Structure Talk

In this episode, the team talks about how important it is to maintain a wood-burning fireplace. This topic was brought up because Bill’s neighbor is dealing with a $20k chimney rebuild. The show starts with Reuben explaining the structure of chimneys. He then answers some questions:                     What involves a fireplace from the place you put the logs all the way up to where the smoke leav...

A special guest, Yvonne, joins the show to talk about her experience with failed stone veneer siding throughout a townhome development in the Twin Cities metro area. These are some real concerns that are going to cost people a lot of money Yvonne talks about how she started suspecting that there was a problem in their townhome. A problem that started from one of the units’ conditions that might be...

A residential Realtor® at Lakes Sotheby’s International Realty, Michael Bartus joins the show to talk about negotiations after the inspection and how to negotiate other real estate transactions. The focus of this show was to pick up on where last week’s show left off, talking about a document that Reuben put together titled Negotiations After The Inspection . The show starts with Michael sharing h...

Structure Talk talks about the dreaded C-Word, Code. Should home inspectors even mention code? The gang also discusses some specific questions:           How do you feel about code as it relates to buying a house?           Why should home inspectors be very familiar with building codes?           ASHI says that home inspectors should report on significantly deficient stuff, how would you define t...

One of Structure Tech’s very own inspectors, Eric Houseman, joins the show to talk about the major changes the company has made since Covid-19 took effect back in March. The show starts off doing a deep dive into where the company came from, then covers the following topics: Process: Why Structure Tech started out as a be-with-us-every-minute-of-the-way inspection company. What happened in March o...

Third-generation owner of Northland Water , Brady Androff, joins the show to talk Minneapolis vs. Saint Paul water and to discuss commonly asked questions about water conditioning. The show starts off with Brady explaining about his company and its background. He then answers some specific questions: Why do we use salt and other things to treat water? What does a water softener do? A water softene...

John Williamson, Operations Supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, joins Structure Talk to do a deep dive in electricity. The gang covers the following topics, among other things: Is it legal for home inspectors to remove electrical panel covers? What would be the best course of action if I opened a Federal Pacific electric panel and then I got a handful of circuit breaker...

Tessa explains the basics of building science, touching on many components that overlap with home inspections. These topics include: Airflow and the H.A.M. sandwich (heat, airflow, and moisture) Occupant loads and the effect on buildings Blower door testing Old house vs. new house performance (energy vs durability) The importance of different trades communicating with each other Water management T...

Building official Andy Schreder with Rum River Construction Consultants joins the show for a live Q&A session via Facebook Live. There's some great discussion of commonly asked questions, along with some very interesting insight from Andy about why building officials don't always enforce code requirements. The topics include: Permits required for kitchen remodels. Electrical? Plumbin...

Steve Kuhl with Kuhl's Contracting returns to the show to share some insider dirt on insurance restoration, insurance claims, which insurance companies "pay out" and which ones don't, and gives us a behind-the-scenes look into the world of insurance fraud.  Steve is passionate and opinionated about all of this stuff, and it's a treat to listen to all of his insider informa...

Special guest Tim Molgren with The Woodlands Financial Group joins the show to share some fresh insights into the world of homeowners insurance, hail damage, and insurance claims. Homeowners insurance costs have risen at an unprecendented rate here in the Midwest, and garbage hail-damage claims are at the root of this problem. Insurance companies are beginning to fight back against this, and they’...

Our very own Lisa Ferrario joins the show to discuss the evolution of home inspections, scheduling, and all things related.

To follow up on our podcast from several weeks about building permits, we invited building official Andy Schreder with Rum River Construction Consultants onto the show to discuss everything we may have been wrong about in our previous episode. Either we got most of it right or Andy was really nice because we didn’t discuss much from the previous episode. Andy did offer some very interesting insigh...

Twenty-five-year real estate veteran Rhonda Wilson joins the show a second time to discuss pre-listing inspections. Rhonda has been encouraging her sellers to get pre-listing inspections for the past decade, and she has become quite accustomed to having her listings sell faster and with far fewer hassles than most other real estate agents are accustomed to. She explains how frustrating it is to ha...

Experienced real estate agent Rhona Wilson joins the show to help the gang have a good conversation about allowable real estate terms. The idea for the show came up while having an internal company conversation about the term “master bedroom”, and whether or not that term should be abandoned in favor of a more PC term. Rhonda talks about fair housing law, explaining a lot of terms and photos that...

Reuben begins the show talking about how Structure Tech has started a TikTok account , and nearly puts Bill to sleep. At the time, we hadn’t yet made a TikTok, but we’ve made one since.  The conversation quickly turns to the main topic of the show, and the gang spends the rest of the show discussing all things related to building permits. Are they worth it? Do we all pull permits at our own houses...

Bill, Tessa, and a Reuben are back together in the studio to discuss what successful homeowner looks like. It’s all about running your household like a business. Everything shares how they budget for major items in their home, and what types of items should be budgeted for on a regular basis. Reuben waxes on the book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz and explains how he and his wife have furthered...

James Thomas joins the show to talk about all things related to home inspections. The show starts off with James touching on the origins of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), and how he ended up in his current position. The conversation shifts to education and training for home inspectors, and James talks about some recent changes to The ASHI School. James also talks about increasing...

For this episode, the gang gets down and dirty discussing disgusting doozies discovered during home inspections. Most of the grossest stuff is related to people and animals, but that's not all. Don't listen to this episode while eating.

The gang discusses hard-to-find home inspection discoveries, which they call Easter Eggs. Reuben talks about a recent inspection that he did, and shares some of the finds from that inspection. One of those was a blocked toe-kick register below the kitchen sink, pictured here . Reuben also discusses finding a hot dimmer switch that controlled a 900-watt chandelier. The conversation turns to furnace...

The gang discusses a timeline of home inspection defects or issues that might come up, based on when the home was built. Reuben shared this timeline on the Structure Tech blog and on the Structure Tech YouTube channel, but we thought it would be fun to discuss these issues during a podcast to help explain some of them a little bit more in-depth.

Bill opens the podcast talking about a terrifying fire that happened across the hallway in his mother-in-law's condo high-rise building, and about the damage caused by smoke and water. The gang discusses the possibility of an FPE Stab-Lok panel causing the fire, and Reuben goes on to discuss the disproportionate number of condo buildings with FPE panels when compared to single-family homes. T...

Bill, Tessa, and Reuben start the show discussing a few minor corrections to the podcast from two weeks ago on air conditioners. Next, they discuss the new standards for home inspection attendance and safety for home inspections. Reuben also mentions a facemask that most Structure Tech home inspectors are wearing, which can currently be found here .

For this podcast episode, Reuben does a one-on-one interview with Structure Tech's business coach, Dr. Stephen Crawford. Dr. Crawford has been conducting weekly team huddles for his coaching clients every Friday morning, and he conducted a special meeting on May 29th to focus on George Floyd, protests, riots, racism, and advice to business owners. Dr. Crawford shares his insight for this podc...

Bill, Tessa and Reuben discuss how air conditioners function, why it's extremely unusual to have an undersized air conditioner, and the end of R-22 refrigerant. Older air conditioners that contain R-22 refrigerant are typically going to be cost-prohibitive to service, but it's not illegal to do so. We also mention a video compilation we assembled showing 60 home inspection defects in 3 m...