Inspector Chat

So…you have your license, your insurance, a truck and a few tools — now what????

Create a business plan and budget. A written road map on how you will spend your time and money is essential to your success. Below are some suggestions for you to think about as you decide your plan of attack.
Running a successful inspection company takes more than just doing inspections. The first two years of any new company takes a focused effort on creating new relationships that will help your business grow for many years to come.

I hate budgets. I understand, but to be successful over time, a business and marketing budget is a must. I trust you have heard the old saying “you have to spend money to make money�? Very true, but it is important you know where and why you are spending money.
A great guide is to plan on spending about 10% of your expected gross on marketing. Yes that sounds like a lot.
If you expect to grow your company, invest in yourself.

Meetings and Realtors® YUCK!!! It would be great if you could just do inspections and go home everyday. The reality is marketing and relationship building takes time and money but will pay off over time.
Be active in your inspector organizations and your local board of Realtors®. Realtors® and Brokers are not usually your clients but will be your major source of referrals.
Attending functions and classes that have a room full of Realtors® can be the best marketing you can do. Learn how they think, what they expect from you and what pressures they are under. Don’t expect respect if you don’t give respect. Sponsoring a meeting or class at a Real Estate office is a great way to “mine� for business. $50 worth of donuts and fruit and a few smiles can turn in to inspections for many years.

Connect with your Audience. Do you know what G.R.I or C.R.S. or A.B.R. means?? What about the Property Disclosure Form that agents must have the sellers fill out when they list a property for sale?
Be informed about these kinds of things and set yourself apart from other inspectors in your area.
If you are going to be in the Real Estate business and work around Realtors® be informed not only on how to do a great inspection but about the “other� people involved in the transaction. It will make you a better inspector and make you a lot more money. You might even make a few friends along the way.
    Â
Local and State Conventions. A day away from inspecting to have a marketing booth or participate in some of the Realtor® conventions will bring dividends for your company the rest of the year. Try one of them, it might not be as bad as you think and it WORKS!!!

I am a Inspector not a Teacher. One of the best marketing ideas I have ever seen is writing a class on what an inspection is and is not. How does the inspection process work? What do you check and what don’t you check on an inspection and why? How does that protect the consumer and the Agent?
For example if you write a 3 hour class approved by your state for continuing education hours for the Realtors® and then teach the class at a Title or Real Estate company for free you will have a room full of future clients right in front of you. New clients plus they will know what to expect from you when you are doing inspections for their clients.

Ask for Business and be Nice. This is a simple marketing edge but often overlooked. The buyer might be your client but you can be pleasant and ask the listing or sellers agent to refer you to their clients on their next transaction. Handing out your card or brochure with a smile when ever possible should be a daily activity.
There is opportunity in our inspection industry everywhere.
Being a good inspector is only one part of running and growing a company.

Stay Educated!
Be involved in your real estate community.
Be a teacher and a student everyday.
Follow your plan and have FUN!!!!!

Attend any trade show in the home inspection industry these days and you’ll find at least one infrared camera, if not many, on display. In the autumn of 2006, at ITA’s Inspection Expo in Las Vegas, Flir was in attendance, as were several tool companies that offer cameras made by Fluke Corporation. HomeSafe Inspection, a franchisor that features its own infrared camera, demonstrated their technology at the show as well.

Are professional home inspectors sold on infrared technology? You would certainly think so, given the number of exhibitors with cameras for sale.

As a frequent trade show exhibitor, I have the luxury of getting tons of face time with my customer base. It’s not my charm or dashing good looks that has inspectors flocking to my booth. I’m the guy with the gaggle of goodies that beep, flash, or illuminate and come in every annoying color you can conjure up; the “toy counter� if you will.

Tools are to inspectors what shoes are to most women.

