Name the Top 10 Reasons to go Thermal

[ldapkus]

What was your gross profit??? You don't have expenses?? Bottom line is : It takes time to recover the initial investment cost as other non vendors here will tell you.

[iniquette]

Originally Posted by bboerner

Regardless how you look at it if people hire you to perform the IR at an additional charge you'll eventually fall out of red back into green once you recover your initial investment. How fast is the question and know one can truly answer that. It's all about how well you market the product and how many times you sell the service. I bet it will take about 2 to 3 yrs to to start seeing green on this investment however once your paid off it's all pure profit from there. If I was going to buy anything big for this business this would be it. I've been called to do large jobs before asking if I had IR.

If it takes 2 to 3 years, you will probably need a new camera by this time Billy. So, no, it wouldn't be worth it, at least in your scenario. I think it is worth it, just not the way you have it outlined here.

[ldapkus]

A decent camera and a good 3 day certification course will cost about $6k-$8k for home inspection IR. Expect to spend more money for more specialized imagers and more specialized training to expand into other applications. You have to establish presence on the internet and that will take several months to get your ranking up. Most realtors never saw IR or don't want to "see more issues" so forget about referrals from them. It takes time and hard work to recoup you initial investment. I've been doing it for several years. It is most profitable in cold and rainy climates.
Hope that helped.

[Jason Kaylor]

Linus, good point there on the climate. It also makes a big difference where you are located. We are in a major metropolitan area (Phoenix). Having a vast amount of flat roofs here helps a ton as well. This city is built out, not up.

With the right marketing and the right climate/location you can easily recoup the cost in a few months, on even the highest end cameras.

JJ

[John McKenna]

People can take our IR class and buy our deals on IR cameras for
a package price of $3150 to $4350.

If you do 10-12 infrared inspections a month and charge $150-$200
for each one, it takes about 2 months to recover your cost. These
numbers are very common for some inspectors.

http://www.infrared-certified.com

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

People can take our IR class and buy our deals on IR cameras for
a package price of $3150 to $4350.

If you do 10-12 infrared inspections a month and charge $150-$200
for each one, it takes about 2 months to recover your cost. These
numbers are very common for some inspectors.

http://www.infrared-certified.com

John,

You may have recouped your IR camera costs and training in as little as 3 months but.... no average Thermographer is going to get 10-12 IR inspections a month when they're just getting started in the IR field. It's impossible. I'm sorry, but I can't see anyone recouping their IR camera and training cost in as little as 3 months. I think that your claim is a bit exaggerated.

[ldapkus]

Originally Posted by dvalley

John,

You may have recouped your IR camera costs and training in as little as 3 months but.... no average Thermographer is going to get 10-12 IR inspections a month when they're just getting started in the IR field. It's impossible. I'm sorry, but I can't see anyone recouping their IR camera and training cost in as little as 3 months. I think that your claim is a bit exaggerated.

Dave, I guess you and I are both exaggerating.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by ldapkus

Dave, I guess you and I are both exaggerating.

I'm with ya Bud.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by ldapkus

Most realtors never saw IR or don't want to "see more issues" so forget about referrals from them.

Not true. I market my services (inspections w/IR included) directly to Realtors/agents. The response is overwhelming. I am consistently booked out 7 to 12 days in advance.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by dvalley

John,

You may have recouped your IR camera costs and training in as little as 3 months but.... no average Thermographer is going to get 10-12 IR inspections a month when they're just getting started in the IR field. It's impossible. I'm sorry, but I can't see anyone recouping their IR camera and training cost in as little as 3 months. I think that your claim is a bit exaggerated.

I always thought the number of IR inspection that I got, along with
my home inspections, was on the low side, based on some of
the feedback from my students.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

I always thought the number of IR inspection that I got, along with
my home inspections, was on the low side, based on some of
the feedback from my students.

Your students must be pulling your leg and filling your head with useless information.

[rking6]

I must be the only one that has taken that an IR camera is a business deduction. If you buy equipment this year it is still a 100% tax deduction meaning you don't have to write it off over the coming years, to me its pay uncle same 3-4.000 or buy a camera and gain more business and revenue. Seems pretty simple to me but then again, I don't overthink things to much.

John I would like to know how you are going about receiving your IR business, and where the most potential is, residential or commercial. Feel free to PM me, if preferred.

[jrivera]

This might prove to be interesting http://www.pqndt.com/resources.html

Mic

[Jason Kaylor]

Originally Posted by rking6

I must be the only one that has taken that an IR camera is a business deduction. If you buy equipment this year it is still a 100% tax deduction meaning you don't have to write it off over the coming years, to me its pay uncle same 3-4.000 or buy a camera and gain more business and revenue. Seems pretty simple to me but then again, I don't overthink things to much.

John I would like to know how you are going about receiving your IR business, and where the most potential is, residential or commercial. Feel free to PM me, if preferred.

Yet another good point, that I forgot about.

If you couple that with the current promos (free level I training) on the Ti32 and TiR32 that we have on infraspection training you are out nothing, and be trained on, commercial/industrial IR.

Fluke Ti32
Fluke TiR32

JJ

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

Reasons not to go thermal:

1) Few are willing to pay extra for it. It's a large upfront expense to the home inspector and of no value to the public (who only cares about getting the cheapest home inspector they can find).

This is a good reason to go thermal.

Few are willing to pay (So you be the only one to do it and get a head up on those who are too cheap to do so). Honestly, the cameras are getting less expensive every day and there are all kinds of small business loans available, especially with Energy Audit inspections,

Think ahead and be a professional.