Who and what is Unibind . I can not even find their web site
Roy Cooke
http://www.unibind.com/UK/home-uk.html
Does anyone still use paper? I haven’t produced a hard copy inspection report in over two years. I’ve saved thousands of dollars on paper, toner, binders, shipping costs, etc. Everyone I deal with has gone digital. On the slim chance someone asks for a fax, I still don’t generate paper, just send the report with WinFax or some similar program.
Yes, Will, I do. After sending the report electronically I print the report, the Summary, the Invoice, the Service Agreement, the SOP, a CD with all of these and other documents on it and then place them in a binder with a nice photo of the home on the front. I mail this USPS Priority Mail (~$5.70) and the client receives that in 1-3 days. I view that binder as a long term marketing tool that the client will use and may even share it with other potential clients. I’ve seen several binders that the client has used to store various other home related documents in like warranties, invoices for other products or services they bought, etc. I have about $10-$12 (including postage) worth of material and 20 minutes of time invested in the binder so it’s not a real high cost overhead. As a long term marketing tool, it works for me.
I agree. Many of my customers use the packaged report when they do their final walk through inspection. I encourage them to do so. It is difficult to show someone else (friend or family member) a CD with the same impact of a nicely packaged report. But in the final analysis I say go with what you like and works for you. That’s why we are all not the same. We’ve managed to get our cost per report to around $5-6.
$10-$12 times 300-400 inspections per year, not including the extra 20 minutes per inspection, Yikes!!!
I think if they are afraid to post their prices on their site, they are way out of my price range.
What Yikes!? I don’t understand. I’ve decided to make this practice part of my marketing plan and have incorporated the overhead costs into my inspection pricing. What difference does it make if it’s $0.10 or $100.00 as long as it is accounted for when developing your fees? My business practice is not to eliminate all expenses but rather to maximize the impact of those overhead expenses that I do have and deliver to best product I can to my customer. In my opinion, simply delivering an e-mailed report is not the best product for my customer. Now it may very be for you and that’s perfectly fine, I really don’t care. I feel my method is one of the things that sets me apart from the competition here and I charge accordingly. I do offer, if the client really wants it, a $20 fee reduction for a paperless report but I don’t push that option much. An example of when I’ve used that option is for an investor that is buying up several properties. Then he will likely get one binder for the first property then elect to receive e-mailed versions of any others and place those in the binder himself.
I have to agree . If I go to a yard sale no price good by .
Roy Cooke
I’ve yet to see an Ameri-spec inspection binder as a table top book in the living room of any home. I’m quite certain there stuffed in a closet far from sight. I’m also quite certain it gets thrown in the trash before the home goes up for sale the next time to remove any evidence of prior disclosure issues. I try and embed myself in the clients digital world, their email, pda, computer, cellphone, etc… Having my report emailed to the client provides an opportunity for it to be permanently stored there along with my website, email and contact information. Maybe it’s a regional thing. My clients don’t ask for paper. They don’t ask for boiler plate. They do ask for quality information regarding the condition of the subject property, it’s empowering to them. Most real estate companies I deal have all gone digital, complete files, including escrow, title, home inspection and termite inspection paperwork are all transfered to a common digital report accessible by the client anywhere on earth. I’ll charge what the market will bare and put the extra $3000-$4000 paper savings each year in my IRA or a share of another investment property.