Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 157: Empowering Homebuyers: Lee and Kadee Ruble's Journey with Bent Nail Home Inspections
What makes Lee and Kadee Ruble with Bent Nail Home Inspections a good neighbor?
Unlock the secrets of savvy home-buying with insights from Bent Nail Home Inspection Services' founders, Lee and Kadee Ruble. Ever wondered what it takes to truly understand the condition of a home beyond the surface level? Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as Lee shares his journey from the world of IT to the intricacies of home inspections, influenced by the unexpected turn of events during COVID-19. Together with Kadee, they reveal their mission to not just inspect homes, but to empower buyers with the knowledge they need, especially those stepping into homeownership for the first time. Experience firsthand how they focus on educating clients, debunking myths, and clarifying what a home inspection really entails, including the typical three-hour assessment and additional services like radon and termite checks.
In this enlightening episode, Lee and Kadee also tackle the common misconceptions surrounding what home inspections can and cannot do, emphasizing the importance of setting realistic expectations. Their story illustrates the evolution from contracting to exclusively focusing on home inspections, underscoring a commitment to transparency and thoroughness. Whether you're a newbie to real estate or a seasoned homeowner, the Rubles provide a clear roadmap for understanding the condition of your prospective home. Tune in and gain the confidence you need to make informed decisions in the ever-changing housing market.
To learn more about Bent Nail Home Inspections go to:
Bent Nail Home Inspections
(865) 748-9414
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of the Tri-Cities. So we have some very special guests with us here today who I'm very interested in learning more about them and their business. And and I am sure you will feel the same way, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbors, mr Lee, and Mr Lee Rubel and Katie Rubel, who are the owners and operators of Bent Nail Home Inspection Services Lee, Katie, welcome to the show, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, we're very excited to learn all about you guys and your business. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:So we are a home inspection company and we are based in the Knoxville area. We service all of East Tennessee. We I think I really are unique selling point is that we we not only want to look at the home, but we want to educate the home buyer about about the home, to give them a true picture of the investment they're going to make.
Speaker 2:So educate the home buyer. That's a really good thing, because I mean, there's a lot, especially younger folks, that have never bought a house before. I would imagine they don't know what to look for.
Speaker 3:Especially with the newer generation, the millennials, coming up. There's not like. When I was growing up, my dad worked on his home and worked on our house and so you know I was his helper, so I learned, naturally, a lot of the people coming up now they don't have that experience and so you know they're they're looking for assistance to understand what's going on, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. How did you guys get into this business?
Speaker 3:It's kind of a long story I started. I started off doing contracting work back way back in 1997. That's when I got my original contractor's license, did that for a while, went away, went into it for a many years and then COVID hit and the industry I was working in it kind of just went away, and so we had to figure out what we were going to do, and so we decided to start off doing contracting work and home inspections and filling in with contracting work. And we've grown big enough that we don't do much. Don't do any contracting work. Now we just focus on home inspection side.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. So I'm sure there's a lot of misconceptions in the inspection business. What are some that come to your mind as far as myths or misconceptions?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So one of the biggest misconceptions is that when we do an inspection it's a technically exhaustive inspection. And so while we do do a very thorough job of looking at the home, it's definitely not a technically exhaustive inspection. You know we're not out there with pressure gauges checking the Freon levels of the AC units. You know I have a pretty good understanding of the AC unit and how it works. You know myself and our other inspectors, you know, but we're not professional. You know repair HVAC and furnace issues. I'm not a chimney sweep. You know I can look at a chimney and tell you, hey, there's some cracks in there and you want to get somebody to look at it, but you know I'm not the guy to actually fix that. So that's probably the biggest misconception.
Speaker 2:Well, and a home inspection doesn't take that long does it?
Speaker 3:it takes us about three hours on a normal size house. Uh, it really depends on the number of defects that are are there. You know, if you get an older house um, that you know it's it's not going to be built to current standards, so it can take even longer. But we try to budget about three hours for the home inspection. And then if we're doing additional services, such as, you know, radon tests or termite inspections or or septic dye tests, air quality tests, all those services take some additional time, so we add in for those.
Speaker 2:But still, three hours is not. I think a lot of people think when you're getting your home inspected it's going to take all day or something and it really doesn't.
