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Ten steps to success in the inspection industry.

Michael Currin
Flooring Warranty Services
mcurrirn@geocities.com



1. To be recognized in the industry as a qualified inspector, you must have credentials from a respected training organization. The generally accepted groups are F.I.T.S….I.I.C.R.C…..F.C.I.T.S… I.C.R… A.S.C.R. ( I favor FITS because you can learn a lot from Tandy being around him for five days.) and ICR which provides some very good training. It also helps if you have more than five years of experience in the industry. Installers make good inspectors and I would encourage any installer that wants to get off his knees to explore the inspection field. There are many fine inspectors that come to the industry from the cleaning side and from sales side of the industry.


2. Be ready to market yourself. You cannot depend on placement in one of the above mentioned certification organizations directory or web site to generate enough work. Marketing yourself is not easy, but will get you farther than subbing your work to a third party. Since the beginning F.W.S. has made it company policy to do inspections only for one of the main parties to the complaint. That is the manufacturer, the dealer, the end user, or the installer. (In some cases we will work for the general contractor or the architect). This policy has served me well.


3. As an expert in the flooring type that you are inspecting you must be professional in every way. You must have a professional appearance and attitude. You must perform your duties in a reasonable time, and maintain contact with the commissioning party during the process. I was once told that to do inspections, you must know everything you can about the product, but that only represents about 2 percent of your job. The other 98 percent is understanding people. That 2 percent though is huge and takes constant learning concerning the flooring you are inspecting. Even more important is understanding people.


4. You must be honest in your assessment of the complaint. Everyone involved is depending on your knowledge and integrity to find the correct resolution to the problem. This is not as easy as it sounds. We all come to this endeavor with bias of some sort. This may be against dealers or installers or manufacturers. It is essential that this bias be set aside.


5. You must have a thick skin, and not be easily hurt or offended. You will have someone angry with you all the time. This also must be set aside for the sake of professionalism. Even if the commissioning party is unhappy with your report if you are satisfied that you have come to the right conclusion, then be prepared to back it up and stand your ground. Never re-write a report. If new information comes up then write an addendum to the report explaining the new information, how it came about and how it affects your report. Always be prepared to back up your reports with facts, industry standards and/or experience.


6. Do more than inspections. The more you can do the more valuable you will be to the manufacturer. If you are inspecting carpet, wood floors, laminates or other types of floor covering know repair techniques and be able to provide small or simple repairs while you are there. For instance if you inspect carpet you should carry with you a spotting kit, and a steamer to remove roll crush. If the consumer has a concern in one of these areas you can increase your income and provide a valuable service to the mill. If laminates or wood then carry appropriate touch up materials to perform quick and easy repairs. It makes everyone more satisfied with the process if you can end the complaint on site.


7. In the area of marketing yourself, don’t be shy. Informing someone of your knowledge, experience and training is not bragging, it is letting a potential customer know you are available for work.


8. Writing to the manufacturer. Again don’t depend on getting work even if you know that you are in a directory. Send the claims manager for your area a short letter letting them know that you are available and interested in performing inspection services for them. The claims departments are deluged with letters of this sort, and it can be difficult to get your name in front of the person that needs the information. Be persistent. Short letters are received better than long letters because they don’t have the time to read a lot of letters. Get to the point and keep the letter less than a full page. Also send contact information and areas covered. Include phone area codes for the areas you cover, this helps a claims analyst to send you work. Remember they are not familiar with your area generally speaking so provide them with maps and the closest major city to you as a point of reference. Enclose a price list as well.


9. Two other groups within the manufacturer need your information. The technical department and the sales representatives. Technical departments are often listed on manufacturer’s web sites, and in commercial carpets contacts with local sales reps can be found. Trade magazines offer inexpensive classified ads that can boost your work and will improve name recognition. This goes along way to good relations with dealers and helps establish you as a professional.


10. Visit local dealer’s to introduce yourself. Most prefer that you make an appointment. Some will not want to meet with you, and that’s ok. Others though will be happy to meet you and will give you some work. This also keeps you from being the unknown factor in claims handling. A card left with a dealer will not only get you work from that dealer, but may get passed on to local sales reps that may recommend you to the claims department. It can also get passed onto customers frustrated by another dealer and get you some direct for the customer inspections.



These are my top ten, there are many others, be creative in marketing and don't get discouraged. Hang in there and work will come your way. If you need or want any advice feel free to contact me. I will help all I can.

Mike

Flooring Warranty Services
mcurrin@geocities.com

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mikecurrin,

Very good Mike.... the part about someone is always going to mad seems true to me. I don't know if I could deal with easily, but I need alot more knowledge anyway to even consider becoming an inspector.

Question for ya... does using your real name on forums affect your biz. in a negative way? Could be it makes you more aware of what you type.

I have never noticed that my participation on the boards affects my work one way or another. I have always used my real name on the boards, and yes when you put your name on something it carries more weight so you edit things yourself. I have said things on the boards that I later regret. But I have not found that it affects my work.

Mike

It would have been nice if you used the [list] feature to create bullet points or at least used paragraph formatting to make your post more reader friendly.

On another note- since flooring isn't much more than a pimple on the ass of the world, in your experience how many floor inspectors have been smart enough to move on to home or building inspection where state licensing, certification and practical hours of experience are normally required?

quote:

It would have been nice if you used the [list] feature to create bullet points or at least used paragraph formatting to make your post more reader friendly.

