Ian Robertson
Hey, there IT crowd. We're continuing on in our series on report writing and how to improve that. So today we're going to talk about something that's very important, how to construct a narrative. I say it's important, and all of us think that we know how to do it because we write a lot of narratives, but there is a builder down the road from me who has been building houses his whole life, and he built a mess of a house that I don't know if we've ever seen worse. There may have been a couple that are worse on the new construction. So just because we've done it a long time and done a lot of it doesn't necessarily mean we understand all aspects of it and do it well. I know for me, personally, after almost 20 years, I'm still working and improving on my narrative writing. So our narratives are extremely important because it is ultimately what we provide to our clients in our report. Yeah, our report has lots of disclaimers and pictures and all sorts of stuff. But at the end of the day, our narrative on an issue is what people pay us for. So let's deconstruct the narrative, and actually, there's a couple of really great articles about this. Some very experienced home inspectors that I've learned from over the years have some great articles out there. InterNACHI has one, and it's just good to go back to the basics.
So here's the structure of an effective narrative. There's three parts. There's observation, implication, and recommendation. If we're going to remember anything about constructing a narrative, remember those three things, observation, implication, recommendation. To this day, I still repeat that in my head. Now, let's talk about a narrative real quick. Because listen, if we're gonna say GFCI did not function at time of inspection or peeling paint noted on the side of a house, are we always going to construct a narrative for each one of those, not necessarily. We may, but we don't necessarily construct a narrative for everything. Roof leaking, heating unit wasn't safe, trip hazard, whatever it is, bigger things, you know, things that people are really going to care about. That's typically when we have to focus on how we construct our narrative. So, observation, implication, recommendation, we're going to say that a bunch this podcast.
So observation, first of all, this is what the observation should be. Clearly state what you found, be objective and avoid assumptions. So instead of saying the roof is in bad condition, be specific, the asphalt shingles or fiberglass shingles, or whatever kind of shingles on the west facing slope have significant granule loss and curling edges. Okay, that was our observation that applies to a lot of things like heating unit looked old and kind of junky. You know, I've seen some pretty crazy comments out there. Yeah, that's our opinion. But what are we really looking at? Write down what we observe with our eyes, touch, etc. Heating unit appeared to be older, as indicated by rust. There was wear and tear on this and that and corrosion. The heat shield was hot to the touch on the right side, which it shouldn't be on this type of unit, etc. That's our observation. Sometimes we as an industry stop at the observation, and I don't know why, I kind of cringe at some reports when I see that. Like, here you just told a guy he has some sort of terrible disease, and you just stop right there. I wouldn't want my doctor to do that. So why would we do that with people's homes? Hey, your home could fall down tomorrow. Okay, bye. Remember too, that people don't always understand what things mean like we do. Like we think we're being clear, and people are like, what's a copper pipe? I had a guy argue with me, and I've mentioned this on the podcast before, not argue with me, but question me for a long period of time on what a two by four is. I'm like, listen, man, we're not going to get through the inspection if we're going to be talking about two by fours all day. So observation.
But that leads us to the second thing, implication. This is very important. I'll explain why with a legal case. But the implication is explain why it matters. How does this issue affect the home? Will it lead to leaks, structural damage, or energy issues, or whatever? Example, this XYZ condition may result in premature roof failure and potential water intrusion into the attic. Okay, that's the implication. Heating unit, lke we think we're saying the heating unit's unsafe. Flames were coming out of the heating unit, okay, but if we didn't say that causes a safety issue or fire hazard, to be honest with you, there's going to be a client or two, they'll be like, oh, good. It's supposed to make flames. Isn't that where heat comes from? You know, again, not that they're ignorant or dumb, it's just maybe they're literal rocket scientists, but that's not their field of what they do. That's our field. So it's our responsibility to state what the implication is. So implication also comes down to our ratings which would denote severity. So a couple of things. First of all, there was a legal case where there was this big building and they had this big suspended catwalk. The inspector observed first step, that these conditions existed, and he's just like, man, this is really bad. He's like, there's some cabling that's gonna break. There's wood rot, there's all this crazy stuff. And he thought they would have understood. He goes, here's what I observed. I have it evaluated by a contractor. So he skipped the middle part. He observed and recommended, and that's all he did. And to be honest with you, that is all most of us do, from what I can tell from all the reports that we read. And to be honest, too, I've fallen into that trap I observe and recommend, but I skipped the implication part. This guy got sued and lost because, as was stated by the court or attorneys, or however that happens, the docket, I don't know. But anyway, some of the paperwork basically said, you didn't tell us how severe this was. How are we supposed to know that this could have collapsed? You observe things about other systems and recommended a contractor. There was no difference between this and those other ones. So implication can be done in a couple of different ways, like a severity, like put it under the the rating of hazardous. Okay, hazardous trumps everything. It's obviously a defect and it's dangerous. Cool. Now that's an implication, and that's why I love rating systems. We don't have to construct a ginormous narrative by writing down every implication. But now for larger defects, I do like to emphasize it by writing the implication in personally. So for instance, my rating may be hazardous, and to say, hey, don't use this. Make sure you get it repaired. This is an immediate threat to life and all that stuff, but I might write down other things like this faulty outlet is within the reach of children. It is exposed in a hallway. Power to it was turned on. This could lead to serious bodily injury or fire. And always, at the end of implications, I always write or something along the lines, or other situations could occur. The reason for that is under implication, if you limit yourself to this outlet is a danger to electrocution. Oh, okay, well, we just won't go near there. But now it starts a house fire. Now we're sitting in court trying to defend ourselves. They're saying, you said it was only going to be electrocution hazard. You didn't say anything about house fire, I would have done something then. This other guy lost a court case because he didn't write the implication. So we need to be very careful with that. So I always like to write a couple of examples, so I write my implications as this situation can cause, as an example, XYZ, and other situations. Done. Now they understand, okay, these aren't the only things that could happen, there's other stuff going on here. Helps our client, protects us. Everybody's happy. So observation, implication. What did we see? Write it down. What did we touch? What did we hear, etc. Implication, why is this bad? Explain why it matters. If we don't do that, that's actually one of the key pieces to the whole thing, and the thing that we usually miss in most of our reports.
