Um…isn’t Ron James also the name of a stand up comedian?
Nah… he’s from Canada… doesn’t qualify! :mrgreen:
:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock: $3.50 something smells fishy;-)
Nope. Do a search of this MB and you will find many such stories like this. In fact, there is an inspector on this MB from Iowa that “loves” these, and he makes some very unrealistic claims about these “jobs”. I’m assuming he won’t be jumping in here, due to the negative atmosphere in this thread.
I feel sorry for Ron. He came here excited because he got a job. Maybe he has been out of work and this will help him pay the bills. I give him a lot of credit for his effort at hard work and staying off the welfare rolls.
I am surprised at the lack of support he has been given. At one time most inspectors on this board have gone this route at one time or another, looking for fill in work or just tying to make ends meet. He should be commended, no bashed.
How do any of you know he is not tying to get his HI license? One of my students down here was doing the same thing he is trying to do. While he may be getting raped by those companies, he was able to put food on the table for his family while building his home inspection business. Most of his jobs were all in that same zip code, so he could do five or six in an hour. Yes, not grate money, but $20.00 an hour is better than nothing.
I can truly say that I am ashamed at the responses to this man.
I did this for a very short while along time ago for a real estate surveying company. The word “inspection” is a misnomer here they are not actual inspections if its the same thing. I go to an address take a few photos, look in the windows, and fill out a very short form and I’m gone, it took about 5-10 minutes. They paid me an average of 10-12$ a pop and this was probably 10-12 years ago but I live in a big city and the drive was often as much as 40 minutes one way it just didn’t end up being worth the time and gas.
Seems there was a post some time ago by Ron James. Couldn’t find it though. Got contacted by Photoinspection a short while ago. Wanted me to do the typical drive by. Paid a whopping $15. Only took it because it was in the small town here and was already there. Otherwise, it would have been 10 mins in…10 mins on site…10 mins home 10-15 mins to fill in the checklist and upload the photos. Wouldn’t be worth the trip just for the job though.
Here’s the difference folks.
Mortgage inspections or occupancy inspections are the ones that pay $5 - $20.
They are done for mortgage companies to assure that their houses are still occupied or unoccupied by the home owner. Mainly because people get behind in their payments and the banks don’t want a house left vacant. They come up for the taking 3 times a month and you can do anywhere from a few to as many as say 80 a day. Do the math now. They usually designate them by counties so you are not going far. They take approx. 5 - 15 minutes each, taking some pictures of the exterior mainly and posting a note here and there. Thats $25 - $35 an hour, not to bad, about the same.
Whole different world from Home inspections but alot of us do them to fill time.
You usually find them on Craigslist.
Depends on the region. I got a call from a company needing 5 or 6 of these immediately.
One was about 40 miles away, another one 30 miles from that one, and so on. I figured it out, it would take about 6 hours and 270 miles, and I could have made about $38 if I took them all.
No thanks, I lose less money staying home and drinking beer. 
I got a call from a company that wanted me to drive 125 miles one way! They wanted me to take at least 12 photos, write a report, and send it to them. I explained to the young lady that it was going to be 250 miles round-trip and they wanted to pay me a whopping $35 for this inspection! My response? I started laughing and I asked……come on … who is this really?
I sincerely thought that it was one of my competitors trying to play a joke on me!.
I explained to the young lady that my rates are $250 per hour and if she wanted to pay me for all of the hours of driving time plus the inspection at that rate then I would be willing to consider her offer.needless to say she wanted to stick to her $35 per job and I told her no thank you and for her to please take my name and number off her list.
If you check with the mortgage companies And the banks they will provide you with the same “job” for around $225-$250
Hopefully someday I will be in your shoes and be a master inspector to where I wont have to do these smaller, less paying jobs, but for now I have to take what I can get. With only a couple Home inspections under my belt and a highly competitive market here in my area I must take these Mortgage inspections while doing other jobs also.
Great info everyone, Thanks.
I had one of those, too, Frank, about a month ago. This was close by, about 6 miles or so. She wanted at least 12 pictures, and I was supposed to check on occupancy, knock on door, etc.
She said since it was emergency, they would pay $35! I said you mean $35 on top of the inspection fee? What’s the total you will pay? She said $35 for everything. I laughed hysterically at her. I told her for me to walk to my car and open the door, we start at $125 and go up from there…“Click” was all I heard next-she didn’t even say “bye” 
These type companies call me about every 3 months, $3.50 to $25.00 tops. For $25.00 I would spend about 3 hours travel and reporting. Gas would eat about $10.00 of that.
My favorite was the one who wanted me to take a ruler and stick it in the grass and take a photo on all 4 sides of the house to see if the lawn needed mowing. That was for $7.50 which included knocking on the door to determine occupancy and a checklist report.
After gas I figured I’d make about $1 an hour or less. Not including office supply or equipment costs.
I guess I’m lucky. When I get these kind of calls, they at least offer me $75 to $100, and they are always close by.
Ron,
What state are you in?