Behind the Scenes of Home Inspections with Brandon Harlan

What really happens during a home inspection? In this episode of Off the Record: Talking Real Estate with Joe and Makayla, we bring you an inside look at the world of home inspections with none other than Brandon Harlan of Oregon Northwest Home Inspections. With years of experience and a keen eye for detail, Brandon shares his expert insights on what homebuyers should know about inspections, common issues that arise, and why choosing the right inspector matters. Plus, you won’t want to miss his craziest inspection stories – including one that left even the most seasoned real estate pros speechless. Let’s just say, some homes come with unexpected surprises!

Whether you're a homebuyer, real estate professional, or just love a good behind-the-scenes real estate story, this episode is packed with valuable information and a few laughs along the way.

Episode Highlights:

• Meet Brandon Harlan: How a former high-rise carpenter became one of the most trusted home inspectors in Portland.
• What Homebuyers Need to Know: The do’s and don’ts of hiring an inspector and why the cheapest option isn’t always the best.
• Top Home Inspection Issues: From moisture damage to critters in crawl spaces – the most common (and costly) problems found during inspections.
• The Truth About Radon & Sewer Scopes: Why these tests matter and what they reveal about a home’s condition.
• Brandon’s Wildest Inspection Stories: From massive spiders in crawl spaces to a home with an unforgettable secret – you won’t believe what he’s seen on the job!
• Tech in Home Inspections: How cutting-edge tools like crawl bots are changing the industry.

If you’re in the market for a home in Portland, don’t leave your inspection to chance! Reach out to Brandon Harlan at Oregon Northwest Home Inspections for a thorough and reliable assessment.
📞 Call: (503) 881-7031

📧 Email: OregonNWHomes@gmail.com
🌐 Website: OregonNWHomes.com

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Transcript

00:00:08:12 - 00:00:24:00

Joe Reitzug

Welcome to Off the Record talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and want the unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen.

00:00:24:02 - 00:00:27:19

Joe Reitzug

Okay, welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Makayla, how are you?

00:00:27:20 - 00:00:28:17

Makayla Mast

I'm good. How are.

00:00:28:17 - 00:00:29:00

Brandon Harlan

You?

00:00:29:06 - 00:00:51:05

Joe Reitzug

I am fantastic. It's a beautiful day here in Portland and we are with one of our favorite people in real estate, Mr. Brandon Harlan, who is just the most amazing home inspector that I have in 30 years. I have to say, Brandon, I'm not buttering you up right now because you're on the show. You are the best home inspector I've ever worked with.

00:00:51:05 - 00:00:53:14

Joe Reitzug

So thank you so much for being here.

00:00:53:16 - 00:01:16:14

Makayla Mast

I'm so excited about this. I've spent the last four years working with Brandon pretty consistently. We spent a lot of time together long, you know, several hours stretches when we're sitting at home inspections, and he does a great job breaking it down to the buyer where it doesn't scare them. But he is very informative. And that's, you know, usually the job of a home inspector.

00:01:16:14 - 00:01:17:20

Makayla Mast

But unfortunately most.

00:01:18:01 - 00:01:18:10

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:01:18:12 - 00:01:26:13

Makayla Mast

Or a lot don't always get it right. So very very thankful to have him on today. This is a treat. We have some some good content for you.

00:01:26:13 - 00:01:37:05

Joe Reitzug

Yeah we got a lot of good questions for Brandon. We promise not to put you on the hot seat with anything that's too controversial or anything like that. Yeah. Just write it. Yeah. Go ahead.

00:01:37:06 - 00:01:40:20

Brandon Harlan

Oh, I just thank you for buttering me up like that. That was.

00:01:40:22 - 00:01:43:09

Brandon Harlan

That was quite nice.

00:01:43:11 - 00:02:04:17

Joe Reitzug

So, just so everyone knows, northwest home inspections, Brandon will have all your information on the show notes for the podcast here today. Anyone that's out there that wants to get, you know, if you're a broker and you're listening, you want to give Brandon a try, go to our show notes at Live portland.com. Go to our our blog and our podcast and you'll get the information there.

00:02:04:19 - 00:02:15:15

Joe Reitzug

And, for any of you people out there listening, if you're in the buying process, please recommend Northwest Home Inspections to your realtor because he is the absolute best.

00:02:15:17 - 00:02:17:17

Brandon Harlan

It's actually Oregon Northwest Home Intelligence.

00:02:17:20 - 00:02:20:22

Joe Reitzug

For Oregon Northwest Home Inspections.

00:02:21:00 - 00:02:23:23

Makayla Mast

Glad we clarified that. Yeah, just type in Brandon.

00:02:24:02 - 00:02:26:22

Brandon Harlan

I know Brandon.

00:02:27:00 - 00:02:36:17

Joe Reitzug

I'm used to Brandon. Texting Brandon at all times of the day and night saying, hey, we got this in escrow. When's your next availability?

00:02:36:17 - 00:02:38:13

Makayla Mast

Yeah. Can it be tomorrow morning?

00:02:38:17 - 00:02:42:02

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So with that.

00:02:42:04 - 00:02:43:14

Joe Reitzug

Let's get on to some more questions.

00:02:43:14 - 00:02:49:07

Makayla Mast

Okay. Brandon, I think we should start with how you got into the business. So do you mind sharing?

00:02:49:09 - 00:03:16:06

Brandon Harlan

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So it's, story of resistance. I guess you could say I was a carpenter for a long time, and I built high rises. You know, the concrete forming and all that stuff. And my wife had met some people at church and and great people. Great people who, is actually the original owner of this company, Don gross, or if he was my mentor and great guy, him and his wife, Diane.

00:03:16:06 - 00:03:31:10

Brandon Harlan

And they were they were great. So we ended up going out to dinner with them a few times, quite a few times, actually. And he's like, yeah, she, you know, you might think about buying a home. And I was like, well, I'm pretty happy doing what I'm doing, you know. And and he's like, well, I got more work than I want to be doing.

