Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

Mark got a call yesterday from one of the realtors who frequently refers us. She wanted to know why the inspection report didn't mention anything about the pool. These types of calls tend to make inspectors a bit nervous. Did we miss something? Is someone going to sue us?

As it turns out, the client had called the realtor to complain that the pool needed $2000 in repairs. In turn, the realtor called Mark because she knows how thorough he is and couldn't believe he'd have missed something that big.

Even though it was well over a month ago, a quick look at the job sheet told Mark that the client had declined to have the pool inspected. He asked me what I remembered about making that appointment. I went back to my notes and I could tell him that the client declined the pool inspection, the foundation level measurement, and the sewer cam. (It's in my notebook AND in the notes section of the scheduling software.) Anything that was optional was declined. I remembered that she gave me the impression that if she could have declined the termite inspection, she would have. She seemed very put out that it was going to cost her an extra hundred dollars. But the VA requires a termite inspection, so she had to have that done. (Mind you, there were active termites at the property and both treatment and repairs were required - saving her far more than it cost her.)

But the VA didn't require a pool inspection. It would have cost her $100. If she'd had it done, she would have known that the pool needed repairs and the sellers could have repaired it or she could have negotiated the cost of the repairs off the price. So the $100 she saved by not inspecting the pool is going to end up costing her $2000 in repairs. And that is an excellent example of penny wise and pound foolish.