“I’ve been doing this for 20 years” can either mean mastery or it can mean you stopped learning a long time ago. Jim and Laura get blunt about the difference, using stories from the field that hit home for roofers, home inspectors, and real estate agents who want to stay sharp and protect the people who trust them.
We dig into roofing ventilation and attic airflow, including why adding a ridge vent without proper soffit intake can backfire and why overheated attics are a sign the system isn’t breathing. From there, we shift to the safety details that get waved off until they become expensive, like an exposed light bulb in a closet, and the way new products such as hybrid water heaters force all of us to keep updating our knowledge. If you work in housing, building science and codes don’t stand still, and neither can you.
We also talk business habits that separate pros from the pack, especially for real estate agents: building a simple review system, earning social proof online, and finding ethical ways to stand out in a standardized industry. If you’re serious about better inspections, better referrals, and fewer bad surprises, this conversation is your reminder to stay curious. Subscribe, share the episode with a teammate, and leave a review so more homeowners and home pros can find it.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Three-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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Episode Transcript
Hang on, Gil.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Hey everybody's Jim and Laura here.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, everybody.
SPEAKER_02 (00:06):
Laura has to bring the microphone because I snuck
this one up on her.
SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
Yeah, he did.
I have no clue what we'retalking about.
SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
I know you don't.
That's what makes it fun for me.
So, alright.
Welcome to my world.
It doesn't matter whatprofession you're in.
You're always going to hearsomebody go, Well, I've been
doing this for 20 years, andblah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right?
Oh, yeah.
Hear that a lot.
So my thought on the this isprobably not going to be a very
(00:36):
long one, but it could be it'sgoing to be valuable if if it's
if it's you in this spot.
It's going to maybe a littlepainful to go, oh yeah, I am
that type of person.
Hopefully not, but it'd be agood remembrance to go, yeah,
I'm not going to be that type ofperson.
And the type of person I'mtalking about is I will say
(00:56):
roofer.
SPEAKER_00 (00:58):
That's an easy one.
We hear that one a lot.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
We've had a roofer go, you know what?
I've been doing roofing for 20some 25 years, and this is how
we've always done it.
And talking about ventilation.
And we've always always done itthis way.
And my first response is okay,you've been a roofer for 20
years, but your ass stoppedlearning three weeks into your
(01:22):
training.
unknown (01:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (01:24):
Never stop learning.
Because roofing systems, man,about the 90s, they came out
with those uh ridge vents, andwhat we're seeing with roofers,
and and they'll put a new roofin, but they don't improve the
ventilation correctly.
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
So my understanding is the ventilation is supposed
to come in, go out, and likecompletely refresh the air up
there very regularly.
There's supposed to be enoughair exchange to come in and take
it all out.
That's why we don't do airquality testing in the attic
because it's supposed to becompletely fresh air every so
(02:02):
often.
SPEAKER_02 (02:02):
Now I've never heard of a rate of air of air
exchange.
Oh, for the attic.
There's air, there's an airexchange rate for the interior
of a house, but I've never heardof it for the attic.
But the attic, there is, andthere's different standards on
how to do this, maybe one squarefoot of ventilation for every
square what yeah, one squarefoot of ventilation for every
(02:28):
300 square feet of floor space.
SPEAKER_00 (02:32):
Why is it just floor space?
Because that strikes me as odd.
Like how many times have we seenhuge attics?
SPEAKER_02 (02:38):
I know, and I wrote an article on that because that
is not the standard to look at,but thinking I don't write code
for anybody.
So it's either three one squarefoot of ventilation for every
300 feet of floor space, or, andthat's attic floor space, or 150
um one square one square foot ofventilation for every 150 feet
(03:01):
of attic floor space.
So you got double the amount offloor sp of uh ventilation doing
the one fit one for every 150.
SPEAKER_00 (03:10):
Which makes more sense to me because I would
assume you would need that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
Because we go in the attic spaces and we have
temperatures 140, 150, wellabove what is generally
considered too hot, is 30degrees or hotter than the
exterior air if not breathingproperly.
