How far or how much time are you willing to go for a client and do you charge if its too far or refer to the job to a closer NACHI inspector?
Spent a lot of time on the road yesterday. Client drove with me on one to save on gas since I charged her $ extra for the distance.
Interested on what others do.
Depends…is your time valuable to you? Mine is, so I do charge more when I have to travel more than about 30 miles or so to a job. Now, I probably won’t make it a separate line item on the invoice or anything, I’ll just quietly add $20 or more to the price I quote for the inspection when booking it. I’d say 40-50 miles is about the max before I’d refer to another HI. That distance will depend upon where your located of course. I bet Russ up in Idaho has to travel that far just to get to town.
I agree with Michael. I “quietly” add it in to my price quote. The further away the inspection the more I add in. I certainly will drive a couple of hours if the price is right.
Divide your fee by the time it normally takes you to complete an inspection and report. That’s your hourly fee. If an inspection takes an extra couple of hours, charge accordingly. I do.
I set up what I call my “local service area,” which is the two counties where I live and do most of my work. Standard prices in those two counties.
Then I have what I call my “regional service area,” which is the six counties that touch those two counties. Prices are $40 higher in this area.
Beyond that, I add on $40 for each county I drive through, or stop in for the inspection. That makes pricing pretty simple and straightforward. And I do get calls for those “outlying” counties, because if a person travels west or south from me, it’s about 150 miles to the next NACHI inspector. I won’t refer to an inspector who isn’t NACHI.
When I am adding on for mileage, I make it clearly known. I don’t think it’s right to add on charges “quietly.” My prices are public, and when someone calls there’s no confusion about prices.
$50.00 for anything out of Tucson including Oro Valley…
I have raised my prices to the max for this area and no one has even blinked.
Average is 329.00 this last quarter. 209.00 is my min. <=900 sq. ft.
I am so busy, between termite bids and HI’s that I have no time to blink… With this latest rain I may have to refuse more HI’s then last month…The bugs pay more…
I think before the end of the year I will run the Tucson branch and just sit there making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to. It makes me sad 
LOL
anything over 75 miles one way is extra.
30 miles to “town” (Coeur d’Alene), Mike!
I’ve pretty much kept a steady price in Kootenai County (Cd’A), but, at least on the smaller lower priced ones, in adjacent counties, I may slip another $20 in there. Depends on the market & how busy I am - Pretty freakin’ slow here . . .
HI’s here in NW Idaho have been standing guard over the ID/WA border, tossing WA HI’s into the Spokane River as they try to come over & inspect in ID.
James E,
when I lived in Loveland / Berthoud, I’d get calls taking me out to Julesburg & the corner near WY & KS - I know about long-distance HI’s!
Heck Russ, you did a couple here with me.
Yep -
& I learned an invaluable lesson-
Test the AC unit FIRST!
(and count the return filters. Those are the blue things in the ceiling, right?)
So, when do I come back - maybe Feb, before it gets too hot?
Besides, I’ve got a low KiltLifter Light. I’m due to return (in cooler weather).
Last time I was in that frame of mind, I came up with my new biz logo.
Thanks, Bri & Cheryl!!
Geez Russ, sounds like your on the verge of restraint of trade if you throw me in the river for working ID. I’ve not yet but I’m a whopping 4 miles to the border and I’m set for both states.
Very nice concept.
My prices are dependent on several factors, but as it relates to mileage, I jumped onto MapQuest and determined mileage from my home office to specific cities. Mileage, however, is not the only factor. Roads clogged with tourists during tourist season can turn a 60-mile drive to some hot spots into a 3-hour drive. Rush hour traffic also plays havoc. So a 0900 inspection downtown gets a $10 “traffic” upcharge. A tourist-season inspection in Julian gets a $150 “tourist season” upcharge.
Other reasons why I will do an upcharge:
1 - Realtor is a jerk and I don’t want to do business with him even though he keeps calling. These “jerk” upcharges typically are in the $200-$500 range just to make sure that they won’t use me.
2 - Realtor is always late, showing absolutely no concern for how he is wasting the time of others. These “late” upcharges typically are in the $50-$100 range.
3 - Standard mileage charge at the rate of 50¢ per mile. These mileage charges typically are for sites that are on the Interstate system but are more than 30 miles away.
4 - Bread Basket upcharge. This is a special $50 charge that I add for any inspection in Alpine. The reason is that whenever I do an inspection in Alpine, I always stop at the Bread Basket and buy some (some? $50 worth is some?) fresh jalapeno bread for Ms Margarita and Dr Cuervo. Of course, they also have Julian peach-apple crumb pies, cherry bread, raspberry bread, apple bread, and peach bread, as well as great soups.
I charge an extra fee IF i have to get out of BED that day…
You charge extra for that? That’s my standard fee!
“HI’s here in NW Idaho have been standing guard over the ID/WA border, tossing WA HI’s into the Spokane River as they try to come over & inspect in ID.”
From Russell Spriggs
I really have issue with this statement Russ. You made it public so I’m responding here. I know business is slow for both of us but you can just as well work business in WA if you want to. I thought Nachi chapters were to help, educate, inform your fellow Nachi inspectors. If you don’t want WA inspectors coming over the border where you need to ‘stand guard’ then why hold chapter meetings? You’ve been very helpful and informative and I greatly appreciate this but I find your statement rather a low blow and poor form.
–
Hey, Peter.
As you get to know Russ, you’ll realize that he’s a pretty easy-going, laid-back individual and simply left off the little emoticon from his post. Of course, he might be taking advantage of the San Diego hospitality of Ms Margarita and Dr Cuervo since they are vacationing up there this weekend. I think they arrived earlier this afternoon. :margarit: And me? Hec, take everything I say with a grain of salt, or maybe a few grains of salt on the rim of that ol’ margarita glass. 
I think if I was about 40-50 miles from the coast (San Diego) I would give a discount just so I could get my a$$ there (close to water)…say a non-disclosed $30.00 off the inspection automatically when the address was disclosed in the conversation…