I won’t touch four-point & wind mitigation inspections at that pricing of $75 or even come close to it. A four-point alone is at least 50% or so of a full home inspection - Think about it - roof inspection/photos, plumbing inspection/photos, electrical inspection/photos, dwelling/photos, HVAC/Heating/Photos. That pricing plays directly into the many conversations about these low ballers competing on price. Honestly, I don’t get how people can stay in business at those prices - It doesn’t even cover your travel, vehicle wear and tear, equipment utilization, software costs. At those prices, I would presume these are the retirees looking for something to do which many have mentioned in previous threads.
With a full home inspection, we offer 4-point at $125 and wind mitigation at $89 if purchased as a package. If purchased without a home inspection, we try to get a $250 minimum though we have made our share of exceptions for agents and insurance brokers who provide us a lot of business. If it’s a client calling out of the blue we have never done business with who is price shopping, we do our best to sell our value, but if they just won’t have it we move on and let them go to the low ballers.
If used correctly, four-point and wind mitigation can be pretty profitable when sold with a home inspection. Think about it this way, you are already there inspecting all these systems. All you need to do is take a few extra pictures including equipment labels, a few measurements and pics in the attic, fill out the forms and you just added $200+ to your inspection.
There is no way she received a quote for $250.00 for a 2 story, 3,454 sq. ft. home. She is trying to lowball you.
Bad business practices is not good!
If sharing or posting a report example on your website, I would take off any client information (name, address, phone, etc). The report is the property of the client and, unless the client agrees, I don’t believe it should not be shared with others.
I love it when we win. We did an inspection this week and competed against a local low baller who came in at just over $400. The realtor knows both our companies and asked the client if they wanted a quick & dirty inspection or a thorough inspection. The client went with Value Vs. Price and we did the full home inspection, 4-Point, Wind Mit, Boat Dock, Hot Tub, Generator, TDS for RO System, & WDO for well over $1k
Hi Dan, we all deal with the Beer money inspectors. First off I live in Northern Calendar and my fee starts at $500.00 and goes up from there. So I think your leaving money on the table right from the start.
Second don’t ever try to match the cheap guys or lower your fee. Once you do so people will expect it every time.
I did not read the other comments so this might have already been addressed just wanted to add my two cents.
Your risk adjusted liability cost is more than that, just to step on the first blade of grass off the sidewalk. No, hard no.
Now what you could do is offer to do, for the realtor, a no-charge competitive inspection. They get their lowballer and pay them peanuts. You inspect the same house for $0, on the condition you get copies of all reports.
Chalk it up to the marketing budget. You’ll be the talk of the Realtor’s office, learn something, and likely impress for next time.
What would be the incentive for the realtor in this scheme? Most don’t want even one inspection, much less two. Why would they go through the hassle to line up a 2nd inspection following the first, and the headaches that would go along with that?
There is a serious liability effect to both the inspector and the client that should be disclosed to both client and representing realtor. If an inspection misses something, it will always come back to the inspector. Marketing on quality as opposed to initial cost has always been a practice among trades, certified or non-certified no matter the Geo Location state of service. One major issue in operating an opening business is the cut throat nature of hunger and greed and thinking outside the box has to be a motivation for a business to succeed while maintaining business ethics and morals. Ol’Adage " bid low and watch it grow" apply’s in only some business form.
Not every Realtor is against inspections. The only Realtor who would take this offer up would be one who would appreciate the value of an inspection.
The OP is trying to get a foot into the door. This is cheaper than a pile of Google AdWords, counts as a practice inspection, and might just get that foot where it needs to be.
I’d say it’s better than matching the local lowballers on price.
Of course there are some agents out there that actually encourage inspections for their clients. But even for those, what’s in it for them to add a 2nd inspection for a newbie after the first one was already performed by their preferred inspector? How do you get the seller on board (assuming a buyer’s inspection, which almost all are in my area) with opening their home up to another inspection?
I don’t know, offering up your services for free so that you can show an agent how much better you are than the other guy just seems like a losing proposition. 
The OP can take or leave the suggestion. He’s in SoCal, so it’s possible it’s like the San Francisco area where I work, where sellers inspections are exceptionally common, if not required at the high end.
So do sellers or listing agents prefer soft inspectors or talented objective inspectors?
I don’t know or care. I only do objective.
Just out of curiosity Bryce, is it typical then for the sellers to share the report with prospective buyers? Or do they get the report strictly for their own reference? If they share, do you find yourself fielding lots of calls from people who were not your client?
The sellers present the report, along with a list of what they fixed.
In more than a few cases the seller makes the repairs and gets a second “clean” report. The report, along with a pest report, is often displayed at the open house, and thus serves as marketing for the inspector. Listing recent repairs is typical also, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s a requirement or just common practice.
I’d say a smart buyer should be getting a different inspector out. I don’t see any evidence of buyer followup with the inspectors, no more than with a title company or seismic report.
And buyers often don’t get their own report. I’m doing a $2.3M home report now, same story: the buyer gets an inspection after the deal closes.
California really is another country. 
The only difference seems to be: elsewhere buyers skip inspections. Here buyers get an inspection after purchase. Not so strange, because all the money gravitates to the coastal cities.
Here in California it does work different with water and gravity. Here, water flows uphill towards the land of powerful people: something about the capillary action caused by piles of money I think.
Just to bring this thread back to its origins, yes, it does seem like home inspections are way under priced. I’m all for a free market, but no doubt we are for the most part working pretty cheap for what we do.
I had an inspection last week where an appraiser arrived just as my client was arriving for the walk-through. The appraiser was in and out well before we were even done with the walk-through. He likely charged at least as much as me, if not more for his services. He had no ladders, didn’t go in the attic, and looked like it had been years since he got dirty or broke a sweat, lol. We work cheap relative to others in the real estate business!