Hi all,
Had an inspection scheduled for Monday am but the buyer found another inspector who specializes in low prices. I’d heard about them before but this is the first time it’s mano a mano with them.
The house in question is small and cheap so I think I’ll let this one go.
I was going to charge 295.00 but they’re charging 185.00!
Galls me to lose an inspection to these bozos but thats the way it is sometimes.
Tom
The client lost, you just didn’t get the inspection 
I don’t lower my prices to compete with lowballers but, with all due respect, we don’t know the quality of inspection that the lower priced inspector does, either.
They are obvious charging exactly what they are worth ,
I found over the years those cheap clients are the hardest to satisfy .
Something to be said for a PIA with terms for last minute cancellations
$295.00 is prehistoric pricing too, when someone asks what you charge, its good to charge twice what the competition charges, you’ll find people wonder why your prices are double the state-national average, I explain way, generally book every inspection.
My thoughts exactly. They are not a client that you would want anyway.
I have yet found a way to collect on those terms.
Often if a home buyer wants cheap pricing, that buyer is the one who complains about every loose screw and unsecured wire they find. Complain about pricing; complain about your service; complain about suing.
Move on. What everyone on this thread says.
Hey Dale, How do you explain and book if you’re double the average for your area? Inquiring minds want to know! 
I can kind of understand why these people were interested in lowest price, they’re buying a 50,000.00 house so they’re not exactly wealthy. But I just don’t understand how the inspection firm can possibly survive charging that little, but they’ve been around for years!
Tom
Tom I have lost a few in your area also for the same reason. Sometimes they are on their way out and just grasping at straws to prolong the inevitable. Don’t worry about it, there will always be that low baller,and a customer that needs them. Just don’t compete and play that game. Like others said here, just move on.
Jim
Someone in sales told me this a long time ago and it’s sage advice, “don’t spend even one second worrying about the business you lost, but rather spend the time focusing on the business you could be getting.”
You don’t know what that company’s business model is, though. If you don’t know their expenses, you can’t realistically determine what they should be charging.
Back in 2003, I was setting up my different inspection services to address a competitor who charged $79 for any home up to 2,500 SF. I didn’t know his business model so I set out to discover what he was doing.
For $79, I could hire him to inspect one of my rental properties. That would let me get a copy of his home inspection report. After the inspection, I followed him. Hopefully he was going home, and he did. He lived in a 10,000-SF mansion in Heritage Golf Estates.
“Huh,” I thought to myself. “I wonder what his spouse does.”
I looked up the property records and found his name and his wife’s name on the title of record. A little more digging and I discovered that his wife is a big-time attorney in town. Probably makes a couple of million a year, if not more. Partner in the law firm, etc.
His report was a couple of pages of chicken scratches. Wouldn’t meet the standards of any home inspection association, none of which he belonged to anyway.
Basically, home inspections were a hobby for him. He was pretty much booked each week for the number of inspections he wanted to do. Interestingly, while he said that he charged $79 for up to 2,500 SF, he didn’t say that he didn’t even inspect houses that were larger!
After I knew his business and inspection protocol, it wasn’t hard to market myself (BBB, InterNACHI, E&O, computer-generated report with pictures) and win the business from him.
Sure, people want low prices, but they also want value. Make them see your value and you can win.
Thanks all for the thoughts and comments.
The rea is one of my regulars so she will let me see the report so I can get an idea of the quality. One thing she let me know right off the bat is they don’t inspect flat roofs, so yes they are getting what they pay for…
Movin’ on…:o
As Warren Buffet sais, “Price Is What You Pay, Value Is What You Get”
Jim
He said 295.00 LOL