Jeff May crawls through attics, pries into electrical panels and digs around behind boilers. He scours a house for any hint of decay -- right down to filling up the showers and bathtubs to check for leaks.
Once, a real estate broker was annoyed with May for turning on the taps to fill a shower stall. "She had never seen an inspector do this and asked why I bothered," he recalls.
May shrugged off the question and went downstairs while the buyer drained the shower. "As soon as the buyer pulled the plug, I could hear the telltale sound of dripping water."
May pulled out his moisture meter, which registered a leaky pipe. "There were subtle ceiling stains suggesting that this had been a problem for some time."
May's thoroughness ensures that buyers know what they're getting into. Thoroughness also gives May some peace of mind. If he leaves something unchecked, he could be liable for damage later, or at least have to face the new homeowner's anger.
May sold his own house a few years ago, and hired another home inspector to do the work. He couldn't do his own inspection and not be accused of bias, could he? No. "The evening before the inspection, I made sure that all the screws were in place on the electric panel cover," he says. He then taped down the lid.
The next day, the home inspector arrived and May left the house. He didn't want to trail the other inspector as he worked.
"I vacated, as every seller should," he says. The inspection only lasted an hour. "I returned and found the tape on the panel cover in place," he says. This meant that the inspector didn't even open the electrical box to check the contents! Based on his own experience, May knew how serious this was.
On his inspections, May has opened covers to find all kinds of dangers lurking behind them. He has found loose wires and melting insulation, each posing a huge fire risk. He's even found wires that were connected directly to the electrical feed.
"Since there is no break protection for such a circuit, a short could cause the cable to heat up and possibly start a fire," he explains.
Besides objects like heaters and roofs, May also checks the air inside a house. He looks for combustible gas -- gas that leaks out of appliances like stoves and heaters. Sometimes, there's been a leak and he's had to have the gas cut off. "Not because I like leaving people freezing in the winter, but because of the danger associated with exposure to combustion gases -- which often contain lethal carbon monoxide," he explains.
May could go on forever telling stories of his most memorable inspections. In fact, he teaches courses on home inspections and contributes articles to real estate and home improvement magazines on a regular basis.
It isn't always fun to detect major faults in a home, but it does give May satisfaction that he is helping to divert disaster and educating people about home safety.
He says that while he is helping the people learn about their new home, he enjoys solving the puzzle of each house and discovering the story behind every stain and cracked ceiling.
"No two homes are alike," says the Massachusetts resident. "Each is a new challenge."
Other home inspectors agree. Buying a house can make people pretty anxious, and an inspection can help people with their decision. "What we're trying to do is to take a stressful situation [and make it better]," says Graham Clarke. "Buyers have a million things running through their minds and are looking for any bit of information they can grasp."
Clarke is a home inspector. He does home inspections, but most of his time these days is spent supervising 13 other home inspectors. What advice does he have for someone considering this career?
"Consider it if you enjoy technical and hands-on work. This is not a job for people who would rather be sitting at a desk," says Clarke. "Also, you have to be comfortable with people. You have to like meeting new people and dealing with all types of people."
Most home inspectors come into this field in one of two ways, he says. The first is from the trades, such as carpentry or building. The other is from a professional engineering background, with the most common specialties in mechanical or civil engineering. No matter what the background, home inspectors have to get further education in home inspection. Courses may be offered by professional associations, professional home inspectors or by local colleges.
The key to success is education, says Pam Wall, who runs a home inspection firm with her husband.
"Take as many courses as possible," says Wall. That way, when you're compared with other inspectors you can say that you've taken the courses. The better your qualifications, the more you'll get ahead. This is important, especially when there are so many people offering home inspections, and not all of them are qualified.
Anyone considering this career should figure out if they want to do the work, which includes crawling around in muddy crawlspaces full of snakes and bugs. It means inspecting attics full of beehives and raccoons. There are dangers in this job, including electrical shocks and falling off roofs. As far as Wall is concerned, a home inspector should be willing to go up on the roof of a house.
"It takes a lot of strength to lift a two-storey ladder up a two-storey home. Many inspectors don't do roofs -- 50 percent of men don't do roofs," she says. Instead, they'll inspect the roof from the ground using binoculars.
"A woman can do this job, but she should ask herself if she wants to do this job," says Wall. If a home inspector limits what they do, they limit their income too.