If Your Thinking About Becoming A Home Inspector....

[Nick Gromicko]

The reason so many in our industry struggle at first is because they have to learn two very, very different skill sets, and apply them both, at the same time.

To get enough momentum initially, to succeed, you need to essentially "nail" both of them.

We're being overrun with people who, in the past, have seen a home inspection being performed, and say to themselves "I can do that."

It reminds me of the person eating a plate of spaghetti at a restaurant and saying to themselves... "I can cook better than this at home, I should open an Italian restaurant."

Then they scroll down through www.nachi.org/education.htm and say to themselves... "Look, InterNACHI has all the education I could possibly need."

I try to tell them that being a great, well-trained, chef and running a successful restaurant have nothing to do with each other. Two very different skill sets.

I have an friend who had a drinking problem. He got busted twice for DUI and had his license suspended. At the time, he had one assistant inspector. His business was doing great and he was taking home (net, after expenses) about $11,000 a month. One night around 2am, after having a few drinks at his home, his inspection business burglar alarm went off and the security company called to notify him that the alarm was on and the police were on their way. Being the only person with the alarm code, he jumped into his car with his ankle bracelet on and drove over to his place of business. He let the police in and turned off the alarm. It turns out he had left the office window open and the wind blew some inspection reports off his desk and set off the motion sensor. All was well... well, almost. While talking to the police, they somehow discovered that he drove there on a suspended license. They smelled alcohol and so they arrested him on the spot... and took him to jail. The judge sentenced him to a year in jail with no work release! My friend instructed me to shut down his inspection business, let his assistant go, sell everything he owned, and give all the money to his ex-wife, who would now have to take care of their children on her own... which I did. He was about to get released for good behavior, when he got into a fight with another inmate. He spent the last 4 months of his year sentence in total lock down. He was finally released at the beginning of January, 2010.

Homeless, nearly penniless, his inspection business wiped out, and unable to drive on a suspended license... he moved to another town about 80 miles away and started up a new inspection business.

It is now March 15th, only 10 weeks since his release. He has 3 assistants, one of which drives him to the inspections, his calendar and his second crew's calendar are solidly booked with inspections, and he's taking home (net, after expenses) about $15,000 a month.

Clearly, this inspector knows something more than simply how to inspect.

Here at the local InterNACHI chapter in Denver (which is one of the worst cities for foreclosures) my two friend Jimmy Michael of http://www.prosightinspections.com/1stChoice/ and Jim Krumm of http://www.cbhi.biz/ both report that they didn't notice the recession. They both employ assistant inspectors and both have had solidly booked calendars for years.

Clearly, these inspectors know something more than simply how to inspect.

If you plan on entering the "inspection business", you should stop. Think about those two words. Ask yourself, am I willing to learn to perform a good inspection? And just as importantly, ask yourself, am I willing to learn to run a successful business?

Ask yourself... in my first year, am I really willing to spend 40% of my gross on marketing, and then 25% in the second year, and at least 10% every year after that?

I've been monitoring the overall bloodline of InterNACHI members vs. the industry on average and I am pleased to report that today's inspectors, thanks to InterNACHI I believe, are better trained than at any other year in the past. InterNACHI has provided more education and training, more conveniently, at less cost than any other field has been able to do in all of human history. We can all be proud of that. However, all this free, high-quality, robust training... combined with states implying (through their published minimum requirements) that mere technical training is all that is required to enter the profession, and all that is required to earn their government-issued credential... is having the unintended detrimental effect of attracting many non-business people to our profession. And a non-business person has about as much of a chance at succeeding in the inspection business, as a person who cooks a great pot of spaghetti and meatballs has at succeeding in the restaurant business.

[James H. Bushart]

Great post and analogy, Nick.

[kpierce]

Originally Posted by gromicko

The reason so many in our industry struggle at first is because they have to learn two very, very different skill sets, and apply them both, at the same time.

Like this guy (start at 54 seconds).

[Sidney A. Holmes]

Being a Home Inspector is not an over night business and can take longer then one thinks to get started. It is a on going learning business. You need to look to other inspectors in you are for guidance too.