oh yeah, there's a crack on the corner of that drywall, instead of going and say, that's nothing, you know, don't worry about it, because you want to cover yourself, right? What you do is you acknowledge their concerns and you explain to them what's going on. So instead of saying, oh no, I didn't get that, you say, you know what? So this is what's going on with that area here. You have a crack on the drywall. It appears just to be localized in this area, I checked out the foundation in this area. Just be confident in your own inspection. And you're not going to catch, you know, 1 million things. There's going to be times where you're going to, you know, but as long as your narratives and your disclaimers are in place, then you should be covered, you know. And that's why it's so important to do the ride alongs and the shadowing, not just because you're learning the inspection process, but you're also learning how your mentor or your trainer is interacting with the clients. Because there's a lot of clients that have a lot of questions that might fluster you, and instead of just being deafly quiet about it, prepare for that. Prepare for that situation where you're like, well, they had a previous fire. And you were in the attic and I didn't see anything, then have confidence, if you actually didn't see anything, then something might have been fixed or changed or insurance paid out. Then be confident in that. Unless you want to go back and check and double check and verify, you're going to run into that a lot. So keeping that confidence is part of that relationship, the confidence in yourself and in your inspection process, because the minute you start getting flustered, they doubt the whole report, they doubt how you work. They'll say, you know, what else was missed, you know, like that. So just keep that in mind as well.



Ian Robertson  
Yeah, and that's exactly it, how we handle problems, because problems are going to come along. And I think about a problem I had with a contractor. He goes, oh yeah, that would be a problem. He empathized with me. And I go, yeah. He goes, okay, let me come over and take a look. And he looks at it, and he did exactly that. He explained it. And I'm just like, yeah. And he goes, okay, we can fix this for you right now. And you know what I'm going to do is I'm going to check around and just make sure this didn't happen anywhere else. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, stuff happens. The most that he could do is just come back and make it right. And I'm like, oh, okay, so I wasn't upset. Matter of fact, I've used him for many years now, because I'm like, I'd rather have that than the guy who is just like, no, my work's perfect and won't show up. Yeah. So now that's during, during the entire process. How do you handle things with customer service afterwards? And I think that is where things really get slippery. And what we worry about as home inspectors the most. The phone call six weeks later, right after you know that they've moved in.

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah. So I've stopped worrying about that phone call, just because if you focus a lot on how your report software and your narratives are, which we really focus a lot on that, then that worry tends to go away. And actually I feel like I overly, I overtrain my guys so I don't have that worry. When I get those phone calls, I know that when I open up that report, my guys are covered because of the words we use and because of the way that we take 500 photos on a small house, and not all of them make it to the report, but I have access to all of them, and I'm like, yeah, of course he didn't see the rat droppings in there because his closet was packed to the brim, and the droppings are in the back corner of it, and we put in the report, hey, the house is full of personal items. The inspection is limited, and I explain that to people. Now, instead of explaining it, and I have a prime example, I'll try to shorten this as much as possible. I got a call about a month ago from an inspection that happened 18 months ago. Okay? And the phone call started off as, your inspector told me that this house was in excellent condition and I should buy it. And that's when I said, it doesn't sound like anyone I've ever trained in my life. But okay, I was like, I wasn't there. You know, I understand your concerns. Can you walk me through it? Instead of saying, oh no, you're wrong or this and that. Because I tell my guys, we never give anyone an opinion of whether or not they should buy a house, and we'll never use the words excellent, great, good. The only way we'll use the word good is if we're in passing saying, oh, this looks good, or whatever it is. But never, the house looks great, or you know, it'll be amazing, you should buy it right away. But anyways, they had me on a three way phone call. So it was a father and a son, right? And they were just letting me have it, and I was listening to them. They were, you know, and the father was being more respectful, and the son was just emotional. You can tell the generational difference. And the son was just like