Discount Inspections

I had a homebuyer call me late last year for a townhouse inspection that included WDi & radon. I gave him my regular price which was $235.00 more than another inspector. The buyer called me 'Nuts' for such an outragous price. I wished him well and hung up the phone.

A week later, the realtor for that buyer calls me and asks if I could conduct the inspection. I said sure, why not. Then, did the truth come out; they wanted me to conduct ANOTHER inspection because the $235.00 cheaper inspector botched the inspection and the buyer didn't want to call me again.

Here's the story: the realtor gets to the inspection 1/2 hour late; Mr. 235 is leaving, saying the inspection is complete. Mr. 235 was on site for 45 minutes for a 3 bed 2 1/2 bath townhouse and the buyer feels he didn't get his money's worth.

I told the realtor "yeah, he did get his money's worth, you get what you pay for." The buyer then calls me back and asks if I could do a 'partial' inspection. He wants to tell me what to inspect when I'm on site.

Of course I declined; pretty sad when you pay several 100.000 but want to save $235.00 on your inspector.

Darren

www.aboutthehouseinspections.com

I usually tell the client "A discount inspection gives you a discount inspector".

There are many of them out there. 

Luke I understand your dilemma but what you need to realize is that time is what it's worth. If you do a great job and stay at it continue to learn and stay current with the industry your time is what your client is paying for. Your time educating yourself your time learning to become the best your time in doing your job your time in doing a good report your time getting to and from the inspection. Let me ask you something please.

What are your fees for a 2,00o sq. ft. home with an attic with storage and a crawl space? How long will it take you to do a complete inspection along with the report?

I agree completely but you must realize that discounts must be a limited time offer.  It is a marketing strategy, one that all successful companies us.  My fees for a house of the size you say, without any discounts, depending on the proximity from my office would start off at $265.  Without travel it would take me about three hours. 

I am sure that is a fair price for your market area. In my area the fee for that inspection or should I say my fee is $349.00 without any discount. Just so you have a reference point. And so everyone knows I do not get many refusals to this price as I promote my qualifications rather than talk about price shopping. I always try to steer a client to value for money and why I charge what I do.

First of all in my market the average home inspection price is $300, so I'm really not that far from the average price.  Also I work in two different areas, with completely different housing markets.  In Rockford, IL, home prices can be as low as $20,000, I don't feel that home price merits a high-priced inspection.  In Mchenry homes are can be upwards of a million dollars, therefore I can charge higher.  If I were to be in Chicago I could charge $400 or more for an inspection.  Prices have to reflect the market you work in as well.  I do realize that on the west coast prices tend to be higher, so I can see why you charge so much.

Jacks comment hits the nail on the head.

This mess usually solves its self over time. Same is true in most businesses.

TG and Y or Neiman Marcus. You get what you pay for.

Jeffrey

IonHomeInspection.com

Katy, Houston, Sugar Land

Jeff I prefer to call it Needless Mark-up which is my joke for it when my wife worked at the San Francisco Store.

Hey who dares wake up the sleeping?

Just got email notification on this from what....over a year ago.

Since then the Real Estate market has changed quite a bit gentlemen .....and ladies as I see Brenda roused me back.

Just this morning I met a few of the local Inspectors telling me how they are getting foreclosure inspections and the clients want a punch list rather than a report, so they are charging less .

After hearing this they went on to complain they are making less. Duh!

I am getting more foreclosure and short sale Inspections to but certainly would not cut my fee in half for them.

If anything I would charge more as there is going to be more time consuming defects in a foreclosure just because of the lack of maintenance associated with this type of property.

If you are getting a 2 flat for $70,000 in Chicago and figure it needs no work, you my friend are living in fantasy land.

Please guys or gals,do not cut your fees then complain about less money for bread on your table.

I believe like others have said here, you get what you pay for

It is not hard to know when you get a call for an inspection if they are price shopping.

What I do is sell my strong points and years of experience. Then I give them 3 names and numbers of past inspections and tell them to call for a reference ( of course I have the permission of my client) Then I tell them when you call other inspection companies please be sure to ask them for references you can call.

I had a woman call just last week and when she called the other inspection company she called me right back. I know she didn't have enough time to call my references, she said the other inspection company told her "we don't give out names or number of past inspections" so she hung up and booked with us.

In our area we call the cheap 45 min inspections, Drive by inspections. Again you get what you pay for.

Great post nice to see it is still going strong.

Tom

Hi Bob,

Long time no talk.  Amazing the legs this blog has shown.  I fully agree; although foreclosures and short sales are not nearly the issue in this market.  Please guys and gals, keep those prices up where they belong!

Hi David

Yeah not all areas have lots of foreclosures, with some more than others.

You are right about long time no hear.

I need to squeeze in more blog time and keep figuring I will do it when things slow, but they are still going well.

I must -must- must make time, as I have some of the newbies in Illinois bragging to me about catching up on points.

Hi Erol

I am sure you noticed , since you are in my market area ,that some of my older blogs from Active Rain have good page rank on Google and Yahoo.

You may be right but , AR has definetly helped my business.

I have no SEO knowledge  compared to most so I am gratful to have found this site and found out about it ironicly at TIJ where I was banned for dis-aggrement over their unfair posts.

Talk about censorship. lol

Hello All,

I haven heard the PRICE thing for almost 20 years now. How much money do you NEED to make for a comfortable living. I charge a REASONABLE fee for my services. I am not there for cosmetics only the safe and sanitary conditions of the home. I earn well in excess of a 5 figure income. Broke that 6 figure in 1995. Business has slowed somewhat now but still saving money and give GREAT services. I personally don't like the high end homes, they tend to be more up in the air buyers. I like down to earth people, lower end homes. I have done well in excess of 20,000 inspections now and rarely advertise. Mostly word of mouth referrals from buyers, agents and many repeat buyers and their families.

To me the ones that charge by sq ft are price gouging their clients, what is one more bedroom, bath, a little larger family room or living room, most homes have only ONE heating system, ONE roof, ONE foundation, ONE electrical service panel.

Now I do add for more services, radon, sewer video, re-inspections, home warranties, etc. but if they want to ask questions a year later call away, I'll help out in any way I can for my clients.

So charge any price you want,, that is what freedom is all about.

I actually heard a fellow realtor ask a client if they wanted a cheap inspection or a good inspection.  Not very good risk management of their part. 

If home inspectors want to be respected like other professionals, they must act like professionals. Lowballers damage the profession, and use a down market to justify it.  We shouldn't be looking to reduce our prices, but improve the value added to our customers.

I work very hard for my fee. When I consider the effort I put forth, and more important, the amount of information I provide to my clients, there is no way I would consider working for less. I have yet to do an inspection that wasn't worth exponentially more than the fee I charged. Whether it be information that contributed during negotiations, or the headaches avoided, my work is worth every cent it cost. I would rather go fishing than work for less money.

I became a Home Inspector because of my construction background. I have built many things, from dog houses to high rise buildings to operating rooms, and have hands on experience in many (if not most) of the trades. Don't get me wrong, I do not think I know it all... nobody does, and we can all learn something new everyday. It is the better Inspectors that strive to gain as much knowledge as possible, and never stop learning.

Unfortunately, there really is no way for a client to determine the skill of a Home Inspector. I've seen new guys do a great job, and old timers that provided nothing more than toilet paper. And, since most of us deliver our reports via the internet, many of those folks that shopped for for the cheapest price... and nothing more, ended up wearing doodoo.

So BUYER BEWARE! You can pay ME now, or pay much more later!!!