# Field inspections?



## Clevelander

I've been doing research on different real estate jobs and I stumbled upon real estate field inspections. It seems to be very simple. I saw that the pay is usually around $15-$30 per inspection, which can add up if you get enough. I was wondering how I could go about getting into this field? Can I start up on my own? Who do I contact for work? Do I have to be a sub-contractor for another field service company? Do any of you guys have any experience in this field?

Thanks! :thumbsup:


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## Wannabe

Yes when I did Real estate inspections on foreclosed properties we invoiced up to $150 per property. It started the pricing decent to 75-100 per property and we started our escape. I heard that it's even went FURTHER downhill!  

private party house inspections are $350 and up. 

I've heard that foreclosed inspections are now paying upwards of $2.50-$5.00.


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## safeguard dropout

I can confirm $2.50-$5.00. I was contacted yesterday by a regional offering $6. 
I kinda chuckled, then a bit more, then I couldn't stop laughing. He told me it was a good deal and I should take it because in places like Chicago it's $2-$3. I asked him how the hell he can sell that with a straight face.......click.


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## G 3

I've done vacancy inspections and property damage inspections, and stopped when the crap dropped below $25 a job. Just got a call about a month ago from a group from Illinois telling me that they have over 300 inspections a month for me, and would be willing to let me do them for $3 a piece. When I asked if they paid for gas, oil, and insurance, I was told that I would more than make up for that with... volume. 

I told them to pay for the insurance, gas, and lunch, and I'll pay for the oil. I got the customary "... Whaaaa?", then hung up. Not for me. Someone else out there who really wants the "Job" can have it.


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## Ohnojim

*I have not been able to make those numbers work*



Clevelander said:


> I've been doing research on different real estate jobs and I stumbled upon real estate field inspections. It seems to be very simple. I saw that the pay is usually around $15-$30 per inspection, which can add up if you get enough. I was wondering how I could go about getting into this field? Can I start up on my own? Who do I contact for work? Do I have to be a sub-contractor for another field service company? Do any of you guys have any experience in this field?
> 
> Thanks! :thumbsup:


The issue with the numbers is: The inspections never seen to come out in any logical order, geographically and chronologically. It is always two orders over here, one order over there, you get the picture. Doing QC's or PCR's for $20 or so could be profitable if the companies cared even a little bit about it, but they don't. If you can't pull in at least between $2-3 a mile, it doesn't work.


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## madxtreme01

I've been doing occupancy inspections here since 2007. I own my own company and cover a portion of my state. The main issue is the due dates. Rushes come in randomly, inspections are due mostly in 5 days which is fair, but in this industry weekends count as days. They don't care if we have time with out families, they expect us to work 24/7 while their offices are open 9-5 M-F. Ok, so with that being said 300 inspections may not seem like a lot, especially at $3 ea, which is the going inspector rate. The regional receiving them is paying $5-6. In all reality most of these properties are occupied. So pull up, a few quick pictures with your camera from inside the car, then pull away. Any company that requires a photo of a call back card, I either tell them that I need $15-20 so I can pay my inspectors $10 to get out of the car, or I tell them no thanks. This industry expects you to get out of the car every time, but in reality it isn't possible. My inspectors are currently making $4-5k monthly full time minus expenses. They key is to find 4-5 of those companies offering 300 inspections each.


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## safeguard dropout

5 grand a month working 6 days a week, $3 per inspection.....277 inspections a day. Did I calculate that right? :vs_shocked:


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## safeguard dropout

OR, screw the family and friends and work all 7 day of the week and you only have to do 238 inspections per day...to make 5k.....minus fuel, insurance, wear and tear....did someone say McDonalds?


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## ILInspector

I see Craigslist ads all the time stating "our inspectors are earning over $20-30 per hour", getting paid $3 per inspection. That's just flat out bullchit. The forms that you are required to fill out with one of those $3 inspections also takes 10 - 15 minutes by the time you have uploaded all the pics, relabeled them, and checked off all the dumbass questions. Sorry, but there is no way in hell anyone is making $20 - 30 bucks per hour unless you only are covering the west side of Chicago.


