Yes!

“KAAAAAAAARL, WHAT DID YOU DO?”

I’m posting here enough now (lol, twice, but I intend to keep em coming as a certified child of the aughts) that I should probably volunteer to mod, if you need another. 😁

This is a great tip!

I’ve never dealt with it on my own home, fortunately, but I used to work in real estate purchase/sale/title litigation and the amount of fly-by-night “inspectors” that would plague my clients with this garbage is truly shocking. I always recommend that home buyers hire a structural engineer, a plumber, and an electrician, plus other experts on a case-by-case basis, not a home inspector (or other types of rando inspectors), for their pre-purchase due diligence. Yes, it is absolutely more expensive up front than a home inspector, but it’s also WAY cheaper than buying a house with serious, possibly irreparable, structural issues that you don’t find out about until 2 years after closing.

The worst, though, were the tree removal “experts.” A huge number of them didn’t seem to care whether the house was still standing after they removed the tree that fell on it, and I ran across more than a few that had some truly questionable billing practices, if not outright fraudulent. I’m sure there are plenty of good ones out there, but boy it didn’t feel like it.

Good on you, OP, for doing the right thing for you and your home! I hope you have many happy and structurally sound years in it!

Honest question from someone ignorant on this topic – what do you recommend for a search engine other than Google?

See if I ever teach him anything else.

Right?! I brought this mess on myself and I’ll be damned if I make that mistake agai-- I should teach the cat to use his paws to open doors, that would be so cute!

I will relay this comment to him: he’s a total ham and very much enjoys people fawning over him.

Oh he knows he’s adorable, too. That’s his whole game. Don’t have to have two braincells to rub together if you’re super cute. 😅

Always, every time. He’s the prince of this household, and the worst part is he knows it. 😅

Sometimes I wish my Orange would do this. He doesn’t accept a lack of attention; just fundamentally refuses it. No, no. He creates the attention he desires by yelling at me and waving his silly little ginger paw in my face (I once taught him how to high five and now that’s his protocol for getting what he wants). And I’m a fucking simp for this ridiculous orange so it works and I carry him around like a baby, just like he wants.

Their tadpoles are low key kinda adorable, ngl.