But we're kind of doing missiondrift here a little bit.
So anyway, but I don't know whatthe mission was, so explaining
(03:35):
that you do not stop learning.
Oh, okay.
That is that is the message ofthis one.
Well, roofers like, why have youbeen doing this so long?
They need more ventilation,they'll slap on some hat vents.
Or or they'll slap on uh a ridgevent, but there's no soft vents.
They're going through the hatvents and then the ridge vent,
and they think they fixed aproblem.
Like, no, you You just made itworse.
(03:57):
You made it worse.
Now you don't have good properairflow through there.
Same thing for like real estateagents and home inspectors.
Technology the new like uhthere's a water heater, that's a
hybrid, hybrid water heater,okay, which is a combination
heat pump and electric.
SPEAKER_01 (04:16):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (04:18):
Agents probably have never seen one of those.
Major vast majority have neverseen one of those type of water
heaters.
And we've only seen a few ofthose ever installed, but you
have to keep learning and knowabout them and improving your
stuff.
So when we had an agent theother day tell us that she's
been doing this for years andshe's never seen anybody c make
a comment on an exposed lightbulb in a closet, I'm like,
(04:41):
dude, this that is a safetyissue for years, and just
because you don't you haven'tlearned of it, or you you shitty
home inspectors that never wroteit up doesn't not give you an
excuse to stop learning andfigure out well, why is that
bad?
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
What we're just assuming that we're being overly
critical and just dismissingwhat we said.
SPEAKER_02 (05:02):
Wow.
Well, I guarantee if that housecaught fire because the ball
burnt, you know, gets too hotbecause it was in the closet.
People put things on the shelvesthat got too close to it and it
catches fire, she's gonna be thefirst one.
Oh, you should have you shouldblame your home inspector.
Home inspiration should havecaught that.
Like we did.
I'm thinking, you didn't evencall you didn't want it once us
(05:23):
to call that out.
You thought it was picky.
So never stop learning.
In fact, one of my goals thisyear, Laura, you remember how
many books I was gonna try andlisten to?
50.
50 books this year.
I think I'm I need to get mychart.
I I'm ticking them off as as Igo through the books.
I think I'm uh maybe only onebook shy on pace.
(05:46):
Nice to do this.
So and I I do listen to books.
I don't I'm not a real good, nota real fast reader, should say.
A little a little hyperactivesometime where I'll lose focus
and I'll read the sentence likethree times because I lose my
place just the way it is.
So, but if I'm driving and we doa lot of driving, to and from
(06:08):
inspections, commercialinspections, and a lot of indoor
air quality for uh environmentalconsultants of Ohio, which focus
on air quality, when we do whenwe're driving to and from, yeah,
I'll put I'll put uh useAudible.
So the books I bought throughthen, listen to them and turn
that windshield drive time ininto classroom time, which is
(06:31):
which is fantastic.
So yeah, never stop learning.
In fact, the last one of therecent episodes of the podcast,
we talked about how we won't hadone agent in 20 some years ask
us for a review.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
Right, which is still crazy to me.
SPEAKER_02 (06:47):
If you're an agent and you do not have a system
that's automated, or at leastyou have like a checkbox for
yourself to make sure thishappens, I suggest you learn a
system for getting reviews.
SPEAKER_03 (07:01):
Habitation investigation is the way to go
for a home inspection in Ohio.
Trusted licensed home inspectorsfor your needs.
From radon to malt to warranty.
For a great home inspection, youreally can't go wrong.
(07:22):
Visit home inspections inOhio.com.
SPEAKER_02 (07:26):
Otherwise, you're you're gonna get left behind
because that's the social proofyou need to show people looking
for you online.
That you're above the rest.
Or just stumbling across youonline to go, oh, here's this
agent, one review.
Oh, here's you, 52 reviews.
I think I'm gonna go with thisone.
Yeah.
(07:47):
So do that, never stop learning.
Or do you have any any thoughtson anything?
I mean, we're you and I we learnabout everything that we can.