00:03:31:12 - 00:03:45:23

Brandon Harlan

And, I think you'd be great at it, you know? And so it went on like this for probably two years, two years. And finally I just got I got tired of working out in the weather and getting laid off all the time, you know, so it was like, you know, okay, let's do it. Let's give it a try.

00:03:46:03 - 00:03:56:16

Brandon Harlan

We got started on it. It took me about ten months to do all my schooling and, and, you know, probably another few months for, for on, on job training. And there we go.

00:03:56:18 - 00:03:58:16

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. What year was that when you started?

00:03:58:22 - 00:04:01:10

Brandon Harlan

Oh, gosh. It was 2019. Really?

00:04:01:12 - 00:04:03:05

Brandon Harlan

Wow. Wow.

00:04:03:05 - 00:04:07:16

Brandon Harlan

So it hasn't been too long. But yeah I did see a few things.

00:04:07:18 - 00:04:08:12

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:04:08:13 - 00:04:13:16

Makayla Mast

How many inspections do you average a week. You know I was asking no.

00:04:13:17 - 00:04:32:17

Brandon Harlan

No no that's fine. So during the summertime it's anywhere from 10 to 13, probably myself personally, as a company, we probably do 15 to 2023, maybe, during the winter time. You know, it's probably it's a little bit less than that.

00:04:32:19 - 00:04:34:08

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Keeps you busy.

00:04:34:08 - 00:04:37:17

Brandon Harlan

Just the month of December is slower.

00:04:37:19 - 00:04:45:21

Joe Reitzug

I'm guessing you didn't do a whole lot of inspections in the last time I saw you. We were. Brandon did an inspection, for a client of mine up in my class. We go, and it.

00:04:45:22 - 00:04:48:16

Brandon Harlan

Snowed it all down out.

00:04:48:16 - 00:04:48:21

Joe Reitzug

There.

00:04:48:21 - 00:04:50:04

Brandon Harlan

Right?

00:04:50:06 - 00:04:57:16

Joe Reitzug

It was something else. And, it was a large house, so I'm guessing. What did that take? That was, like four hours, wasn't it? Yeah.

00:04:57:18 - 00:04:58:15

Brandon Harlan

4.5 hours.

00:04:58:15 - 00:05:00:06

Joe Reitzug

4.5 hours. Yeah.

00:05:00:08 - 00:05:03:09

Brandon Harlan

It's like what, 660, 700 square foot or something like that.

00:05:03:11 - 00:05:04:23

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Wow.

00:05:05:01 - 00:05:27:13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Very, very nice house. But what do you want the homebuyers to know about the home inspection process? I and I know that's a general question to ask, but it seems like people just don't get from our point of view, people just don't know a lot about the home inspection. They know they need to get one and they want to get one, but they just don't even know what to expect.

00:05:27:15 - 00:05:47:06

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, that's a good question. So a couple things that you want to pay attention to, I would say is, first you want to check the review. A lot of companies will offer the cheapest price. And, you know, obviously the cheapest price. It sounds very attractive. You know, you go to the store, you want to buy a loaf of bread, you know, look for the cheapest one, right.

00:05:47:08 - 00:06:08:19

Brandon Harlan

Home inspections. Not quite that way. You know, it's it's kind of one of those things where you get what you pay for if you go in and spend $250 on an inspection. Yeah, you saved a little bit of money. But down the road, I mean, the quality of the inspection and effort that you're going to get out of that inspection, that inspection is probably not the best.

00:06:08:21 - 00:06:33:06

Brandon Harlan

So check reviews. I would say that that would be a very important thing to do. Check their website, see how it's it's set up. If it looks like they put some effort into it, then, you know, that's those are two good things. And then also you want to check with referrals. Like if you've talked to somebody that's used them before, social media is a good another good place to and I actually don't do well on social media.

00:06:33:08 - 00:06:33:16

Brandon Harlan

I do I.

00:06:33:16 - 00:06:34:14

Brandon Harlan

Don't do it at all.

00:06:34:19 - 00:06:36:14

Brandon Harlan

I'm do that for me.

00:06:36:14 - 00:06:38:15

Joe Reitzug

So honesty comes through.

00:06:38:16 - 00:06:39:21

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Yeah it does.

00:06:39:23 - 00:06:58:12

Brandon Harlan

It is it's something I could definitely improve on. But you know, you want somebody that's going to be looking out for your best interest in such, such a big financial move in your life. It's probably going to be the biggest financial move that you'll ever make in your life. Yeah. So you want to have somebody that's in your corner that's going to be watching out for your best interest, for sure.

00:06:58:14 - 00:07:17:22

Joe Reitzug

I I've noticed that a couple of times over the past year or so when we represented the buyer and, you know, we set up the, the inspection with the, the listing broker. And I've had a couple of listing brokers when I've told them, Oregon Northwest home inspections, they're like, oh, yeah, okay, I get it. Good.

00:07:18:00 - 00:07:18:16

Makayla Mast

Got it got.

00:07:18:19 - 00:07:54:02

Joe Reitzug

It's kind of a vote of confidence. Yeah. For the listing brokers. Part of that, I think, is because Brandon does an amazing job with the client. And this is one of the reasons I love you, Brandon, because when things come up and and inspection, Brandon's demeanor is always just, I mean, know, raising Hart Bay can't be nothing. It's just, you know, it could be anything from, you know, there's there's not a good seal around the tub and not a big deal to the Hvac is completely shot.

00:07:54:02 - 00:08:23:11

Joe Reitzug

But, you know, and people are just like, oh, it's okay. It's just information right now. And we're going to get to the end of the inspection and get our report and then see what happens after that. But not at any time. Is it ever like, well, this is completely you know, this is so bad. And then I did and I've had so many inspection inspectors over my 30 years who have gotten people so riled up about stuff that's like, yeah, the seller's going to fix that.

00:08:23:13 - 00:08:40:11

Joe Reitzug

You can't sell a home without, you know, a heating system or a roof or something like that. And it's just, you know, people get so worked up and so. Oh, well, you know what? We can't buy this home now. And it's like, well, would you buy it if that was completely paid for by the seller or completely taken care of?