The biggest, baddest tool on any table is the infrared camera. Yet, I’d put the number of home inspectors in North America that own an infrared camera at some point south of ten percent. The cost, I’m told, precludes most from considering infrared technology. But cost isn’t the only reason inspectors are reluctant to embrace IR. I’ve heard infrared technology renounced by home inspectors because of the “increased liability� it introduces and I’ve heard it (IR) referred to as “the ultimate deal killer�.

“People know you can see through walls with that contraption, so what happens if you miss something? You see what I mean?� asked one senior inspector I spoke with on Long Island.

By this juncture, most inspectors know that infrared cameras do not give you the ability to see through walls. The camera will merely show the temperature signature of the wall surface. Building materials inside the wall system affect the surface temperature of the wall due to their respective thermal properties. Water, for example, has great thermal capacitance, so the presence of moisture within a wall system will create a temperature differential on the wall surface that is detectable with an infrared camera. Missing insulation is easy to see as well, provided you have sufficient energy transfer present.

So, to see or not to see, that is the question!

Would your client, who is planning to spend $250,000 on their dream home, want you to detect latent moisture in a wall invisible to the naked eye? Missing Insulation? How about termite or rodent infestation? You bet they would.

Will real estate agents absolutely abhor you if you’re armed with this technology? It’s possible; even probable. Does the ability to unearth more potential concerns with a home increase your liability? In my humble opinion, infrared technology enables you to protect your posterior more effectively.

The number of IR capable inspectors is on the rise, but those of you waiting for the prices to tumble further before taking the plunge, may want to reconsider. I spoke to an engineer at Mikron Infrared who believes that it’s likely that cameras with better detectors and higher resolution will be developed in short order, making today’s entry level cameras not less expensive, but obsolete instead. Mid-range cameras will then become tomorrow’s entry level cameras, with only modest decreases in overall prices being realized.

When using infrared technology, possessing the ability to intelligently interpret your findings is paramount. Flir and Fluke are aware of this and have instructional programs in place whether or not you’ve purchased a camera.

Industry giant ITA/Kaplan is banking on the success of infrared technology as well by offering, in partnership with HomeSafe Inspection, Inc., a 6-hour introductory infrared course, a 5-day enhanced infrared/acoustic course, and the ability to package the enhanced course with a lease/license of HomeSafe’s infrared camera and acoustic technology.

Operating a inspection business is as complex as the components of a high tech property mixed with components of a 100 year old home.Â

To be successful, plan on being educated about all aspects of your business ranging from the “roof and atticâ€? to the “foundationâ€? of your company.Â

Let’s start with your foundation.

Initial setup for your company

1. If you have partners create a clear and concise written agreement on responsibilities of each partner as well as a financial and profit and loss agreement
2. Obtain an EIN from the Federal Government (IRS) http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html
3. Set up your company as an LLC, corporation or sole proprietor whichever is best for your state and situation. I would recommend seeking professional advice from a licensed CPA and/or financial planner.
4. Open up a bank account using your EIN number and business address even if your business address is based at home.
5. Set up an account to be able to accept credit cards — http://www.totalmerchantservices.com
6. Apply for and obtain a company credit card
7. Have your state inspector license or appropriate designation activated and in good standing
8. Shop for and secure proper Errors and Omissions insurance for at least one million dollars in coverage. I would also suggest a possible corporate blanket especially if you have other inspectors on your team.
9. A company land phone line and cellular telephone is best.
10. Have a company website created.
11. Order business cards that includes email address and website information.  http://www.overnightprints.com
12. Order company letterhead or just a logo so you can attach it to a word document for correspondence
13. Office copy/fax machine
14. A high speed internet connection is a must
15. Create and order brochures with a current price list. Price list should be an insert and not part of the brochure. This allows for easy adjustments.
16. Choose your electronic onsite inspection software as well as software to do your scheduling, business reports, data storage, etc. Being part of the Inspection Support Network™ (ISN) and eInspections™. I am sure I am biased of our product so to be an “unbiased� contributor to Inspectorchat.com, I will offer that if you want to “test drive� the most diverse reputable, growing inspection software leaders I would recommend you investigate