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## madxtreme01

safeguard dropout said:


> 5 grand a month working 6 days a week, $3 per inspection.....277 inspections a day. Did I calculate that right? :vs_shocked:



your calculations are wrong...you forgot a step.....$5k a month divided by 20 days a month (I do not require my inspectors to work weekends) equals $250/day divided by $3 per inspection is 84 inspections per day...... I said it was full time. Some inspectors do a 4-5 hour route and go home after 50 inspections. It all depends on the work load and area. Some towns have 100 inspections while others have 3, so drive time is a huge factor. I have a girl that works for me that consistantly does a minimum of 70 houses a day, leaves at 8 and is home by 3, uploads in EZinspections and it takes her about 1 and a half hours to complete. Your handle is safeguard dropout, so I'm assuming your experience is with them, their software is a nightmare. Ezinspections streamlines everything to make it simple. Although I feel that Trakscape is better, our suppliers want us to use EZ


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## safeguard dropout

Yep, I did calculate wrong. You are correct it is 84 per day to gross 5K for the month. 70 inspections minimum in 7 hrs? That is one every 6 minutes on a SLOW day, IF i calculated that right. (I've been wrong before:vs_smile There are very few locations nationwide that would have that kind of density. I was offered $6 and half my mid west state with only 190 inspections per month....and he said only 60% would come in 1st of the month and then trickle in the rest of the month, so I would constantly be making the rounds to keep them on time. If your business and your people can make money at it without giving away the farm, great, go get it. No way this works for most of us.


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## madxtreme01

We do work primarily for MCS and Cyprexx. They have 2 downloads one on the 3rd and the other on the 15th. So the drops are spread out enough to make routes fairly efficient. With the 70 house day it's usually between 75-120 miles round trip and 6 1/2 hours according to streets and trips. So figure 8-9 hours if you leave late and 7-7 1/2 hours on a normal day. I went out yesterday to help the guys catch up. I took the crap route of 40 houses which was 150 miles round trip and 6 hours. It took me 6 hours to actually do the work plus my drive home (another 30 min) and I was stuck in traffic all day. The key is to work an area, not the due date. Frequently we will do an inspection that was ordered before we are technically able to. Most have start dates. I don't understand why I should be getting it before I can do it, but it works for us. We have been working with these 2 companies now for 2 years. Previously before safeguard ruined everything we did bank of america inspections. We had about 2k inspections per county. They all dropped on the 15th and were due in 2 weeks. There were times when we had 100 in 1 town. It was great. I used to take the urban areas personally and do 150 houses in 3-4 hours. Those times are long behind us.


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## safeguard dropout

150 inspections in 3-4 hours?? That's one every 90 seconds. What are you smoking?


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## madxtreme01

safeguard dropout said:


> 150 inspections in 3-4 hours?? That's one every 90 seconds. What are you smoking?



I don't know where your from, but I did Essex County NJ which consisted of Newark and Irvington where there was 100 houses on each block and 1 in every 5 were in foreclosure. I used a digital SLR camera so I was at a house for literally 10 seconds if not less. It took me longer to open and close my window. I also used a GPS that allowed me to load all of the stops in at home prior to going on the road so when I got to a house, I told it to take me to the next one (it's called itinerary planning).....We still use this today. I have done my research on how to make the day as short as possible and with the new technology that all of the nationals are going which is using a mobile app, they want you to do the full inspection while in the field using a smartphone. I think it's crap and takes much longer.