Speaker 3:And the other is some people think it's only going to take an hour. I get more people that think that it's you know. Hey, well, you'll be done in 30 minutes, right? No?
Speaker 2:no.
Speaker 3:Do you realize all the things I have to look at? You know?
Speaker 3:everything, yeah everything, everything, yeah, everything. You have to be a good general. A good generalist is kind of what I say we are is. You know we have to know a little bit about a lot of things and you know we may not be able to dig into the nuts and bolts and to go back to the HVAC. You know I may not be able to change out a heat exchanger, but you know I can tell you when it doesn't look right. You need to have that professional look at it.
Speaker 2:Right, very good Well, outside of work, what do you guys do for fun?
Speaker 3:So I'm trying to get back into cycling. I used to be a big cyclist, um, and, and runner, um. You know, when we started our business, I that kind of fell by the wayside.
Speaker 4:Um, I'm, I'm trying to get back on that bike and, uh, um and and and get healthy again we have two kids who keep us really busy with their own sports, and so we're constantly on the go with that during the week and on the weekends, I'm sure. How old are they? Fifteen and eleven, and they kind of do no, they each kind of do one girl and one boy and they each do each do multiple things. So we're in different directions most of the time.
Speaker 2:I totally understand that. I've got five kids. They're all grown now, pretty much. The youngest is 22. But yeah, you're running. I can't imagine Not a lot of time for cycling. I get that Plus, you know, starting a business too is not easy, and it definitely burns your clock for sure. So let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship, whether professional or personal, or a life challenge that you've overcome and that you've, you know, come out the other side stronger for it? Anything come to mind.
Speaker 3:So, for me, probably most recent that challenges every day, you know, yeah, the most recent was really in what spawned this whole whole adventure uh, it was, was covid and okay. So what am I going to do now? Uh, how am I, how am I going to? I've got two kids and a wife and a house. How am I going to keep everybody fed and keep going? So, uh, you know, the the biggest challenge has been to, you know, is to refocus on what we were going to do, what I was going to do professionally, and and then how to get the most education and the most knowledge that I could so that I could be good at it. Good at it and provide customers with a quality product where they would want to use our services.
Speaker 2:So, that's probably the most recent biggest challenge. I get that, but obviously it's worked well for you because you are where you are right now.
Speaker 3:We've done pretty good. We're lucky, we've been blessed, we have been presented with some good opportunities and met some good people along the way that have helped us and mentored us. We belong to a mastermind group Inspector Empire Builders and they are really good at sharing information and and helping people grow and learn. So that's been, that's been, one of the biggest things. You know, I worked at Amazon for a while. One of the biggest things I learned was to teach people and you know that's that's.
Speaker 2:Ieb has that philosophy, that where they want to teach people, Well, if, lee Katie, if there was one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about that now home inspections what would that be?
Speaker 3:You go yeah. So probably the biggest thing that I would want people to know is that we're here to help you. It doesn't matter whether you, while we want you to use us for home inspection or for a real estate transaction, but even if you don't and you have questions, you're free to reach out to us. We're happy to help you. It's our whole philosophy is to give back and give back to the community, whether it's educating people about their houses, helping people make good decisions, because buying a home is a major investment and it's a lot of money, and so you want to make sure you make a good decision.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely Good thing to remember. So if if any of our listeners were interested in giving you a call or learning more about how they could use your services, how can they learn more? Where can we?
Speaker 3:go so multiple ways. One is you can hit our website BentNailTNcom. Well, one is you can hit our website BentNailTNcom.
Speaker 2:The other way is you can give us a call at 865-748-9414 or send us an email at info at BentNailTNcom, and your website address is BentNailTNcom. Yes, sir, okay, very good, very good, all right. Well, lee Katie, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, uh and your business, to spend some time with us and uh moving forward. We wish you and your family and your business all the best thank you very much.
Speaker 3:You have a great day.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your time, you too thank you, and maybe we can have you back sometime. Yes, sir, all right, y'all have a great day. Thank you for your time. You too, thank you, and maybe we can have you back sometime. Yes, sir, alright, y'all have a great day.
Speaker 3:Have a great day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. Or call's GNP try-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.