Monday, September 17, 2012

Get More Exposure For Your Home Inspection Business

Wouldn't it be great if, while on an inspection, you could be marketing your services to all the passers by?  There is a very inexpensive way for you to do exactly that!  
 
Why not consider an inexpensive lawn sign that can be placed on the lawn of the home you are inspecting during your time on the property?  Once you arrive you put up your sign up for all passers by to see and take it down at the end of your inspection.  One place you can get a sign is from a company called Vista Print (www.vistaprint.com).  It's convenient because it's all done online and at a great price. You can chose from dozens of already set designs or upload your own design and/or logo.  Personalizing the sign with your own logo and look is always the best option.  It helps keep it consistent with all your other home inspection marketing materials and reinforces your brand.   When designing your lawn sign, you'll want to ensure you don't over load it with too much information.  It's important that the key information is easy to see from the street.  Your company name, phone number and website are the most critical.  You'd simply say something like "This home is being inspected today by ABC Inspections"  Then add your company name, phone number and website.
 
A lawn sign is a completely reusable form of marketing so once you make the small initial investment into the sign itself you can reuse it over and over and over again.  You just never know how many people could drive by during the course of your inspection that may be in need of an inspection themselves.   Time to implement this idea: a minute to put it up as soon as you arrive onsite and a minute to take it down when you are ready to leave.  So, even the time investment to try this marketing idea is minimal.
 
The other form of onsite marketing that many inspectors already use is advertising on their vehicle.  Your vehicle is parked outside the property you are inspecting for somewhere between 2-3 hrs on average.  Depending on the area, there could be many passers by during this time and having your company name and contact information on your vehicle, just like on a lawn sign, is a great way to market while you work.   However, some inspectors prefer not to advertise on their vehicle.  In some instances, the seller may be trying to keep a low profile and has decided to list their home for sale without placing a sign on the lawn.  In this instance, an inspector with an unmarked vehicle may be perferred.  If you are inspecting a home that does not have a realtor for sale sign, you may want to ask before putting up your own inspection sign.  This is because, it may be one of those times when the seller is trying to keep a low profile.
 
So, what do you think?  Is a lawn sign something you might be willing to try to get more exposure for your home inspection business?  Is a lawn sign something you are already using?  Leave us a comment below, we'd love to hear your feedback.
 
If you are looking for more marketing ideas, why not consider Home Inspection Marketing For Success.  Many inspectors have already used the information in Marketing For Success to create very profitable inspection businesses. 
 
Happy Inspecting, Everyone!
Canspec Home Publishing home of HomeReport, your detailed, client friendly reporting system. www.canspechomepublishing.com

Monday, July 23, 2012

Home Inspections and Possible Asbestos Findings

We are happy to share the following article with you written by our blog guest Faith Franz.

As the public becomes more informed about the dangers of asbestos in their homes, inspection companies are receiving an increasing number of requests for asbestos assessments. These inspections help homeowners identify which parts of their house contain asbestos and which asbestos products require immediate attention.

Inspectors will typically spend several hours examining a home for older construction materials. They primarily need to look for materials that date back to before the 1980s. These materials are most likely to contain asbestos, since they were made before asbestos regulations were enforced. Some of the most frequently contaminated materials include:

• Insulation
• Tiles
• Cement
• Shingles
• Paint

If inspectors come across a material that may contain asbestos, they will take pictures of the area and pull a sample for further inspection. Inspectors should always adhere to safety measures and wear appropriate safety gear while taking samples of potentially asbestos-containing products.

The inspection company does not analyze these materials on their own. Instead, they send them to an accredited laboratory. The laboratory will determine what kind of asbestos is in the product and how high the asbestos content is. They will typically return results to the inspectors within 48 hours.

Asbestos Findings

Asbestos inspections can have several results. Asbestos-containing materials can be categorized as either “friable” or “non-friable.” The non-friable asbestos products are not a health danger. Inspectors should make the homeowner aware that the product contains asbestos and recommend an asbestos label, but they do not need to recommend any abatement procedures if the homeowner does not plan to handle or disturb the material in the future.

However, friable asbestos does pose exposure risks. These products require immediate attention. In some cases, encapsulation is sufficient to prevent the fibers from entering the air. In other cases an abatement company will need to come remove the material. Unless the inspector is also licensed in asbestos abatement, they should leave this to another asbestos professional.

Inspectors will include this information and their recommendations for handling on their survey report. Homeowners should also keep a copy of the inspection results for their own records.

Author bio: Faith Franz researches and writes about health-related issues for The Mesothelioma Center. One of her focuses is living with asbestos cancer.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Handy Home Inspection Tool for Home Inspectors

Recently we received an email from a HomeReport client sharing information on a new inspection tool he had acquired.  With his permission, we've decided to share this information with you.

The pictures below show a Multi-Function Wire Tracer made by Powerfist.  This one was purchased from Princess Auto for $29.99 CA and traces electricity, telephone cable, coax cable, and wiring in automotive.