    A. eInspections™ onsite inspection report. http://einspections.net
    B. Inspection Support Network™ (your office solution). Call 800-700-8112
    C. Home Gauge -Â http://www.homegauge.com
    D. 3D – http://www.3dinspection.comÂ

17. Choose or purchase your laptop, tablet or micro pc – http://www.dell.com, http://www.samsung.com, http://www.sony.com — Check out Chris Schuld’s article here on http://www.inspectorchat.com entitled “Time for a New Laptop; Picking the Cherry in a Field of Grapes.â€?
18. Secure an inexpensive durable digital camera. If you are going to use it for only work get an inexpensive camera, they work great.
19. Consider company shirts or jackets.
20. Decide what tools you will carry with you on your inspection and in your truck. Here are some suggestions;
    A. Carry 3 copies of your inspector’s license in case it is requested.
    B. Copy of your automobile insurance showing your inspection company as an additional insured.
    C. Appropriate ladders.
    D. Laser thermometer for checking temperature drops.
    E. Moisture meter.
    F. Water pressure gauges.
    G. Coveralls, disposable booties, safety goggles, mask and a hard hat.
    H. Bucket with a cup and towels for any needed cleanup.
    I. Basic hand tools to include at a minimum are; a volt stick, outlet tester, fireplace gas log keys (long & short), flashlight, Allen wrench, screwdrivers (regular & Phillips), extra batteries (9 volt, AAA & D), hand held lighter, 3 to 2 prong electrical adapter, bolt cutters, razor knife, light bulbs and appropriate fanny pack if you desire.
    J. Road side emergency kit.

    Your tools needed on your truck are certainly dependent on your area, weather, what type of inspections you perform and your personal business views.

21. If you are going to have inspectors who are not partners decide if they are going to be employees or independent contractors. Check with IRS guidelines to insure what is best for your company while staying within legal guidelines depending on the specific workings of your company.
22. Create an employee and/or sub contractor agreement to be signed by all inspectors, sub contractors and office staff if appropriate.Â
23. Choose what your pre inspection agreement will say. Check with your state and local authorities as well as your Errors and Omission carrier. Your state and national professional organizations such as

    ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors)Â http://www.ashi.org
    NAHI (National Association of Home Inspectors)Â http://www.nahi.org
    CREIA (California Real Estate Inspection Association) http://www.creia.org
    NACHI (National Association of Certified Home Inspectors) http://www.nachi.org
    AII (American Institute of Inspectors)Â http://www.inspection.org
    CAHI (Canadian Association of Home Inspectors)Â http://www.cahi.ca
    OAHI (Ontario Association of Home Inspectors)Â http://www.oahi.com
    
    These and other professional organizations can offer guidance as well as top notch education and networking.

24. Contact your vehicle insurance carrier about proper commercial coverage for you and your other inspectors if applicable.Â

Now you have the foundation poured for your company. Let’s talk about your business and detailed marketing plan in the future. Look for my next article on http://Inspectorchat.com in the very near future.Â

May you have success and good health as you pursue your dreams!

Dan Huber, CRS, GRI

Beleive it or knot the weigh you right tells your customers alot about the weigh you do business. Believe it or not, the way you write tells your customers a lot about the way you do business. A poorly written sentence with misspelled words and bad grammar tells your customers that you don’t pay attention to detail. If you are a home inspector or appraiser, a careless attitude is never the professional image you want to portray. Give your website and other business documents a more professional feel with the following ten writing tips for home inspectors and appraisers:

1. Check your spelling. If you can’t run a document through the spell check program on your computer, ask a coworker or friend to read through your writing and check for errors.

2. Be clear. Read your writing out loud. If it is confusing to you, or if it sounds choppy when you read it, your writing will be confusing and choppy to your customers.

