Bryck Guibor on Knowing What Buyers Want

You’ll usually find Bryck Guibor in a cowboy hat. It’s become sort of a staple, he said—so much so he joked that some folks don’t recognize him without it. But Guibor needs that hat to protect him from the Arizona sun when he’s out in the field on a long day. In the morning there’s a good chance he’s out on an inspection, in the afternoon he could be working at Indian Health Services, teaching a block-laying course, answering any number of calls, or working with one of the other seven on staff at Brick by Bryck Home and Building Inspections. The 2021 Philip C. Monahon Award recipient stays busy in and around Tucson, where his business has been based for more than 40 years.

Guibor said he’s stayed in the business for more than four decades because of the people. Well, most of the people, he laughed. “I enjoy it, and I meet a lot of people. It’s those shared experiences,” he said.

Guibor has trained hundreds of inspectors, traveled to speak to countless ASHI chapters, mentored new inspectors, volunteered his time, and spoken at ASHI InspectionWorld, among other duties. He said the industry has most certainly changed in his time as an inspector—from pen and paper to electronic reports and jpegs—but at the end of the day, it’s still enjoyable. “If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’ be doing it,” he said.
But it’s not just the onslaught of emails and websites that have changed the game.

Homebuyers are a lot more educated, too. Guibor said today’s inspectors have to stay informed—because if their buyers have a question they can’t answer, they’ll find someone else who can answer.

“Buyers have more resources to find out what they want to know, so when they ask you a question, if you can’t answer it, they can find the answer on the internet. People show up prepared, they ask questions, they interview. You have to grow with the industry, and many inspectors don’t. They say it’s my way or the highway, and then buyers will just hire someone else.”

Guibor will tell any new inspectors who ask—you have to focus your inspection on what the buyer wants, not what you think they want. “What does the buyer want in an inspection?” he said. He said they probably don’t want a book full of warranties, and they don’t need to know how everything works; they just need to know if it works. “They just want to know what’s wrong with the house, and what maintenance issues will they have in the future?” he said.

Guibor said it’s tough being a young or inexperienced home inspector out in the field today, and that’s part of what makes mentorship so important. In Arizona, he said home inspectors must do 30 parallels with another inspector to get their license. “You ride along with another inspector and learn the trade.”

While the housing market right now is booming, some people are forgoing inspections in an effort to win houses faster. If homeowners skip the inspection, then you have to think about who else may want one, Guibor said. “Who else needs an inspection? Lawyers, estate planning, maybe Grandma’s house is in bad shape.” He said all those areas and more are places where people can benefit from an inspection. “Estate planning—down the line, if you’re going to give your house to one of your kids, we do a lot of those inspections,” he said.

He said making it in the business can be tough. Not only do you have to be persistent, pleasant, and have the gift of gab to make it in this industry; he said it’s also important to diversify. “You have to reinvent yourself continually,” he said. At Brick by Bryck, they recently opened a new division called Sewer Scope Specialists when they saw a need in the industry. Other inspectors have added radon specialists or pool inspections to their services. “You have to grow with the industry and decide: What does the buyer want?”

Learn more at brickbybryck.com.

Bryck Guibor has inspected thousands of homes in his career. He’s been the face of Arizona ASHI for more than 30 years and was a Charter Member of the chapter. He won the 2021 Philip C. Monahon Award as well as the 2020 Ironman Award, and he has been a Subject Matter Expert for test questions on the National Home Inspector’s Exam and for the State of Ohio Continuing Education program. Bryck is also the author of the HIT manual for home inspector training.