Ignore this cry for help? You complained after only twenty five minutes from when the OP was created. Think about that… … …
Here’s a spicy comment:
Try to NOT be like your but-buddy Robert Young before it ruins your reputation & precieved respect here.
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Yon, Your direct question " How long did it take to get your home inspection business off the ground" is going to get a ton of different responses. Here was my experience:
It took 6-9 months before I could feel that it was going to be successful. The next year or so was spent just gaining more traction and meeting more people. After about 2 years there was enough relationships built to sustain itself if I let up on my marketing efforts a little bit. The next step was to build some systems and processes that could be taught to someone else. Then, put my foot back on the marketing “gas pedal” to build up enough business to hire some help.
Your experience may vary in your market. In the beginning, set small goals. Start with “is this business plan even going to work?” Then move on to “How well can it work?” Then move to “What do I have to do to get it to work?”
Just focus on being helpful to the real estate industry. Don’t go out there and try to win over an agent that already has an inspector relationship. Meet those people and make yourself available if their regular inspector cant meet a desired schedule. Plan to work Sat and Sun. For the long term, I’d recommend that you pursue new agents coming into the industry. Sponsor classes held by your multi list companies. Go visit open houses. Those are almost always rookie agents who are building their networks.
Anyway that’s a brief description of my journey. Good luck on yours!
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Yon, that worked for Mike and may work for you…remember the gold nuggets.
The best to you in your business!
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I read the OP’s question and the replies and one issue does not seem to be addressed. What makes you think you’re up to doing ten inspections a week? Taking a course and passing a test are one thing (OK two) but doing the inspection and then writing a report that does the client and the industry justice (and gets you referrals) is another. It may take you months just to figure or optimize the software, it doesn’t write the report for you. You’re going to have equipment failures and things you just plain forgot or weren’t prepared for. This is not a get rich quick scheme. Slow and steady wins the race!
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I can appreciate all these comments, I am also newly licensed just before this covit-19 thing came up, I never have done an inspection, so I guess don’t quit my day job, I never intended to. I have started spreading the word, I never thought I would be doing 10 a week but I do believe in hard work and good things will happen
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Welcome to our forum, Bryan!..Enjoy! 
OK my 2 cents and as usual I apologize if this is repeating anything since I lately can’y read entire threads.
Short answer, almost never.
For starters… I personally have mathematically determined in my NYC region (with probably more sales and people across the board almost) that it is a safe requirement to pencil in 5 hours for each home inspection… that gets you covered for new unusual findings to research, traffic, 2 hours or more on site, travel time, etc etc
Your desire of 10 a week would require a minimum of a 50 hour work week organized nothing less than perfectly every week of the year, which just does not happen.
When you are established and a 1 man show and busy… you will find that the speed of 5 a week can even burn you out and be challenging. After 30 years, a huge budget, I cannot count on 10 a week.
Now yes you can be the lucky one with the best endless strongest connections, but from my experience they come and go, they promise and don’t follow thru, they lie, when a deal falls through often not your fault, they blame you and try someone else.
Then of course there is the price… charging the right average price of $500 may be harder to sell and you may not be experienced enough or a good enough salesman overall.
Keep your review profiles flawless because as soon as you get your first bad review, you may get half the calls, lots of scrutiny and you will have to charge $300 to get the cheapos that ultimately think they are buying some sort of insurance policy.
Now the good news is that almost all businesses on the planet are successful for some one. Now that you are an inspector, you need to be the best inspector, most thorough, always on time, great personality,at least a $1000-$3000 budget minimum (40 inspections month x $500 = $20,000), dont think you will not have to spend and market and fail and market at least $5000(monthly or at least quite often) to generate that. Also lifetime customer value is most often rather poor.
Dont forget phones, tools, assistants, web designers. Basically a job that can pay well if you are passionate, relentless, in for the long run.
Its not that grim and most everything I said would be the same or worse for someone wanting to open a bagel shop, a bicycle repair store, a plumbing company, etc. Don’t forget you get no sick days, no paid vacations, no health insurance, often no guaranteed days off.
Just keep your head up, and work hard. You will reap the rewards of success that you are able to invest in.
