100 day inspection coverage

General Inspection Topics General Inspection Discussion
21

I changed it to read that my company will provide 100 day coverage with any residential inspection.

I am trying to understand this comment, I do not perform HVAC service work but I do perform a though inspection of the furnace, cooling, plumbing and electrical of every home I inspect. I use all my skills and equipment, Since looking at the flame really does not tell you a whole lot, there are several simple tests to tell you how efficient the furnace is burning and if there is cracked heat exchanger.

I may be at the home 3-4 hours some times up to 6, but when I leave I know that home from top to bottom and from side to side.I hope you are not one of them 1 hour inspectors.

I see that you are BPI certified, so you learned how to a least check the combustion of fuel burning appliances, do you not check this during your home inspections for the sfaty of the occupants or is this an extra fee add on.

There is more to the home than a roof and 4 walls and I hope that if the roof is bad enough to require $5000 in repairs I don’t leave my glasses at home. If I miss some thing like that I would deserve to pay the $5000

22

My diagnostic home performance analysistakes 6 to 8 hours to perform and it is designed to reflect how a home will perform in its present condition and with my recommended upgrades. My home inspection is about 2.5 hours and reflects what the home looked like at the moment that I observed it. I conduct my home inspection for around $300in accordance with the NACHI SOP (which excludes almost everything you are doing with a furnace) and *(http://www.missouricertifiedenergy.com/page2.php)0 in accordance with BPI protocol.

What you are providing is definitely not a home inspection as is described by any industry standard and more closely resembles a “clean and tune” service call which will usually include an examination of the heat exchanger and combustion analysis. While a combustion analysis is standard with a diagnostic home performance analysis, it is not a part of a home inspection. Service calls in my area run around $100, so if you are getting paid more than that to provide them … more power to you, but you should be charging far more than you do if you are including this as a part of a home inspection. Particularly if you are providing a warranty on the equipment.

Best of luck.*

23

Dale advises:

Good advice. And I like the word “was” also.

24

Well whatever I guess I am providing additional services I should be charging for but oh well.

Now lets get to my question that no one seems to be answering; Will this coverage cover what is says or is it BS like several inspectors have hinted to. I do not want an opinion I want facts that no one is willing to give.

I have 6 inspections coming up in the next 7 days and if I am wasting my money I want to know. I can save $96 by dropping the coverage on these inspections, but if it is as good as it looks the benefit will be far greater to keep providing it.

25

Do you carry E&O? I have $500,000 for a lot less than what you pay a week for a warranty that you are questioning us about.

26

I’ll be frank, don’t shoot the messenger: Your flier is so atrocious that it doesn’t matter. It may even be un-selling your services.

Get Jesse to make you new one: www.nachi.org/marketing-library.htm

And remember… no consumer analyzes this stuff to the level you and other inspectors are doing. The 100-day warranty thing should not be the lead point… the way you are using it. It should be used on the side (something that catches the consumer’s eye only after you have caught the consumer’s attention). It should help support their decision to hire you… and not be the reason to hire you.

27

Seems simply stating “your money back” if not satisfied at end of the Inspection would do the trick and be much safer.

Just remember gimmicks may help pull in one segment and push away another.
Which segment are you trying to attract?

28

True I see what you are getting at I will leave it as I have it on my web site and scrap the idea. I promote myself long before they scroll down far enough to see it. I am sure only a few go that far down on the page before checking the rest of the site out. YES I built the site myself with no help so I am proud of it.
The corny videos suck but people keep giving me great feedback on them so I leave them.

tristatehomeinspections.org

My company gets found easy as it is, but I get carried away once in awhile and want people to only see my name and services. I just keep thinking of new marketing ideas, I should sit back and relax once in awhile instead of working all the time.

29

It is really designed to help support a consumer’s decision to hire you and so you shouldn’t lead with it.

An example of something you could lead with (something that causes the consumer to choose you) would be “Certified Master Inspector.”

See (or maybe I should ask “feel”) the difference?

30

It might cover what it “says”, but not what you hope it will.

31

The program runs flush financially (year after year), so it is neither a rip-off, nor a sweet deal (you are getting what you are paying for).

What tips the scale (in its favor) is when you use it for marketing purposes to help support a consumer’s decision to hire you.

32

Just a thought for discussion. Could offering this warranty circumvent your E/O insurance or the purpose for having it? Better yet, could it be conceived as that way? In NJ we are not permitted to limit our liability due to the states E/O requirement. Could the 1,000.00 limit of this coverage be seen this way? I currently give the coverage away, but may stop.

33

Thanks for the info LeRoy but I don’t think anyone could do this in the northeast corridor.
But just fot the heck of it…what if the compressor fails in two months? What if a nasty, hidden mold problem shows up? What about a structural defect that you couldn’t see? Is the coverage subjective?

34

No, it isn’t.

If you are primarily doing this for coverage… you’ve missed the point of it.

35

I use a similar product to circumvent complaints and to improve customer satisfaction. I prefer the warranty company to spend time on why a sewer line full of roots is not the home inspector’s responsibility then me. They seem to believe the third party better.

36

And how much did you charge for the Initial Inspection…?
What you will pay out in a claim…
is relative to what you collect…
and the number of Inspections each year…

37

exactly…

38

When you take your car to a mechanic
and something breaks (power window, power lock, heater hose, belt, etc…)
a week or 2 later
is it his fault?

Is it reasonable for a Car Owner to expect a Mechanic
to be responsible for all future repair needs of a vehicle
from a single service?
??