00:08:40:14 - 00:08:54:18

Joe Reitzug

Right. Yes. Okay. Then all we're doing right now is gathering information. But your demeanor during that entire time, I think is really comforting to people. So I don't know if you've ever heard that, but it's it's huge. That's huge.

00:08:54:18 - 00:08:55:07

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:08:55:09 - 00:09:11:04

Brandon Harlan

And thank you for noticing that. That's something that I actually really work hard on and striving to do because home inspectors I mean, you know, they have a tendency or not. I shouldn't say a tendency because I actually don't have firsthand experience with other home inspectors.

00:09:11:04 - 00:09:12:15

Joe Reitzug

Brandon. They do have a tendency.

00:09:12:15 - 00:09:13:06

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:09:13:08 - 00:09:41:08

Brandon Harlan

Okay. They do. I definitely a reputation of scaring, scaring people, not making, you know, and it's really, you know, that I'll tell you, there was two reasons. Two major reasons why why I'm able to do that. And that one is that I had a great teacher. Don, he really shaped my, my communication skills because I was coming out of high res concrete construction, you know, my, my communication skills were not great.

00:09:41:14 - 00:09:43:07

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Yeah. That word.

00:09:43:07 - 00:09:44:05

Brandon Harlan

Every other word and.

00:09:44:05 - 00:09:45:06

Brandon Harlan

You know

00:09:45:08 - 00:09:46:08

Brandon Harlan

You know don't.

00:09:46:08 - 00:09:48:10

Brandon Harlan

Get me I don't have, you know.

00:09:48:12 - 00:10:09:15

Brandon Harlan

It took a lot of molding, you know, but it worked. The second one now, this is probably the most, the biggest one because, you know, I've, I was just telling somebody this story yesterday, so I did an inspection. This is probably three years ago for 3 or 4 years ago. And this house was trashed. I mean, it was it was bad.

00:10:09:17 - 00:10:27:06

Brandon Harlan

The foundation was pushed out probably 2 or 3ft. I mean, it was an old early 1900s house. It was bad, real bad. And it was the only time that I really where I was like, oh my gosh, you probably shouldn't buy this house. I didn't tell him that because it's not my place.

00:10:27:08 - 00:10:27:18

Joe Reitzug

Sure.

00:10:27:20 - 00:10:47:03

Brandon Harlan

You know, but I presented the information and let them make their decision. They decided to move ahead with the house and and the realtor that I worked with on that one is a good friend. So I asked her about it. Probably like six months ago. I asked her how that all turned out and it turned out great. They fix the foundation, they fix the whole house.

00:10:47:05 - 00:10:55:13

Brandon Harlan

You know something that I thought, you know, was, you know, basically a structural carpenter. Yeah. I thought it was it was no saving it.

00:10:55:15 - 00:10:56:10

Brandon Harlan

You know.

00:10:56:12 - 00:11:00:03

Brandon Harlan

So the fact that that it was fixable.

00:11:00:05 - 00:11:01:15

Brandon Harlan

You know.

00:11:01:17 - 00:11:09:09

Brandon Harlan

That just goes to show that anything's. Yeah, there's really no sense in where either. I mean, because I was wrong. I was wrong on that.

00:11:09:10 - 00:11:34:14

Joe Reitzug

So a lot of buyers think that it's a negative home inspection if anything comes up. And so Makayla and I always try to get people's mindset a little bit set to the fact that this is a home inspection. He's extremely thorough. There are going to be things that come up about the home. And I we tell people all the time, we we have people have new construction inspections.

00:11:34:14 - 00:11:54:06

Joe Reitzug

You know, sometimes it's right at the beginning, sometimes it's right before the end of their one year warranty. But even new construction has stuff, and it's just part of being a good consumer and making a good investment of finding out what's wrong with it. And just because there's something wrong with it doesn't mean that it's not a good purchase for you.

00:11:54:07 - 00:12:05:06

Brandon Harlan

Oh, absolutely. I agree 100% because there's really I mean, as much as we want to believe or would like there to be, there's really no such thing as a perfect house. There's going to be something every single time.

00:12:05:10 - 00:12:06:19

Brandon Harlan

Yep. You know. Yeah.

00:12:06:19 - 00:12:14:14

Makayla Mast

Couldn't agree more. What? I'm so curious to know what's one of the most common repairs that you find in the home? Inspections?

00:12:14:16 - 00:12:15:15

Brandon Harlan

Well, there's a few.

00:12:15:21 - 00:12:36:03

Brandon Harlan

The first one, which is moisture, is going to be your biggest detriment to a home. You know, lack of maintenance outside. So is is little is caulking. Seems like it is, you know, but caulking around doors, windows, penetrations in the siding and things like that are going to be huge, are going to be huge. You got to do that because we get a lot of rain here, you know.

00:12:36:03 - 00:12:52:08

Brandon Harlan

So, that's probably the first one with our wet climate. We also have microbial growth in the crawlspace and attic, you know. So that's that's another big one. The other there's the third one I would say is probably rodent critters in the crawlspace.

00:12:52:09 - 00:12:54:17

Brandon Harlan

Okay.

00:12:54:19 - 00:12:57:22

Brandon Harlan

It's it's not cool, man, but, you know, it's.

00:12:58:00 - 00:13:00:12

Brandon Harlan

It's just the way it is. You know.

00:13:00:18 - 00:13:12:23

Makayla Mast

I can't tell you how many times buyers get any one of those three things, and they're, like, so shocked. And I always tell them, this happens. And I mean 80% of home inspection things.

00:13:12:23 - 00:13:14:01

Brandon Harlan

So yeah.

00:13:14:03 - 00:13:14:21

Brandon Harlan

Percent.

00:13:14:23 - 00:13:15:15

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:13:15:17 - 00:13:29:13

Joe Reitzug

I, I'm really shocked too when we're out in rural properties and you know Brandon's like, yeah, there's pest activity and crawl space and people are like what? It's like, you know yeah, you're on a farm.

