Alot of times age is a bigger factor than square footage. That’s why I run into issues on older homes. People in my area buying these older homes get the idea that since they are not paying much for the home that their inspection should not cost much either. A 30 year old 2000 sf will take longer than a 3500 5 yr old.
Like Chuck said “alot of these price conscious uninformed buyers are not my client”.
I tried to price an apartment complex last week by considering how many hours it would take documenting all the findings for 24 units. I lost that job to another inspector. I originally thought I could make $100.00 per hour on average doing inspections. The last 50 inspections have averaged about $70.00 per hour. That includes everything but travel time.
Foreclosures in our area have been in bad shape and increased the inspection time. Having almost all the houses empty during the inspection makes it easier and might save a little time.
On those big multi unit jobs make sure you give two quotes, one including the dishwasher inspection and one without since it takes many dishwashers 90 minutes to run and the little apt with no attic will take much less.
House flippers are having a hard time getting houses for a couple reasons: borrowing money for the initial mortgage has become next to impossible. Even if you can pay cash for the house, the realtors seems to be doing the negotiations under the table so the selling agent is the only one that will it. IOW, telling their buddies what the highest bid is and letting them up their price. I have been flipping houses for about 8 years, just one at a time and in the past 1 1/2 years, i have bid on about 8 houses , some even higher than asking price… I haven’t won a single house. most floreclosures in my area are “handed” to a few select realtors that handle all the homes for them. they have a “list” of local investors that buy the houses and start working them. I would not be surprised if they are actually silent partners in some the homes.
I price per square foot of living space and add for 1, 2, or 3 car garage, extra if detatched and then for any other services they want (radon, swimming pool, etc) I alway go with the mindset that I am going to have an interesting and enjoyable inspection. It the house is in good shape I consider that a bonus.