inspectorchris

I resently used them. They are an SEO / Pay per click website development company. Do not use them. This is an expensive service and results are poor. They will show you similar industry companies they have with call lists of 50 a month and promise you similar results. I have had my website checked out by a few experts and it was set to be a well setup and ran site. 4 months with them 19 calls barely paid for itself. I pretty muched worked for free. Money is better spent with a guy who does SEO is local and will run a blog or facebook page for you. way cheaper and results will be similar. SEO: Search Engine Optimization.

THanks guys.... I actually allways think someone is going to bash me for asking some questions so I'm afraid to see what response I get anyway. But it would be nice to find.

I started a couple of posts and I can't find an easy way to find them. Actually I can't find them at all. I won't be able to find this after I post it so could you PM me the answer...... I feel very retarded.

I have one guy here that used to be A Pro Home inspections. Some how he got out of his franchise and is still able to do home inspections ion the same area. The way I knew it was him was he used to use his infared camera as his marketing" we see more period" with infared images on his cards and website. Suddenly a new company popped up called " Inspector Gadget " with the same we see more tag line. When I called him and asked if he was the same as the A Pro he said "yes, I'm the funny guy tall with salt and pepper hair". I said ok..... Funny looking guy maybe[]. How much do you charge now. I was amazed that he charged what he would have made off of an inspection after he paid franchise fee. Why would you leave an established name and brand to make the same money.

I do agree. I am not looking to be gimicky. I unlike a lot of home inspectors around here don't have the time to be passing through offices every few weeks to restock candy jars and give them more note pads. I'm not a stationary store. I can't tell you how many times I've had people or realtors say to me that they lost my number or didn't have the company name right or any cards in the office something to that effect. So they want to use me again they just don't have the contact info handy at the time. I want to give away something that they will want to hang onto that will keep my name handy without having to give them something multiple times or have to stop into the office( where no one is ) and stock card holder and brochures ( that no one uses ). I have the WIN chocolate guy, NPI with the note pad and pen on every desk in every office I have ever been to. The House Masters with the huge budget and marketing team that has the time to put into the offices. I don't want to do that. I ask people about them and they say " I don't know them, that stuff is just here". That is not effective marketing or branding. They already are a franchise name, they need personal recognition.

Did the chimney have a rain cap? Was the cap or top of the chimney possibly letting water into the stack? I see this all the time and sometimes when its raining you can see the water running down the chimney into the flue pipe. Because their are no restrictive bends, water can make its way, all the way back into the furnace. Does the water heater flue have and water marks on it? it may not be as bad as the furnace as it should be entering the chimney above the flue of the furnace.

I need some help. I am starting a new marketing/ Branding campain for the new year. Does anyone have a good place to get some marketing materals from and unique suggestions on what to give away to people. I am looking for interesting things that people can actually use and or want to hold on to. I will be marketing to Realtors, Clients Etc..... So far I got Sun glass clip that goes onto your car visor, pens, pads, a screen/ keyboard cleaner for computers and laptops. been thinking about a hand sanitizer. with all the swine flue talk and the news saying you should keep washing your hands I figure it is a good idea. I know you guys can help me.[^]

Crap... sorry for the long post. its cold as hell here so I've been drinking behind the keys at home with too much time on my hands.

In a case like that I usually say sure..... how much was that house? when they answer how many HUNDREDS of thoushands I say well I just saved you That many hundreds of thousands in heart ache. I do this mainly to make the point that I did my job and it was worth it for you to order an inspection. I personally feel that if the buyer comes out of the other side of the inspection well informed and with new insight decides to walk, you did your job and should be paid in full, worth every dime. Should happily pay full price on the next inspection. But in reality it is not always the case. If a customer walks on a deal because the house turned into more work than they were ready for I usually don't give a discount on the next inspection as I feel they got their money's worth. Under certain circumstances I will. I like many here write a report in my office and not onsite. I tell people that have doubts and are ready to walk before we finish the inspection I tell them that I can hold off writing the report until they are sure they need it i.e. are moving forward. If they agree I charge full price for that inspection and add the discount to the following inspection if they deside to move on to the next home with no report. I also will offer a discount if they lose the house because the seller backed out, bank backed out things like that I truely feel bad about and the discount in this case comes with out asking. I always ask a client that calls for another inspection what happened on the last house. depending on what they say depends on if they get a discount or not. I've had clients call me a few weeks or day later to a year or two later still looking for a house that whole time. This also has personal feeling discounts like if they are single parents, barely making it into the home as it is. I will make acceptions but its how I feel about the situation. I have many realtors call and ask me in advnce about a discount for the net inspection and I always say to them sure we should get together and you should give them back some of your commission money too... because it would really help [^]. Again so they understand they are asking me to take money out of my pocket not because I think they will EVER in life work for free or less...but that is what they are asking me to do. When it comes to family and friends I still charge money ( usually half price of a normal inspection ). I do this for a couple of reasons and you guys should consider this also. They will 92% be likely to be getting an inspection regardless. So if they don't pay you they will pay someone else they should feel so lucky they happen to be close to someone that is an inspector and they can get a good discount. It cost you money to do an inspection: paper, supplies, electric, ins. fuel lic.and time., at half price you would be breaking even on the inspection by the time all is done. Lastly, if you do not charge your family and friends and do not ask them to sign an inspection agreement and something happens to that house, they will NOT be covered under your insurance. Not only do you need to have them sign the agreement, You need to charge them for it to be a ligit inspection. Even if from now one you write that you charged them a dollar ( that you happen to never collect ) you need to charge them something. I have customers that have pipe dreams with forclosures that the price is a deal and not that the house is priced correctly and has many problems. after a couple of those they usually pick a better home that is more money but they learned alot. They all tell me they were able to make a better decision about the next house because of what they learned from me along the way about homes and what to look for. Isn't that what they pay us for? our education and experience? By the way......My record is 7 inspections with one client over a 2 year period. What is the most you have done for one client during one buying process?

