Home Inspector Tool Box Breakdown - The Houston Home Inspector

[Music] all right so we're gonna build a home inspection tool box today I've actually been waiting a long time to do this I really delayed it longer than I should because I'm sure everyone loves tools and this one game you know some good traction hopefully whenever I'm talking about this tool box leave comments of tools that you think I should get or review or you have your tool box - that would be great and then also please take the time and subscribe to this channel because that's how we know that we're doing a good job and so subscribe so let's talk about the first bare minimum what the bare minimum tools that you're required to have in the state of Texas to complete a home inspection and you need something just as small as a ladder it needs to be an 18 foot ladder something that you can reach a one-story roof with and I recommend the little giant ladder this one's old this was one of my very first at ladders at seven years old probably been opened and closed a thousand times and this bad boy has lasted a long time so you only need a ladder pair of binos a screwdriver a a water pressure gauge a digital camera a digital camera you can actually get away with just using your cell phone so your cell phone so you can even get away with not even having a digital camera and use your cell phone for photos a tape measure because some of the things you have to approve is tape measuring a flashlight I recommend spending over a hundred dollars on your flashlight but you can tighten Klink it away with a twenty dollar flashlight and then a outlet tester you're not even required to carry a voltage sniffer but an outlet tester that is the bare minimum of course I never recommend going with the bare minimum because if you go with the bare minimum that will get you in trouble because people expect you to try to find absolutely everything and you're not ever going to find absolutely everything but the tools help define what you're going to find such as the the non intrusive tools that's the most expensive items so I'm going to go through dive in and at the below the this video we're gonna attach a link of our tool inventory to so if you're looking at trying to build a toolbox or wondering what's exactly in our toolbox you can go and click that link below and that will take you to our website of where we have the tool inventory so each item we're going to go into it is just the binoculars you know the funny thing is as a home inspector what I realize is I actually don't really use these this off that often most of the time I like to try to get on the roof or get as close as possible so you'll even see me put up my ladder to get to where I need to go so good to have whenever you need to use them but I'd say I'd probably pull them out maybe once or maybe once every two weeks or once a week so you don't really use the buy knows that opt-in but they're required to be there just to say to follow the state standards but one of your least use tools I'd say and the screwdriver this one I use is the Klein one the multipurpose screwdriver I wish I took this one out of the package but I didn't but you can change the tips there's like 16 different ways you can use a screwdriver and that just saves you from going back to your toolbox because every panel box has like a different screw or on it or a different way to open things and this covers most of them the water pressure gage I go with this heavy this heavy set water pressure gage you can buy the cheaper ones but this one with the fluid seems to be give me the most accurate readings when it comes to the water pressure gauge and it the hardy air but one thing you want to realize is whenever you first open it is you want to make sure that this bar right here is at zero if it's not at zero that mean it's defective and you need to send it back because these are a little pricey sometimes they're like thirty bucks so adds up whenever you as your team grows thirty dollars is your cheapest tool in the toolbox almost I like these little Stanley of tape measures again you don't really tape measure too many things and this is more for your client because whenever you show up they're one of the most things that they were worried about is that therefore her chair fits or not you're like hey I've got a tape measure in there I let you to kind of focus on your job and they could tape measure things the outlet testers you know there's a bunch of one oh you need the one with the GFCI setting which is right here so you need the GFCI testing setting outlet tester this book ever there's a bunch of arguments which one's the best in my opinion they all work pretty well as soon as it goes out just buy another one you you go through these pretty quick there are about eight dollars a piece and you're checking you know a hundred outlets every other day so these do tend to break so just you need this outlet tester and my favorite flashlight is the Phoenix PD f4 TR I carry it this is that flashlight that you see me carrying every day in the field the reason why I like this one it's not a concentrated beam it's a it's like a floodlight almost I would say and it really helps uncover things the only thing that sucks is whenever this sits in your pocket the on button sits right here and it blasts you in the face I'd say pretty often so I wish they would take this flashlight