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## safeguard dropout

Well, I see we live in 2 different worlds. Let me explain where I live. My wife and I bought 5 acres rolling hills timber with a 3/4 acre pond in 2005 for $12,000. Then, for the price of a falling over foreclosure in New Jersey, I built a new 1800 sq ft modest ranch home overlooking that pond where my boys and the dog go fishing and swimming or just playing in the mud every summer day. Oh, and I built that home with only 2 permits, one for the septic and one for the driveway approach off the county road...total...$400. I live 2 miles from a small town with a couple good watering holes, a mini Wal Mart and decent schools, new middle school last year. My nearest neighbor is a mile away and it's 200 yds to my tree stand from my front door. Sound like anything you know in New Jersey? Nope. When I negotiate pricing with a national, many times I am charging more to get there than for the work I do. So you'll just have to believe me when I say, $3 inspections don't work here...it's a different world.


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## madxtreme01

safeguard dropout said:


> Well, I see we live in 2 different worlds. Let me explain where I live. My wife and I bought 5 acres rolling hills timber with a 3/4 acre pond in 2005 for $12,000. Then, for the price of a falling over foreclosure in New Jersey, I built a new 1800 sq ft modest ranch home overlooking that pond where my boys and the dog go fishing and swimming or just playing in the mud every summer day. Oh, and I built that home with only 2 permits, one for the septic and one for the driveway approach off the county road...total...$400. I live 2 miles from a small town with a couple good watering holes, a mini Wal Mart and decent schools, new middle school last year. My nearest neighbor is a mile away and it's 200 yds to my tree stand from my front door. Sound like anything you know in New Jersey? Nope. When I negotiate pricing with a national, many times I am charging more to get there than for the work I do. So you'll just have to believe me when I say, $3 inspections don't work here...it's a different world.



yes, every area is different. Thankfully I don't live in the areas that I have described previously. I live in the suburbs. I live on an acre of land. My neighbors house is about 100ft away on either side. My block is about 1/8 mile and there are 8 houses on it. I live near all major chain retailers and I can walk to the major highway near me that has all of the shopping I could ask for. Here you pay for convenience. The average family home here is at least $350k and that's for a small house that needs work. I would say average is between 400-500k depending on the size. However everything here is in a development or a sub division as it's called in other areas. On average in my area you can expect to be able to complete between 10-15 inspections per hour.


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## ILInspector

Such a load of BS. Let's see, 70 houses in 9 hours, not including the uploading. Add on another 4 hours for uploading. That's $210 less gas, wear and tear, insurance, divided by 13 hours = Mc D's for me. Oops, forgot the BS backcharging for a blurry house number that you go to every month, missed street sign, pic of my shoes at the door, lol.


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## GTX63

1845552993- $6
1847736256- $3
1845575720- $3
1859390278- $3
1859323211- $3
1598100142- $3
1845552993- $6
1847736256- $3
1845575720- $3
1859390278- $3
1859323211- $3
1598100142- $3
1845552993- $6
1847736256- $3
1845575720- $3
1859390278- $3
1859323211- $3
1598100142- $6
1845552993- $6
1847736256- $3
1845575720- $3
1859390278- $3
1859323211- $3
1598100142- $3

The following is a sample of what a buddy of mine would get emailed to him with his notice of payment. No other information to describe the property. Now, unless he was willing to pay a third party processor, or come up with his own accounting software or tracking system, he had the choice of sitting in front of his monitor for hours, going thru individual inspections, line by line, matching order numbers to confirm he was paid properly and completely. I do know he had an approximately 10% to 15% loss rate, due to cancellations that came in after he uploaded (didn't matter) and inspections that just never seem to show up in the national's file system after the fact, either though they were the one who sent them. So rather than call and hang on the line for hours each week with someone from accounting who could care less about $43 worth of inspections, he ate it. He may have grossed $4200 for the month according to QuickBooks, but the checks that came in may only amount to say $3500, but hey, $3500 is $3500 so he took it and asked for more.
That also meant he drove to ie one property in the sticks for 13 months in a row without realizing he had never been paid for it.
"Oh wow", she says like she just saw a bad accident. "It looks like someone put the order in the monthly rotation but they never input it into the main system. Sorry, I can't bill the client for work that old. I can pay you the $3 for this month though." He couldn't invoice them; they didn't acknowledge contractor invoices generated outside of their system.

