My experience is that home inspection clients tend to be the kind of people that take pride in paying their bills, plus I use a contract with their current address, and I am inspecting their new address, so I don’t worry too much about getting stiffed, like I did when I drove a taxi forty years ago. I usually collect payment after the inspection is over on site.
Cannot happen if you access the MLS listing, Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com, and/or the public tax records. Sometimes they disagree so I always take the highest number.
Different parts of the country do it differently. UNLESS the client won’t be at the site, we SELDOM get $$$$ in advance. Usually on-site at end of job.
NOTHING goes out till $$$$$ comes in.
Commercial = 40% deposit upfront, with balance due when job is done BEFORE report goes out.
Use ISN and you will see the prepayments go up dramatically… Actually i on rare occasion geta call from the client asking if it would be “alright” if they bring a check or cash to the inspection, making sure thats ok… You can change that culture by creating your own.
Also, i have a MLS subscription so i know what im heading into. On only a couple occasions i had a realtor misrepresent the property info, i called them on it and let them know i wanted the MLS # or owners number. Dont be afraid to set expectations, believe me if you dont someone else will for you.
Pretty much the same here. I get paid ahead of time on well over half my jobs. The rest pay with cash, check or charge at the end of the inspection.
If they are not present and still have not paid I can send the report, but they cannot open until it until the PIA is signed and the payment made.
Same think even i do i send an email to the client and write all the thing in mail and also i get reply from the client, if client is not coming than they pay by their credit card.
George …
I use ISN … plus Paypal + Square if needed.
So do 3-4 of my better competitors here in KC. Prepays do not increase. ITs just a mindset here that REA’s probably foster … DO NOT pay till its over.
Agreed Dan only thing I don’t like is sometimes you need to play around with it to get a good connection at least this is what I found with square.
I use a wireless machine on site. Most around here pay by debit so its convenient for them and I do not get stiffed. I ask for payment at the end of the inspection. I tried to get paid before but I had people questioning me on it. I have never had to go after anyone. I get a little sketchy when I am doing a commercial inspection where the buyer is a small company so I will ask for 50% up front and the remainder after words. It’s funny that they pay faster then big companies with lots of money.
I forgot to add that I get paid at closing on about 3-4 inspections a month. I have a credit card on file to ensure payment, and charge a fee for the service.
Troy, do you market that or only do it when asked?
I have marketed it to agents, and it’s on my website. I don’t offer it as a payment method on every order because the agent usually has a better idea if it is an option with the lender the client is using.
I’ve been paid every time.
I got you beat on this one! I just received a check from the title company for a home I inspected about a month ago. I was paid at the time of inspection:mrgreen: So I got paid twice!
I actually have already contacted the buyer to let them know what happened. I will send them a refund.
I have no idea why the title company sent me a check???
David, one of the agents must have sent your invoice to escrow, or possibly you were specifically written into the sales agreement as the home inspector.