What is the purpose of describing the method used to inspect a component?

A finding is only as strong as the method behind it, and stating the method lets the reader calibrate. 'Roof viewed from the ground with binoculars' and 'roof walked' support very different levels of confidence about the same covering, and a client who knows which one applies can decide whether to seek a closer look. The same holds for an attic viewed from the hatch versus traversed, or a furnace observed operating versus not run because utilities were off. Describing method also documents the limitation honestly without turning the report into a disclaimer, and it protects the inspector, since a later dispute about something not visible from the stated vantage point is answered by the report itself. The alternatives misread the purpose entirely: it is not filler, not billing, and it does not shift responsibility to anyone.

Stating the method tells the reader what the observation is based on, so they can judge how much confidence it supports and whether a closer examination is warranted.

Standards require inspectors to report the method used to inspect certain components, particularly roofs and attics, because the vantage point materially affects what can be observed and therefore what the finding supports.

Say How You Looked. From the ground, from the hatch, or walked on — the same words about the roof mean different things depending which it was.

Roof and attic method statements are the ones most often required and most often tested. Know that both belong in the report.

• •Recording the method without saying what it limited
• •Treating method statements as boilerplate
• •Believing a stated method shifts responsibility to the client