For the most part, home inspecting is solitary work. Customers hire you to perform a job, and then you prepare a report for them to review afterward. But customers also ask questions. Sometimes, there are a lot of questions. How you respond can ease a customer’s mind and help protect you from liability. The potential…
There are exceptions, but in many cases no one will force a buyer to get a home inspection in order to get financing. It’s not cheap, and many buyers don’t understand the difference between an inspection and an appraisal. So it stands to reason that a lot of people skip the inspection, even though that’s…
A web presence isn’t just nice, it’s expected, especially with younger, millennial home buyers. Without a website, you stand to lose a lot of business. And if you think about it, it makes total sense. Your work depends on attracting customers to you. And that’s what a web presence does, as long as it’s done…
Social media for business isn’t exactly the same as a private account. You have to nurture it and tend to it. If you do, you’ll eventually start getting the leads that you want. But if you don’t, the whole idea will be a waste of your time. Community building is what generates leads. You want…
Marketing is one of those necessary evils. Home inspection work doesn’t often appear on its own, at least not without some effort on the front end. And it can take a while for a new inspector to grow a referral base that’s dependable. You’ve got to keep your marketing plan alive and working if you…
Mike Chamberlain is the owner and lead home inspector with MC2 Home Inspections. He has a background in construction and residential real estate and has nine years of experience as an inspector and business owner. We recently asked him about the challenges of running a home inspection business. Here’s wha the had to say: What…
If you’re on the fence about whether or not to enroll with ICA School, part of your quandary probably deals with value. Is this program all that it’s cracked up to be, and will the investment be worth it? You control your success after graduation. Your training is in good hands with ICA School. But…
If you’ve been in the home inspection industry for more than a minute, you’re well-familiar with the “visual inspection” language that’s so common. It’s in nearly every Standards of Practice, both with associations and at certain state levels. But are any inspections really visual only? And could a visual inspection ever be sufficient? Some industry…
Home inspecting work is largely the same from state to state, but licensing requirements differ. Many states require a home inspector license, but a good portion of them don’t. While that means there can be some fairly significant differences in the way that inspectors perform the job, most states seem to agree that’s not the…
You don’t have to choose ICA School, but our training program is a smart decision. Where some programs fall short in one area or another, ours goes the extra mile at a more affordable cost. How is that possible? It’s simple. When a program is affordable, more students can enroll. We believe that a quality…