Keeping Yourself Occupied When Times Are Slow

[Jack Ahern]

Boston area is slooooooow. There must be a lot of people sleeping in cellars or on couches? It is expensive to be a Comm. of Mass. lic. inspector. May not be as many when the market turns! Good time to sharpen your tools and skills.[:-banghea

[Terence McCann]

Slow here too. Been that way for a few months. [:-sleep]

[Mark P]

I just came across one of my competitors advertisements.

http://extraordinairebuildinginspectors ... scount.pdf

What's a "GERNERATED" report?

Mark, do you really believe that's a "competitor"? Besides the $100 desperation, the rest of their website is amazing...as in amazingly bad. 10 pages, and it's only on the final contact page that you would know what state they are in. I'm surprised you found that. They are probably getting more hits today, from here, than they have all year.

True, Not a real competitor, but in this market ever job lost to a low baller, is a job I could have used.

I have never heard of them/him before. I found them by accident when I was googling HI in my town. There was another guy last year that kept copying stuff off my site...

[Terence McCann]

I just came across one of my competitors advertisements.

http://extraordinairebuildinginspectors ... scount.pdf

What's a "GERNERATED" report?

Mark, do you really believe that's a "competitor"? Besides the $100 desperation, the rest of their website is amazing...as in amazingly bad. 10 pages, and it's only on the final contact page that you would know what state they are in. I'm surprised you found that. They are probably getting more hits today, from here, than they have all year.

True, Not a real competitor, but in this market ever job lost to a low baller, is a job I could have used.

I have never heard of them/him before. I found them by accident when I was googling HI in my town. There was another guy last year that kept copying stuff off my site...

http://exbgroup.com/Inspectors.aspx

I'm not sure if it's a company that just farms out all their inspection work or just one guy that likes to appear bigger than he really is. If it's a company that farms out all their work, and they are doing a 100.00 special, how much does the home inspector make?? [:-yuck]

Either way it's a joke.

I like the "GERNERATED" report as well. We'll do a good days work if it takes us all week. Sheeze...

For an entertaining few minutes have a peek at their various web pages.

[Marc]

http://exbgroup.com/Inspectors.aspx

I'm not sure if it's a company that just farms out all their inspection work or just one guy that likes to appear bigger than he really is. If it's a company that farms out all their work, and they are doing a 100.00 special, how much does the home inspector make?? [:-yuck]

Either way it's a joke.

I like the "GERNERATED" report as well. We'll do a good days work if it takes us all week. Sheeze...

For an entertaining few minutes have a peek at their various web pages.

....and information gathered must pass through our authentication and quality control process that assures consistency and accuracy

What the heck does that statement mean? They're charlatans! Reminds me of a franchisee that just moved to my city. He's grabbing market share with nothing but a lot of hot air. One of his guys inspected an office condo that a good friend of mine was selling. Took all of 20 minutes!

Marc

[tbird]

I hate to add a positive to this bad news thread, but at the end of this month, I'll have done 36 inspections for this August. This year has been the busiest for me since 2006. There are a lot of local inspectors and guys coming out of the big city 80 miles to the south that are much cheaper. I recently bumped my prices up another 10%.

I wish you guys all the best and hope your business picks up.

Carl

[gtblum]

I hate to add a positive to this bad news thread, but at the end of this month, I'll have done 36 inspections for this August. This year has been the busiest for me since 2006. There are a lot of local inspectors and guys coming out of the big city 80 miles to the south that are much cheaper. I recently bumped my prices up another 10%.

I wish you guys all the best and hope your business picks up.

Carl

I had a good month too. These guys are spooking me. July was another story. [:-thumbd]

[davidlord]

I completed inspection number 300 for the year this afternoon. Thats a real number no embelishment. Stupid good year. Best YTD in the 11-12 years I've been in this gig. Dosen't make sense with the economy and all the gloom and doom. Everything here from the Atlantic to the St Johns and everything in between is 1/2 priced from what it was 2-3 years ago.

[Mike Lamb]

Not a joke.

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[John Dirks Jr]

Hi John - No, won't make the crab feast, will be in North Carolina visiting the in-laws. Another week where I won't be able to take inspections. I'll send them your way.