We're learning about short, Imean sourdough bread, chickens.
SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
I'm I'm getting into doing more herbs and doing some
stuff like that.
And so yeah, I'm I'm still doingstuff too.
SPEAKER_02 (08:10):
I'm gonna learn how to convert a van into a little
mini camper.
Woo-hoo.
I'm not gonna have a sh I'm notdoing the bathroom shower or
sink.
I don't deal with that, but Icould, I could put a little sink
in there for for washing and forlike cooking, because we got a
little camp cook stove.
I meant I can do that.
That would not be a problem.
(08:31):
I got a design in my headalready how that's gonna happen,
but it's all gonna be basedaround storage and make sure I
got plenty of room in there.
So my task later on today isbuild a bed.
Assuming it stops raining.
Well, it can rain, I can stillget the materials.
But other than that, never stoplearning.
Uh I can't think of anythingelse.
I mean, what I mean, real estateagents, you you your main focus,
(08:57):
I I would say, if I was a realestate agent, is learning how to
get uh clients.
How to get found online.
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
Well, and and not just that, but how do you stand
above the rest in in an industrywhere let's face it, the
paperwork is pretty muchstandardized across the whole
industry?
How do you stand out?
What do you do that's differentthan others?
Like we know of one where the umthe group pays for pre-listing
(09:26):
inspections so that they can getstuff set up and they walk their
client through, you know, whatthings they need to get fixed
before they put the house on themarket.
Do you do something like that?
Do you have something specialwhere you have a different type
of advertisements, differenttype of, you know, um remember
(09:46):
open houses where they wouldbring in um food trucks and
things like that?
Do you do something like that?
What makes you stand out overeverybody else?
Learn that.
SPEAKER_02 (09:57):
And that's tough for an agent because your your
paperwork and everything is veryum standardized.
Standardized, it's rigid, it hasto be this, you gotta give them
this, they must sign thesepapers here.
SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
You gotta get creative.
SPEAKER_02 (10:08):
It's gonna be your your your personality and and
your ethics.
I I've had some agents I know,well, we've had clients, home
buyers, tell us how their agentwas trying to talk them into
doing stuff.
Right.
And that gives their um givesthat client a bad taste toward
that agent.
SPEAKER_00 (10:28):
Well, how many times have we had clients call us,
schedule a home inspection forus to find out it was their
second home inspection on thishouse because they didn't trust
the inspector that their agentquote hired.
Yes, that and that's been moreha more frequently happening.
SPEAKER_02 (10:47):
Correct.
So we're the trustedprofessional who we don't get
paid if the house sells or not.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
We are not no home inspection company should get
paid if the house sells or not.
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
No, no, none.
None should.
But we home inspection and sucha stay out of trouble by giving
accurate, thorough informationthat protects the client and the
agent as well.
And there have been agents whohave been sued because they
recommend a home inspector thatdid a uh terrible job.
(11:22):
They got sued for negligentreferral.
That has happened in the past inother states.
I don't know in Ohio, I'mcertain we don't hear every
every lawsuit that comesthrough, but that has happened.
So anyway, so I would I'mbiased, of course, but recommend
(11:42):
habitation investigation.
We we have the awards to to backit up, the awards and integrity
to take care of things.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
And we've been around for a long time.
We're not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (11:55):
We are not going anywhere.
So and then agents, you you needto learn how to get referrals.
Set up a system for yourself.
In fact, if any agent wants tomeet us up for coffee in
Columbus area, we do knowLancaster.
There's a nice little coffeeshop in Lancaster.
We just came across the otherday.
Great meeting area.
(12:15):
Um I want to try their muffins,so please call.
Provisions.
Provisions I think it'sprovisions, bakery and cafe,
something.
I don't know if it's provisionson one of the main streets
there.
Nice.
I like that because we hadmeeting there the other day.
But meet with us and we'll goover our system for getting
reviews if you want.
And I'm certain we can help youfind something for yourself as
(12:39):
well.
Thank you.
All right, bye-bye.
Bye everyone.
Never stop learning.
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