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It took me 3 1/2 years to turn my inspection business into full time. Everyone does it differently. I had to work full time in HVAC and teaching guitar in the evenings. When I got a call for an inspection, my employer supported me and let me schedule my inspections when they came. I attended realtor functions and slowly made relationships with realtors, but most importantly, I focused on making my report the best it could be, and the realtors began using me more and more. Attention to detail, good communication skills, and professionalism got me here…Now, I have been blessed with 2 inspections per day, booked solid in advance. Now I look for ways to tweet and improve/ fine tune things, and become more efficient in my work. I am still a one man operation, and welcome the growing pains. Good luck to you, and do what is right for you. For me, common sense business goes farther than book smart business.
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Less than 80 posts on these boards and you’re spouting sarcasm, stoked with self-importance, arrogance and ignorance. You are one of the people who make it unpleasant to come the the message boards. Why, oh WHY did they delete that ignore button?
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In a sense Larry, they did… they added a “Timer” for “Duration” to be ignored, with no “Always” or “Permanently” being an option. 4 months is the longest possible. IMO, what’s the point?
Yes, I noticed that. Maybe it will be good in 4 months or they’ll have to “ignore” again.
Hey, congrats on almost being done with classes. Unfortunately it can be difficult to hit the ground running in this business. 10 inspections a week is a great amount but it can take a very long time to get to that point. I was working with a business partner for the first 5 months or so and we had weeks where there were zero and other weeks where we had 3 or 4. Print up business cards and brochures and market yourself. Stop by all the local realtor offices and leave your info. We would also go to every open house we could and introduce ourselves to the agent who was there. Got some business out of it. A lot of agents are reluctant to try a new home inspector when they’ve been using someone for a while. Home advisor was where we got most of our business it can be expensive and you need a trigger finger when the request comes through but it accounted for the majority of our jobs. Good luck with everything.
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If you don’t throw in the towel and call it quits within the first 2 years that will be better than doing 10 Inspections a week.
I have 20+ years experience in construction from the foundation to the roof and 10+ years experience in commercial and residential maintenance. All of that experience looks great on a resume. In this business it’s only talk until you prove it. Where I inspect realtors are suppose to refer 3 or more inspectors when their clients ask about a home inspection. Let’s face it though and as angr it made me when I first started 3 + years ago now I get to enjoy the fruit of my own labor. I offer perks with my Inspections that other inspectors don’t. Home buyers just really want an honest through report done as soon as possible andbfor most this is extremely stressful. If my client client wants an inspection, radon testing, well flow rate test with water quality testing, sewer scope, Structural Pest Inspection and a Foundation Certification they only need to hire on person. My first year was extremely stressful. If you don’t feel like a whore at the end of your first year. You will be ripped off by SEO companies for your website. Google will contact you a thousand times. You will more likely than not spend more money than you made your first year. I say all of this not to scare or cause more anxiety than you already have but I say this to prepare you. Best of luck to you and DON’T GIVE UP!!! #livingtheinspectordream
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Hi Yon,
In my neck of the woods, one practice that I still use is to visit realtors during open house visits! These are usually held on weekends, typically from 2 to 4 and the realtor is alone in the property! Great time to get their full attention while no one is there and it seems to work for a lot of inspectors,
Congratulations and best of luck to you!
G
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I have to admit that I wasn’t wright about this timing. I had to better check the time of the OP instead of counting in a wrong impression.
I am humbled here. Probably not for last time.
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That is great that you were thanking Simon! He has imo been always honest and professional.
That being said, you have a good background to perhaps becoming financially successful. Good salesmanship combined with diligence should get you there. Your question does seem a bit off for someone possessing a business degree.
All the best to you!
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Yon …
I’ve done inspections full time for 35 yrs and part-time 8-9 yrs before that.
When I decided to go full time I went to D.C and attended a butt in the seat class for a week. There were around 54-60 people in my class (engineers, builders, tradesmen, etc). That same question was asked a lot. We were told then that on average it would take 2-3 yrs FULL TIME to have a viable business doing 250-300 inspections a year IF you were in a decent market AND could market your ass off.
Over the years I’ve noticed that seems to hold true. EVERY once in a while I’ll see somebody bust out of that mold AND hit the 200-250 mark in their 1st 12-18 months BUT in my area those are few and far between AND usually have certain key selling points such as … Cheap, Soft, Short Reports, in and out in under 2 hrs OR a combination of all of these. A few times I’ve seen the rapid starters give REALTOR kickbacks to get going.
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Thanks, Jordan. I did something right!! 
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Thanks, Peter. It felt good to give some honest advice, so long as Yon isn’t planning on moving into my territory. 
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