Pricing?

Morning guys! After my last thread, and how it developed into what to charge someone, left me with another question…

Does anyone price according to the age of the home?

Gotta go to work…but I am interested in everyones opinion. I’ll read them tonight.

Have a profitable day guys!..If I’m not work’n, I’m not eat’n.

Price includes many factors:

Size, location, age, crawl space, one or two stories, extra services, attitude of client.

You have to decide what works for you. We have guys that will do a home down here for $200.00, regarless of what it is.

Anything over 50 years yes…the electrical and the plumbing will add at least 2 hours to the whole process. Othere issue as well pop up but E+P are the ones you know will add time.

$50.00 more for me over 50 years is what I charge.

Curt

I’m not sure I understand the logic. Older plumbing and electric adds 2 hours to your inspection and you only add 50 bucks???

2 hours should be worth more than that!!

Hi Robert,
I base my pricing on size, age, type and location of home. It seems to work very well and customers think it’s fair so it works well for my business at least.

I also make my pricing available on my website so customers can view it and see the pricing structure. This has reduced my calls for pricing a great deal and if anything my business continues to increase. I was worried it may decrease if I posted the prices but that wasn’t the case at all.

I hope this helps
Ryan

“Can add up” to 2 hours sometimes its just and hour or so. Have done 11 (50+) this year and it runs about about a average of adding a hour longer. However a few have added 2 hours. Hence what I stated to the man who asked the question- 2 hours.

What are you driving at?
Curt

Simple, if something was going to take me two extra hours, I’d charge a lot more than 50 bucks, unless I was basing my inspections on 50 per hour. :wink:

I do not do add on fees of any kind. I charge based on square feet and thats it.

I do the same, but since I don’t post my prices on my website which seems to work excellent for me, when folks call and I ask the usual questions I can base my prices on the information they provide me with.

So in all actuality they do not know I’m charging more for a building constructed 20 years ago verses one built yesterday.

Works very well for me anyway.

Robert,
I have a square footage price, then I charge $25.00 if the house is over 30 years old. And additional $25.00 if I have to inspect a crawlspace. These items take more time! And like my wise ol’ Great Aunt:D used to say- “Time Is Money!”

Another good topic, Dale: posting your prices.

Many, like Dale, find that it works well and gives them “flexibility” to not post prices.

Others, like me, find that many people like to have your info immediately on hand when viewing your website. (When I shop, if there are no prices, I keep shopping until I find them). FWIW, my idea was to close the sale on the webiste without giving them any reason to pull up any other sites or do anything but fill out the inspection scheduling form (or call me directly). It has worked for me.

It can cut both ways, and - like the prices themselves - are a personal choice.

One more item - I use the fact that I have no add-on fees as a marketing wedge between me and my competition. I tell clients that what the see posted is EXACTLY what I charge, not a penny more…unlike many inspectors who will start with what may seem a reasonable rate but the add on for age, zip code, sale price, garages, etc. The analogy that seems to hit home with most people is buying something at a big box store only to find that there are add ons for shipping, delievery, batteries, cables, software, and (of course) the extended warranty - all of which turns your bargain into more than you bargained for.

I love it when other inspectors put their prices either on their website or on their brochure.

It makes shopping their prices soooo much easier! :mrgreen:

Sq ft price for me, although I am considering a surcharge for homes over a million dollars, they are just full of fancy siht and hi tech goodies.

I price shop competition all the time anyway. If it makes it easier for my competition, so be it. It also makes it WAY easier for buyers. (The trick is to never let them leave the site.) Pricing is one of my primary strategies - I don’t want it to be a secret. With an aggressively low price, I am not at all concerned that my competition is shopping me and I am pretty confident that my prices being posted closes deals.

Like I said, to each, his own.

Home Inspections, In Season , Market Price. :stuck_out_tongue:

Drawn butter extra

And who would want an inspection without drawn butter?

When people are price shopping whoever they call first loses. I found that the client usually doesn’t know enough to give good info for pricing (not all but most). If you charge more for over 2500 sq ft somehow (over the phone) the house is always 2450. I personally don’t want to measure the house in front of the client. Therefore I use 2 story, number of rooms, boiler or furnace, etc. to try and account for the amount of time it will take.
This also gives you a way to stretch out the phone conversation. The longer the phone conversation the more likely the client is to remember you.

Again…the boys come through! I have much to think about. Please if I do not reply directly to each individual opinion or stratagy, rest assured I am washing them through different senerios in my mind.

One thing I have learned through my own experiences is that confidence conveyed is definately benificial. All you guys show confidence from what I read. So therefore your individual method probably does work for each of you.

This has been a real learning experience for me in developing a plan. WHat do they say…knowledge is power.

Thanks again for all the great insight! Bob

What he said.

Chris - I notice all the info of your tag line at the bottom of your post. Have you noticed any significant traffic or ranking difference since you added it? just curious…always trying to figure out what and were the search engines give points. Thanks!