As a small boy, I remember spending a lot of time looking at the Montgomery Ward mail-order catalog.  The catalogs then were more complete than they are now, with a whole section dealing with house parts. I was fascinated with home construction.  I would look at the windows, doors, etc.; cut the pictures out, and glue them onto a paper home. At an early age, I guess I developed an interest in construction.    
During high school, I spent my summers on a forest lookout or as station fireguard.  Later I did a stint as a U. S Forest Service Smoke Jumper, parachuting into forests to fight fires. A number of my friends went on with the Green Berets or with “a government agency” in SE Asia. 
 
When I enlisted in the service, I served with U.S. Army Intelligence as an image analyst. I studied trigonometry, oblique geometrics, and calculus. I also studied roof and building construction, and other man made structures to see how they might tie in with the area of interest.  I served a tour overseas spending hours bent over various types of images looking for “bad guys”   I was selected to be attached to the to the Air Force as a part of small, high speed interpretation NATO team.  I loved finding things that might otherwise be overlooked. Was this preparation for inspecting homes and commercial buildings or not?
 After being discharged from the military, I got married to the homecoming queen and used my GI bill for college.  I accepted an undergraduate degree at the University of Montana in Finance, which is a research-oriented degree. 
After graduation, I started a real estate company, an affiliated construction business and a title company.  Life was good, but I chose to leave it and move to Portland to do graduate work in Biblical studies.  Again, trained to look for material related to the issues in question, and to see if they tied together.  The study was difficult; an overview of four years of study compressed into one. Very difficult with three kids and a wife in school.    
 
After graduation, I did a year with a non-profit working with children in the low-income apartment complexes.  The work was rewarding but as I said, it was non-profit, mostly for me. I learned an important concept that later was to shape my business.  Helping people is the most rewarding thing I found I could do, but I needed to support my family.
 
I returned to the familiar territory of construction, and became licensed as a general contractor in both Oregon and Washington but was not happy with it.   My wife directed my attention to the inspection industry, which was brand new then. I became intrigued with the concept and began to research wood destroying insects, structure, and different kinds of rot, mold, and various forms of construction.   I loved the research and I began inspecting for my client-friends. 
At the end of about 19 years in the inspection business, I have found that I love it more now than when I first started.  It is so rewarding to be able to find issues that would cause my clients mental and financial headaches if they were missed.  Before I arrive at each inspection, I try to prepare mentally to do this inspection as if for a brother, sister, or kid of mine. With that mindset, you do not do the inspection as fast as you can so that you can go fishing; or scratch out a quick hand written report, or “smooth out” the report so that the deal will go together for the agent.  I want to give my client the most detailed information I can about the defects so that they can make an intelligent decision as to how they want to proceed.  
I know that I am on the right track based upon the positive comments and the number of referrals I receive. I am looking forward to the next ten years with anticipation of carrying with what has already begun.
 By the way, I am still married to the homecoming queen.