The reason this particular inspector purchased this piece of inspection equipment is because of a call he received from a client following a home inspection he had performed.  When the client called, he was complaining that the inspector did not find all the knob and tube wiring in his home. The inspector had reported that there was only one circuit that was Knob & Tube in the home.  You see, the client had hired a general contractor who told the home owner, that the entire 2nd floor had knob and tube wiring. After receiving the call from the client, the inspector arranged to go back to the home.  On the inspectors revisit he could not find a single wire on the 2nd floor. Everything was grounded, he told us how he opened up every receptacle and switch. Then, down to the basement he went to see where the renovations were started and he saw one Knob & Tube wire in the ceiling. The general contractor found this single wire after pulling the ceiling down.  In the end, the inspector was correct, there was only one wire going to the switch in the dining room. Not the entire 2nd Floor. This handy tool helped the inspector show his client exactly what was and was not there.    Oh, we almost forgot to mention, the client that hired this home inspector was a lawyer.  In fact, this was the 3rd house in many years this inspector had inspected for this particular client.   In the end, the client did believe the inspector over the contractor, the inspector just had to do a revisit and prove to the client he (the inspector) was right all along.  Now, the client is very happy.

A bit more about this handy little inspection tool... it's a nice compact unit, the larger part of the unit connects to the wire at panel or bell or coax, and the small part of the unit does the tracing/sniffing.

You just open lid and choose which one and start sniffing.  Simple to use and affordable to buy.



 
 
A special thank you to Dave Snooks from Under The Roof Top inspections for sharing this story with us so we, in turn, could share it with you.  Dave's website is www.undertherooftop.ca

Happy Inspecting ~ Canspec Home Publishing home of HomeReport, your detailed, client friendly reporting system.  www.canspechomepublishing.com

Monday, January 23, 2012

Book More Home Inspections. Have Your Home Inspection Company Stand Out From The Pack!

Our competitor claims almost 80% of inspectors today use an online or electronic type reporting system.  If that's true, that's great news for our home inspector clients!!  The incredible reaction our clients get when they deliver HomeReport™ at the inspection is why over a million dollars in copies have been sold and why clients stay with HomeReport™ year after year!

We've seen a few of our home inspector clients that have left HomeReport™ to go the electronic route and some who have come right back to us!  Those inspectors have told us the main reason they came back was they lost the “WOW” effect HomeReport™ gave them at the home inspection.   These home inspectors also told us that while going the electronic route sounded like it would be the faster reporting route, it actually took more time when they factored in the online work they still needed to do after the inspection!

One of the ways to book more inspections and to grow your home inspection business is to stand out from the crowd.  If it's true 80% aren't delivering a detailed and comprehensive report onsite, one that is more that just a few pages in a flimsy folder, then inspectors that use HomeReport™ already stand out! HomeReport™ clients have no other work to complete when they get home.  When the inspection is over, so is the reporting.   These inspectors also don't leave their clients waiting to hear when their full report is finally ready for download.

Standing out "is" the result you’re after when you are marketing your home inspection services.  If you market the same as other inspectors and do everything the same as 80% of the pack, you can't stand out!  Our HomeReport™ clients make up part of the 20% of inspectors who offer the “Wow” effect at the inspection with a great onsite home inspection report.

It's kind of funny because our competitor must believe that doing the same as the rest of the pack must be a good thing.  If they didn’t believe this, why would they advertise 80% of inspectors do this, therefore, you should too? Reality is, it's doing the opposite of the pack that's going to get you noticed.  It's kind of like stocks, when everyone else is buying, smart investors are selling and when everyone else is selling, smart investors are angling for great buying opportunities.

If you want to book more inspections, take more market share and really see your business rise above the pack of other home inspectors out there, you have to market differently, report differently and deliver differently!   Building a great home inspection business isn't about doing what 80% of inspectors are doing.  It is about standing apart, above the crowd and creating a different experience, one that home buying clients will stand up and take notice of.

On a personal note, after taking a break from the business for a few years to pursue other interests, like trying his hand at house flipping, my husband is retuning to his first love, home inspections.  Well, to be honest, he never really completely took his nose out of the game.  He has and will continue to help support my HomeReport™ clients.  He even set up and continues to act as moderator of our tech talk forum which is an informative and educational resource, exclusive to HomeReport™ users.  This forum helps inspectors connect with other inspectors, get questions answered, offer each other valuable support and industry specific information that is often difficult to obtain on your own.

He'll be stepping out again in the coming weeks after his website is up and marketing material is printed. We are located in a completely different service area than we were when he last built up a single inspector firm to a six inspector firm.  He did that rapidly by taking more and more market share through always delivering the wow effect!  You can be sure he won’t be marketing the same as the other inspectors in this area, nor will he be using an electronic reporting system and handing just a few pages to the clients at the inspection.

There was no thought given towards any other inspection reporting system.  He'll be setting himself apart from the crowd again as he steps out with HomeReport™ from his very first inspection.   I look forward to sharing how it all goes with you as he once again builds an inspection company from scratch.   His last company is still going strong to this day because he sold it to one of the very capable senior inspectors that was on his team.

This time around, He will be in a similar boat to many new home inspectors out there, trying to break into a new service area.  An area where there are already many established home inspectors, most who have been serving this area for many years. 

To ensure he brings the "wow effect", he'll be putting all the marketing tips and suggestions I make in my Home Inspection Marketing For Success CD's to work.  He will implement the strategies on how to successfully market a new inspection company and then continue to market with consistency, just like I teach on the CDs.   This will put him on his way to booking more, and more, inspections and growing a viable home inspection company from scratch.

If you would like to learn more about marketing your home inspection company or wish to check out our report, please visit www.canspechomepublishing.com.   You might even be surprised to see some of the celebrity personalities good marketing can reach :) Wishing you success in all that you do, sincerely Sharon Purtill, owner Canspec Home Publishing.