I’m seeing a greater percentage of new-to-the-business inspectors coming in very strong. They are doing truck wraps and buying IR cameras and spending thousands on marketing. They also buy every book we publish as fast as we can put them out and take every training course. When we release an inspection article, it is up on their gorgeous site the next day. They are coming in with a fury.
I think I know why too. For people my age and older, it was a rare event to start your own business, many of us kind of slid into it. Today’s younger generation expects to run their own business and they look at home inspections as just that… a business.
Interesting re frame.
I guess the point is to not get comfortable.
In the end marketing only gets you to where enough use you to have an opinion on your service, Good or Bad.
You have to reinvest in your biz, I don’t care if you’ve been a home inspector in the same town for 20 years.
Question is, ARE THEY WORKING!!!
They all like www.moveincertified.com too. Mostly I think because MIC allows them instant, direct access to catch the real estate transaction upstream before it trickles down to existing inspectors.
And they all like shirts with their company logos.
And they like IR cameras.
And they all have nice websites.
That’s the profile from what I can determine.
Just like my business plan, except:
- I market as a family owned company, not a big, unpersonal corporation.
- I underscore professionalism, training and certifications. The public seems to like this.
- Most or all, I emphesis trust.
Hmmmm
I need a home Inspector.
Should I hire the high energy fast talking young guy or the guy who looks like he did construction his whole life.
Hmmmmm
I would not trust someone who did construction his whole life. I have seen too many that cut corners and don’t really know what they are doing.
Just my two cents.
Well, thank you Mark. Maybe you should visit Maine. :mrgreen:
I always ask my clients…
“Would you rather hire someone who has built houses for a living or
someone who just read books about it?”
Guess what they say?
You are correct that the construction industry is filled with sloppy work. That’s
why people hire inspectors 
Most of them will be selling their fancy new state-of-the-art equipment right here for us survivors to scoop up.
Looks like a big sale in a year or two.
So you would hire the guy that only read a book…ok got one for you Home Inspection 101 for dummies…go ahead and hire that guy…
Preferably one that can get into tight attics and under homes. :mrgreen:
Seriously though you have a really good point. I’ve been asked if this was my fathers business more than once.
I don’t think it is right to baptise all building contractors as being unable to build something right and screw things up.
There are bad contractors, plumber, electricians, roofs and down the line. Hell, there are even home inspectors that should have stayed bagging for IGA stores.
Some builders out there still have a conscience on what they get paid to do.
As inspectors we find all the ones that did not do what they were supposed to do or never learned how to do it right in the first place.
Some where to eager to go out there on their own to reap the profits they thought their employers were racking up.
They failed to stay long enough to know how to do things right.
A building contractor that does things right, usually has spent many hours of education and learning as to why he was doing something wrong or if what he has been doing has been right from the get go.
No matter what trade or profession you are in, some don’t know how to do the work properly and never will.
That is why there is always another trade to step in to scrutinize the work that is being done.
Typically, when a tradesmen is told he is doing something wrong, it gets corrected. In the residential market, it takes a long time before it hits home and starts hurting his business and so it carries on.
That is why we have work as independant home inspections.
If all contractors would join us here at Inachi, they might learn something but then it might leave us with less work as HI’s. :mrgreen:
Grow a beard.
I just think it is easy to come in all hyper and Market like Tony Robbins which is great (Bless America) but at the end of the day you actually need to do the work and write the report.
Logo’s , Hummer’s,Discount coupons,etc mean nothing to someone on a 5 day grace period to find a reason they should not spend their life savings on an investment.
You better know what you are doing besides how to market when you get to the real playing field.
Prior to becoming a home inspector, I was in construction for my “whole life.” I was digging ditches and shoveling concrete at 13 and joined a Union at 18, from which I “retired” at 35. So I will have to disagree with your assessment.
What that does is give you a good hands on feel for materials and how they interact.
No book can teach that ,though HI is a different discipline it does give you a very big advantage in perspective.