It's too bad these bozos don't have disclaimers posted to their webpages-

"Individual results may vary from person to person. The example shown here is an exception and does not reflect the vast majority of contractors currently working with us. Totals are typical less than presented depending on your efforts and our concern. See your regional for details."


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## madxtreme01

GTX63 said:


> 1845552993- $6
> 1847736256- $3
> 1845575720- $3
> 1859390278- $3
> 1859323211- $3
> 1598100142- $3
> 1845552993- $6
> 1847736256- $3
> 1845575720- $3
> 1859390278- $3
> 1859323211- $3
> 1598100142- $3
> 1845552993- $6
> 1847736256- $3
> 1845575720- $3
> 1859390278- $3
> 1859323211- $3
> 1598100142- $6
> 1845552993- $6
> 1847736256- $3
> 1845575720- $3
> 1859390278- $3
> 1859323211- $3
> 1598100142- $3
> 
> The following is a sample of what a buddy of mine would get emailed to him with his notice of payment. No other information to describe the property. Now, unless he was willing to pay a third party processor, or come up with his own accounting software or tracking system, he had the choice of sitting in front of his monitor for hours, going thru individual inspections, line by line, matching order numbers to confirm he was paid properly and completely. I do know he had an approximately 10% to 15% loss rate, due to cancellations that came in after he uploaded (didn't matter) and inspections that just never seem to show up in the national's file system after the fact, either though they were the one who sent them. So rather than call and hang on the line for hours each week with someone from accounting who could care less about $43 worth of inspections, he ate it. He may have grossed $4200 for the month according to QuickBooks, but the checks that came in may only amount to say $3500, but hey, $3500 is $3500 so he took it and asked for more.
> That also meant he drove to ie one property in the sticks for 13 months in a row without realizing he had never been paid for it.
> "Oh wow", she says like she just saw a bad accident. "It looks like someone put the order in the monthly rotation but they never input it into the main system. Sorry, I can't bill the client for work that old. I can pay you the $3 for this month though." He couldn't invoice them; they didn't acknowledge contractor invoices generated outside of their system.
> 
> It's too bad these bozos don't have disclaimers posted to their webpages-
> 
> "Individual results may vary from person to person. The example shown here is an exception and does not reflect the vast majority of contractors currently working with us. Totals are typical less than presented depending on your efforts and our concern. See your regional for details."


Thankfully we have never run into this problem. The companies I work for have a pay cycle which is usually the 1st-15th and the 16th-30th. Anything completed during that time will be paid by the end of the following cycle. The only time we have had issues on payment is due to late work. Now for the same reason as you, I'm not going through to see which ones were late and deduct from my inspectors. Whatever the system says they have completed during those time periods is what they get paid for. Being a small guy working for the nationals just doesn't work. It takes a lot of time and effort "chasing" to be paid. The little guy usually gets paid regardless, as long as they work for a reputable business.


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## GTX63

Tom's orders usually floated in around the 3rd to the 5th. He covered norther Missouri near St Louis and down into the middle of the state. Some orders were 5-7 days due, others were due the day he got them or already late. Since he covered cities and well and rural, he racked up the miles. He knew his 2nd batch followed around the 15th and had many addresses closes to the areas of the first batch, so he would "jump" some orders and list them on his sheets, submitting them when they came in. Of course that didn't always happen. He'd drive 30 miles out of the way for an order that never reappeared. His exf dates didn't match the due dates so again, no payout.
He started when gas was $1.80 per gallon. A front pic, address pic and occupancy determination evolved into three sides, proof of occupancy, a utility meter, damage, debris, etc. More and more required, fuel up to $3.80 and he still was paid the same. He could have solicited locals in his area and made 10 times the money. As said, for every contractor making bank on third party inspections, there are many more treading water on a good day and losing the rest.