[:-thumbu] phone lines are open

[mgbinspect]

I hate to add a positive to this bad news thread, but at the end of this month, I'll have done 36 inspections for this August. This year has been the busiest for me since 2006. There are a lot of local inspectors and guys coming out of the big city 80 miles to the south that are much cheaper. I recently bumped my prices up another 10%.

I wish you guys all the best and hope your business picks up.

Carl

And thirty-three for me, which is way off from my normal two to three a day if needed, but certainly survivable. No doubt, certain parts of the country are more affected than others.

But that being said, there have been weeks, since the economy bottomed out, when zero to two was all I got for a week. Cost of living is the only truly controllable variable. If ya gotta throw things overboard to get through it, so what? Get through it.

[Charlie R]

For all those inspectors having a good month/year - GREAT!!! Keep at it, stay safe and we all wish you the best. As for prices, it's OK to run a 25.00 discount now and again but dropping your prices to meet the competition, you'll never win that war. If they say "any home for 100.00" and you match that, they'll go to 75. You win by doing your best on every inspection, treating each home and client likes it the only one you'll ever do. Word of mouth by happy clients builds and sustains any business, car mechanic or home inspector, bookkeeper or bricklayer, doesn't matter. Customer service 101.

Got a couple of phone calls yesterday, booked one. Took the slow time to get the maintenance done on the rolling office, restocked all my supplies, even went to the State fair last night and ending up giving my business card out to several people there. Working on the web site today.

[charlieb]

Here is the south the sales numbers are down. The mean sales price in our metro area is under 100k. Been that way for about a year now. Not the kind of houses we inspect. That being said, I have no complaints. The guys have enough work to be happy and I have other revenue streams than residential inspections. Diversification has kept the company profitable.

I'm thankful for the grace we've been experiencing. For the record, no price cuts. The only discounts we offer are built into the business model. This is the way it's been since I started ten years ago.

My numbers.......well I'll continue to keep my cards covered.

[gtblum]

Ya had to do it didn't ya? You guys jinxed me. I was just starting to go into that false sense of security mode.

Hell, I even went as far as to invest in a can of the beans with the hunk of pork in them. Damn it!

[mgbinspect]

Ya had to do it didn't ya? You guys jinxed me. I was just starting to go into that false sense of security mode.

Hell, I even went as far as to invest in a can of the beans with the hunk of pork in them. Damn it!

Hold fast, with rock solid confidence, to two truths:

1. The only absolute is change

2. This too shall pass.

"A smooth sea never made a skilfull mariner." ~English Proverb

[Phillip]

Doing one Friday that 2 1/2 hours away.

[Brandon Whitmore]

Doing one Friday that 2 1/2 hours away.

What's your drive charge, if any?

[Nolan Kienitz]

I booked one for tomorrow that is .6 of one mile away from my home.

Go figure!

Absolutely NOT complaining.

[Phillip]

Doing one Friday that 2 1/2 hours away.

What's your drive charge, if any?

I do not have a drive charge. It is built into my price. I have my work areas laid out in zones.

zone 1 is the main area I work.

Then each zone has a $30 increase in price added to the base price I use for zone 1

This house is in zone 4 which is $90 more than a home the same size in my main area.

[mgbinspect]

Doing one Friday that 2 1/2 hours away.

My area these days is HUGE, Phillip. I would rather be busy than sit at home and watch TV. "Half a loaf is better than none." If I nailed a foot to the floor, I'd walk in circles...

[Brandon Whitmore]

That's a lot of driving you guys do. I don't typically travel much further than about 45 min. from home, but if I do, I charge an hourly rate and mileage.

Yesterday, I could have arrived at my inspection quicker on foot than by driving.

[charlieb]

3800 sf 1950 house, with crawl, tomorrow afternoon. It's a 61 mile run. Mileage plus time. It's going to be a long day. I'll wager I'll have a few "Phillip" photos.

I've always been happy to have windshield time. This economy is a great time to strengthen your business, marketing etc. Books on tape are a great way to learn and pass the time. I just bought a new, to me, auto on ebay. It's a 900 mile run. Plenty of time to listen and learn. I'll miss my old truck but at 200k it was time to move on to something a little newer.

