July 2015 Giveaway!!!! The MR160. $599.00 Value. Every Post Counts

For the guys doing on site reporting, how do you do it, I tried it and found it way too time consuming on site.

My report is 95% complete on site. I do not feel comfortable sending it out without proofreading and there's usually not enough time between inspections to do that. Once my day is complete I return to the office, download the report to my laptop, give it a look over and make any necessary changes then send it off. I always have them out the same day.

John James wrote:My report is 95% complete on site. I do not feel comfortable sending it out without proofreading and there's usually not enough time between inspections to do that. Once my day is complete I return to the office, download the report to my laptop, give it a look over and make any necessary changes then send it off. I always have them out the same day.

I always have them out same night too, but spend an hour to 2 hours each one depending how much was wrong.

That's where I came up with my business name. My grandpa was using AHIT's paper checklist software since 1999. He retired in 2013 still using the same checklist. He'd print out 100+ pages per day and work on reports for 3-5 hours a night.

I am now using HIP mobile. If I don't have a comment for something I see I will just take a picture and not caption it. Then when I get home I will look at my pictures and caption the ones I left blank as well as write the narrative.

My total report time when I get home is 5-15 minutes per inspection. I just purchased a laptop and plan on doing this while waiting for the buyer to come for the walkthrough that way when I go home I am done.

I'm looking to run a contest on my business Facebook page for tickets to a Ravens game. I need some ideas as to how to initiate the contest and how to get people on board. I know Nathan has some ideas! Lol

We are 100% onsite. I have always completed onsite even when using a triplicate form. I use HIP on a Note 4 and my assistant uses an s3. We have gotten the program to a place where it flows very easy and is easy to update. Take pictures with the phone too. I use my laptop set up in the kitchen after I upload to the cloud to email it right to the client. Just takes a little practice.

John James wrote:I'm looking to run a contest on my business Facebook page for tickets to a Ravens game. I need some ideas as to how to initiate the contest and how to get people on board. I know Nathan has some ideas! Lol

Make a graphic with the giveaway details and make it an entry every time they share on their profile or in a group. Gets the word out quick- remember to leave it open to everyone.

Brad Brinke wrote:We are 100% onsite. I have always completed onsite even when using a triplicate form. I use HIP on a Note 4 and my assistant uses an s3. We have gotten the program to a place where it flows very easy and is easy to update. Take pictures with the phone too. I use my laptop set up in the kitchen after I upload to the cloud to email it right to the client. Just takes a little practice.

That's pretty much what we do as well. A friend of mine in my area that has a name very much like yours showed me the way

Back to the original idea. I see USPs (free or extra fees) along with technology being the driving force behind the industry. As the industry improves and clients and agents become more aware and better educated on the home, they will expect more from us. Those that can keep up or even set standards will do just fine. The bare minimum inspectors will get left behind and eventually leave the trade.

Chad D wrote:Back to the original idea. I see USPs (free or extra fees) along with technology being the driving force behind the industry. As the industry improves and clients and agents become more aware and better educated on the home, they will expect more from us. Those that can keep up or even set standards will do just fine. The bare minimum inspectors will get left behind and eventually leave the trade.

I think it is bigger than that.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 07/03/2015 03:11 PM EDT

The future of Home Inspection according to Nathan... Part I

Our first and most pressing challenge, which affords us great opportunity while at the same time offering great exposure, is the age of the average inspector. I would guesstimate, being that there are no records to go on here but having personally met more inspectors than probably anyone else in recent years, that the average inspector is around 45-50 years young.

While many take good care of themselves now, most worked in some sort of home repair or improvement field prior to and with that came some level of physical stress.

At the same time, the great educators in the business are the same ones we have seen for the last decade or two- with no one really stepping into that role to take their place. (This is the reason we started www.HomeInspectionUniversity.com by the way- your $35 a month for all your continuing education needs go 100% towards producing current and new courses by these great educators and immortalizing them in rich video form for inspectors now and in the future to maintain such high standards in the industry. It is not a profit center for us.)

