I hate the fact that other home inspectors under bid for inspections driving costs down. I just got a referal for 2- 2700 sq ft duplexes. I lost them to another inspector that said he would do them for $275 a for each. My area typically will charge $300 for a single home inspection for up to 2000 sq ft. Any ideas?
You have to know your competition. Only then will you understand why they charge what they do. Are they members of any trade association? BBB? Any other organization that costs money? Do they have a spouse who is the main breadwinner?
Many years ago I was asked to compete against a guy who charged $75 for anything up to 3,000 SF. He wouldn’t do anything over 3,000 SF. One day I was behind him at a traffic signal. I was coming home from an inspection, so I just decided to follow him to see where he went. Well, he pulled up in front of a McMansion in a prestigious neighborhood. The gate opened for him and he drove in. The garage door opened for him and he pulled in. The garage door closed.
I noted the address and later that night looked up the property records. Turns out that his wife is the main breadwinner. She’s a high profile attorney at one of San Diego’s largest law firms, probably raking in $5 million a year or more. My presumption, then, was that $75 home inspections were his hobby, his way to get out of the house, his way to at least provide some self-worth to his own mind.
Change the dialog from cost to value, then prove that your work is more valuable to them. A $1,000 inspection that saves a client $5,000 is an incredible return on that investment. Worth far more than a $275 inspection that returns nothing.
Good point.
your points are superb which i all got that
If the duplexes were two halves of a unit, the other guy may not have been so out of line with his pricing. How much time from the when you get in your vehicle and arrive at the inspection, plus going home again? For two duplexes side by each, it might be half compared to two different houses. You only go up on the roof once instead of twice, the exterior might be equal to one or maybe 1.5. Your competitor got $550, barring the extra 1400 sq. ft… he would have gotten 600 for two trips, but maybe spent an extra 2 or three hours on all the logistical stuff required for separate destinations.
You didn’t lose anything. He simply got the sale.
Don’t worry about this. It happens often. Move on and get the next one.
Ask this question " Do you really want the cheapest home inspection?"
To illustrate the point. I did a $990 new construction inspection right down the road from me a couple of weeks ago. I went back to do a quickie roof reinspection today. He told me that the original inspection saved him about $25K.
Think he cares about having paid a lot more than the average going rate for an average inspector in my area after he scored a 2,500% return on his investment?
How is Jeff Klapp the OP a CPI if **…".Please Note: ** jklapp is a non-member guest and is in no way affiliated with InterNACHI or its members."
Late renewal payment.
It seems to happen to me once in awhile. LOL. Sometimes when you get a new credit card it happens also.
Then one needs to log out, and log back in to the site. When info changes, it is only expected the system acknowledges something changed and wants you to verify your identity.
There is always going to be cheap inspectors. I try to inform client all inspectors are not the same and let them know why we are different.
How’s about sharing an example with us as to “How you are different”? Thx.