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## madxtreme01

GTX63 said:


> Tom's orders usually floated in around the 3rd to the 5th. He covered norther Missouri near St Louis and down into the middle of the state. Some orders were 5-7 days due, others were due the day he got them or already late. Since he covered cities and well and rural, he racked up the miles. He knew his 2nd batch followed around the 15th and had many addresses closes to the areas of the first batch, so he would "jump" some orders and list them on his sheets, submitting them when they came in. Of course that didn't always happen. He'd drive 30 miles out of the way for an order that never reappeared. His exf dates didn't match the due dates so again, no payout.
> He started when gas was $1.80 per gallon. A front pic, address pic and occupancy determination evolved into three sides, proof of occupancy, a utility meter, damage, debris, etc. More and more required, fuel up to $3.80 and he still was paid the same. He could have solicited locals in his area and made 10 times the money. As said, for every contractor making bank on third party inspections, there are many more treading water on a good day and losing the rest.



Your experience sounds like safeguard to me. I have never gotten late work. Occasionally there are rushes, but those pay double. Other than that I have had the same inspectors for years and yes you are right they go to the same areas multiple times a month, but if you have a fuel efficient vehicle you are filling up every 2-3 days so if you are consistently doing $200/day, you are netting $850/week based on $50 fill ups which are very high for lets say a civic. Like I said I have never been backcharged or not paid for an inspection that was submitted on time. I know everyone's experience is different, and the foreclosure rate has a lot to do with it. NJ as an average is 1 in 10.


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## safeguard dropout

New Jersey has an average of 1 in 10? In 2009 it was 1.8% and today it is much lower, like 1 in 554. Where you finding all your foreclosures?


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## madxtreme01

safeguard dropout said:


> New Jersey has an average of 1 in 10? In 2009 it was 1.8% and today it is much lower, like 1 in 554. Where you finding all your foreclosures?


I think the information you are referring to is based on foreclosure filings, not just default loans. The 1 in 10 is the number of properties in default. Inspections are based on delinquent loans. So 1 in 10 is any loan that is more than 90 days past due. It takes a lot longer than being 90 days past due for the filing process to begin. The following link indicates that it is currently 8.12%

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2014/05/nj_now_tops_nation_in_foreclosure_rates.html


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## safeguard dropout

I did hear today that people are leaving Jersey in droves. I couldn't go near it for the elbow room issue, but that's me. Why do so many think it sucks so bad?


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## G 3

safeguard dropout said:


> I did hear today that people are leaving Jersey in droves. I couldn't go near it for the elbow room issue, but that's me. Why do so many think it sucks so bad?


I heard that it had something to do with the Governor, and the football team associated there... but I could be wrong...


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## madxtreme01

its not that it sucks, it's just very expensive to live here. Salaries in any field aren't that much lower to support the cost of living increase here. I looking into moving to north carolina 2 years ago and I could sell my house here for almost $500k and $9k in taxes a year to buy a similar house in the suburbs of Charlotte for about $250-300k brand new construction, taxes $3k and make about 10% less. With those figures why would anyone stay. Problem is my wife has family here that she won't leave, the only person I have here is my Mother, who would follow me wherever I decided to move to.


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## safeguard dropout

9k a year in property tax doesn't suck? I see why they're leaving, taxes and the governor.


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## madxtreme01

safeguard dropout said:


> 9k a year in property tax doesn't suck? I see why they're leaving, taxes and the governor.



9k does suck, but that's not a reason to move out of the state. The governor isn't that bad, he is given a bad name because of the media. It only outlines what he has done that is bad. The previous governors screwed things up so bad here, that there is no governor that can fix this state. We need to elect only non politicians to get the state back to normal. Most areas near a city are fairly expensive tax wise for whatever reason. Philadelphia, New York, anywhere in California. I looked at houses in the Ft Lauderdale area of FL and taxes on an average house were $7k so it's not that far off.


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## Preservationpete

70 inspections a day is a load of baloney. I live in nj and run 40 per day sometimes and trust me, it takes all day. You could only run 70 inspections in a very dense city and almost every home would have to be next to each other. Now if you had a team of 3 inspectors you could get it done quick, but then no one makes any money. And 3 bucks per inspection is below food stamp wage, what company are you getting your orders from?


