Do you home inspectors make good money?
Nationally, the average home inspector makes between $50,000 and $60,000 a year. We can actually pull in the National Labor Bureau of Statistics numbers. But that's not what I would worry about. What I would worry about is the average home inspector's life expectancy, which is to know that 50 percent of home inspectors are not home inspectors two years after getting licensed. The reason is that they do not have all of the business backings that are required to have a successful business. The difference between becoming a home inspector and having a successful business are two very different things.
What qualifications do you need to become a home inspector?
More than half of the states in the United States require licensing and the ones that do not have to license require certification to be accepted by most real estate or insurance companies. The states that have to license usually require somewhere between 75 and 500 hours of training, they may require some ride-along parallel inspections with a senior inspector, and they will typically require either a state exam or a national exam, either one to be passed in order to get the licensing. Once you have those home inspector-specific requirements, you have to have background checks, fingerprints, proof of insurance, proof of fiduciary requirements, etc.
Are home inspectors in demand?
Yes. Most people figure that about 90 percent of houses that go under contract have a home inspection performed. You can search your local real estate board and see how many houses and condos go under contract monthly, quarterly, annually. If you do the math, about 90 percent of those will have an inspection performed.
Is it hard to get work as a home inspector?
Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. It depends on who you know. You want to focus your marketing on realtors. If you know lots of realtors, they will refer your inspection services. If you don't know any realtors, it will be difficult to find home buyers in the home buying process.
What's the biggest mistake home inspectors make when they get started?
Thinking that the actual inspection itself is the business model. It's important that they know how to do an inspection. But the services and customer service that you provide, far beyond the actual inspection is where home inspectors find success.
How can you build it as a business versus being a freelance home inspector?
The key difference between a home inspector and a home inspection business is having systems in place that allow you to duplicate the services you provide for people and the ability to train inspectors to duplicate the inspection that you provide for people.