A member of my chapter shared with me tonight that he was asked by a real estate salesman today if he could “beat $110” for a home inspection. It sickens me to think (1) that we have a Missouri inspector who would actually inspect for that price and (2) that a property salesman would keep looking after finding someone that low.
Without delving into the ridiculous with $49 crap…or debating on whether or not it’s better to make $100 today than nothing…for real and for the record…what is your lowest price?
Perhaps a Canadate, oops, Associate a little too eager to reach the magical number 250?-(
tjansson
(Thomas Jansson, CMI- IL Lic # 450003340)
4
This reminds me of a very long joke about a fella bargaining for a pair of pants.
Finally, disgusted, the salesman throws the pants on the counter, shouting “enough! They’re FREE! I don’t want anything… Take them! Just take them and GET OUT OF MY SHOP!”
Replies the customer: "It’s a deal. But only if it’s TWO pairs…
When someone gets desperate and they are about to go under, they
start thinking… what the heck, I have nothing to loose… I’m going
drown soon anyways… I’ll do it for $100.
Yes, we have a few here in Texas that will do a hand written
written inspection for $100.
They will also cut the grass and take out the trash…:mrgreen:
What kept him looking was the simple fact that under no circumstances would this Realtor ever use the $110 inspector, no, he was attempting to weasel a quality inspection at a discount price, wait until licensing equalizes everyone at $110. :mad:
Strangely, I guess, I closely study NACHI vendors for marketing ideas. I watch how they present the value of their various products and then monitor the responses from their market (us).
Often, I am dismayed to find how little we expect to have to pay for quality education, quality software, etc. Some of our vendors get beat up pretty good for having the audacity to charge more for their product than another vendor…sometimes by the same inspectors who allege to be charging on the “higher side” of home inspection fees.
I guess my point is that …even some of us who claim to be the Nieman-Marcus of home inspections still prefer to spend our own dollars at Wal-Mart…and then wonder why our potential clients do the same.
If the home inspection industry has truly become “commoditized” it will will be very difficult to raise our prices.
It is very difficult for the consumer to differentiate between the $150 inspector and the $400 inspector.
The industry as a whole needs to do a much better job of educatiing the public and setting proper expectations for our clients.
Very poor analogy, there is a large distinct visual & historical difference between a Mercedes and a Yugo that is obvious and verifiable to most everyone.
Home inspectors have no such distinction or obvious difference, as a matter of fact most strive to be similar to one another out of fear of standing out in a negative way.
You may see yourself as the consummate champion among your peers, but your clients on the other hand may simply view you as just another in a long line of over priced chumps.