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## madxtreme01

Preservationpete said:


> 70 inspections a day is a load of baloney. I live in nj and run 40 per day sometimes and trust me, it takes all day. You could only run 70 inspections in a very dense city and almost every home would have to be next to each other. Now if you had a team of 3 inspectors you could get it done quick, but then no one makes any money. And 3 bucks per inspection is below food stamp wage, what company are you getting your orders from?



I'm not sure where in NJ you live, but in a densely populated city it is possible to do 100-150 as I used to do it personally. Maybe you are doing these inspections using the mobile app, or actually getting out of the car at every house. We don't follow the instructions completely as you get what you pay for. For the normal $3 inspection rate you get pics of the house for occupied, and unfortunately we do have to do interiors and report damages to not be held liable, but no contact is ever made on a contact type inspection. If they want to pay $20-30 per, I will bring them coffee while I ring the bell and after 20 inspections, I'm done for the day. Also $3 was stated to be the average inspector wage, most of the nationals are paying around $5-6 to complete them and our biggest client is MCS. However there are fees with running this business. I have insurance for all of my inspectors, I pay for them to use Ezinspections also. I also still need to make a profit. If a house is occupied it take literally 20 seconds to complete then on to the next one. Picture requirements are Street Sign, front of house, house number, and 2 occupancy indicators. Vacant houses that do not request an interior walkthrough are the same as listed plus the other 3 sides of the house, utility meters, vacancy indicators instead of occupancy indicators and a vacancy posting. If a walkthrough is requested, it's the same as vacant except every room in the house needs a pic also. Damages require 7 pics if occupied or vacant. We still use digital cameras and spend 1-2 hours uploading at night. Main reason we still do that is after 2pm traffic starts picking up and drive times increase, so we rather do the paperwork at home instead.


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## Preservationpete

Well it seems you have a system that is working for you.


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## Trey9007

Im currently making about $2500 a month doing inspections and I only work 2 days a week, maybe 4 or 5 hours including uploads. This is something I do on weekends, However my lowest inspection is $6 for the slice of an urban area I cover. I cover 3 zips in an urban area, which makes up about 5% of my work. My inspections are due every 7-10 days. I actually have one client where the inspections are due 14 days and the results arent due until 2 days after the due date, which is kind of weird.

I have stated before on this forum that there is money to be made with inspection. But just like anything, you gotta have decent contracts. I tried $3/ inspection when I first started out. I couldn't make it work, even when I did the urban areas. I guess if I never delivered a letter I probably could have..lol....how are you getting away with that? I agree that $3 its not worth getting out of the car. But my clients would definitely call me out on that.

I deliver all my letters. I use mobile apps. But have been using my camera more lately as I like to get a home little quicker during summer. IM usually taking my first pic 6:45 ish, and try to be home 1030-1100. 

The fact is banks can no longer make profits off mortgage inspection. Federal law now states that companies can only charge the mortgagor the actual cost of the inspection. I have posted default rate sheets from a few banks and they listed the price they charge the mortgagor for having the property suspected was around $7-$20, depending on the area. I get the occasional $25 and up rush inspection. But for the most part banks arent charging consumers as much as they used to for these types of inspection. To be honest, for a simple drive by occupancy inspection, done with todays digital technology its really as labor intensive as it was years ago. Im happy with the money I make doing inspection. However, I wouldn't touch the average PP contract with a 10ft pole!


