Inspection Deposits

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To the seasoned vets- Just curious if anyone collects a non refundable deposit when scheduling a home inspection? I only ask because there seems to be a trend of clients booking to lock in a definite time slot then shopping for lower rates and canceling. I haven’t charged one in the past but starting to rethink my position as I’m blocking out time that could actually go to an inspection.

Thanks

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For Residential… My entire fee is due 24 hours prior to the inspection, or if they want to “lock in” the date, that will happen only when PIF is received in my PayPal account (via my emailed Invoice).

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Thanks Jeff- I usually accept payment before I start the inspection process. However, clients are canceling at last minute because the found someone cheaper. haha I may have to adopt your process!

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If they are cancelling in 24 hours or less to the appointment, you’ve lost that time-slot availability for other clients to fill. Time is money, so you need to do something to curtail the situation. Nothing wrong with not wanting to make deposits non-refundable as they do have their own problems to deal with. An alternative is to make it undesirable to cancel the appointment, such as with a mandatory Hold on the funds for say 30 days from the cancelled appointment date. Just be sure whatever you decide to do, gets into the Agreement and you have it signed before any appointment is “locked in”.
Bottom line… you MUST think and act like a business, not a lone inspector looking for jobs.

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It sounds like you’re doing online scheduling. If so, that’s one reason I never liked to myself.

To answer your question, no I don’t ask for a deposit. Fortunately I’ve never ran into the issue you’re having, except maybe once or twice in my career.

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That would explain the problem. There is no human involved, so it’s means nothing to them.
If this is the case, and you wish to continue with the auto system, add a Disclaimer that ALL bookings will not be confirmed until you have a ‘person-to-person’ conversation to review and confirm details.
Make it personal!!

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