and put a button right here so you can turn on and off and that's the reason why my guys like the other flashlights and I'll show you that one a little bit so that is your bare minimum so continuing on further in this video everything else that I talked about is extra and I know some inspectors don't agree with some of the tools that I carry with like carrying wrenches or extra screwdrivers or knives to open up things but those are the things that I really think that fine that keeps me out of trouble you know if I'm going above and beyond for my client 90% of the time they're gonna be happy with the product 99.9 percent of the time all right let's we'll move further on so moving on with that what else is in our toolbox everything else after this is extra so it's not required but I definitely recommend carrying it because you don't use it every day but when you do use it it really makes a difference in your findings and how you document them so the next item that I like to carry is this digital thermometer if you have an AC unit that's not performing very well this is another way that you can document the findings you can put the thermometer take a picture of it in the return and then you can actually go in the ductwork in the attic area and we carry the tape to cover up the hole but you can put it in the ductwork too as well it is technically kind of an intrusive test but any HVAC company that comes in behind you they're going to perform the same test whenever they use this and if it shows up fifteen or sixteen degrees different sort of you like well their inspectors an idiot well I can if you carry this least likely change will be called an idiot by an HVAC technician and also you can prove that it wasn't working the day that you were there so a really good tool to have is this pocket thermometer the next item is I like to carry this carry UK carrier case this keeps all your tools in one spot so this is my favorite one a little clip some of my other guys they carry bigger ones this one fits me the best it carries most of the tools that I can't accomplish around the house the main thing that you carry most the time is your digital camera your voltage sniffer the outlet tester and the screwdriver everything else is is worth the trip back so I try to keep my weight kind of light on me and my flashlight goes right here so but this is a good this is a good carrying case and it pretty Hardy I still have the original one whenever I first started next one item it is the razor knife it took me a second oh no razor knifes are good because if you have a panel box that is cut that is painted or you have an access panel that's painted if you use this razor knife here it's at least likely that you're going to damage the property so less chance of damage to property so you can do a fine cut around and open up the panel box without ripping pane off the wall it's a really good thing to have some people consider that intrusive I do not because if you don't open up the panel box people are going to get mad because you have to go back and then a lot of people charge re-inspection fees because they couldn't access that that's what we do here we try to get can I look out everything we can at the time the inspection because if you have to go back you're eaten costs and re inspection fees you're actually losing money on anyways if you look at the budget we can talk about that later next item is the the monkey wrench a lot of times I've been in classes monkey wrench a plumbers wrench sorry the plumbers are in so the reason why I carry this is because I've had water lines break while I was inside a property when I'm like operating things and a lot of people say don't carry this because it's gonna you're gonna try to operate things you're not supposed to actually this is to shut down things that break while you're doing the home inspection because sometimes you're inspecting things that people have never touched and if they're if they come in and you start operating it and the faucet shoots out the wall you need a way to you need a way to shut the water off so really good tools to have the voltage sniffer ignore this one this one doesn't have a GFCI tester you can carry it but I accidentally bought this one but I have all the GFCI testers too but the voltage sniffer really important it tells you if the wires live or not and if you follow Rubin Saltzman I think that's his last name on YouTube - well he has a really good video on how to use a voltage sniffer and how they aren't as accurate but they can still keep you out of trouble especially in a crawlspace I like to carry this in a crawlspace and leave it on because sometimes the ground can be charged while you're walking and if it's the ground discharged this will light up and you need to get out so because the soil can be damp so something that's really good life-saving and it helps prove your argument a lot in the photos that you take Allen wrenches don't really need to explain this too much but Allen wrenches sometimes you need an Allen wrench to get to things and open things up it'll save you a trip so just buy 13 $15 worth of Allen wrenches and throw it in there commercial break make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel we need you to subscribe so we can keep this up alright next thing is the the electrical tester this is really good really important for dryers the dryer