That's hilarious[:-monkeyd.... I could set up a chair and watch people's reaction all day. I live in a ranch so it wouldn't be fun at my house... but its almost worth finding a place to do it.

In all the accounts listed above by you and other members, all seem like valid possiblities. Sometimes I feel like our curiosity gets us to investigate further than we need to. I personally would have used a moisture meter just to see if it was wetter than areas around it. Checked the eave and roof closely in this area, then written up that further investigation is needed. If the sub structure was still wet when they made the repairs, and no one has lived in the home since, I could be condensation from a greenhouse effect of the house being sealed up and is now sweating. The damage before that could have been from the actual leak. but if moisture was sealed in, that could lead to sub structure rot. We can't do distructive testing to find out if that is the case but it should definately be looked into further.

Yeah. I'm sure it is going to be big and built in everything. Sometimes I feel like I didn't charge enough and sometimes I am doing ok. Maybe I will bring a blank invoice with me and give him a higher estimate. I can always back it down in the end and make the feel better. I think I will be in the $4,000 dollar range come to think more about it. Thats a drop in the bucket for a person with a house or this caliper. The house is only 7 years old and is supossed to be an eco smart home so I'm positive it will be all state of the art and best of the best. I think I am more worried about the broker calling me and saying" Really? Are you kidding me?". But I don't want to short sell myself either. I'm sure this is one of the biggest houses I will ever see. I looked up the area to get an idea and all the other homes on the market in that area were half the size at least and still a few Mil in price. I've decided to hire my brother for the day and let him do the Entire HVAC and plumbing. I asked the home owner to describe the home owner to describe the house and I feel like the master suite will be bigger than my entire house. His and her master baths, walk in closets stitting room and bedroom all counts as one room to them. Every bedroom has a full bath with half baths sprinkled around the home. I should be spending most of the day going" WOW that is awsome!!!. I don't make enough money". I will take pics of everything and post them here when I'm done. Should be interesting for everyone to see. I know I'm interested. I google earthed the address to try and get an overview of the property and the address doesn't come up.[?] Thanks for everyones response. I was afraid of over charging. Now I feel better about my price. I don't want to do a by the hr deal because I don't feel that they will understand the paperwork writing they don't see.

And it is a Public water supply just no public sewers. The Septic tank company is a company that I use regularly to do the inspections and the are actually a cesspool cleaning company. The don't mind because usually they get the job of maintaining the system in the future from my clients. Because of this he is doing me a favor and charging me the same. The only differenence is he is doing a visual inspection instead of a video scope that he normally does. In other words he is popping the cap and just looking around. Seperate report just from him so its not on my Report. My brother is an Industrial HVAC Tech that is really interested just to see the system and how it works in a home and is off this day. He usually works on this type of equipment in buildings in manhattan.

Thanks for the responses.... I am having a septic company do the septic test. My cost $250 and an HVAC Tech evaluate the Geo Thermal unit $150 Dollars ( my Brother ).

Thanks for reading. I have an Inspection of a home ( if you can call it that ) in a very upscale neighborhood. The job was given to me from a mortgage broker I work with. He got it from a coleague when that persons home inspector didn't want to touch it. Here are the Specs of the house: 16,000 Sq Ft..... Not a typo. Not including a 80% finished basement that has a movie theatre 5 Bedrooms 12 Rooms Total 8 Baths Maids quarters 4 car Garage On 5 acres Has a Pool and Cabanna house ( was told the Cabanna is like a one bedroom house ) Geo Thermal Heat and A/C Septic tanks and for termites will need an inspection as well. This inspection is for the current home owner that needs it so he can list the home on a mansions action company site. The house was valued at 7.2mil I typically Charge $400-$450 an insp for up to a 2,400 Sq Ft. home. I have done inspections of mini mansions for $1200 in this area. This is a whole other animal though. I have the job so I'm not bidding. I'm just trying to figure out what is a fair price. I have it figured at $2,500-$3,000. Does that sound fair or not enough, too much? I also want to make sure the Broker still sends me more inspections like this.