Then perhaps Ian, it may be time to rethink your chosen occupation.
The pressure you’re feeling is false and a poor way to proceed. Stick with what you know and have been advised to do here. We’ve all been put in the same position and sooner or later providing repair estimates will come back to bite you.
That’s why many professionals write blogs. Write about the truth of HI estimates. Make sure you mention that this practice is encouraged by realtors to facilitate the sale (and their commissions) who ultimately dont care after the sale if the estimates were grossly inaccurate because they don’t have to pay!
If this was my website, I would edit this out. Why are you interested in the needs of your real estate agent and sellers? Is the buyer not your customer?
It sounds like you’re staying busy or you’re not telling the truth on you site.
Ian,
I would remove the blank “glowing reviews from clients” section until you get some reviews. right now the blank section suggests to people that you are a brand new inspector with no clients and are not actually dealing with a full schedule. Don’t lie on your website, that instantly turns away clients.
Do Realtors still insist on Candy Bowls with weekly refills??
OR, if you really want to pursue this career, move to another area with less competition and more demand for inspections. Sounds like your business is new and not yet established. You don’t want to work in an area where the competition and the realtors set the standards of what is included in your inspection. Listen to the overwhelming advice here from established inspectors. The other option to consider is that which @bcewhern1 suggested. Among construction folks, there is an adage, “Figure out the cost and then double or triple it.”
Bert, the reviews widget on my website loads slowly. I do indeed had a few reviews. This post was about cost to cure. If you’renot looking to contribute on that topic please post elsewhere. Thank you
I care about the needs of sellers because I do sellers pre listing inspections. I can about agents because they’re a substantial part of my customer base.
Are these not important segments of your customer base?
Also Bert,
Spectra did a beautiful job on your website but I notice the recapcha widget isn’t working quite right. It seems like no one website is perfect
Do you have a substantial number of “Agents” (Real Estate Sales People) that sign your contracts and pay for your services?
Perhaps it’s working perfectly, as intended!! 
I’m glad you can about agents. I’m scheduling inspections into mid November. I haven’t had any contact with the Real Estate Agent for over four years.
Keep up the good suck
I too am scheduling inspections into November. I noted you didn’t have any snarky comments an caring about sellers and pre-sale inspections.
I hope you keep up the good suck as well, sir
It’s interesting seeing the range of opinions here. I think most of us agree that inspectors shouldn’t be pricing repairs ourselves but buyers and agents do need a ballpark idea of what they’re dealing with.
I’ve seen a few newer tech tools trying to bridge that gap automatically by interpreting inspection reports and pulling live cost data for local markets. Some even tie into contractor networks so the client gets context without putting extra liability on the inspector.
Whether that’s the right direction for the industry remains to be seen, but it’s definitely changing the expectations from clients.
