starting a HI business

[William Moore]

After 30 years as a contractor, I have decided to move into the home inspection field. What courses would you recommend to help me get started? I am in Colorado, where there are no licensing requirements (yet). There are so many course online at a million different prices, I can't decide where to start.
Thanks for your help!

[Dominic Maricic]

Hi William,

At the very least go to nachi.org and sign up as a student so you can look at their online courses for free (they're also based in Boulder). This will help you in your decision on whether you want to follow that path or not. If you decide to proceed check out The ASHI School, AHIT and Kaplan as the top three inspection schools you're likely to find locally.

[Joe Keresztury]

William, great benefits at InterNACHI, including free education plus much more. Can't beat it.

[Jeff Waibel]

Hi William,
You came to the right place for answers. There are many talented folks who will gladly share information.

First of all, I don't want to rain on your parade nor dash your dreams, but I hope you are skeptical about the Inspection Training folks that promise easy work hours and high pay. They are in the business of getting you to pay money for their education. They really don't care if there is any work out there nor do they care about your success. 

I would recommend checking with other inspectors & real estate professionals and try to determine the market and the potential slice for you. You could find out the number of real estate sales and divide that by the number of inspectors in your area. I would encourage you to do your research before pumping a bunch of money into it. Home Inspection is not an "if you build it, they will come" business model.

In any case, I wish you well and much success.

[Dan Musielski]

William...  Check out the community colleges also. In Illinois, some colleges teach HI as a credited course; others teach it as a non-credit course.  Some of the community colleges also bring in an outside school, like Dominic mentioned....others have their own program.

[David A. Andersen]

From a pragmatist point of view, I hope you have carefully considered the numbers.

If you're coming from the construction field because the market is down, be sure that you realize that: contractors build more houses than Realtors sell. Realtors sell more houses than inspectors inspect. If it is slow in the construction field is really slow at the inspection level.

If you have something to keep you going during the startup phase of your business, a down economy is an excellent time to spend learning. I've done it several times. If you can't make any money, you may as well learn another trade while you're not working(if you can afford it).

Things do appear to be picking up a little though.

[William Moore]

Thanks for the info on classe for home inspection-Dominic, Joe and Dan.

Thanks for the "pragmatic" advice -Jeff and David.

For a little more background, after 30 years of owning a remodel company and having inspected a good handful of homes for friends and contacts,it seems fitting for me to "retire" doing all types of inspections.

I know it is slow in the inspection field and my remodel business is actually doing quite well, mostly due to referrals. So, I am just setting myself up for the day that I decide I have had enough of running crews and dealing with homeowners.

I know a great deal of Realtors in town and they have me look at a lot of homes for various reasons. Why not just make it official and open up an inspection business?

 Secondly-and do not take offense-I have reviewed dozens of home inspections reports by request and I can see a real need for qualified inspectors in this town. I hope to be one of them. That licensing thing may be a really good thing for Colorado...

Again, thank you for the sage advice; I will step cautiously into this field.

Just the comaradery alone seems worth the gamble,having read your posts and all. I also downloaded Dominic's program and,boy, I can just smell the money I will be making (joke)


 

[Joe Keresztury]

Good Luck William, thanx for joining us here.

[Dominic Maricic]

LOL. Sounds like you'll do fine William

[David A. Andersen]

One of the greatest things about Dominic's home inspection software and sponsored websites is that you can tailor make them for your individual use. In general the people that take this time to learn and do it on their own far exceed successful expectations of the home inspector.

If you can't make it work for you, wait around a little bit and Dominick will change it if it's a good idea! :-)

My path into the home inspection business was similar to yours. I was convalescing and looking for part-time retirement. A realtor got me started because of my background in HVAC which was a solution to her selling houses when she first got started in November and air-conditioners weren't working in the spring. Her clients were executives from her former husbands business and she needed to keep things right.

Working with realtors can be a love-hate relationship if you do not tailor them to the appropriate expectations of what you do. This is the same as with your clients. If you don't meet their expectations you will be sitting on the courtroom bench more than you desire!

Realtors,come and realtors go, so don't get upset about it. You can not keep them forever and they are not necessary for success.

[Dan Musielski]

William...you will do fine. ? You can be a success in any field(inspite of the economy). ? I have a good freind who started a construction company 4 years ago in this terrible market...and he is booming!  You are right, just like any profession, you have good and bad. ? Much of my business came from realtors who wanted a more qualifed inspector.  I only deal with high-end, hi quality agents.  Bottom feeders wont want to deal with you, and you wont want to deal with them. Stick with people who have hi standards; thats where you want your reputation.

Also..check out "Networking" groups such as BNI-Business Network International. Great way to network.

[Stephen Stanczyk]

Ok.  So we have had the fluff and you will do fine statements.  There is also the other side of the coin.  The full time schools will lie through their teeth with stories of $80k a year, part time.  They are in the business to sell their $3000 classes, nothing more.  There are dozens and dozens of inspectors in every area that are barely making a living.  There are also a like number doing really well.

You will need to have money set aside for living expenses.  Do not rely on any income for the first year.  That should be put back in the business in the form of proper tools, education, and marketing, supplies and more education.

If you are going into this as a sideline, or part time, there will be other obstacles to jump.

What type of business will you run?  Sole Proprietorship?  LLC?  S Corp?  Who is your attorney?  Who is your CPA?  Your State may not license home inspectors.  But what other types of licenses do you need?  Master Business license?  County?  Individual City licenses?

How about your insurance?  Are you going to carry Errors and Omissions?  General Liability?  None?  Health?  Life?   Injury?

Tools....computer....ladders.....moisture meters.....electric testers......safety wear for crappy crawlspaces and attics......gloves and more gloves.....business cards..... software programs.....cameras.......code books.......education...... more education.....

It isn't a hobby.  It isn't a fall back.  It is a career and if you plan properly, you MIGHT make it past the magic 3 year mark where most inspectors disappear.   When I joined NACHI in 2005, there were very close to 8,000 members.  I am now number 835 based on my date.  Many have retired, many have dropped membership, but the vast majority have gone out of business due to a failure of the economy and their business plan.

Good luck.

[Dan Musielski]

Business plan?  What Business plan? Crap! Now what do I do? That means I was out of business 5 years ago!!!

Well William, it says you owned a remodeling company for 30 yrs that's still doing well...so probably no nothing about business..right:)