Does anyone else offer maintenance subscriptions on the side? That’s all I do at Mr. ProActive…an every other month service visit with a checklist about 50 items long. I’m with InterNACHI because the training is so good, but I’m learning that all home inspectors have nearly every tool and know-how to also do maintenance (maybe with the exception of dryer vent cleaning tools). It’s fun work…super easy, satisfying and best of all, steady, recurring work year round. Hardest part is, of course, growing a base of subscribers since it’s not a common service people are searching for.
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Not so much, but it would be interesting to hear more about your business and marketing model. Anytime you can get clients enrolled in a recurring, subscription service that delivers real value to them it can be a great source of ongoing revenue.
Same here but not closed to the idea.
I’m sure we all inspect for people that after you meet them realize they should be in a rented house not anything they may have to maintain.
Might be a great target audience.
I had one client who purchased a $4M house in 2006 and never got around to moving into it. She had me reinspect and document the condition of the house numerous times over the next 12 years. I could have done a case study on the progress of deterioration of a house that is not lived in or maintained from the catalog of reports and photos I created over the years.
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@cevans you could sell that case study to every manufacturer of every component in that house as a real world example of their product.
John,. Could you please provide more information about the services you offer and how you started.
I’m interested in hearing about this also. Good question.
That’s fascinating Chuck! Were the utilities left on the whole time?
Sure James. This link has a summary of what we include with our normal service. I also have a “Pit Stop Package” that involves a one time visit for dryer vent cleaning and the other safety items. I’ve been in the service industry for 11 years with my exterior cleaning company (Pressure Point Cleaners, soft washing and gutter cleaning). My father in law came up with the idea for Mr. ProActive while he was inspecting homes and seeing how many deficiencies were preventable. This last year I’ve piloted the subscription and made some tweaks along the way. I’m still learning about how to best market it (I’ve done some radio, affiliate marketing, direct mail and front end offering lead gen with dryer vent cleaning). My long term vision is to fine tune and automate the customer acquisition thing (maybe through social media value videos) and then expand to other markets where I can find contractors who want recurring work (more like a licensing agreement then a franchise model I think).
How do you reconcile with 12 prohibition against in-scope repairs following a home inspection?
You can’t reconcile them. Upselling your inspection clients on the subscription would not be an ethical means of client acquisition. I don’t do home inspections so it’s not an issue for me. If a client first pays you to do maintenance, I suppose you could upsell them on a whole home inspection…or be their go to inspector on a future home without issue.
OK. Then I misunderstood your initial post. I assumed you were talking about ongoing maintenance inspections.
Ah, gotcha. No, I’m asking about doing actual maintenance (like changing furnace filters, keeping up on smoke detector testing, expiration dates and batteries, adding softener salt etc). I would say my service visits involve a pretty even split between testing, inspecting, cleaning, filling and replacing…depending on what feature we’re dealing with. I would think recurring inspections would be incredibly frustrating to just keep reminding people “you need to change your furnace filter…you need to buy a new fire extinguisher…your refrigerator coils are still clogged with dust”. Why not just get it done for them? They are happy to pay to not have to manage those things and it doesn’t take much longer…my average site visit is about an hour to an hour and a half. I have townhome clients where it’s closer to 40 minutes.
Just doing quick math, I’m not seeing a sufficient ROTI to justify the work (marketing, web site, fuel, etc.) Even if you had 30 clients at $119 a month that’s only 3,570 a year gross income.
30x119x12=$42,840
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You math major, you! 
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I somehow find this contradictory and I dare say illegal. Aren’t we not supposed to do any work on a house that we inspect for a year (12 months.) Depending on which state you’re in is a factor too.
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Jacob, it could be that he used that word for “inspecting” furnace filters and the like.
But if your assumption is correct, I agree with you. It should be a no go!
I figured that’s what he was doing. I quoted him twice because those items that he is “inspecting” as a maintenance service are all also things that are covered under a regular home inspection. I’m my opinion, not saying mine is the word of the Lord or anything, but I think that those services have a very very thin line to a home inspection.
Good for him though if he is making money and it’s working.
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Gotcha… 