You are the kind of inspector I don’t get. You want all the business, but you routinely leave $$$ dollars on the table. The value that folks get for their money is usually obtained not from a discounted inspection, but from the price they are paying for the home. There’s the savings. In many locales, prices are still much lower than what it was 5-10 years ago.
Do you have some variation of a “Robin Hood mentality” or is it something else ingrained? Could it be genetic. Does it provide insight to your political leanings? Who knows.
What if a busload of millionaires in your area went around doing home inspections totally free, just because they love to pay it forward. Then, you would be walking in the shoes of other inspectors who have a profit motive. I realize some consider that type of motivation to be evil.
Inspections are an integral part of real estate transactions. If the client had doubts about the necessity and value prior to the inspection, that all changes by the completion of the job. My perception of Realtors referring me because I’m good but cheap is unsavory.
If I wanted to net only $25 an hour, I might do something else like paint houses.
Look, if you want to be serious about things, great! I don’t spend a lot of time on here for this reason. The blogger mentality that some people get. You just keep the do less, get paid more mentality. Look around you…Walmart, Amazon, Subway…all do well for a reason…study them…you will figure it out. Bet you even spend a little time doing business with each of them or have in the past. So don’t be a hypocrite. Spend a little more time with the business side of things. Or don’t…and get eaten up by the guys around you that get it. You can try to keep others down with your barbs and pot shots…waste of time. Evolve man!
It is not a comparison to Walmart or being a Dr. It is about how the consumer buys things. This is a volume business. Like it or not. You are also at the mercy of Real Estate professionals…like it or not. I think someone in here quoted $700 for a $3000 sq ft home and a sizeable building. Let me ask you all, would you pay someone $700 to inspect your home (same relative size). I doubt it. Now, honestly ask yourself why. Does 4 bathrooms take you a whole lot longer than 2 to inspect…really? Does an empty structure such as a barn, with or without contents (as you aren’t suppose to move things anyhow) take a great deal of time to inspect? Sure, condition dictates, but I find that these things balance themselves out. It is about being efficient, effective and thorough. We are generalist. Not experts. This is not lost on the public. Think of how you write everything and the massive disclaimers we make people sign. I am not out to make all of my money for the week in 2 inspections. People see that. It is less that I am leaving money on the table and more that I am not trying to take all of the money off the table at once. This is also a referral business. Certain things pay off bigger down the road. The service you deliver along with what you offer if you are sending the right message…will (and has for me) pay off in the future. It has all been calculated, thought out. I am not just throwing darts at the thing. I am sorry if that makes others that have become comfortable…uncomfortable. Maybe you need to be. Maybe a little challenge will make you that much better.
if a young whippersnapper is bringing home 4-500 a day and staying busy walking around looking at things and taking pictures, it sounds like he has it made, dont you think? he moves fast and it takes him just a few hours twice a day and he gets to make his own schedule… who say hes not smart?
Just got a call from an RE who wants an inspection ASAP because her current HI canceled. Built in 1981, 4 bedroom, 3 bath two living areas. Quoted her $400 with termite. She said her other insepctor was at $310 with termite. I told her that I could not match that, as my inspections will be more detailed, insured, CMI, etc. etc. She still agreed to the $400.
She called back 15 minutes later and canceled. I guess she found HI #3 who was cheaper than me.
It is always about price. To heck with the performance of the HI.
Sad and frustrating. Missouri RE’s just do not get it.
I would rather take the inspection at the $310 than sit at home. its not uncommon for people to adjust their rates when they are slow. all contractors do it
I never let the agent set up the inspection. I talk, directly, to the client. They are my client, not the agent.
I had an agent, the other day (buyer’s agent) who overheard the client and I when she was writing the check. The agent commented I was very expensive. I looked at the agent and said, “Hey, what do YOU do to justify your 3%.? I actually work for a living.”
Commissons here are 7%. That is split if the listing agent and buyer’s agent are different. If you match the lower quoted HI price, then word travels, and you will have to consistantly charge that lower matched price.
Lowering your fees is easy: raising is difficult. If you are higher than others, you need to stay where your are at on pricing.
The buyer gets what they pay for, and pays for what they do not get.
The best response I have heard was somewhere on this forum. As for a cheaper inspector, the response is “wow, I guess he knows what he’s worth! Here is the reason(s) I am a little more…” It has worked for me on more than one occasion.