00:13:29:15 - 00:13:33:07

Brandon Harlan

You're out of your hair world out here. Yeah. This is bigger world. Yeah.

00:13:33:09 - 00:13:38:08

Joe Reitzug

You know what's also funny is I always, you like to do the crawl space last, don't you?

00:13:38:13 - 00:13:40:05

Brandon Harlan

I do, yeah, yeah.

00:13:40:07 - 00:13:41:06

Joe Reitzug

Is there a reason for that?

00:13:41:10 - 00:14:01:05

Brandon Harlan

It is. Yeah. So, I sometimes I would like to do it first just to get out of the way. But the fact of the matter is, is that there's a lot of stuff going on in the house as far as, like. So basically starting top to bottom is the way I like to do it, just because of the fact that gravity is going to control a lot of things, including water.

00:14:01:06 - 00:14:18:21

Brandon Harlan

So, starting upstairs and running all the water and doing all of that, that stuff and then working your way down. By the time I get to the crawl space, there's already been a good amount of water ran through all of the plumbing. There's really no way to miss a plumbing leak if there is one.

00:14:18:23 - 00:14:19:17

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:14:19:19 - 00:14:31:00

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. And there's, that with that amount of water, you know, even if it's up in the insulation somewhere, the insulation is going to be wet. Yeah. Because of the amount of water that's been ran through there.

00:14:31:00 - 00:14:31:09

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:14:31:15 - 00:14:53:08

Joe Reitzug

Whenever, you know, we're doing an inspection with Brandon and it comes towards the end and you know, a lot of times, you know, you are I'll be there and I'll say, okay, so you're about an hour away. And he goes, yep, yep, yep. And when I see him put the, the overalls on from the ground. Yeah. Then I know we're getting close, but it's also a moment where I look at Brandon.

00:14:53:13 - 00:14:55:06

Joe Reitzug

I thank you, buddy.

00:14:55:06 - 00:14:57:07

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for being.

00:14:57:07 - 00:15:03:18

Joe Reitzug

The one that's going down to the crawl. Because I've been in my crawlspace in my house, and,

00:15:03:20 - 00:15:08:01

Brandon Harlan

That's not it. It's just not a pleasant thing to do, and. Oh, it's not, and.

00:15:08:01 - 00:15:09:22

Makayla Mast

You never know what you're going to get.

00:15:10:00 - 00:15:13:19

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. You know, it's it's not a fun place to go. Right.

00:15:13:21 - 00:15:38:14

Makayla Mast

So radon gas is a really big conversation that we have with buyers. A lot of times people have never even heard of it before. And I don't know if you remember this, Brandon, but I think it was three years ago. We had a particularly nervous client, and this client actually backed out of two purchases post home inspection because there was just.

00:15:38:16 - 00:15:42:19

Makayla Mast

We couldn't negotiate, you know, a repair done to make them happy. And.

00:15:42:21 - 00:15:43:15

Brandon Harlan

Sure, sure.

00:15:43:17 - 00:16:06:06

Makayla Mast

It was a rough one. And I remember standing in the house with this client and you were talking about radon to her, and she said, if the home has any radon, I don't want it. Any level of radon, I don't want it. And you and I just looked at each other like, oh, my gosh, how are we ever going to explain to these people that they're not going to die if there's a little bit of radon in the house?

00:16:06:06 - 00:16:14:13

Makayla Mast

So I know you get these questions all the time. And I'm curious to, have you share about your expertise with that.

00:16:14:15 - 00:16:18:21

Brandon Harlan

Oh, yeah. So, I think I do remember.

00:16:18:23 - 00:16:20:17

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, I think I do.

00:16:20:19 - 00:16:44:18

Brandon Harlan

You know, and some people, you know, it's it's, when you start talking about cancer and things like that, you know, it's serious stuff. Yeah, it's a scary thing, you know? So and that's what radon is, is basically, long story short, it's basically uranium deposits in the soil. It was brought it was brought here by massive floods from Montana, I believe.

00:16:44:20 - 00:16:56:14

Brandon Harlan

And it's so hard to predict where it's at, you know? So it could be it could be high at your house, you know, and right next door, your in-laws house. Yeah. It's fine.

00:16:56:16 - 00:16:58:13

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:16:58:15 - 00:17:28:06

Brandon Harlan

Definitely having a crawlspace where the vents are open and things like that are going to help. Basements and slabs are going to be your primary sources for having high radon, but the range is it varies. So the, the EPA says if you have 0 to 2.0, it's fine. You know, and they also say that there's it's kind of contradicting but there's no safe level of radon, which.

00:17:28:08 - 00:17:34:15

Joe Reitzug

How do you how do you I mean if they're 2.0 yeah. 2.0 is that level. But there's nothing safe I.

00:17:34:17 - 00:17:35:00

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:17:35:00 - 00:17:37:19

Joe Reitzug

I yeah. And it used to be 4.8 didn't it.

00:17:38:01 - 00:17:58:06

Brandon Harlan

Well so that's the thing. So the EPA says below 2.0 is fine. Between 2.0 and 3.9 you should consider you can filter installing or having it mitigated. Now if it's at 4.0 and above, now you're getting into dangerous levels.

00:17:58:10 - 00:17:58:23

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:17:59:00 - 00:18:05:06

Brandon Harlan

So 4.0 and above mitigation is is highly recommended.

00:18:05:08 - 00:18:16:10

Joe Reitzug

And remediation for for radon is not a big deal actually. And I I'm I've been surprised at how low the pricing is that that has come down.

00:18:16:12 - 00:18:17:15

Brandon Harlan

Has it come down.

00:18:17:17 - 00:18:33:08

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. I remember years ago when we first started dealing with this, it was a big ticket item, and now it feels like those, you know, those numbers are, I see, 1200 a lot. You know, for some fairly decent sized homes.

00:18:33:10 - 00:18:50:03

Makayla Mast

A lot of people think that they can buy a radon fan from Home Depot and just stick it in their crawlspace, find a power source. We've had sellers try to do that, and I just yeah, I would love to encourage people to hire a contractor and have it done the right way.

