What’s it like starting out after certification?

Misc. Discussion
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Hi everyone, I’ve started my journey in the last few weeks. Been making pretty quick progress. I’ve got a long history in construction in many different aspects.

I’m planning on working in Idaho, they only need CPI. I know it will very from one place to another. But I’m wondering how firms look at freshly certified candidates and how they employ them at first.

Can it be challenging to land a job newly certified but with no certified inspection experience yet? is it common to have you work under someone else before they set you out on your own? Are there things I should be doing to set myself apart from other candidates?. Thanks for reading this and any insight you may have.

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Welcome aboard Devon and congrats! There is a ton of information in this forum in the archives. Fill out your profile and never stop learning. Good luck!

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Yes.

As far as setting yourself apart, emphasize your construction and building science knowledge. Find someone else to tag along with. Focus on going above and beyond the minimum. Be thoughtful, helpful and personable.

I have no idea how busy it is in your area, so it could be a real challenge. I know my first 18 months, I worked 7 days a week. Three part time jobs, one being inspections. I was also trying very hard to launch my business. Now I tend to get at least Sunday off, except for phone calls doing scheduling.

All this after I retired already, so it was back into the fire for me. My point is it wasn’t easy, it still isn’t but it’s gotten better.

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It can be very slow for the first couple years unless you are in an area that is not over saturated with inspections. You need a back up plan and side gig to get by. My first year I did 4 inspections. But thank God my wife has a good job and I had money to keep going with marketing. Make sure you have enough cash for advertising, etc.

But just remember that most inspectors don’t make it 2 years.

You might want to look at getting a job with a multi inspector firm for a bit to get experience, just don’t sign a non compete agreement.

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No,

One should figure this out BEFORE hand.

Either you want to be self-employed, or you want to be an inspector for someone else.

This really isn’t an inspection question; this is a life question. It’s two different lifestyles

What is more important to you?
Being your own boss? Or a (relatively) stable paycheck with few worries?

Do you want to be doing marketing, business planning, filing state paperwork, dealing with insurance, etc, etc OR Just inspecting and letting someone else handle that stuff for you?

Do you want to wake up and go handing out flyers, brochures to agents before inspections, and then stay up all night working on your website and templates, Or do you just want to wake up, go inspect, and go home and enjoy wife/kids/tv/whatever?

Keep in mind, if/when you go out on your own, the 1st year you’re going to spend more time marketing than inspecting (and that doesn’t matter if you work for someone else or not 1st).

Companies that have multiple inspectors are interested in building a business, not being a training facility.

It costs me thousands upon thousands of dollars to take a new hire and get them up to my standards, and about 3 months of time. Having someone come through just to go out later is a waste of my time and money.

The people who work for me don’t want to market, don’t want to deal with insurance, taxes, or getting the phone to ring. They want to get up, go to work, come home, and live their lives without being a business owner 24-7. They’re happy to let the rest of the staff handle phone calls, marketing, lawyers, complainers, buying tools, paying for software, etc.

Working for someone just to get some experience is akin to stealing their payroll.

If your goal is to be your own boss, then be your own boss. Getting the business off the ground won’t be any easier down the road.

One guy left me to start his own two, maybe 3 years ago. Guess what? He still struggles. Experience and training on the inspections doesn’t help the business side.

I never worked for anyone else. I started cold turkey because my life objective was to NOT work for anyone else. Inspections were a means of becoming self-employed.

Can it be challenging to land a job newly certified but with no certified inspection experience yet?

If you decide your goal is to be an inspector and not be self-employed ever, then no. Most well-established multi-inspector firms aren’t looking for long-time experienced inspectors, because they know those are few and far between. Also, they want someone who will inspect their company’s way, and don’t want someone who’s set in their ways.

If your goal is to be self-employed, yes, it’s very difficult. But not any more difficult than starting any other business from scratch. And, actually, less difficult than many businesses. You don’t need a storefront to rent a location, an office, or VC investors like you would if you were starting a store/restaurant/software/manufacturing company.

Are there things I should be doing to set myself apart from other candidates?

Yes. Know what you really want. (see above).

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Yeah I was just wondering if it’s common for companies to shadow new people in the industry or if they trust you based on your credentials to know what you’re doing. Definitely not intending on stealing someone’s payroll by working for them. And I already know I don’t want to start out with my own business. First because I am new to the industry. And second because I have had a business before and have had to deal with all that extra stress and work. Yeah right now I’d prefer to clock in to do the job I’m hired for and clock out to go home. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

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If you want to have a discussion about marketing yourself along with the pros and cons of working for someone else, please ask.

I do things quite a bit differently than most others. I market to the consumer and bypass the agent. I run on very low overhead and pay our inspectors more than they can make on their own.

I also have some tools that will help you pass the NHIE.

Anyone is welcome to reach out to me if you are interested. I will send you a private message.

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I only hire brand new inspectors. I believe that passion to help another is strongest trait a home inspector has. That is an attitude and not a behavior. I can teach someone about building science and get them the experience needed to properly do our jobs but you cannot train someone to actually want to do a good job. My definition of a good job is probably different than most.

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Budget, know its easy to say I only need 3 inspections a week to pay the bills, but its harder to get 3 a week when your starting out. . .

budget for bills, and also budget for marketing. making your phone ring, and people going to your website will help. if your really doing this on your own your down time *(from inspections) should be focused on the business side of things.

quick tip, have a weekly, monthly and quarterly goal and stick to it.

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Nope, not at all.

If you were in the right place, I’d interview you!

But right now I need someone in Camarillo, California.

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If you want to be a 9-5 5 day a work week weekends off and have no worries about lawsuits and have all your expenses paid for - oh, and you can go home each night dumb as a cluck like the normal worker and not have any worries over the weekend and take vacations have insurance paid for: Then work for some one or company. If you want to be self employed and have to be paying attention to work 365 days a year, and all the expenses that come with it, oh and dont have weekends off, then be self employed.

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I disagree with working 365 days a year. I started full-time inspecting in 1995 and have never worked a weekend. When I brought on employee inspectors, I carried the no weekend work over to them as well. For many years, I took many Fridays and Mondays off, which gave us nice 4-Day mini-vacations. About six years ago, I started taking off twice a year, 10 days at a time. It just takes a good system and folks that you surround yourself with.

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Depends where you live.