By Kate Merrihew – Director of Education and Marketing
This month, Mark Caffiers taught his Understanding Home Inspections (and how to present to your client) to over 200 people on ZOOM. He has committed to teaching to agents across Georgia once a month to spread the word about utilizing inspections to make informed listing choices and to ask better questions when getting to know a property. I thought it was a great time to learn a little more about Mark and how he came to be the Director of Inspections at D.S. Murphy.
Mark Caffiers grew up in Rochester, New York with 2 sisters (1 older, 1 younger). Mark commented that his family had a “short United States history.” Many of his family members came from Nova Scotia / Cape Breton Island area. When trying to determine the origin of the name “Caffiers,” his sisters research found a family from Italy who moved to France to work for Louis XV in the 1700’s as the royal sculptors, the “Caffieri” are likely to be his ancestors. He was extremely close to his family growing up. He remembers spending much of his youth working on houses with his father. His father was a mechanical and electrical engineer. When Mark was a kid, he almost moved to Japan because his father was being transferred. They had sold the house and pulled him out of school but it didn’t end of working out and they found themselves settled in Brighton. Brighton is where he met many of his longtime friends and had a close community. In his senior year, Mark shattered his femur in a skiing accident and spent a month in the hospital. He caught a patch of ice heading towards a wooded area at 35mph. He had enough credits to finish high school without the final semester. Mark attended the University of Buffalo where he studied engineering and computer programming and this was where he first met Scott Murphy.
During his time in NY he started his first career in the food and beverage industry which turned from a side job during school to a fulltime career for 20 years. Mark worked in freestanding restaurants, hotels and resorts as a head waiter, banquet / restaurant manager and food and beverage director. He was a head waiter at a revolving restaurant “The Changing Scene” where he cooked tableside. These jobs took him to many different states including Vermont at Mount Snow and Mammoth Mountain in California as the food and beverage director. While in California, he suffered an injury that ended many of his outdoor pursuits and brought him back home to Rochester to seek out the next career stage. While recovering and interviewing in the hospitality industry he picked up his tools, did a few side jobs remodeling kitchens, bathrooms and renovation work and accidentally started a second career. He obtained a business license, insurance and was off and running. A career in construction was before him and he didn’t look back.
Mark Caffiers’ direction has always been dictated by work. Where there was work, Mark would travel and commit. He has lived in New York, Vermont, Texas, Florida, California and Georgia. In high school, Mark’s varsity soccer coach came looking for him on day 1 of Junior year because he had not been at summer practices, Coach Mepham was not happy. Unbeknownst to the coach, Mark needed to work to make money for school instead of continuing to play for the team.
Scott had known Mark since U of B and knew he was doing contract work. They worked together on some construction projects and Scott had an idea. What if the DSM clients that were ordering pre-listing appraisals to learn about their property valuation could also order a pre-listing inspection to inform their sale? He called Mark, who happened to be working at a table saw during a NY blizzard, and asked him to close up shop and move to Georgia. Mark recalled that his reaction was, “I don’t know why you’re calling, but get me out of here!” In May of 2017, he came to Georgia to lead the Inspections division at D.S. Murphy. When not in the Suwannee office or picking up a radon test, he can be found golfing, skiing, mountain biking or kayaking.
I asked Mark the following questions…
Q: What made you want to be an inspector?
A: Actually, contracting beats you up – there was always a point when I would need to transition and do something different. Quite honestly, I had worked side by side as a contractor with inspectors and I knew a couple guys in the business, so I knew what it was about. As a contractor, you have to sell it, design it , do it and bill it so inspecting is easier on the body but you still have to know your stuff. Contracting is physically demanding, and you can only do that for so long at a high pace.
Q: What would you like to do when you are no longer inspecting?
A: I don’t really have a 4th career path lined up. At this point, investing in real estate and designing is more appealing. I would buy a Sprinter van and hit the National Parks while I still have what’s left of my broken body. I can’t see retirement going to some community – I’d rather run around and be active.
Q: What the weirdest thing you have come across when doing inspections?
A: There’s always sellers or re-habbers trying to slip one by you – in this particular scenario from the ground, the roof looked great. Drone went over and it looked splotchy. I got over the gutter and there was a spray can in the gutter and they had literally spray painted the roof on its last legs with the rubber spray that you see on late night infomercials. They were making it look like it wasn’t at the end of it’s life.
Q: Something no one knows about you?
A: Ma Mere Caffiers – Great Grandmother on my father’s side was a rum-runner. Ran a store in Nova Scotia during prohibition – she would import alcohol from Europe by boat.
Q: What words of wisdom can you share with the team?
A: Don’t underestimate anyone. One time in the restaurant industry, there was an unhoused woman that came in for lunch and it looked like she was carrying all her worldly possessions in a beat up blue suitcase, turned out she was a millionaire and the suitcase was full of money! Don’t judge a book by its cover. I learned this lesson very young.