00:18:50:05 - 00:18:54:15

Brandon Harlan

Most definitely. Does I in matter of fact, the first time I saw one of those.

00:18:54:17 - 00:18:55:05

Brandon Harlan

I was like.

00:18:55:09 - 00:19:02:18

Brandon Harlan

Because they bought the fan, like the whole setup that you would see outside, you know, that goes up and and it's just basically stubbed into the.

00:19:02:18 - 00:19:06:06

Brandon Harlan

Crawlspace. Yeah. And I was like, wow. Oh.

00:19:06:07 - 00:19:07:12

Brandon Harlan

What's going on here? What is.

00:19:07:12 - 00:19:09:12

Brandon Harlan

This? Yeah, yeah. I had to.

00:19:09:12 - 00:19:14:08

Brandon Harlan

Do some research to make sure that it wasn't, you know, the install because I'd never seen it.

00:19:14:08 - 00:19:14:21

Brandon Harlan

Before, but.

00:19:15:02 - 00:19:35:09

Brandon Harlan

It turns out it was a homeowner deal. But yeah. So basically, if it's if it's in a basement or slab, they'll just drill a hole into the concrete to down below there, stub a pipe in there with a blower fan on it, and then that blower fan will pull all of the the radon gases up and out.

00:19:35:09 - 00:19:43:13

Brandon Harlan

So yeah, if it's in a crawlspace, they'll just install it under the moisture barrier, make sure everything's sealed up real well. Same thing blowing out.

00:19:43:13 - 00:19:45:14

Brandon Harlan

So yeah, it is.

00:19:45:16 - 00:19:50:17

Brandon Harlan

I'm glad to hear that the prices are coming down because last time it was like 2500 or so.

00:19:50:18 - 00:20:09:01

Joe Reitzug

You know. Yeah. Now we see it can vary depending on the situation with the house and what the crawl space looks like are, you know, the situation with whatever. But for the most part, I've been seeing a thousand, $1,200, which is great. Doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.

00:20:09:04 - 00:20:10:03

Brandon Harlan

You know, I agree.

00:20:10:09 - 00:20:36:09

Joe Reitzug

I wanted to ask real quick about sewer scopes because I know Oregon, Oregon Northwest home inspection does those now. And I love the fact that you do that, because that is one of those things that just sneakily is that the word sneakily cure has become a common kind of thing on every report is, you know, crack in the sewer line, roots coming up through the sewers.

00:20:36:11 - 00:21:04:15

Joe Reitzug

And it's just no one kind of anticipates that. But whenever now, whenever I walk up to a house, I'm always looking at the tree and the trees and the pride or, you know, kind of trying to figure out where that sewer lines coming through. Because like on my house here, Brandon, we're toast. I mean, I know. Yeah, yeah, I got a tree in the front that is just it's guaranteed mangling my sewer pipes.

00:21:04:15 - 00:21:06:00

Brandon Harlan

But yeah, you know.

00:21:06:00 - 00:21:07:05

Brandon Harlan

You and me both.

00:21:07:07 - 00:21:09:07

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, yeah.

00:21:09:09 - 00:21:33:16

Joe Reitzug

So my question is, you know, with with sewer scopes, it's such a wide ranging thing and people don't really know what are the symptoms for like and asking for a friend myself. What are the what are the symptoms of. Okay, you got a real problem with your sewer line because things are starting to act up. Or does it ever happen like that?

00:21:33:22 - 00:21:54:07

Brandon Harlan

Oh it does, it does. So I have right? I'm so I'm, I'm looking at my backyard right now and there is a line of probably 30ft trees right up there. My sewer line goes right underneath them. Yeah. So we moved into the house four years ago. 3 or 4 years ago. Had the sewer scope down. It look great.

00:21:54:09 - 00:22:20:21

Brandon Harlan

You know, I got a machine or a camera myself about six months ago, and I just go over the line. What do you know? There's roots growing all the way down in it. So I problems that I've had and that I've heard about having, is when you notice that things are not draining properly, if you if, for example, like your tub, we take a shower, your tub fills up, a lot of times it's just going to be like hair and, you know, stuff that gets down there.

00:22:20:21 - 00:22:45:08

Brandon Harlan

So if you clear it all out, you know, and it's still draining, it's still having trouble draining, then that could be an issue. It's always a good idea to check your sewer line. I, you know, I would say every few years, you know, unless there's zero trees. Yeah, even at that, I would still recommend five years or so.

00:22:45:10 - 00:22:46:19

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:22:46:21 - 00:22:51:18

Joe Reitzug

And we've been here 20, so. Yeah, I should probably give you a call after this and.

00:22:51:19 - 00:22:52:06

Brandon Harlan

Oh, yeah.

00:22:52:06 - 00:22:53:16

Joe Reitzug

I get in that schedule.

00:22:53:18 - 00:22:57:15

Brandon Harlan

I'd be happy to come up here for it.

00:22:57:17 - 00:23:00:08

Joe Reitzug

You're the best. Yeah.

00:23:00:10 - 00:23:02:04

Brandon Harlan

Did you have another question? No.

00:23:02:06 - 00:23:26:18

Brandon Harlan

And another thing. So as far as sewer lines go, that's that's I mean, most people will ask me, you know, because that when the call, the schedule an inspection, you know, we always check. Okay. So you want the home inspection, sewer scope and radon. We typically will recommend those. And then, you know, if it worst case scenario, a little older houses that may have moisture issues may recommend a mold test or something like that.

00:23:26:18 - 00:23:44:19

Brandon Harlan

But those to the sewer scope is going to be, just as important as the, as the home inspection, just because it costs. I mean, it's quite costly to fix a sewer line. And it's your lot. It's underground, so you don't have visual on it ever.

00:23:44:21 - 00:23:59:12

Joe Reitzug

The cost is all over the place, too, and I've been seeing the ones where they do the liner inside the pipe. Those are great because it doesn't cost as much, but a lot of times you can't. If the pipe is completely trashed, you can't line something that isn't there, right?

