I am considering hiring an assistant for covering some areas of the home inspection work I do. Chiefly for the crawl space, attic, and roofing inspections which I have usually done as a sole proprietor of my own business. I would be glad to take on a part time beginner home inspector. My questions are,
Is this done very often, or at all?
I would prefer my assistant to be Certified, but would they have to be Licensed?
What would be reasonable to pay an assistant?
What are the business and legal ramifications?
Any experiences you can share will be appreciated in this regard.
Much obliged,
Kenton Graviss, CPI
Fulcrum Home Inspection, LLC
Since you want to pawn off the dangerous tasks to the assistant, make sure he is heavily insured, as being the employer, it all falls on YOU… (pun intended)!!
The most critical components? Doable but most people I know that run with an assistant have them moving ladders, operating windows, testing electrical receptacles, flushing toilets etc. Which may also allow you to keep the pay a bit lower. Highly competent inspectors may not want the hardest part of the job for less than the lion share of the money.
From my experience as a residential contractor in MN, hire them as an employee, not as a 1099 subcontractor. If you get audited, you will be responsible for their employer tax, social security, and employer WC/UI obligations, retroactive. I know from direct experience with contracted log peelers when I was building log homes. My log builders were employees, but my peelers, who came and went, were subcontractors. It was a five figure hit.
If they get hurt, you are on the hook. I know of a log home producer in the Pacific Northwest who had a major accident with a “subcontractor”. Courts determined his “subcontractor” was an employee. You surely have seen those roadside billboards, “Hurt at work?” The log home producer lost ALL his assets, including his personal residence.
I agree with everyone else who responded. You are responsible for the job, so if you want to delegate some of the most important aspects of the inspection, I absolutely believe your assistant will need to be a fully trained if you are going to trust them to inspect a crawl space, attic and roof.
I use an assistant on some jobs and they do assistant things, not inspector things.
I have a second inspector on some jobs, and we split the duties to get the home inspected faster.
My wife won’t let me inspect multi-story homes without a safety buddy. (She knows how I like to climb)
I realize that at some point I won’t physically be able to climb and crawl like I can now, and I will need a younger inspector to take over some tasks.
I have talked to a lot of local inspectors and most of them do not have safety buddies or assistants. Most inspect solo. It’s hard to make a good living when you are paying a helper out of your inspection fees.
If you have them inspecting crawl, attic, roof, I think they should be technically trained.
In my picture above, Brian (with the hat) is a Internachi Certified Professional Inspector, and Paul (White Hair) is an assistant who I have trained to save me time on inspections.
Brian gets 45% of the job when he works alone, or $50/hr when he is helping me. I bought him all the tools he needs, software, insurance, Supra eKey, food/snacks. Paul gets $25/hr. I don’t usually have 3 of us on a job but this was a very big house. ($2850 inspection fee)
I am responsible for every word in my report, so I make sure my guys are trained for the jobs I give them. If Brian inspects a home solo, I proofread his entire report after we discuss the home. Basically, I would say the ramifications are that workers should be trained, and ultimately you are responsible for the reports.
I have a lot more fun on inspections with my helpers because it is social time for me and these guys are my friends. They are awesome people, and we care for each other.
Yeah, I’m with the others… OP, you seem to want to “farm out” the most technical and critical parts of the inspection. I had my son work with me years ago and he set up and moved my ladder, tested outlets and did some other easy tasks. That’s pretty common assistant stuff in this biz from what I’ve heard/seen.
Attic, crawl space and roof? That’s what we are paid for. It doesn’t take much training or experience to do the parts you are left with after that.
in wv, a contractor is required to provide their own worker’s comp, but if you choose to forego that all you have to do is file a paper with the state and pay $25 to get an exemption letter. if you treat them like contractors and require that they are contractors. i’ve hired many in my work and have had my legal team approve it. even had one challenge to it that went away when i showed my paperwork to the guy a few years ago.
i also know a guy who didn’t require that paperwork and called his employees contractors and went out of business when he got caught. there are valid ways to have contractors in construction but if you don’t do the paperwork and file it along with the fees, then you may as well start saving for the fines and penalties. if you don’t get caught you got a retirement account.
My son and I work as a team. We used to swap sections back and forth but it became a little disruptive.
We both occasionally go solo.
I agree that an untrained “assistants” shouldn’t be used in crawlspace, attic or roof. Too critical of areas to trust to an untrained eye.
One thing to remember about “contract” employees is that they need to contract to other people as well and can not be exclusive to you or the irs we deem them W2 employees.
Even with that, your helper probably arrives on the property when you arrive, thus you are controlling their hours. You take their information and incorporate it into your report. They probably use your reporting software. They don’t submit a separate report to your client. Thus, you have a level of supervision over their work. Depending on your state auditor or the opposing attorney, any single one of those conditions makes them an employee in my state. In a permanent disability injury case, the attorney has their gloves removed in the fight. In my state, you’ll be in poor standing. It’s your choice.
What works is making them a legal partner in your business, turning your business into a partnership.
A radon testing person is more a subcontractor.
As I said, it works until it doesn’t. My experience is direct with a MN state auditor, including an appeal. Again, it’s your choice.
