Finding Success as a Home Inspector, and Avoiding Failures

Starting a career as a home inspector is the first step to a promising new career. Like any small business, it takes hard work, a solid strategy, and time to find success. Success won’t happen overnight, so being consistent and having the right mindset are crucial to creating a sustainable business.

Setting realistic expectations and following a step-by-step plan are important. Doing this early on will not only provide home inspectors with the right mindset for success, but also a foundational business strategy that accounts for growth over time.

What is Success? Making Money or Being Good at Your Job?

Obviously, any small business owner would like to achieve success, but there are two types of success to consider: Positive business recognition and financial growth.

Success can be subjective, but for any business success equals financial success and continued growth. To achieve this, we’ve outlined how home inspectors can start a new business, as well as how to make their home inspection business successful.

The Business Components of Being a Home Inspector

The prospect of owning a business and scaling it attracts many entrepreneurial-minded folks who are ambitious and seeking success. Most if not all home inspectors have the technical know-how that performs quality work, but to build a business from the ground up you need more than that.

To really be successful, home inspectors building a business need to be financially literate, understand marketing, and connect with the right people to help the business grow.

Joe Mazza, the host of the hit HGTV series “Home Inspector Joe” and AHIT graduate, has created a successful home inspection business and knows how to start. For more about Joe Mazza and other student success stories, check out our AHIT student success stories.

“A career in home inspections is financially rewarding, but it’s up to you. You can make a lot of money being a home inspector, it’s just up to you to have that drive and that force, that dedication, that motivation to get to those jobs and to be out there.”

“I don’t know how many inspections I did within the first year, but I can tell you, within the first one to two years I was making more as a home inspector than I was working construction in the city for 20 years. That’s what made my decision to walk away from that job in the city.”

Tips for Starting a Home Inspection Business

• Learn How to Manage Finances – It’s critical to understand how to create a financial plan that is practical for your business, especially with a new business. Create your start-up fund; this initial plan will indicate how much money will be needed for your home inspection business to begin.
• Save for Taxes – An underrated piece of managing finances is accounting for taxes and fixing this amount into your budget. While some business expenses are deductible, self-employed folks have taxes to consider. There are federal taxes, yes, but many states also require income tax payments.
• Set Realistic Goals – Setting attainable goals benefits you and your business in more ways than one. With attainable goals you can achieve, your business grows sustainably, scaling can be more efficient, and it builds momentum giving you more confidence.
• Create Proper Communication Channels – It’s never been easier to stay connected, creating effective lines of communication with both your business and clients is essential. A home inspection falls at a crucial point of the home purchase process, don’t let your business slow this down. Communicating with your clients is king and will serve you well.
• Stay Organized – Good bookkeeping will go a long way, staying on top of reporting can be tedious but will give you peace of mind. It will also make planning easier when it comes to future financial projections.

“Best advice for new home inspectors is to keep going. Keep working, get those inspections under your belt, maybe even work for another home inspector. Maybe you need a little more guidance in the field, it doesn’t hurt to keep studying and working on yourself. But don’t stop working, keep going strong. I guarantee you it will pay off,” Joe Mazza on advice for new home inspectors fresh out of training.

Marketing Tips for Home Inspectors

While providing quality home inspections and receiving positive word-of-mouth can help grow your business, you will need to use other channels to grow your brand and business. Build a marketing strategy and create marketing materials that will service this strategy. Try these marketing channels to get your business out in your market.

• Create a website
• Design custom brochures, flyers, and business cards
• Network with other local business owners that are relevant to real estate
• Network with real estate agents
• Participating in trade shows, seminars, and home inspection associations
• List your business in newspapers

“The biggest marketing tip for myself was myself! I made flyers, I made cards, I sent stuff out to different agencies and real estate brokerages, the biggest thing I could have done was better myself and be the best inspector out there. I had to separate myself, and how did I do that? I went over and above with everything I did,” says Joe Mazza when it came to marketing his business.

Successful Home Inspectors Are Good at Their Craft

The best way to grow your business is by being the best home inspector you can be. Helping those in your community provides a great service and is purpose-driven work. When customers are happy, they tend to spread the word, referring your business to their friends and family. Purchasing a home is a huge investment, and whatever issues are found in a home inspection can have a financial impact on your customers.

“Whatever I do, I’m going to do it to the fullest. I’m not going to go to a school that doesn’t provide the best of the best, this is my career. I know that by going to the best school I’m going to learn the most and get the most out of it, so I can educate my clients in the future,” said Joe Mazza on his choice for home inspection training.

To provide the best service, you must have the educational foundation to fuel your technical knowledge. Courses and career resources are with you throughout your entire career. Knowledge is power, and in home inspection, having the right education will give you the confidence to take on work.