3. Be brief. Less is always more especially when you are writing content for your website. Get to the point quickly and eliminate fluff.

4. Don’t capitalize random words. You only need to capitalize words that begin a sentence, proper nouns, and acronyms.

5. Write out acronyms. Write out the words and put the capitalized acronym in parenthesis the first time you use an acronym. Spelling out the acronym, even if you think everyone already knows what it stands for, is a professional courtesy.Â

6. Keep it clean. You do not need to use the underline, italicize, and bold features or the exclamation point for emphasis. Good writing gets the point across without dirtying up the page with unnecessary marks.

7. Keep it clean, again. Although you may intend to be funny, bad language printed on a page or published on a website looks juvenile and unprofessional.

8. Use commas. Commas let your writing breathe. Use them to break up lists of words or to connect two sentences joined by “and� or “but.� Reading out loud will often help you determine whether a comma needs to be added in or taken out.

9. Have a personality. Professional doesn’t have to be stuffy. Writing that portrays your sense of humor or passion for your work will make an impression on customers looking for someone they can relate to and trust.

10. Forget the phobia. It doesn’t matter if you did poorly in high school English. People enjoy reading writing that is frank, honest, and simple. It doesn’t have to be flowery or perfect.

So it is time for a new laptop, huh!?!? This is the most common question that comes across my desk these days. What kind of machine do I buy for doing my inspections? Well, this is actually a fairly complicated answer because it comes down to how you like to conduct your inspections. However, let me describe my logic, how I buy a laptop, and how I would defend myself against accidents in the field.

First, let us set some ground rules: this is one of my most critical tools (minus my software); I need it as dependable as I am; and I do not want to pay more than I have to for it.

I believe the most commonly underrated component of purchasing a laptop is thinking about how you intend to get it fixed when it quits on you. Over complication is the state of the technology industry right now so there is a harsh reality starring us in the face: your hardware will break. No, I am not a pessimistic person, I am a realist. This is not because manufacturing, assembly, engineering, design or we users are bad; it is just because we expect our technology to be bigger, better, faster so everything is over-designed and over-complicated. I spent a few years at Intel before stepping into the Property Inspection industry and I can tell you we over engineered everything and over-complicated everything. Thus, let us keep in mind we need to know how we are going to get it fixed when it decides its Happy Hour starts on an idle Wednesday at 7AM!

The next factor we need to keep in mind is we need to over purchase in two places, we need more RAM than we think and we need more CPU power than we think!

Next, we need some way to transport this machine. Do not over look this – get a great bag for your machine this way when you smash it into the door jam on your way out the door from your first inspection it will have your back when you start the second inspection.

All right, so here is how I would do it. First, I would buy my machine from Dell’s business division. Dell is a great company. Do they have the greatest hardware? Nope. Do they have the best system designs? Nope. Do they have amazing technical support? Nope. Ok, so why buy a Dell? Dell stands behind their systems 100%. They have decent support, decent machine design and they sell thousands of machines each day so they know how to do it. If you know the tricks to buying it (which I will dispense to you now) you will end up with a great machine, with good support, excellent warranty coverage, at a great price and Dell will have you covered!

First, get online at http://dell.com and find the machine that intrigues you or places itself in your budget. Next, as painful as it is upgrade the memory. Try to get at least 1GB of RAM, I suggest 2GB if you can do it. Next, try to upgrade your processor. Currently, I would hunt for a Core 2 Duo from Intel. Next, pick out the other components you like online. Once you feel good about your laptop print the page.

Next, call Dell at (800) WWW-DELL and get ready because here is the key step. Make sure you select that you are buying this machine for your business. Why? All business purchased machines and components have their support attached to Texas and Canada. All personal machines and components have their support attached to India. (Based on my experience I’ll suggest you want the support out of Texas and Canada!)

