Home inspectors across the country give their best advice on the topic of the month. This month’s question is:

Before I got into the home inspection business I wish someone had told me…

“… if there’s damp soil under the home it might be from a leaky waste pipe and you probably shouldn’t crawl through it. Let’s just say that I found out the hard way that it can be highly infectious!” ~ Bud Hayes, LaRocca Inspection Associates, headquartered in Sunland, CA.

“… how important quality control is. It’s important to be proactive, I always call back clients and real estate agents in order to see if there are any concerns about the report.” ~ Dave Short, LaRocca Inspection Associates, headquartered in Sunland, CA.

“Three things: 1. That I should take my best estimate for how much start-up and operating expenses will be-and then double the number.  This will get your estimate in the ballpark.  2. That the home inspection business requires a love for learning technical information. If you don’t love reading technical information, don’t get into the business. Education and re-education is a constant for home inspectors and reading fiction will need to be replaced by reading about construction matters.  3. That if you want to grow to be a muli-inspector firm, the road will be long and you must develop marketing mastery.” ~ David Swartz, Advantage Inspection Service, Phoenix, AZ.