Lowballers, Please go away!

Maybe you are right; I need to get out more, I didn’t know!
It does not surprise me that The Home Depot and Wall-Mart have different pay scales for different regions. Both of these giants are union free and therefore have the ability to screw over their employees. One thing you can’t argue with George is that all products sold at these stores are priced the same.
Bottom line, if HI’s want to give their services away who am I to argue! By all means do it. Just remember, my average fee is $500, and if the lowballers are giving their services away for $250…well do the arithmetic.

When I started in this business 10 years ago after 30 years of construction inspection I charged 175.00. I got lots of inspections of old pre WW 1 beaters and scrapers. I raised my fee to 300.00 and starting getting 1200 sq ft houses built between WWI and WWII. I raised my fees again and started getting more inspections of houses built after WWII up to the new ones (I hate new houses, they are a mess). My fee is now 450.00 and most of my jobs are of newer homes 1970’s and newer and bigger. The newer bigger ones have less defects, are cleaner and most times a pleasure to inspect. The clients are also more knowledgeable and appreciate quality work and are more them willing to pay for it. I love the million plus houses and the fat fees that come with them. I wish the low baller well because he gets the crap and likely will not be in business next year.
My rant for the week.

This is just for the inspectors in Toronto area, who are familiar with the Bayview/Lawrence area. Got a request for the inspection of 5000sq.ft home. After I quoted my price, the caller told me that I’m approximately twice more expensive than other inspectors he called before. Can you guess what price range did he get from other inspectors?:twisted:

$200 range!

Yuri,

My inspection fee would be $2500.00 for this house. I know the area well because I live not 5 minutes from there. If an IR scan of the entire house was required my fee would certainly double.

Here is my guess for the other inspectors fee for this house $199?

Good for you Vern! A true professional.

Mario, do you seriously think that I would do this inspection for $399? No, actually I quoted him $650 + GST. He said that the highest quote he got from other inspectors was $350. Boy, if someone wants to do 5000 sq.ft custom home for the price of condo townhouse, be my guest.:roll:

The unfortunate reality is some in a depressed market area will do it for that price.

Hey Mario! The next time you get one of those big beauties to inspect and include the I.R. scan let me know, as I can provide a big value added service that will allow you to get your prices up even further. I am offering to do a cat scan, at an additional charge of course, as I can get really badly scratched just getting her into the pet carrier.:D:shock:

Toronto is not a depressed market Claude!

Done.

At least not in Bayview/Lawrence area where almost every house cost more than a cool million.

Vern,

   You nailed it right there, like I said in my earlier post I may struggle a little right now because I will not budge on my prices but in the end it is worth it. Saturday did one 1200 sq ft bungalow for a husband and wife realtor team( they are buying it personnaly for themselves) over $500.00 with IR for 3.5 hours work. Educated , informed client was a pleasure to work with. Combine that with the fulltime gig of $900.00 clean for the week and it wasn't a bad week. If people want to prostitute themselves for $199.00 than be my guest, I will suffer for a while and beat my path because I believe it will pay off eventually.

Thanks Jerry. You’re right that once you get known as the person with the flexible fees - you’re doomed!
Good on you for standing your ground!

OK, I’m new, I admit it. On the other hand, I’ve put a lot of work into getting the qualifications, taking the CE, etc. and I will continue to put a lot of work into the CE until I have all of the qualifications, and by then I hope there will be new courses to take. I intend to continually upgrade my knowledge to be able to provide the best service possible to my clients.

So, being new, how do I know if I’m “lowballing”? I decided to charge $350 for a “standard” inspection (3 bedrooms/approx 2500 sq.ft. or less), and $450 for larger homes. (I’m in the Barrie area) I’ve looked at the web sites of competitors, I’ve read through the info on NACHI, as well as CAHPI/OAHI, etc. I set my charges based on what I paid my home inspectors when I bought houses. So am I lowballing? Should I adjust my pricing?

Hi Stewart,
Best of luck with your new endeavour!

I can’t speak for all regions, but IMO, anything under $300 for a detached is “lowball”. Investigate your local area. Do some research, speak to a few realtors, etc. Try to be in the top 1/3 of pricing.

Thank you for the info and your good wishes.

Between your comment and the Mike Holmes Inspections web site that somebody linked in another thread, I’ve decided to raise the prices that I charge a little bit so I’ll start at $400 and go up from there based on square footage, and also charge a little more as well for the older or “century” homes.

Thanks again!

I like your pricing Stewart!