So what will happen? It is anyone's guess of course, but I think there are a few scenarios that could play themselves out, depending on how we act as a profession and how other players in real estate respond to market changes. Those scenarios in my next post...

Part I scenarios...

Every day new inspectors join the business after years in a trade- most entering this industry are 35 or better. It is possible that the profession remains a largely second career group of independents figuring out any way possible to steer clear of responsibilities (and profits) that come with running an organization.

In fact, it seems very likely to me that for the next decade or two a double digit percentage of the industry will remain in this category.

The growth category will be multi-inspector firms and franchises, and we've seen an explosion there in numbers over the last 5 years or so.

Here's where it gets tricky: if I'm wrong in my assumptions and a large part of the soon to be retired majority of the industry doesn't get replaced by second career professionals, the vacuum created could be enormous and result in one of three things;

1. A severe shortage of inspectors resulting in increased fees. This may seem like a good thing, but in the long run there will be damage from the portion of the market that decides for forego inspections altogether- later creating a glut of inspectors when the market corrects and prices will stagnate while a larger portion of the market than ever before decides that inspections are unnecessary.

Or

2. Franchises and large firms will become nimble about filling the gap- consolidating the industry, perhaps taking the experience level on average down for better or worse, but for the most part the integrity of the industry will be maintained.

Or

3. Larger players (along the lines of billion dollar real estate service companies) will see the market as an opportunity and come in with a large platform. One that will change the industry forever.

Obviously scenarios 1 and 2 are preferred over scenario 3 due to the unknowns, but we truly don't know which could happen or what the end result would be for us all.

Troy Pappas wrote:

Brad Brinke wrote:We are 100% onsite. I have always completed onsite even when using a triplicate form. I use HIP on a Note 4 and my assistant uses an s3. We have gotten the program to a place where it flows very easy and is easy to update. Take pictures with the phone too. I use my laptop set up in the kitchen after I upload to the cloud to email it right to the client. Just takes a little practice.

That's pretty much what we do as well. A friend of mine in my area that has a name very much like yours showed me the way

Glad you saw the light!

Nathan wrote:The future of Home Inspection according to Nathan... Part I

Our first and most pressing challenge, which affords us great opportunity while at the same time offering great exposure, is the age of the average inspector. I would guesstimate, being that there are no records to go on here but having personally met more inspectors than probably anyone else in recent years, that the average inspector is around 45-50 years young.

I've heard a concept that relates to this that I really like. Someone said that 99% of home inspectors are treating this trade as a parachute career. Meaning that very few people choose to get into inspecting houses at an early age. The few that have chosen to do so probably has a family member that is doing it. For the rest of us we had another job/career and got tired of it or were forced into changing our paths.

Part of the reason for such an high average age is that this is a relatively young trade. Another part may be a trust issue with younger inspectors. It would be pretty difficult to accept the recommendations of someone in their early 20s when it comes to the biggest purchase of their life.

Chad D wrote:

Nathan wrote:The future of Home Inspection according to Nathan... Part I

Our first and most pressing challenge, which affords us great opportunity while at the same time offering great exposure, is the age of the average inspector. I would guesstimate, being that there are no records to go on here but having personally met more inspectors than probably anyone else in recent years, that the average inspector is around 45-50 years young.

I've heard a concept that relates to this that I really like. Someone said that 99% of home inspectors are treating this trade as a parachute career. Meaning that very few people choose to get into inspecting houses at an early age. The few that have chosen to do so probably has a family member that is doing it. For the rest of us we had another job/career and got tired of it or were forced into changing our paths.

Part of the reason for such an high average age is that this is a relatively young trade. Another part may be a trust issue with younger inspectors. It would be pretty difficult to accept the recommendations of someone in their early 20s when it comes to the biggest purchase of their life.

That's a good point about trusting a 20 y/o, a lot of people I could see being very reluctant to do so. Hell being honest, as a consumer I don't think I would trust a 20 year old to do my home inspection. I'm 32 and i've had a few people question my age/experience, I couldn't imagine trying to do this in my 20's and trying to convince someone that I know what I'm talking about and that I'm not just some dumb kid, lol.