Then recommendation. So provide guidance on what should be done next. Avoid vague language. Now you notice how we keep saying avoid vague language. Oftentimes we think vague language protects us, when instead, it actually hurts our client and ultimately opens us up to a liability. So don't say things like, needs attention. What does that mean? Needs attention by who, by what. And I see that a lot. Heating unit was shooting flames out the front. And even if we write the implication, people could catch on fire, screaming and yelling throughout the house and explode, and we write at the end, needs attention, that really doesn't do anything for the client. Again, going back to the doctor. Doctor tells me, oh yeah, your spleen fell out. That needs attention. Okay? By you, by somebody else. Like, what do we do here? Same thing. The client's gonna be asking, needs attention by who? Is that my agent's job to do it, the seller, you, a contractor? So instead, offer clear next steps.Recommend evaluation and repair/replacement, as needed by a qualified XYZ contractor. Done. That should always be our go to recommendation, and again, that can be built into our rating system, which we've recommended, but which I personally recommended, but then at the same time, I like to emphasize it for larger defects. So even though the rating system will already say, here's the implication and here's the recommendation, I will still write it out for larger or more dangerous things.
I had a hotel one time that I inspected, and they overlooked this beautiful lake and across the balcony in every room was just a two by four and then a screen, no joke. Any little kid leaning against that would just fall right through to their death two or three stories down. I wrote that up pretty strongly, because I'm like, this should not be, people should not be staying in these rooms, unless you lock off the balcony. Because I mean, you're just gonna fall out. So for me, anyways, I don't have any legal case to back that up or any personal experience. But for me, I just like to tell my clients, listen, this was so bad that I emphasized it all right, I just really want to make sure you understand the implications of it. So, observation, implication, recommendation, we over complicate a narrative. Those are the three things we need. When we break it down into those three sections, a narrative is super easy because we take it one step at a time, even very complex issues. Have you ever had those kind of issues where you're sitting there with your software, hopefully, Inspector Toolbelt in your truck, and you're trying to, like, how do I word this? Stop, write it on a sticky note. Keep it in your glove box. Observation, what did you see? Here's everything I saw. Okay, good. Why is this bad, implication. Oh, okay, it's bad because of this. What did I do next? Well, they need to see a contractor. Write that down. Once we do that. For me, it made it really easy, because I'm like, oh, it just broke it down. So I didn't have to have this big quasi blob of a comment trying to figure out. Break down the three steps. Break it into three paragraphs, and then that'll make it a lot easier for you.
So again, common pitfalls to avoid just three points here, being too vague, so instead of some electrical issues noted, specify what those issues are. If there could be more, or there are, you know, three dozen issues, say among these issues are, and list out five or six things and other issues existed. Extensive problems were found that should be evaluated by a qualified electrician, and take it from there. Two, using overly technical language. Remember that most clients aren't contractors. Keep it simple and clear for them. Observation, implication, recommendation, put it on a sticky note, keep it in your truck. So here's an example of a weak narrative. The breaker panel has some issues. I remember an instructor that I used to teach at the same school with him for a short period of time, and he would tell the students there, just write down, he goes, why write down all these specifics about a deck? Just write down deck has multiple issues. Let them figure it out. I'm like, well, give them some examples. It creates a weak narrative and creates a lot of vagueness that makes the agents job harder, the attorney's job harder, the client's job. Everybody's job is harder because we just didn't write down some things. We don't have to get overly extensive. We get overboard sometimes. Listen, if there's 70 issues on a deck, like I said, sum it up a little bit. Say, here's several examples of some of the many issues that were apparent on the deck. So here's a stronger narrative. The main electrical panel contains double tapped breakers on breakers that do not allow double taps, which can lead to overheating and potential fire hazards. Recommend evaluation and correction by a qualified electrician. It's a couple sentences, helps our clients out, sounds professional. It works. The second version provides specifics, implications and a recommendation, observation, implication, recommendation. Personally, I don't think there needs to be that much narrative for double taps. And by the way, if you're looking at a panel and they're square ds and they're double tapped, I can't tell you how many reports I see where they call out double taps on a breaker that allows double taps. Just check the breaker, most double d, Square D, rather breakers allow double taps. So just check the breaker before you call it out, side point.
Okay. So to improve your narratives, practice writing in a clear and structured way, just like that. Keep it simple for the simple issues. More complex issues, build your narrative a little bit more complex, in my opinion. Observation, implication, recommendation. Write it on a sticky note like I have, and then put it in your truck. Make your life a lot easier. Hopefully this helps, and we'll see you next time on Inspector Toolbelt Talk.
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