Sorry Wayne I didn't know it was my place to make things easy for you. I'll keep that in mind in the future.

quote:

On another note- since flooring isn't much more than a pimple on the ass of the world, in your experience how many floor inspectors have been smart enough to move on to home or building inspection where state licensing, certification and practical hours of experience are normally required?

I know of none. But I don't get out much.

Mike

Better now Wayne???

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mikecurrin,

Who Is Mike Curren?

who is Ray D?
who is Selva Lee?
Who is Wayne?
Who is who?
Wayne is right, in the world, how important are we?
My biggest compliant is how serious we take ourselves when in truth, no one loves us! we are not really wanted by the flooring trades since we mean loss of profit, so, why try to make ourselves sound important and wanted when all of us, ALl of us, are really just big dumb ole fartbreaths who need to get real jobs?

Who is Wayne?

Selva if all the workmanship and products were of an acceptable standard you would not have a job would you? The higher the inspection fees would stop the little niggles so therefore they would not exist only fair complaints, only complaints that are real would be looked at. When I was invovled someone that said could I ring them back as they did not want to pay for the mobile phone call so how bad was that complaint. The standards should be if the installer/manufacturer would live with it in their house the customer should. If the installer/manufacturer would not eccept it why should the customer?

You have some good points Jon.

Back in "the good old days", Retailers were responsible for their customer problems.

I was in Retail and owned a retail store (was fortunate to sell it). We took care of our own customer complaints and did not use inspectors. If the seam was visible, we tried to fix it. We did all we could to lay the job out properly and be professionals. Now, nobody is a professional and Retailers call for Mill Inspections rather than take care of their own customers...

I think the Fiber Companies changed the industry with the "NO MATT-NO CRUSH FIBER WARRANTIES" which were warranties from the fiber companies direct to the consumer.......... bypassed the manufacturer and retailer.

Mike,
in your suggestion to contact the sales rep.,,,,some I know have done that. I did it once or twice but always they wanted me to become more of a member of the sales team,,,,I am observer/technical, not a salesperson.... now, I know this all depends upon how the sales reps you contact are in character,,,, but, we all know some who are, well, not all about the truth and honesty, and some are,,,, my experience was meeting the dishonest ones who caused me more harm than good when I refused to write reports the way they wanted.
I always remember meeting the sales rep, the retailer and consumer, the consumer was about as fat as me,,,, the complaint was round indentions in the carpet in the rec room with a pool table and bar stools with wooden legs,,,, get the idea, the sales rep wanted it written up as manufacturing, and advised me if I did not, he would make sure I never looked at another of his claims, I refused,,,, now, the ladies know me and when they say the sales reps want to be there, I say that is ok but I will set up the inspection and I will do the inspection with no comments even if he is the sales rep, and, I will do the inspection then let them do whatever they want, the analyst all agree that is best and it works well, I arrive 30 minutes early, and I am done when the retailer and rep arrive, I tell them what the consumer wanted me to inspect, that I inspected the "reported complaint" and will have the repot in within two days, and then, I ask if they want me to wait,,, and I am firm, no comments completely and if they insist, I pull out the cell calling the mill analyst to ask if they want me to talk, answer is always no, no matter even if the rep is there, and then, I leave, I have serious misgivings about contacting sales reps, you may get work but you also may get in trouble or a bad rep if inexperienced. just my opinion, don't mean I am right or wrong,

Sorry that you had to have that experience, mine have been good. Most of the reps I deal with only ask that I be prompt and professional. I let them know right up front that I am independent, not a tool for sales. I did have an installer tell me once that he was unhappy with a report I did for the mill, and he was going to get me banned. I told him if he could do that then I shouldn't be in inspections. That was about eighteen years ago, and I'm still chugging along. Also I have been working with the mills longer than most of the reps, so when they get the territory, I'm already there. Hey you are going to run into ethically marginal people wherever you work, you just have to get past them.

On another note, I think MSNCB is really saying "Who the heck does Mike Currin think he is??" I'm pretty sure the problem for him is advise number 2.


Mike

Mike,

You missed the point. I don't do personal attacks or insults...

The basics of promotion is to explain who you are and why should anybody use your services.

So, #1 way to promote: Explain who you are, list certifications, training and work history.


Mike, you also missed the point Chaos was trying to make concerning report writing. You took that comment personal as well. He was trying to help you.

Ray, you missed the point. I do not come to the discussion groups to promote myself.

You also missed the point between me and Wayner. I took his advise and changed the format. I just tweaked him a little, he can take it he is a big boy.

Mike

Being a self described inspector wothout all those pieces of paper. I think the best expert out there is one who can read between the lines of what the manufactures want you to believe in and the scientific honest to Gods truth.

Stephen,
You will have to explain that one to us...

Tell us what the manufacturers are hiding that they don't want anybody to know...

quote:

Originally posted by mikecurrin:
Ray, you missed the point. I do not come to the discussion groups to promote myself.

You also missed the point between me and Wayner. I took his advise and changed the format. I just tweaked him a little, he can take it he is a big boy.

Mike

You gave the 10 Steps to success leaving out a most important step... That is all i'm saying.
I did not state you came here to promote yourself.

Did I not?? re-read 2, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Not only how but who to market to.

Mike

you are right.. i am wrong.

Oh come on Ray, I thought you were going to help me keep this at the top of the page.

Anyone else want to comment??

Mike