Business Opportunities in the Inspection Field?

General Inspection Topics General Inspection Discussion
1

I know that this forum is made up mostly of home inspectors, but I thought there might be some knowledge of other building inspection opportunities. I know home inspectors in my area are having a tough go of it these days. I am in the San Francisco Bay area (East Bay).

I have 10 years experience appraising single family residences. 2 years experience in residential and commercial moisture testing / mold inspections. And I have also gotten into commercial insurance inspections over the last 6 months.

The res. appraisal field has pretty much been going down the toilet the last 3 years, but I won’t get into details. I find mold inspections to also be a tough gig especially since I don’t really have a large budget for scare tactic type advertising. I am pretty much making a living with insurance inspections, but they don’t pay particularly well and you need to do at least 5 a day to make any money.

I am basically trying to figure out where there may be opportunities for someone with my background. Maybe some sort of consulting? Are there ICC certifications I can obtain that would benefit?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

2

I thought you did the news.

Sorry couldn’t resist :slight_smile:

3

Beat me to it.

4

When did you relocate from San Diego?

6

I just don’t like that potential clients can see my posts from a google search.

7

I don’t really understand your question. What do you mean by “opportunities?” Can you explain?

9

Ron any business if you really like it will make you successful.
Switching fields will not make you or break you.

People can tell tell when you are having fun and will be attracted to you but if you are miserable no business plan will succeed.

Not trying to sound nebulous ,just being real.

10

Just looking for some information on what people do for a living in the inspection world. I am not really interested in the home inspection game as that seems to be heavily RE market driven, something I have also dealt with in the appraisal field. My area is also pretty saturated with inspectors and fees are down from 5 years ago.

I thought someone might be able to shed some light on where there may be demand for other types of property inspections.

11

Inspectors spend money on two things: Education and marketing. At InterNACHI, both of those departments are overwhelmed. Yesterday for example, our Marketing Department got 32 orders for custom brochures. At InspectorOutlet.com, FedEx sends a separate truck to handle all the book orders that are shipped every day.

My recommendation is to create products that help inspectors market themselves or achieve technical excellence. Those are what inspectors spend money on.

12

Listen to thornberry. He can pull stats out his backside like no one else.:roll::roll:

Make sure to buy his gimmicks too. :shock:

You’ll be a millionaire in no time. :wink:

13

Perfect partner for P. Nathan Diddily… :stuck_out_tongue:

14

One third of out business comes from the insurance market(different in Florida). If I focused on it we could grow it. I have several inspectors that make a good living just doing the insurance stuff.