I would have never bought this house. And the issue was that their house is built on a slab, and they had older galvanized and cast iron drains. And we mentioned, hey, you have older galvanized cast iron drains. You should get this evaluated by a plumber prior to closing to ensure that, you know, you should get a sewer line inspection. And they said, well, the inspector didn't tell us to get a sewer line inspection. And I said, well, you know, it's right here in the notes. It's like, well, it looks like it's not an immediate, you know, safety hazard. I said, well, because at the time of the inspection, according to these notes, the water pressure was appropriate. None of the sinks or bathtubs or showers backed up during the inspection. There was no discoloration. There was no issues or gurgling, flushing, anything. Everything that we tested that day indicated that there was no leakage occurring at the time of the inspection. We can't predict future conditions but you know, at the same time, we can only work with what we see on that day for that limited amount of time. And I told them, so that they can understand where I'm coming from, I said, you were there that day, correct? And on that day, did you see any evidence of sewage backup or any leaking, because apparently the cast iron eventually broke and cracked because it was so corroded in the slab underneath the house. And I'll get to that how they asked, and it ended up being where it started leaking sewage through the tile, up through the floor. And it's such a learning experience for everybody, because it's like I said, you know, in the report, even in your agreement, when you sign the agreement saying, we have it in there, it's like, we recommend getting a sewer line inspection. If you don't, you're waiving liability by signing this document. Otherwise, just let us know and we can order one for you. And they're like, well, how am I supposed to read that? I'm like, we put it in big block letters and in red, and then he's like, we're not going to read through the full 80 page report. And again, I understand that too. I understand that 100%. I said, that's why we put our summary in the very first three pages of all the items. And I put all that, and why didn't you put it in red? I'm like, well, again, it wasn't immediately happening. We put it in as a moderate concern, in orange to let you know that, hey, we can't see everything, so you need to get a professional to evaluate it more invasively than we can. And when did the plumber come out? And he said, well, couple months ago. So it's like, so you closed on the house without doing these items, I just want to make sure that's what I'm hearing. And then it's like, I just want to know how you didn't catch this. And again, this was 18 months ago, right? And it just leaked into the slab a couple months ago. And I said, you know, I hear what you're saying. Unfortunately, my hands are tied because I'm looking at the report, and I see the recommendations, and I see that the recommendations are that the plumbing system be evaluated due to its age and its condition, even though everything was working that day, and it just became anger, anger, anger, anger. And I'll tell you, this did not resolve itself well either, just so that you know, and everyone listening knows, oh, we're, you know, we're probably going to call our lawyer, our attorney. And, you know, they're just trying to get us to roll over, right? And so I've learned over the years, because I've had so many threats of lawsuits for random stuff, sellers, you know, whatever it is, it's going to be like, okay, great, you know what? I told him this way, and this was probably me being a little bit because we're all human. I said, you know what, my lawyer has not had to work for me in a long time. Let me know, and she would love to take your phone call. And we can definitely all get together to mitigate this if you want to. We are ready for it. Just want to let you know in your agreement you did sign, you know, the mitigation clause and, you know, attorneys fees and things like that. And then immediately they were just turned off, and I could tell that they were just trying to get something out of me. They wanted someone to pay for the damage that they didn't do their due diligence for. Now, this was 18 months ago. Since then, we've added more layers of protection. We've added a separate agreement just to cover sewage issues. And this all comes to communication before, during and after the inspection, when you get those phone calls, listen first, and then respond in a professional manner, even if they are not being professional. Because if you're quiet and you let someone who's angry be angry, they'll start to notice that they are the ones that are escalating it, that are being maybe inappropriate or inconsolable, you know, and then they'll start to, if you answer quietly and professionally, that's the best way to do it, answering back, fighting back, pushing back. All that will do is give them more fuel to want to take things further. Leave that negative review. File a claim, things like that. Sorry for the long..

