Business is really about community, interacting with those around you and filling gaps of need. Networking is finding those in your same community and those operating in similar spheres. One of the most stressful parts of moving is finding and building that same network of people you trust around you again. What doctors do you use? Which auto mechanics and HVAC professionals can you trust? What are the requirements for just living and existing in the new space that you’re in?
This is especially true when it comes to buying a home in an area that is new to you. Every locality has specific “issues” that affect homes and building structures that if you’re not from the area, you won’t know what to watch out for. This is especially true in Houston where mold, flood damage, and foundation issues can cause expensive repairs for buyers who are unaware. When we moved to Kingwood in 2002, black mold was a serious issue — there was a house on our street that stood gutted for years because of it.
This is where Clint Simon of Sherlock Spec Home Inspections comes in.
Meet Clint Simon: 27 Years of Houston Home Inspections
I first met Clint in 2002 when my then-husband and I bought our first home in Kingwood, Texas. Clint with Sherlock Spec was referred to us by our Realtor, Dawn Bajalieh, and this is a story of “who knows who you know.” Back in 2002, there weren’t many individual Realtors that had a website, but Dawn had one and it enabled me to get a little bit of a feel for who she was. The site did not begin to convey the fullness of her personality, but it gave enough that I called her.
Clint was on Dawn’s list of referred home inspectors. Clint did not have a website at the time, but his personality, warm and friendly, did come through in that first phone call and he is the inspector we chose to inspect the home we placed a contract on.
Why Trusted Local Home Inspectors Matter (Especially in Houston)
I moved to Texas after living in Oregon all of my life and after selling real estate for eight years in Oregon. I was the owner-builder on my home in Oregon, and I had worked in appraisal and as a primary agent for developments. I knew issues to look out for in homes in Oregon. I had my group of trusted vendors and contractors in Oregon. Texas was an entirely different ball game.
Texas homes are built on concrete slabs. The builders’ lobby has such a control over Austin that they’ve manipulated building codes so they can PUT WATER HEATERS IN ATTICS (I am not joking). The home we purchased was built in the late 70’s during the Houston development boom … and it showed. It was obvious there was a lack of attention and oversight in a number of areas[1] during construction.[2]
Here I was, half a country away from everything I had known, in a state where they did things very differently. But Clint walked us through everything. He told us what needed to be fixed immediately, what were possible upcoming issues, and things that we should do for maintenance on an on-going basis.
The home inspection report from Sherlock Spec gave us peace of mind about the decision we were making as well as provided a resource to maintain the home in the future.
A Website Built to Match a Trusted Brand
When I started my business, Legacy Marketing Services, Clint — along with Dawn — was one of my first clients.[3] It was a table-based site, designed and sliced up in Photoshop … but with php includes y’all. It was cutting edge.
This is the thing about small businesses, life happens and that affects your work. Clint has been through as much as or more than anyone. He fell off a roof during an inspection and almost died. But he worked through a recovery and went back out and did the same thing he had been doing and is good at … inspecting homes and giving home buyers peace of mind. Serving clients in this way, getting into the nitty-gritty of the details of the structure where people will live the majority of their lives, raise their families, celebrate life’s victories and grieve the losses, is part of who Clint is. It’s not just a job or a way to pay the bills, it is how he walks through life and experiences it. A near-death experience wasn’t going to change that.
After he walked through his recovery, we rebooted his site in 2018, same logo, but with a different theme based on WordPress, Divi, and using Square scheduling for appointments. And that had been in place until 2026.
When Your Website Doesn’t Match Your Brand: A Case Study
Clint has been one of the people I’ve kept in contact with over the past 20 years. He’s someone who knows people and invests in the community. He was one of the first people I hit up when we launched Picnic on the Park in 2004 and I was looking for sponsors.[4]
Clint still sponsors events in the community and as I was seeing some of the promotional posts for his sponsored events coming across my feed, I was thinking, “This doesn’t match his brand. He needs a social media starter kit that the people he’s sponsoring can use.”
A Brand That Tells Your Story
A brand identity done right becomes part of your story — recognizable, consistent, and built to last. We’ve been creating them for small businesses since 2003.
Y’all. He changed his brand colors. It was his website that didn’t match his brand anymore. This is an illustration that it was I who had dropped the ball in communicating with my own clients. What can I say? I was trying to help Afghan Christians escape the Taliban.[5] After a conversation, I realized what was actually needed was for his website to match his new brand. So we updated his site.
From Divi to Native WordPress Blocks: A Security-First Redesign
I’ve been developing websites since 2003 … actually, before that. My very first website was in 1996 that I built with AOLPress. But since I discovered CMS systems (OSCommerce, Mambo, Joomla, etc.), I’ve been somewhat of an extension junkie. There are so many community developed plugins and addons, and I like to try them all. My personal websites have reflected this.
But with the explosion of hack attempts[6] and AI-fueled exploitation of plugin vulnerabilities in the past couple of years, I’ve done a 180 on how I handle my own sites, as well as for clients. I’m staying away from page builders and only going with plugins that are absolutely necessary. Not only do those page builders result in increased load times, but they are an additional attack vector. Frankly, from my own experience managing sites on Divi, the entire ecosystem has become a significant security liability.[7] The plugin dependencies alone create multiple attack vectors that simply aren’t worth the risk for a small business.[8] If the builders and plugins aren’t absolutely necessary, why open your business up to that risk?
So we got rid of Divi, the new design for Sherlock Spec is a native WordPress blocks based theme. We also got rid of Square. Clint confirms every appointment personally and the Square appointment option was actually causing conflicts in his schedule.
Which illustrates the point that technology should serve the user.
If it doesn’t actually provide a benefit, get rid of it.
We’re discussing a Proton calendar,* but we’ll see if that fits his workflow.
Evolving Business to Meet Customer Needs
Sherlock Spec Home Inspections inspects homes and provides buyers and homeowners peace of mind. What Clint does, the end result, has not changed since he started his business in 1999. But how Clint communicates with clients and the tools he uses to provide that end result — the peace of mind — has changed over the past 27 years.
He’s not up on every roof any more, he uses drones which can inspect in a finer detail than he can himself. He still checks in panels and attic spaces, but he’s also now using thermal imaging to find potential problems in concealed spaces.[9] Thermal imaging detects moisture, energy loss from HVAC leaks and insulation gaps, and electrical hotspots that can cause electrical hazards. Thermal imaging is not required by the state of Texas for home inspections, but Clint includes it in Sherlock Spec Home Inspections to provide the most thorough report possible.[10]
Clint is still showing up at and sponsoring community events, but he also has a Facebook group where he shares home tips with community members.
Clint is an excellent example of growing with the times, but maintaining that one-on-one connection. Now his website is a better reflection of that.
Finding people you trust in a new community is hard. Finding people you trust and have trusted for over two decades is rare. That’s what Clint is for a lot of people in the Houston area — and now his website says so.
This is what we do: promote good people doing good work.
Twenty Years of Websites That Work
We’ve been building websites for small businesses since 2003 — back when we had to convince people they needed one. Now we build sites that turn online searches into offline customers.
* The link to Proton is an affiliate link. If you purchase something after visiting the site through that link, I will receive a small commission. If you would like to know how I use Proton in my business and for my media, please contact me and we can chat.
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