outlets the 240 outlets and then even the 120 outlets you need to make sure that there's adequate power there there's been several times where I've been inspecting and I tested the dryer outlet and it it was only pulling a 120 so you know there's something wrong there so definitely need this Electrical tester next gas log operator key you need this because you're gonna be searching for these keys in people's houses and you don't want to say you didn't inspect it because there was no key provided it's seven dollars throw in your toolbox you can operate all the gas fireplaces in a property and I don't need to go into that yeah and then to operate the the fireplace always carry a lighter you can see one of the guys already took one but the gas law glider is really important and you're gonna go through these pretty often you always want to test the gas and people love it too when you up when you light the fireplace you teach them how to do it you'd be surprised how many people do not know how to operate their own gas logs a lot of first-time homebuyers you walk them through the steps we've got a client for life next one we have the ratchet set and I like to carry this one because there's literally a head for literally almost everything you don't really want to put this in your toolbox I'd keep this in your backpack or even in your truck you don't use this that often but when you need it it really comes in handy has all the little different ratchet sets all the weird diamond heads of the smaller ratchets in there sometimes where you're like wow this this came in handy check the recording I got paranoid so you definitely want to carry this ratchet set right here I almost forgot about this this is the next item the system that we're using that we're moving to to report our items as we chose the software called spec Tora it is one of the more expensive software's on the market but their product goes with their name and we figured out the best way that we like to document it is with the iPad Mini five iPad Mini five with the largest amount of memory it removed all the lag from the program and then also it's easy to document and it looks well whenever you show your clients the product at the end what we decided to do is we got this heavy carrying case this will be on the links below but they'll be it's in this carrying case it's really nice so if you drop it it can take a you can take a beating so it's a good good addition to the toolbox so this actually replaced our camera so at your camera used to cost five hundred to four hundred dollars this tablet cost six hundred and fifty dollars with a data plan of twenty bucks a month you can get that with Verizon or AT&T whichever one you do decide and it's unlimited so really good addition to our toolbox and I'm super excited about adding them into the field the next thing is this one's really controversial actually is I like to call this the master key you I carry the bolt-cutters and you typically almost never use this but sometimes sellers accidentally leave a deadbolt on the toolbox you can call the listing agent asked permission to chop it off and I'd say most of the time they say I almost actually most done every time they say yes because they don't want to drive back it's an eight dollar lock anyways and they you just chop it off you move on with your day there's no delay people running back and forth to get you in the tool box so I say carry some bolt cutters these are the smaller ones I thought the I bought the bigger ones I like to carry the 24 inch ones but 18 inches we'll just have to put some more muscle behind it the next item I like to carry is a meaty screwdriver or a fat screwdriver and the reason why I do this it's actually mainly for digging for termites and checking rotted wood and a little bit more distance and also it's good for testing smoke alarms you can test smoke alarms because I'm short and I need another 18 inches to reach the outlet test the smoke alarm so really good I recommend getting a media screwdriver in there or a longer screwdriver so you can dig in those high soil areas or you can reach those smoke alarms next item is the infrared thermometer this is what you're going to use most the time to get the temperatures off your AC units you're gonna hit the you're going to hit the air the air return or you're going to hit the the output the air return but the air return almost reads the same temperature of anywhere in the room so I'll you can actually just point this anywhere because it's shooting a broad temperature area and remember it's reading surface area so you have to get an idea of how you're reading these temperatures but really good to prove that the heat is working on the day on the inspection and the AC so you definitely want to carry one of these this is not an option of not carrying it every inspector carries one of these another screwdriver set that I hook up my inspector with but I like to carry the insulated screwdriver set the reason why I carry this I don't like to die so what's this insulated screwdriver set right here will keep you from death you know so if you have like aluminum wiring in a house I'm not 100% on this if it's required or not but I like to see if it's been I need to double check the rules but if I prove that if I see there's aluminum wiring in a panel box we'll use these to open up an outlet to see if it's been replaced down