Are you having your best year in the inspection business, your worst year, or something in between?
If you are having your best year…. why? Can you attribute it to something you are doing?
I can tell you why I am or have had my worst year since being in business of any-kind.
Heck likely since I started working on the books at 14.
Started working for cash a whole lot earlier than that but Uncle Sam did not get any before I was 14.
Dec 11, 2012. Me a bunch of lights and a dumb a s s move on a ladder 
Been increasing business at aprox 20% @ year in business but it close to doubled this year and that bubble is more than likely because of the better Real Estate market .
I am expecting next year to be less Cinderella like in general for the market due to an expected mortgage rate rise ,higher sales prices and less on the market.
The marketing Gurus…lol will have their hands full after pretending to be responsible for their clients (Inspectors) uptick over the past year.
Came in as the market declined and increased business anyway so not to worried though a lot of newbies will be going back to something else in a hurry if predicted trends follow through.
Honestly feel by not spending all my time on marketing gives me untapped reserves to fall back on if I do.
Nothing beats a solid base of hard detailed work for clients,being attentive and friendly to Agents involved and producing easy to understand graphic reports.
Marketing simply lets them know I exist .
Marketing and gimmicks without the former is fleeting success .
Well, my first partial year ( started in March) so yes it has been my best …lol…but it has far exceeded my projections. Partially thanks to a robust housing market and our focused push to work all contacts in the real estate industry. My SEO work and web site has steadily gained notice and now generates 10% of our business calls.
Next year I expect at least a 100% increase as we are positioning ourselves through several medias to hit the market from several angles for broader exposure. I plan to consume all the business the part timers, slackers and quitters leave behind and have hired one full time and one PT (retired builder) inspectors to prove it.
I believe that there will be less fruit next year as a whole but I plan to grow as stated next year and then look for a 10-15% rate the following years by expanding services, demographics and advertising.
Education, education and more education is the key to growth professionally and we budget 16 hours per month to CE.
Yes we are pumped and thrilled with a good start. NACHI plays a big role for me with the education, opportunities, peer group connections through message boards and events. Between them and the support we get from the team at HIP and a few experienced inspectors who have been willing to lend us wisdom, this year was just the burn out at the starting line… Can’t wait till the light turns green and we release the brakes!!!
I was on target for one of my best years ever until my recent health issues last week.which only gives me a partial November and probably no December I will still do over 400 inspections. This includes some ancillary inspections as we’ll. not to shabby in my book.
I attribute this to many hard years of quality work, earned reputation all which is really increasing my referrals.
Also the education, training in my skills including incredible marketing tools and that I get from NACHI and crew, all my Brothers this is all proving to be invaluable in making all This work out.
Jim
As of today I’ve had a 187.1% increase over last year, hope to reach 375 full home inspections this year, 28 commercial inspections so far this year. I have a Commercial building inspection scheduled for Wednesday. 2000 sq.ft.=$1600
Our infrared entity has a 138.7% increase over last year. I have a commercial electrical IR inspection at a manufacturing facility scheduled for 9 A.M. this morning. 4 hrs. on site and 2 hours report time=$1200.
We built our businesses over the last 8 years on referrals from former clients and our websites. I market to real estate offices once a year.
Really need to investigate this IR thing more. Least the indicators are positive here. I want to pursue commercial more as well. Thanks for a little peak while I’m on this journey. Every vendor claims " use my system, tool, process ect" and grow your business . Only problem is we can’t chase me all . Looking for my niche and appreciate anyone who can open their book a little wider to allow me to peak in…
Most of us who were established within the last 5 years, before the start of the year can probably say its was the best so far. I feel the moving economy had more to do with it than anything else.
Over 100% growth
Working less and making more. Income is WAY up over any other year. October paid for a total kitchen remodel at my home.
Best year by far. Inspections and Mold up 300% with a lot of room for growth.
September 1st started my 5th year as a full time H.I. So far this year I am up 120% over last year. I mostly attribute it to word of mouth from agents that have used me in the past.
I am am sitting at 17% increase over last year. Expecting this number to rise to about 22% for the end of the year. This has been my best year yet. With a mild price increase in January, my revenue should be up 30% from last year.
My year is double last, but I spent a few years with slow increase. This year was a huge jump.
Why? More attention to my web site SEO, good marketing ideas from here, and just continuing to build a solid reputation. Like Condo Bob said, sort of, if you have a good base of great work, happy clients the marketing just magnifies it, marketing alone will not bring your clients or REA’s to refer you again and again.
I’m just over 500 inspections for the year, which is fairly average. However, I will reach my highest yearly gross income (which was last year) by the end of the week. This means that everything I make in December will be adding to my highest gross ever, since starting in 2002.
I consistently inspect 20%+ of the homes that sell in my area despite having more than 60 inspectors within a 15 mile radius, many of whom advertise $199 inspections.
Jeff, I have some $199 guys any size house too, I find that only 1-2 of 10 calls are strictly looking for the cheapest guy. Most of the time the fee is secondary to the inspector they want, if you make a good impression.
I started this spring, and it’s been really challenging. I had some success this summer, but I haven’t had a paying gig in the last 3+ weeks. It’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve doubled down on the marketing, with new brochures, expanding the marketing radius, calling and hitting the streets. I’m keeping the attitude up, but starting to re-think myself.
I have always been curious to compare the number of inspections performed to the approximate population served. Has a survey such as that ever been done?
You would need to factor in sales and percentage using an inspector.
I doubt that is possible.
Only way that could be done is a Broker survey.