Ian Robertson  
No, and that's a fantastic anecdote to illustrate what you're saying. A good customer experience happens when things get hard, not just when they're easy, because there's a lot of hard parts of our job, and we talked about that in a previous podcast. We want to bring their energy down. So if we meet them at where they're at, we're going to bring our energy up, and then things only escalate. We need to bring ours down to minus four, if they're at 100 and then that'll hopefully bring them down to a 50 or a 30. 

Mike Ortiz  
I've made that mistake in the past where I try to appease them. You're like, you know what? You freak out and you think you actually did something wrong, and you're like, let me just refund your inspection fee. I'm so sorry that you're dealing with this. Now I'm in a position where I'm like, you know what? I'm very confident in our standards. And the way to say it, instead of telling people no, it's like, unfortunately, my hands are tied when it comes to this and being able to help you in this way, I can recommend a great plumber. I can recommend what, you know, next steps are based on my knowledge. But as far as this situation goes, this is as far as I can take it. You know, in resolving it, is just having this discussion.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah, no, that's fantastic. And so real quick too, even if a customer isn't angry. How do you create a good customer experience well after the inspection, they're happy, you've driven away. You send the report later that night or on site, however you do it. How do you continue that great customer experience later on, even if they don't contact you with questions or anything?

Mike Ortiz  
So I have the automated software that sends out the emails. It checks in on them. Hey, do you have any additional questions? And the reason why it's important, it's important to have one sent the next day after you publish a report, because in that follow up, it'll also have things that'll cover you. It's like, hey, I just want to let you know, I want to make sure that you read through the whole report, so that if you have any questions or concerns, make sure they get that email from you to emphasize the importance of reading the whole report, that way they can't say later on. Nobody told me this, this, and that was happening. I'm like, well, I sent this email that said, you know, please read the whole report, just in case you haven't. And you thought maybe only the summary was the important part or something, and then follow up again, like a week later, you know, thank you so much for using us, again, even though we're your inspectors for the day, we're your consultants for life. And you know why it's such an important thing to say, I always tell people, for the length of your life, I will be your consultant on this home inspection, on this one document, I can back it up. I can explain it exactly how you need in order to understand what I'm looking at. Nobody ever calls me on it. Maybe once a year, someone will call me, like months later and asking me questions. But no one ever tests that, you know, oh yeah, in three years, I'm gonna call Mike and figure out what's going on with this report. So you offer them that because it gives them a sense of value and like, okay, yeah, we're really important, and we're getting great value by having Mike as our home consultant for extended period of time. We don't offer warranties. And I know that's a big, you know, I've always looked at as a gimmick myself, because I say, when they ask me, do you offer warranty? I'm like, well, no, we do a really great job. We're not concerned about anything. If something is wrong, we will address it, and we will remedy any situation we need to. But our reputation is our guarantee, and we don't feel the need to offer a warranty because of that reason, you know, and that's really just one of those things that gives them either a sense of, you know, of comfort and trust in you is that, hey, we know what we're doing, and if you're comfortable doing that, I suggest doing that. And then after that week, email or text. And again, texts are important. People don't, I don't read my emails unless it's like a coupon for something I like, you know what I mean. But if it's a text message, I'll see that, because I get texts all day, and I'll say, okay, 50% off at Cabela's. That's great. I'm gonna go as soon as I get a chance, you know, I mean, but if it's, hey, here's a reminder, you gotta go get a root canal Friday, it's like, oh, okay, well, you know, I'll read them still, though. And if it's about your home inspection, yeah, people are still moving. Sometimes people don't move until a month in two months in they're moving out of state or something, you know, so just keep that in mind. And then after like, three or four emails, that's pretty much it. You know what I mean, if they don't contact you after that, don't stress about it. Don't worry, you know, if the time comes, you know they're there. I've yet to implement any kind of six month year long, you know, maybe that'd be a good idea to add a six month or one year email. Some people are afraid to do that in the beginning because they're not fully confident in their inspection process. They just like, okay, I'm glad that they're, I'm gonna disable my notifications, and I'm hoping that they never reach out to me. I don't get that phone call and I don't have to communicate with them, because I'm afraid that I might have missed something or not my best job, right? So, yeah, there's that fear. Just try to get past that by doing a better job every time you can. Because, you know, any day of the week I could tell you that there's an inspection that I know, okay, I did a good job. And I said, oh, I did really great with this one, because I was like feeling like learning that day. So I went into extra detail on this four star unit. You know, there's stuff like that where we go out of scope just because of our own excitement, and then there's days we just do the bare minimum, which is fine, you know, it's okay, it's understandable, but yeah, that afterward, communication is key, and those phone calls are going to come. Just be ready for them.

Ian Robertson  
Yeah. Hey, Mike, this was great information, as always. And you know your experiences and your anecdotes, you can see how much experience you've built up, and experience is often the best teacher. So for anyone listening, listen to Mike's experiences and learn from everything that he's done here, because creating a better customer experience, like Mike said at the beginning of the podcast, it's not something where you're going to be like, oh well, giving this person a great experience created leads. Sometimes it will, but for the most part, it's gonna build our reputation and build a business over the long term that we're really not gonna regret giving that experience to our clients. But Mike, thank you so much. I know you're a busy guy, taking your time to be on the podcast. I'm always excited when you're on.

Mike Ortiz  
Yeah, thank you, and I appreciate it. And then, just as a closing note, right now, as it stands, I know that when you do those market outlooks, it's a lot of East Coast talk, right? If you're in the West Coast, in this area, a lot of new construction, get up to date with codes. People love seeing the value. I've been seeing, I mean, elephant in the room is the expectations that inspectors have now with new construction homes. You know, there are inspectors on social media that make it seem like we're gonna go and like, you know, test every nook and cranny, which ideally, that's what anybody expects. Because of that expectation, I recommend everyone you know, amp up their training and familiarize themselves with their local codes and AHJs and things like that, especially their inspectors, if you have multi-inspector. Only because it'll only help, it won't hurt. If you're serious about this career, adding more to that, while still maintaining that you're making recommendations, it's part of customer service as well, is showing that, hey, you recognize that they expect something of you. And instead of saying, oh, no, we don't do that, we don't do that kind of inspection, just imagine if you did and maybe raise your price for doing that, you know what I mean, and that'll bring you more revenue, better reputation, more trust, and it goes that way. Just keep that in mind for new construction. I know it hasn't been talked about a lot, but recently in social media, I've been seeing that a lot of inspectors, you know, butt heads as far as how far we're going or what the scope of work is. And, you know, drone versus walk and, you know, code and builders and all that stuff that's been going on that I try to stay out of, but I'm watching like everybody else is, it's important to the buyers, because they're, you know, they're not in our field, so they don't understand, again, they're out of their element. So give them that benefit of the doubt that, hey, I didn't know that you don't do this or don't do that, tell them, and then that way they'll trust you more. And then, if you want to make it a service to add on, make it a service to add on.

Ian Robertson  
Great info. Yeah, thank you for that, Mike. Appreciate it. 

Mike Ortiz  
All right. 

Ian Robertson  
Awesome. Thank you much. 

Mike Ortiz  
Thanks. Bye. 

Ian Robertson  
Talk soon.

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