Still need convincing

I don’t need convincing that A Thermography camera is a great tool for a well trained inspector.

What I would like to know is how guys are have implemented the use of Thermography technology into their inspection without increasing the duration of their inspection. I have been very busy and have a pretty solid routine in place. I am hesitant to add this service at least until the season slows down.

How have you implemented Thermography into your routine?

How do you decide what areas to include in your general home inspection?

Do you offer more comprehensive packages?

How has adding Thermography increased you revenue?

Thank you

You can’t add thermography to your inspection without it increasing time required to perform the inspection itself, the walkthrough and report production, unless you decide to do significantly less of something else at the same time.

If all you do is trot through the house quickly waving a cheap imager around as you go, you can keep the additional time required to an absolute minimum. Unfortunately, it will have the same effect on the value delivered to the client.

IMO: If it’s worth doing as part of a professional inspection, it’s worth doing it in a professional manner, with appropriate protocols, equipment and knowledge.

If you do not do it professionally, there is no money in thermography for you.

Like Chuck said …

I Live on a different planet (Population) than Chuck and I use a different strategy for a home inspection concerning my IR. I use my Camera on every inspection and basically on the same items depending on the frequency of rain. As for stand alone IR we focus strictly on moisture intrusion on residential. For Commercial the focus is strictly Flat roof scans, CMU’s and Electrical panels.

I have no intention of convincing you of squat.

You can’t compare a visual home inspection with a thermal building analysis.
If your trying to do a thermal inspection and do it in the same time and cost of a piece of crap home inspection your hiking up the wrong mountain.

Do you charge more for an inspection report that takes four hours to write rather than on site? No, I didn’t think so.

Who the hell cares how long it takes? At $1,535/day I could care less how long it takes.

I found five houses with roof leaks last month that I did not have any idea that they were there. What is that worth to your client? What are they willing pat pay to know this information that is clearly outside the scope of inspection, but not outside of you being sued when it finally comes through the ceiling? What is it worth to you? Are you willing to put in the time and investment? Or are you just concerned in getting four inspections/day done 7 days a week? The camera does not tell you there are problems. You are responsible for figuring that part out. And it won’t get done with a Flir One.

How do you convince your clients they don’t need a thermal image inspection?

Not many guys in the area we primarily service offer It. We rarely get asked if we do thermography.

More precisely what I am wondering is how guys are utilizing this technology…

-Do you include it standard in all inspections?
-Do you offer it more as an ancillary service?

I offer it standard with my home inspection but my fee is higher than everyone else. For a home inspection it likely takes me an extra 20 minutes per home for the scan and really no extra time reporting. The IR scan is integrated within the inspection. I do not do a stand alone report for the IR.
As I go through each room inspecting it I do a scan of the room. Maybe a minute per room? If I find an issue I take a picture with the camera and then add that to the report just like if you found a leaky toilet.

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Awesome Greg, thanks for that insight.

I use mine as ancillary but have been thinking about bringing it in full time, it is a very powerful tool if you get trained to use it properly. I currently only use mine for consulting and when someone pays for the additional service. Your going to have to spend about 5k minimum to get what you need in my opinion. I would also recommend; a 45 degree lens, a good strap to go around your neck with an S carabineer attached so you can hook it to your rear belt loop when your not shooting with it, and extra batteries. I currently need more batteries and a different lens if I’m going to use it full time.

I offer thermography as an add-on service in conjunction with a regular home inspection. I also do it as a stand alone service and do provide commercial thermography services.

The home inspection add-on service produces about $20k revenue annually, by itself. However, I do follow a protocol that does add time to the inspection. I don’t just wave an imager around as I walk through the house. I have never had any problem marketing it as a paid service against those who offer it for free, because prospects can perceive the difference in value in just a couple of minutes of discussion.