Posted this member's success story with his permission.

Robert Ladd
7:47 AM (2 hours ago)

to Nick, Ben
Good morning, Nick & Ben:

I wanted you to know we started our company in Oct. 2013, and completed 589 inspections the first 12 months. Much of this success is directly related to the help we’ve received from InterNACHI, so thank you for all do!

Robert Ladd, CPI
Certified Property Inspector
Legacy Home Inspections
913-484-4157

Very impressive. Nice work!

Nice!

Congrats!

Good job!

Congratulations:D

Not bad for his first year.

He’s incorrect about InterNACHI being responsible for any of that success though. The credit for Robert’s success goes to Robert.

Thumbs up to everyone. Collaborative effort.

Very, very impressive first year, be interesting for all to hear his strategy!

Kansas City area… I find it hard to believe from the stories I hear or for really anyone who’s only been in business for 12 months or less. Like that guy who states he did 701 and turned away that many. I would have to see it in person.

You don’t have to go anywhere, just look at his pricing and/or REA friendly reports :wink:

Maybe they did do that many?

Some people will only count a full home inspection and not ancillary services (radon, mold, sewer scope) in their totals. Others will count each service in the total. So if they did 400 home inspections + 200 radon + 100 mold + 100 sewer = 800.

But who knows? They didn’t give a breakdown. :wink:

He must be counting inspections separately, as David says.

That many inspections here in KC in first year, not possible. I would need proof. Either he is one of the $199 guys, or gives referral fees to REA’s, or perhaps, both.

Home sales here are half now than what they were in 2003, when I did 485 inspections. With over 60 inspectors operating in the greater KC area, and an average of 2,800 homes selling per month, that number in a first year of business is just not realistic.

I count clients not inspections.

Personally, I count $$$. If you are not at $.20 cents per square foot, you are not only hurting yourself, but your industry as a whole.

I agree, but that rate would never fly in this area for residential inspections, and apparently not in Kansas City either.

3,000 sq ft x .20 = $600. Nah.

Unless things have just recently changed at Internachi this paragraph from his website is incorrect, in more ways than one.

“InterNACHI inspectors perform over 10,000 inspections daily, and are respected world-wide for the stringent standards they demand from their members. Each Inspector must be certified nationally prior to consideration for admittance, then must pass a series of technical examinations before final acceptance. Once they are a certified member, **they must maintain 80 hours per year of continuing education **and pass an annual exam.”

In Bmore I do small house after small house with some larger ones thrown in for spice.
I charge 375 for a typical Bmore rowhouse, anywhere from 900 sq. ft. to maybe 1400. Either way the time spent comes out the same. 1 1/2 hours each.

If I charged more I personally wouldn’t feel right about it.
Maybe I should be more “cutthroat” about my pricing but I make a very good living and the work is not stressful, even if I do 3 a day.

Anyway, I don’t worry too much about the numbers, I’m happy and doing very well. All is good. :wink:

I think his numbers are fantastic … Especially for just 1 year in business.

As most of you know I’ve been back in KC since 1988. Having been active training inspectors for iNACHI, ASHI and NAHI, its been my privilege to have trained over about 40% of our local inspectors AND know probably about 80% of them.

UNTIL Robert we’ve never had anybody produce those type of numbers UNLESS he has more than 1 inspector on the road inspecting for him. Back in 2008 when we were rolling in high clover in KC real estate wise we had a guy doing about 1,250 inspections a year with 3 inspectors (my termite guy did his also). This guy was doing $89 inspections to start with.

Today we have another local inspector that’s very active with the realtor boards and he has 3 inspectors. He’s been in business here for over 12 years and told me last Monday it looked like he would finish the year with right at 1,050 inspections.

At a Christmas party I met a realtor that said their office has used Mr Ladd (Legacy Home Inspections) and the inspector told them he was Kansas City’s largest and oldest home inspection company.