For all the diversity among inspectors, those who are successful— particularly InterNACHI inspectors— as defined by age, education, cultural background, work history, current experience, town of residence, family makeup, income level, and even work ethic, there are some basic qualities that most of us have in common.
We are Entrepreneurial
We prefer to work for ourselves and be our own bosses. We appreciate the challenges that confront our expertise on the job. We take pride in the fact that if we don’t have the answer, we are resourceful enough to find it. We make the regular commitment to expand our knowledge (and our industry) by seeking out the advice and fellowship of our colleagues. We are always learning. We exercise the discipline required to increase our education, and we welcome encountering future challenges so that we can utilise what we have learned. For all our varying degrees of perspective, we are a community. Providing for our families, taking pride in our work, making a daily investment in ourselves, and enjoying the subsequent rewards of our labor form the foundation of our working lives. Can there be a greater ambition?
The Dual Aspects of a Successful Inspection Business
To be successful requires competence in performing inspections and adequate knowledge of home systems and components, but building a lucrative and satisfying business requires more than excellence in performing inspections. Of equal (or greater!) importance is developing the ability to building operate a business. Treating this dual aspect of inspection with anything less than equal effort will prevent you from achieving real success.
Marketing— “the work that you have to do when you’re not working”— is often seen as a chore, and failing to study and apply what you learn will result in a business that barely goes beyond a sign on the truck, a box of business cards, and a list of contacts. Success requires marketing not only our services, but even more so, ourselves. Our credibility is our true calling card, and it’s important to get our reputation out there so that it’s as obvious as that sign on the truck. It’s our most important marketing tool.
It’s Not Just Luck
The good news is that just as there are logical ways to inspect the various systems of a home, there are equally logical and common-sense marketing techniques that we can use to keep us on the path to success in the inspection businesses. We have to approach marketing as deliberately as we do our training, education, and our inspections. Pinning our hopes on random jobs each day is no way to build a business. And for as many inspectors as may populate the town we live in, we’re not so much in competition with them (or each other) as with our own limitations. Our unwillingness to market ourselves is an unacceptable obstacle that puts a fatal limit on what our business can become. Overcome that obstacle, and the competition won’t matter.
These success tips are the culmination of years of training, education, experimentation, argument, failure, and breakthrough—all the building blocks of success. In them, you’ll find dozens of straightforward strategies that will have you nodding, perhaps disbelieving, but, ultimately, becoming seriously motivated—perhaps for the first time in a long time—to move up to the next level in your career as an inspector.
Dedication and Persistance
To succeed at anything, be it landing on the moon or building a successful home inspection business, you have to do many things correctly. Always work on building your business. If you are not inspecting… be marketing your business, learning more, and improving your services. Remember, if you offer a good inspection service, you have a moral obligation to let as many people as possible know about and benefit from your good work.
Success starts with education. And that is where our success tips begin. Although these books are written for American home inspectors, they have lots of information applicable to South African inspectors.
- Download my free eBook now: “STACKS: A Home Inspector’s Guide to Increasing Gross Revenue” from the Master Inspector Certification Board’s website.
- Download my free eBook now: “How to Run A Successful Home Inspection Business” from the homepage of nachi.org
Nick Gromicko
Founder, InterNACHI
Executive Director, Master Inspector Certification Board