00:23:59:14 - 00:24:00:11

Brandon Harlan

Right.

00:24:00:12 - 00:24:01:08

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00:24:01:10 - 00:24:08:12

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. That's, they did come up with that. And it is a great, great process, you know, but it doesn't work on every.

00:24:08:13 - 00:24:09:03

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:24:09:05 - 00:24:19:22

Makayla Mast

I think thankfully we found a really great contractor. I felt like we were bouncing around for a while, and, Yeah, these guys do a really good job. And they don't overprice. And they don't freak people out.

00:24:20:00 - 00:24:21:01

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. There you go.

00:24:21:03 - 00:24:22:10

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:24:22:12 - 00:24:43:10

Joe Reitzug

You know what amazes me? Before we let you go, the amount of technology that Brandon shows up with at the house. That is awesome, man. You got all the bells and whistles, and it's not like. I mean, you get that legit, high end, tech driven stuff. So, yeah, I've had more than a couple of buyers. Be like you, man.

00:24:43:15 - 00:24:57:07

Joe Reitzug

Like the house that we were at during the snow. He said. He was like, oh, that guy's the best man he knows got he's got everything, man. I didn't even know what some of that stuff was that he was. And this this guy was a form builder, by the way.

00:24:57:10 - 00:24:58:20

Brandon Harlan

Oh it was, yeah.

00:24:58:22 - 00:25:09:18

Joe Reitzug

And he was like, I didn't even know some of the stuff that he was doing. But man, it's thorough and he's got all this stuff and this and that. So it's impressive when when Brandon shows up with his bag of goodies.

00:25:09:20 - 00:25:34:03

Brandon Harlan

Well, you know, anything that we can do to. And I don't mind investing, you know, some money on, on technology or things like that is going to, you know, give our customers a better, a better inspection, you know. Yeah. And things that, you know, you don't quite have to work so hard to get that, you know. So, for example, I just, I just bought one of these, crawl bots.

00:25:34:05 - 00:25:36:01

Brandon Harlan

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

00:25:36:01 - 00:25:42:16

Brandon Harlan

So it's like a little remote control car with a camera on it. You put it in the crawl space and you drive it around and take pictures and.

00:25:42:18 - 00:25:46:18

Joe Reitzug

You know. Yeah, sometimes there's spaces that are really hard to get into for you, aren't there?

00:25:46:23 - 00:26:01:23

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's what I got it for because most of them aren't so bad. You can just I mean, they're not fun. You know, they're pretty easy to get around in. So the what? The ones that are that, you know, they're not.

00:26:02:01 - 00:26:02:19

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:26:02:21 - 00:26:04:14

Brandon Harlan

We'll say that not accessible.

00:26:04:14 - 00:26:07:08

Brandon Harlan

Okay. Bring the car in here.

00:26:07:10 - 00:26:21:22

Makayla Mast

Okay. I'm so excited to ask this last question. I've been on the edge of my seat. Okay. I want you to share any funny or bizarre inspection moments that you can share. Doing 10 to 15 a week all year. That's quite a few home.

00:26:21:22 - 00:26:24:00

Joe Reitzug

Inspections that seeing out of homes.

00:26:24:01 - 00:26:35:08

Brandon Harlan

I've seen a few things. So, so there's. Oh, man. So I don't know what you're what your censorship thing is on here, but I'll. I'll stick with the safe one. How about that?

00:26:35:11 - 00:26:36:23

Brandon Harlan

Sure, sure. So when.

00:26:36:23 - 00:26:39:21

Brandon Harlan

I first, first started out, this is probably.

00:26:39:23 - 00:26:40:15

Brandon Harlan

Oh.

00:26:40:17 - 00:26:48:00

Brandon Harlan

Probably a year into it. I have the biggest fear of spiders, but of anybody I've ever known.

00:26:48:02 - 00:26:48:18

Brandon Harlan

Wow.

00:26:48:23 - 00:27:14:08

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. So it's over the years, it's obviously gotten better, you know, because I've had to callus myself to this. But, I was doing a house in Cornelius, and the access to the crawl space was outside. And so the lid is all screwed on there, you know? So I get my screwdriver, I pull all the screws, and I lift the thing up, and there is like, four ginormous spiders.

00:27:14:08 - 00:27:31:22

Brandon Harlan

I mean, big ones right there. And, yeah, I'm freaking out. I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? You know? And there's people behind me, they're, you know, like a, a trailer or something like some folks that are just sitting around drinking, playing cards, you know? Dude.

00:27:32:00 - 00:27:32:14

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:27:32:16 - 00:27:33:20

Joe Reitzug

So you got an audience?

00:27:33:20 - 00:27:35:00

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, I got an audience.

00:27:35:04 - 00:27:39:06

Brandon Harlan

And they're, you know, they've been drinking, so they're, you know, comical.

00:27:39:07 - 00:27:39:19

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:27:39:21 - 00:27:52:19

Brandon Harlan

I'm freaking out about these spiders. Right. So I was out there for like, 20 minutes, like trying to shoo the spiders away. I thought they finally did. They took off, but they went into the crawl space.

00:27:52:21 - 00:27:53:10

Brandon Harlan

So another.

00:27:53:10 - 00:28:04:17

Brandon Harlan

Ten minutes or so, I'm like, I got my suit on. I'm, I'm I'm talking myself up. I'm like, okay, we're going to do this. Let's do it. And these people behind me are just laughing like crazy.

00:28:04:19 - 00:28:05:15

Makayla Mast

So, you.

00:28:05:17 - 00:28:06:11

Brandon Harlan

Know.

00:28:06:13 - 00:28:14:00

Brandon Harlan

I get I get down on my belly and I crawl in there and I'm talking to myself freaking. I'm just freaking out because I'm so scared.

00:28:14:00 - 00:28:15:18

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. You know? Yeah.

00:28:15:20 - 00:28:26:23

Brandon Harlan

And I crawl in there and I get about 10 or 15ft in there, and here they come. They're just. They're coming right at me like they wanted to fight or something.

