On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 11:23 AM, Maddie Williams <maddie@treasurecoastba.com> wrote:
Good Afternoon Nick,
I am the Director the Treasure Coast Builders Association Charitable Fund Schools of Construction serving Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties in Florida.
I am interested in holding a class for our members who are general contractors and also home inspectors to be sure they stay in compliance with the new regulations coming into effect. It’s my understanding that they can be grandfathered in under the current rules providing they have some specific training before March 1st. Do you have an instructor in our area that could provide the training and testing required and what the costs would be?
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Maddie Williams
Director
TCBA Charitable Fund Schools of Construction
772-336-8222
772-528-4895 - Cell
It is only a matter of time before every county that has a vocational training center and or jr college will have a State sanctioned and an approved curriculum and school as well.
I took my home inspector pre-licensing school at a junior college and the state paid for it because I was a vet.
Get ready for the $99 complete home inspection specials.
And I will welcome all those part time soon to be out of time guys into this field. This is no easy path to riches especially here. If inspections are to be spread out evenly in the future few inspectors will even do one a week. The only solution is branding, experience and good marketing, a strong prior customer base and perception of value by the prospective client. The guys who offer the cheap inspections will not get enough volume to survive the long haul. That won’t stop them from hurting the rest of us in the meantime. My accountant tells the story of Juan and Jose who sell watermelons. They buy them for $1.00 each if they buy 200 which is all they’re truck can hold. It costs them 50 bucks in gas to pick them up and go back for more. They sell them at the side of the road for $1.25 each and they sell out on every trip. Juan wants to buy another truck so they can double they’re sales.
There are already a bunch of inspectors in FL doing just that. By the time they get done paying for their insurance, gas, etc. they have no or little profit because they charge too little but think they can make up for it in volume. That might work if there is a high volume of work to be done and only then for a little while. The very first question most callers ask is “how much?” and then after you have done your pitch they say they will call back after they check around. Some do but many do not because we have locally some inspectors who are literally giving the inspections away just to get the job. They rarely last long but when there are new ones coming along every month thinking they can do the same thing it just becomes a steady stream of low ball guys who don’t last over the long haul. I get calls from out of work inspectors wanting to know if I am hiring. I have had people come up and talk to me in a store and tell me they “used to be” an inspector but got out after 6 months or so because they couldn’t make any money. Most of these are low budget operations too. A few tools and a ladder and a clipboard with notebook paper on it. It could get real interesting over the next year or two.
The last time I looked into any trade courses at the local vocational training center it was running around $1250 a semester. That is considerably higher than it was a couple years ago. That was the price regardless if you were taking welding or pie baking (culinary arts).
Goverment pays for most of the training at these schools and also pays them a stipend for attending… Looked what happened to X-ray techs in Fl…government passes law to allow basic x-ray techs…A highly educated collage grad with internship in nuclear med can’t get a job because a law intended to help dentist, veterinary etc. is being exploited by big business.
Next time your getting an x-ray you better cover up because you will be bombarded.
Man you guys are an easy crowd! I am truly passionate about the profession and would love to see it one day be looked at as a profession. We have some awesome talent out there and combines we can make whatever we desire happen. Look forward to seeing you all again in the near future.
We did solved a few issues we had. I had a great time, see and meeting everyone. Including the great orator Russell! Russ learned using the Inside out maneuver, they matter as much as the inspectors from out of the state posting in our state area.
Linus…I am never DONE beeotching…but the ball is in peoples hands. We will see what happens. I will not stop striving for quality. Now I have WITNESS’S to what was said and we will see if ANYTHING happens. I think it will, but thats all there is now is a waiting game. I think we can get Florida to be different that most other states. I bet 100 great inspectors can take over 50% of the business and this weekend I surrounded myself by some of those people. We will see…thats all I can say. We MAY not accomplish it, but not attempting it will guarantee the lack of success.