Next, when you reach someone in sales, tell them you have a machine on the their site selected and priced out but wanted to call to see if there were any pricing breaks over the phone or any deals they knew about. I have NEVER EVER had the Internet price beat a phone price. Also, you will get your chance to let them push you into a warranty which secretly you want anyway!

Ok, finally, let us talk about protecting this machine. The phone representative is going to try to push you into a warranty which, frankly, you want anyway to protect your machine. You want Dell’s golden goose warranty (which as at the time of writing this they call their Gold Warranty). This even protects your machine against drops and gives you 24 hour onsite replacement. This will be another chance for the representative and you to shave some costs down on the machine (because you really didn’t want the warranty, right?!?!)

All right; now let us get the credit card out (the not-so-fun part). But wait, do we buy or do we lease? This is a great question. With Dell, you lease the sucker. It is usually around $400 over the price of the machine if you simply paid cash however; you now control your cash flow. Usually the lease will run around $130 - $140 a month for two years (but make sure you get the $1 buyout lease). Keep in mind you should always try to lease your hardware and your software if you can – they are both items which require a lot of TLC and with a lease you get better support and better upgrades: guaranteed!

Questions about buying a laptop, you are welcome to email me.

Best of luck and happy hunting!

Growing an inspection company in today’s world requires a decent level of automation, hardware and software. More than 90% of the property inspectors on the globe today are using Microsoft Windows as their operating system of choice: due mainly to the general availability of business and report authoring software for the PC. Microsoft has been hard at work at the next generation of operating systems and will release it to the general at the end of January. This “new generation� operating system has been named Microsoft Windows Vista and comes in several flavors.

Inspectors will commonly ask me if they should upgrade to Windows Vista. This is a wonderful question because planning an operating system upgrade for a business is not something that should be over looked. Here is a candid response from someone who spends their days developing software for Vista. I have been using Windows Vista since the day it was released to developers (November 17, 2006) and have a great understanding of the costs and benefits of the upgrade.

In a nutshell: Windows Vista is simply not worth the heart ache for you to upgrade your current computer. If you have a brand new machine with an incredible amount of memory (RAM at 2GB or more) and you enjoy tinkering with your computer in your spare time by all means go purchase the upgrade and have fun. The new operating system is clean, it runs well, the system’s look and feel is improved and most importantly the protection of your computer is stronger. However, the average inspector using their laptop on a day-to-day basis is simply not going to receive the benefit from the cost. Cost always comes in two factors for computer users: the act of sliding your credit card for the cardboard box and DVD and often overlooked the amount of time you are going to spend getting your machine running again.

Simply put, do not spend any time or money grabbing Vista for your current PC!

If you are an electronic junkie and always need the latest technology keep reading…

So, how do you get Vista if you want it? By all means, get a new PC. If you want to run Vista, buy a PC with it already installed. Your experience will be better by 100%, let your hardware manufacture, like Dell, deal with the configuration challenges, the ups and downs of installing drivers for the hardware you did not even know was in your computer. Save yourself some time and sanity and if you desire to use Vista call up Dell and get a new PC with Vista already installed and running. If you want your experience to even be stronger wait until March to make your purchase. Delaying your purchase will allow Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers to see what unfolds in the initial months of public use.

Finally, if you do decide to make the plunge and upgrade to Vista make sure your hardware supports the updates. My team experienced a few hardware challenges during our upgrade and we have a small collection of useless hardware now. Do you have a SnapScan scanner from Fujitsu and want to use Vista? Bzzzzzzz, according to Fujitsu they are not even going to write a driver application for the scanner. Therefore, be ready to replace a few of your integral components. If running to Best Buy to buy new hardware to replace your working hardware does not appeal to you put your XP-based laptop back in your bag, smile at the fact you are not going to spend tonight trying to get your PC working for tomorrow, grab a beer and watch the ball game. You will be happy you did!

As Windows Vista becomes more of a mainstream operating system I will re-address this topic until then Windows XP up and good luck in the field!