00:28:27:01 - 00:28:34:20

Brandon Harlan

And I start screaming. I really, you know, I didn't know there were these people were just.

00:28:34:22 - 00:28:37:00

Joe Reitzug

That is. That is no good.

00:28:37:06 - 00:28:38:05

Brandon Harlan

I mean, they were.

00:28:38:05 - 00:28:39:10

Joe Reitzug

Yakking it up to where.

00:28:39:14 - 00:28:40:04

Brandon Harlan

They were.

00:28:40:06 - 00:28:43:00

Brandon Harlan

They were laughing so hard at me, and I was like.

00:28:43:02 - 00:28:45:01

Brandon Harlan

This is not funny.

00:28:45:03 - 00:28:55:02

Joe Reitzug

You are such a better man than I. I that would before even getting into the hole, it would have been time out. Yeah, it's all right. Inspections over.

00:28:55:04 - 00:28:57:07

Brandon Harlan

And yeah.

00:28:57:09 - 00:29:08:06

Brandon Harlan

It was one of those things was like well, you know, I, I got myself into this. Yeah, they hired me to do this job. I got to do it. Yeah.

00:29:08:08 - 00:29:11:22

Joe Reitzug

And you can tell us for not safe for work one if you want to.

00:29:12:00 - 00:29:35:19

Brandon Harlan

I get a call to do this house. Gosh, it was, well, house to say Portland. It was in Portland. And I show up, and it's this really nice, great big house, you know, and I go up and knock on the door, and this really attractive woman, like, opens the door. I'm like, hey, so I'm here for the inspection, and I'm like, oh, okay, just do whatever you need to do.

00:29:35:20 - 00:29:37:05

Brandon Harlan

We're going to be inside here.

00:29:37:07 - 00:29:38:04

Brandon Harlan

00:29:38:06 - 00:29:49:23

Brandon Harlan

So I do everything outside and I go inside and it's just her and this guy, and they're they're just sitting at the bar, like, looking at a computer or something, and I'm not thinking anything of it, you know? It's just.

00:29:50:00 - 00:29:51:01

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, whatever.

00:29:51:03 - 00:30:17:22

Brandon Harlan

You know? So I do my thing. I'm going, so I run it through and check all the electrical outlets, and I see, I, like I said, I'll start upstairs. There's a bunch of bedrooms upstairs. There's probably like 5 or 6 bedrooms upstairs. And so I'm cruising along and there's some weird stuff that I see, you know, and I'm not really thinking much of it until I get to the primary bedroom and there is a stripper pole.

00:30:18:00 - 00:30:18:15

Brandon Harlan

Right in the middle.

00:30:18:15 - 00:30:19:12

Brandon Harlan

Of the room.

00:30:19:14 - 00:30:21:21

Brandon Harlan

Sure. Oh, that's it.

00:30:21:23 - 00:30:25:20

Brandon Harlan

I'm looking around and there's like, you know, those,

00:30:25:22 - 00:30:30:08

Joe Reitzug

Well, you have to inspect it. You got to make sure have.

00:30:30:10 - 00:30:31:15

Brandon Harlan

To report it's one.

00:30:31:15 - 00:30:37:07

Brandon Harlan

A picture to Dawn. And I was like, hey, I think we got to test this out. You know?

00:30:37:09 - 00:30:39:10

Brandon Harlan

So, can you imagine.

00:30:39:10 - 00:30:40:10

Joe Reitzug

Seeing that in the summer?

00:30:40:15 - 00:30:42:16

Brandon Harlan

Oh, yeah. Stripper pole is actually.

00:30:42:16 - 00:30:45:08

Joe Reitzug

Securely attached to the ceiling.

00:30:45:10 - 00:30:53:08

Brandon Harlan

I actually did put it in the report. I don't remember what I, I think I took a picture of the room picture, you know.

00:30:53:11 - 00:30:54:21

Joe Reitzug

Oh, my gosh man.

00:30:54:22 - 00:30:55:20

Makayla Mast

Professional.

00:30:55:22 - 00:30:56:12

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:30:56:14 - 00:31:05:11

Brandon Harlan

So and I'm looking around and there's like, you know, there's like those desks with the mirrors that have the lights on them.

00:31:05:13 - 00:31:06:10

Brandon Harlan

That the.

00:31:06:12 - 00:31:08:09

Brandon Harlan

Actors use or whatever.

00:31:08:09 - 00:31:09:23

Joe Reitzug

Like a makeup thing. Yeah.

00:31:10:01 - 00:31:14:15

Brandon Harlan

Makeup thinks there's a couple of those in the room. And so I'm like, oh, he, you.

00:31:14:15 - 00:31:17:10

Brandon Harlan

Know, it's the stripper room here or whatever.

00:31:17:11 - 00:31:27:03

Brandon Harlan

I, I just keep going and I get to a couple other rooms, I get to a closet, and there's like, a closet full of lingerie stuff, and I'm like, oh.

00:31:27:03 - 00:31:28:08

Brandon Harlan

He's probably.

00:31:28:12 - 00:31:39:16

Brandon Harlan

You know, a dancer who lives here or something, whatever, you know? So I just keep going, and then I get to this room and there's like.

00:31:39:18 - 00:31:44:22

Brandon Harlan

Plastic all around the bed.

00:31:45:00 - 00:31:53:16

Brandon Harlan

And like, there's, like TV screens, like green screens and, like, cameras set up all over the place.

00:31:53:18 - 00:31:54:08

Brandon Harlan

00:31:54:10 - 00:31:56:07

Brandon Harlan

Now I'm like, okay, whoa.

00:31:56:09 - 00:31:59:18

Brandon Harlan

What's going on here? Well, so I go back to.

00:31:59:20 - 00:32:05:10

Joe Reitzug

My inspecting, I'm sure as what he's saying, do I do I need to get the jumpsuit on.

00:32:05:12 - 00:32:08:15

Brandon Harlan

Right? So I'm like, okay.

00:32:08:15 - 00:32:24:08

Brandon Harlan

Is that weird going on here before? And so I go back to the other rooms and I'm okay. I'm putting things together now. There's they're doing their some kind of filming every single room in this house. Turns out it's a porn house.