the line so if we have aluminum wiring I'm gonna repeat myself I guess but aluminum wiring in a panel box I need to see if there's if it's been done right at the outlet so if there's antioxidant gel if it's been spliced wrong so we use the the insulated screwdrivers to do that next one I guess this is a controversial one too I'll open this later I guess but this is a water meter key this will allow you to shut the water off to the house if you need to so if you walk up and this has happened you can check out one of our previous YouTube videos where Josh walked up to a house water was flowing out of the house he was carrying one of these bad boys you can go to the street and shut off the water again not required you can also turn on the water to the property a lot of people don't recommend it but make sure that you get the permission to do it and I really say it's a two-man job if you turn on the water of the house if you turn on the water of the house you want someone inside to yell at you to shut it off if you need to and it remember if you turn it on to do the inspection you want to make sure you turn it off as you leave you always want to leave the property exactly like you left it our new addition to the toolbox this is going to be added to everybody's it was a request by one of our home inspectors is the head lamp because we're moving to tablets it's a Phoenix flashlight a thousand lumens he'll blast open and really light up the Attic and help them take pictures because the iPad minis do not have flashes on it which is kind of annoying but we're going to replace it with the headlamps which is going to be good good I know this seems kind of silly I have to say it but you need a uniform shirt of some sort we and I say choose a uniform shirt for your environment the environment here is hot and humid so that's why we chose these fishing shirts and plus they look awesome you just name it put some labels on it and it really it really looks good so whenever you're choosing a shirt don't go with those cheap $20 polo shirts really spend some money on this because that whatever shirt you're gonna do it's $20 for the shirt it's $20 then embroider it and it's a $40 shirt I recommend buying a $50 shirt that's going to last you a long time and then embroider it for you know 20 30 dollars in it and it lasts you a long time so pick a good shirt the Columbia ones and then all my guys love the columbia shirts so i don't really have any complaints and we get compliments on this one pretty often next tool if you follow most of the social media by charles Buhl taught an electrical class and we started adding these to our toolbox you can it really helps determine if a wire is carrying a load so it's an in a c-clamp on meter so it can really if you can actually wrap this around a ground and the ground is carrying a load you can determine that there's something wrong or defective with this panel box so it's a it's a good tool to have I don't really use this mat that much I really need to add it into my routine more with this toolbox put it in our toolbox I need to take a break I need some water for that quick water break I ran out of breath there we are the backpack that I like to carry or so this is going to be more for your electronics and not so much of your tools or like your booties or towels and stuff that you carry I like to carry this the case twist backpack it is a little expensive I guess that's relative but I think it's like a $60 backpack but this thing is a beast it lasts a really long time I still have the first backpack that I bought like four or five years ago and it it lasts forever and you throw it over your shoulder every day you set it down in people's areas you know it's in your hot truck all day and it still works I mean nothing has came apart all the zippers work on it so it's a really good backpack so I recommend using this case Swiss brand the next item is booties booties just look good and it keeps you from hiring a carpet cleaning company whenever I was a brand-new home inspector I think I was about one year old and I was down here in Houston and I walked through the mud and then a brand new house just tracked mud all the way up the stairs and through the hallway it was so embarrassing so I made sure I always carried booties from then on out and you take them on and off on the front door this is going to be part of your toolbox all the time I mean it's just it's going to be there every day and it looks good when you and it shows that you're taking care of people's houses is by putting these on so always carry booties booties backpack all right we'll move into the TIFF 8900 one thing about this TIFF 8900 it works really well but whenever you're testing for gas leak keep this nose out of the keep this nose outside of the whatever you're testing because if this gets dirty and gunked-up it starts to get really hard you can buy replacements I think the replacements are like 40 or 30 dollars so it adds up if you keep getting this dirty so make sure you keep take care of this tool and it seems a little flimsy for a hundred and sixty dollars but it works really well and they last a really long time and it's rechargeable so that's nice anything is a that's rechargeable for a home inspector is good put that here next item is the survey master for the Protea meter this is has the pins and the non-intrusive water testing meter