As have several others on the forum, I am considering making a change in my present career to that of being an independent home inspector. I am eligible to "retire" from my present occupation as a manufacturing engineer. Of the factors I am considering:

I realize that I will need to get a HI license by attending (or correspondence) a reputable training school (I believe ITA has a classroom presence in Austin). I have a strong mechanical background, do a lot of home improvement projects myself, have a good eye for detail, high degree of integrity, and have been through the process of having a new home built four times in the last 15 years.

I am considering buying an existing HI business (sole proprietor with the owner as only employee) or going solo from scratch. I know 4-5 realtors very well to get started with referrals, but I am thinking that the extra investment in an existing business (owner is retiring) provides an immediate client base that I hopefully can maintain to a large extent and provide immediate income (which would make my wife happy!).

I plan to leave my current job about mid-year and immediately go into HI full time. With a modest pension from my current employer, I don't have to replace my present income, only make up a portion of it.

If I start up slowly, I have handyman skills that I can employ as a supplement. I know there is a conflict of interest at times and you don't want to be soliciting work from clients you are doing inspections for and would keep the businesses totally separate and rely less on the handyman portion as the HI business picked up hopefully.

Any advice from you experienced ones?

When I got started, I knew 37 Realtors very well to get started with referrals, and all of them encouraged me to become a home inspector. Almost five years later not a single one has referred any business to me. Why? Because they were all top agents or established agents, having been Realtors for 10 years or more. So they already had home inspectors whose system they knew, whose vocabulary they knew, whose reports they knew, etc. One told me that he was successful because he was consistent in everything that he did. That consistency meant hiring the same home inspector time and time again so as not to rock the boat.

Unless this is the one you're talking about, I'd contact him. He's planning on getting out soon and right there in your town.

http://www.newdayinspections.com/faq.html

The home inspection business is a wonderful business to get into right now. Deciding whether or not to start from scratch or buy an existing business is a big decision to make. Considering that one will probably take a lot of money to start up. The thing to consider is to take figure what you are paying for the business and how many inspections it would take to make up for the cost. It might take you a shorter amount of time trying to get the business yourself then it would be to make up for the cost of the business you plan on purchasing. But you also have to remember how hard it is to start a business from scratch! You will have to be a great self promoter and make many contacts with real esate agents. Also I would talk to the real estate agents that you know and talk to them about referring business to you. But whatever you do pray about it and talk to your wife.

Mack, thanks for the advice...involving prayer and my wife are definitely two big parts of the equation. I will be attending an open house at a realtor friend's agency tomorrow night and plan to use that opportunity to test the waters a little so to speak. Obviously this would be a big step to walk away from a steady paycheck, but it is not being done without a lot of forethought and input from others.

I would also say it would be a good career. Around here you have to wait for a good inspector to get to the property. They are so booked up with appointments...you have to schedule them way in advance. I believe if you do a good job, the work will come your way regardless! The HI here have it made pretty good!!
Angie

Appreciate the positive feedback, Angie. If you don't mind revealing it, where is "around here"?

Thanks,
Wendell

Your welcome. I live in Ohio. Buckeye Lake area.

Angie

I would think that a realter that has the listing would be the last person that a buyer would ask for a home inspection reference.The last thing that a realter wants to hear is that something is wrong with the house.

Well, you can, Allied School is one of them. They do construction. They do real estate licensing, and they do pretty much everything. They have got their fingers in almost all aspects of real estate, including home inspection. What I really don't like is they actually advertise that if you take the Allied Home Inspection course, two weeks later or a month later when you finish, you are going to be able to go out and start making $100,000 in a year as a home inspector. "We are going to make you a success, you go right out and get to work and get rich quick," and that is nonsense. It takes years and years to learn this stuff. It takes around five years. You can have 30 years of experience in construction and go out and you won't know the first thing about home inspections. You won't know what to do and or how to look for stuff, or how to report on something. There are good home inspection courses, and there are bad ones.


The schools I recommend are the ones that actually have buildings or homes that you learn in. So they will take you into an old home and you are with these veteran home inspectors that also make the circuit. They talk on different subjects to different home inspection associations when we have our conferences. They are hands-on teachers as well, and they will take you to an electrical panel. They will open it up and they will say, "Okay, here is a defect; here is a defect; here is the defect…" They will explain why it's a defect, and they will tell you what to look for, how to spot a defect and that sort of thing.

For more info on home inspection:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/interviews/home-inspections-with-martin-hewitt.htm