00:32:24:10 - 00:32:35:07

Brandon Harlan

I'm importing all these rooms, but you. Now, I've got to go downstairs and look at these people in the face. You know which bags? You know what? I don't know.

00:32:35:07 - 00:32:38:00

Brandon Harlan

To be excited or freaked out or what? You know.

00:32:38:02 - 00:32:41:08

Joe Reitzug

It begs the question, did the buyers buy it knowing that?

00:32:41:09 - 00:32:43:10

Brandon Harlan

Yeah, it did, they did.

00:32:43:14 - 00:32:44:07

Brandon Harlan

So how did they.

00:32:44:12 - 00:32:56:13

Brandon Harlan

Oh, yeah, and let me tell you that. So they waited outside. The realtor and the buyers, they were all outside like, let's just say that the the conversation at the end was interesting.

00:32:56:15 - 00:32:58:09

Brandon Harlan

Oh my gosh.

00:32:58:09 - 00:33:02:07

Makayla Mast

I can't even imagine how they would market and sell that home. That's crazy.

00:33:02:07 - 00:33:04:18

Brandon Harlan

I don't know, I told.

00:33:04:19 - 00:33:08:12

Brandon Harlan

It was a nice home, but yeah, I don't means it was really just personal things.

00:33:08:12 - 00:33:09:19

Brandon Harlan

You know? Sure, sure.

00:33:09:21 - 00:33:12:05

Joe Reitzug

It was personal. Like, let's just say it was personalized.

00:33:12:05 - 00:33:23:17

Brandon Harlan

From there, it was for sure. So yeah, I get down and when I'm all done and, I know I played it off pretty well for being being professional, you.

00:33:23:17 - 00:33:26:06

Brandon Harlan

Know, but,

00:33:26:08 - 00:33:27:11

Joe Reitzug

You always do brand.

00:33:27:11 - 00:33:29:11

Brandon Harlan

And I try to, you know.

00:33:29:13 - 00:33:32:12

Makayla Mast

That's a good one. That is. How long ago was that?

00:33:32:16 - 00:33:36:21

Brandon Harlan

Oh, that was that was probably three years ago. I know of 3 or 4 years ago. Something like that.

00:33:37:02 - 00:33:37:12

Brandon Harlan

Wow.

00:33:37:12 - 00:33:43:11

Brandon Harlan

From the first question they asked me was, well, is there anything major going on? I said, well.

00:33:43:13 - 00:33:46:23

Brandon Harlan

There's a stripper pole in the bedroom.

00:33:47:01 - 00:33:48:13

Joe Reitzug

Which they'd probably already seen.

00:33:48:13 - 00:33:51:01

Brandon Harlan

I probably, yeah, probably.

00:33:51:02 - 00:33:52:06

Brandon Harlan

So I didn't.

00:33:52:07 - 00:33:53:02

Joe Reitzug

That's that's.

00:33:53:02 - 00:33:55:21

Brandon Harlan

Funny. Yeah. The eye opener.

00:33:55:23 - 00:33:56:14

Brandon Harlan

You know.

00:33:56:16 - 00:34:01:17

Joe Reitzug

The things that you see in our industry or sometimes very can be jaw dropping.

00:34:01:19 - 00:34:02:12

Brandon Harlan

Yeah.

00:34:02:13 - 00:34:03:05

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00:34:03:07 - 00:34:04:10

Brandon Harlan

Interesting stuff.

00:34:04:12 - 00:34:06:15

Makayla Mast

That's why we like to talk about it on our podcast.

00:34:06:16 - 00:34:32:19

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. That's why we talk about it. Brandon, thank you so much. And I just want to reiterate again your absolute favorite for your professionalism, your knowledge, and just the way that you take care of the entire process. The other thing is you turn around your reports faster than anyone I know, and it's almost faster. Like I'll get home.

00:34:32:21 - 00:34:48:02

Joe Reitzug

And sometimes in my email, I've got this inspection report sitting there and I know it takes a lot of work, but you do a fantastic job and, we just can't recommend you highly enough. And we really, really appreciate you taking the time to do this so well.

00:34:48:02 - 00:34:51:15

Brandon Harlan

Thanks, guys. And, you know, it takes teamwork to make the dream work.

00:34:51:15 - 00:34:53:06

Brandon Harlan

So I'm feeling.

00:34:53:08 - 00:34:54:06

Brandon Harlan

Very much.

00:34:54:08 - 00:34:57:00

Joe Reitzug

Awesome. Thank you so much.

00:34:57:02 - 00:35:11:01

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Anybody that wants to schedule an inspection, you can call me at 5038817031. You can check out our website at OregonNWhomes.com or email is OregonNWhomes@gmail.com.

00:35:11:03 - 00:35:25:12

Joe Reitzug

And we'll have all that information in the show notes. If you want to visit live Portland uh.com and go to our podcast. The show notes for this will have all that information there. And, give us the website one more time. Brandon.

00:35:25:17 - 00:35:30:03

Brandon Harlan

It's OregonNWhomes.com. So two ends.

00:35:30:05 - 00:35:32:11

Joe Reitzug

At a perfect.

00:35:32:13 - 00:35:35:23

Makayla Mast

Thank you so much. I hope people find this useful. Let us know.

00:35:36:00 - 00:35:38:00

Joe Reitzug

Yeah it was fun. Thank you. Thank you.

00:35:38:00 - 00:35:39:02

Brandon Harlan

Very. Yeah.

00:35:39:02 - 00:35:41:08

Joe Reitzug

Of course. Thank you for, spending the time.

00:35:41:10 - 00:35:43:07

Brandon Harlan

Yeah. Okay.

00:35:43:07 - 00:35:44:01

Makayla Mast

Bye, Brandon.

00:35:44:05 - 00:35:47:18

Joe Reitzug

Bye, Brandon. Until next time, folks.

00:35:47:20 - 00:38:48:14

Makayla Mast

Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the LivPortland team, you can go to live portland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.