[mgbinspect]

3800 sf 1950 house, with crawl, tomorrow afternoon. It's a 61 mile run. Mileage plus time. It's going to be a long day. I'll wager I'll have a few "Phillip" photos.

I've always been happy to have windshield time. This economy is a great time to strengthen your business, marketing etc. Books on tape are a great way to learn and pass the time. I just bought a new, to me, auto on ebay. It's a 900 mile run. Plenty of time to listen and learn. I'll miss my old truck but at 200k it was time to move on to something a little newer.

I'm right there with you Charlie on the books on tape. I own about three huge holders of books on tape: WWII, Civil War, The Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Bible, Spanish, I own every College Lecture series Barnes & Noble ever sold - probably 90 books in all. My truck is a rolling classroom. To date, the presidents that have surprised me the most to learn of are George Washington (there are so many on him, and NO ONE really wanted to become the second president, because he was so outstanding, in spite of no college education), and US Grant, if you have not studied Grant, I promise that most of what you know of him is false and what you learn of him will surprise you - gifted man and especially gifted writer, who wrote his memoirs while dying of throat cancer - finishing them within days of his death.

Mark Twain said of Grant's writing: "I had been comparing the memoirs with Caesar's Commentaries... I was able to say in all sincerity that the same high merits distinguished both books - clarity of statement, directness, simplicity, manifest truthfulness, fairness and justice toward friend and foe alike and avoidance of flowery speech. General Grant was just a man, just a human being, just an author...The fact remains and cannot be dislodged that General Grant's book is a great, unique and unapproachable literary masterpiece. There is no higher literature than these modest, simple Memoirs. Their style is at least flawless, and no man can improve upon it."

[Terence McCann]

That's a lot of driving you guys do. I don't typically travel much further than about 45 min. from home, but if I do, I charge an hourly rate and mileage.

Yesterday, I could have arrived at my inspection quicker on foot than by driving.

Certain areas of the country are doing much better than others (cough Cleveland cough). Pickins' is slim and slim left town.

[charlieb]

3800 sf 1950 house, with crawl, tomorrow afternoon. It's a 61 mile run. Mileage plus time. It's going to be a long day. I'll wager I'll have a few "Phillip" photos.

I've always been happy to have windshield time. This economy is a great time to strengthen your business, marketing etc. Books on tape are a great way to learn and pass the time. I just bought a new, to me, auto on ebay. It's a 900 mile run. Plenty of time to listen and learn. I'll miss my old truck but at 200k it was time to move on to something a little newer.

I'm right there with you Charlie on the books on tape. I own about three huge holders of books on tape: WWII, Civil War, The Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Bible, Spanish, I own every College Lecture series Barnes & Noble ever sold - probably 90 books in all. My truck is a rolling classroom. To date, the presidents that have surprised me the most to learn of are George Washington (there are so many on him, and NO ONE really wanted to become the second president, because he was so outstanding, in spite of no college education), and US Grant, if you have not studied Grant, I promise that most of what you know of him is false and what you learn of him will surprise you - gifted man and especially gifted writer, who wrote his memoirs while dying of throat cancer - finishing them within days of his death.

Mark Twain said of Grant's writing: "I had been comparing the memoirs with Caesar's Commentaries... I was able to say in all sincerity that the same high merits distinguished both books - clarity of statement, directness, simplicity, manifest truthfulness, fairness and justice toward friend and foe alike and avoidance of flowery speech. General Grant was just a man, just a human being, just an author...The fact remains and cannot be dislodged that General Grant's book is a great, unique and unapproachable literary masterpiece. There is no higher literature than these modest, simple Memoirs. Their style is at least flawless, and no man can improve upon it."

We have each been given a measure of resources to steward. Money, knowledge, talents and yes, even time. We are accountable for what we make of them. If used wisely, we grow in wisdom and resources to steward.

It's all out there for the taking. Libraries loan books on tape, it's free. It's dirt cheap to "rent" books on tape at Cracker Barrel. I credit God's grace and books for the growth of my business. My market (caugh Jackson cough) is down but my numbers are up. Like the majority of people on this forum, we do not compromise our work or our customers. When I hired my other inspectors, I chose them carefully. Ethics is a required trait. They have the same mind set. We held our monthly training session yesterday morning. The subject matter was report writing and communication. We shadow each other and learn from each other. And ....we read.