the water testing meter so non-intrusive testing so that's the most important part of the home inspector it tests 3/4 of an inch back into the wall and it reads through tile - as well which is good but be careful when you're using this get used to it use it around your own home because it can give you false readings so you want to really try to identify if there's water and area in that area or not and every now and then I do use the Pens but I already use it that in some area that's already damaged so say there's a water stain in the air area or the woods already rotted and I'm proving that it's rotted so make sure just be careful and use your judgement how you use the pins on this and most of the time you're using it for the non-intrusive area this is an expensive tool it's like a $600 tool one of the most expensive items in your toolbox but this water this protimeter I still have the first one that I bought seven years ago this thing's a beast and I don't I leave my toolbox in the 100-plus degree heat inside my truck so I recommend buying this this thing it it lasts forever and the moat the next item is the FLIR e^x series this one is about a $1600 tool this one lasts a long time - as well but I recommend just if you don't buy this one get the FLIR c2 or the FLIR c3 and start small and then upgrade as you go as your prices of your inspections increase so you can carry the more expensive tools I myself in my toolbox I carry the flea or 40 e XP twine and ever I'll figure it out it'll be on the bottom there but that one's a $5,000 FLIR camera so what I've noticed between all of the items it's just the clarity of the image and the and its how you're able to read it in the accuracy of it so this is the nice middle aligned camera the e6 e8 those are the really good ones that you recommend using on your inspections because it keeps you out of trouble I can't tell you how many times people have painted over things and as we walk in ormally oh there's a water stain there's a water leak there's water behind this wall or temperature anomalies that's what they're called and you're and you're able to use this camera and then turn around and use your moisture meter to prove that that is water behind the wall so I have to say trying to not do inspections without your FLIR camera and always use it at the very end of your inspection because that's after you ran all the water in your home so very important tool to have you definitely want to add in fluoride technology into your inspection even if you start out small the smaller camera is better than nothing so that is almost it I guess I forgot to talk about this last item and the last item is these batteries you always have backup batteries the not the most expensive item but there's several times you show up and the the thermostats dead or when your tools are dying then you need backup batteries so carry backup batteries I recommend triple a 9-volt and double-a just carry all those batteries in there if you have any tool suggestions of what we should add to our toolbox hey I'm always open to it oh I forgot forgot one more before I do the clothes we carry a zip level does it I forgot to bring it it's a huge mistake but we it's about a six or $700 tool you can do a zip level and then there's also another one called a smart leveler get some a little bit of training on it doesn't much training and add that to your toolbox because you can prove how far that floor is sloped and instead of me just walking be like hey this feels a little uneven I literally have proof that this floor has dropped negative 1 inch or up 2 inches in an area so get that tool and learn how to use it and we'll add in the links below of how to do it alright closing that tool video one of the things that we are going to do for you is we're gonna add a link to every single tool item that I bought on Amazon the exact link of the items that I did that I bought them with and that will be below also I'm gonna give you a tool inventory of the inventory that I check on my guys with there's gonna be some slight changes with it but will still put it in it it'll send a link to our website or whatever and your it's going to be a hidden link so only you guys that watch this video can see that link for the tool inventory and again you know you can always increase your toolbox there's always more tools that you can carry so if you have any recommendations please let us know and we'll leave that in the comments below maybe I'll review the tool and see if it applies to our business out here in Texas and if it does I'll put it in our toolbox so again please guys like subscribe leave the comments share these videos and catch you on the next one see you guys bye [Music]

Channel: A-Action Home Inspection Houston

Views: 18,056

Rating: 4.9488001 out of 5

Keywords: home inspection training video, Home Inspection, First time home Buyer, building inspector, building inspector fail, chris murphy, home inspection, home inspection checklist, home inspection cost, home inspection tips for buyers, home inspector, house inspection, house inspection checklist, inspection services, property inspector, what do home inspectors do, what do home inspectors look for, tool, Tool review, Tool Box, first time home buyer california, real estate investing

Id: M3CQew7BcVg

Length: 28min 16sec (1696 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 09 2019