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## madxtreme01

Trey9007 said:


> Im currently making about $2500 a month doing inspections and I only work 2 days a week, maybe 4 or 5 hours including uploads. This is something I do on weekends, However my lowest inspection is $6 for the slice of an urban area I cover. I cover 3 zips in an urban area, which makes up about 5% of my work. My inspections are due every 7-10 days. I actually have one client where the inspections are due 14 days and the results arent due until 2 days after the due date, which is kind of weird.
> 
> I have stated before on this forum that there is money to be made with inspection. But just like anything, you gotta have decent contracts. I tried $3/ inspection when I first started out. I couldn't make it work, even when I did the urban areas. I guess if I never delivered a letter I probably could have..lol....how are you getting away with that? I agree that $3 its not worth getting out of the car. But my clients would definitely call me out on that.
> 
> I deliver all my letters. I use mobile apps. But have been using my camera more lately as I like to get a home little quicker during summer. IM usually taking my first pic 6:45 ish, and try to be home 1030-1100.
> 
> The fact is banks can no longer make profits off mortgage inspection. Federal law now states that companies can only charge the mortgagor the actual cost of the inspection. I have posted default rate sheets from a few banks and they listed the price they charge the mortgagor for having the property suspected was around $7-$20, depending on the area. I get the occasional $25 and up rush inspection. But for the most part banks arent charging consumers as much as they used to for these types of inspection. To be honest, for a simple drive by occupancy inspection, done with todays digital technology its really as labor intensive as it was years ago. Im happy with the money I make doing inspection. However, I wouldn't touch the average PP contract with a 10ft pole!



I have to say I've been lucky with the clients only asking if I left the call back card instead of requiring a picture of it. If a company requests a picture on a regular basis, I either give them the boot or tell them I need much more money as the $5-6 isn't enough for me to pay my inspectors a fair amount to make it worth getting out of the car at 70% of properties.


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## Trey9007

GTX63 said:


> The following is a sample of what a buddy of mine would get emailed to him with his notice of payment. No other information to describe the property. Now, unless he was willing to pay a third party processor, or come up with his own accounting software or tracking system, he had the choice of sitting in front of his monitor for hours, going thru individual inspections, line by line, matching order numbers to confirm he was paid properly and completely.


Most inspections apps do all this for you, via an excel spread sheet. Use of excel is pretty key as it can be used for your invoives as well as entered to your GPS for routing purposes. For invoices All one has to do is modify the system's spread sheet a bit and you now have a spreed sheet that can be used for all your jobs. For example heres some of the data from my spread sheet this weekend. If he needs a spread sheet I would be more than willing to send him the one I made for myself. Naturally I left some info off.

Copy and pasting from excel is nightmare. It looks MUCH better than this. Just rename the file the date you worked and whala you have your own invoicing system.



> Earliest	Latest	Order Type PRICE
> 3 attempt $10.00
> 9/8/2015	9/18/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $9.00
> 9/4/2015	9/14/2015	PROP CONDITION VERIFY OCC $7.00
> 9/4/2015	9/14/2015	BK-DRIVEBY $7.00
> 9/8/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $14.00
> 9/3/2015	9/13/2015	BK-DRIVEBY $7.00
> 9/4/2015	9/14/2015	BK-DRIVEBY $7.00
> 9/3/2015	9/13/2015	BK-DRIVEBY $7.00
> 9/8/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $14.00
> 9/13/2015	9/18/2015	PROPERTY INSPECTION $7.00
> 9/8/2015	9/18/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $9.00
> 9/4/2015	9/14/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $8.00
> 9/2/2015	9/12/2015	PROPERTY INSPECTION $8.00
> 9/4/2015	9/14/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $8.00
> 9/8/2015	9/13/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $8.00
> 9/5/2015	9/15/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $8.00
> 9/4/2015	9/14/2015	INTERIOR INSPECTION $8.00
> 9/8/2015	9/18/2015	3 ATTS/ ONE SAT/ LVE LTR IN EN $7.00
> 9/8/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $11.00
> 9/8/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $10.00
> 9/11/2015	9/19/2015	PROP CONDITION VERIFY OCC $7.00
> 9/8/2015	9/18/2015	3 ATTS/ ONE SAT/ LVE LTR IN EN $7.00
> 9/7/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $14.00
> 9/9/2015	9/16/2015	Interior Inspection $9.00
> 9/11/2015	9/21/2015	PROPERTY INSPECTION $7.00
> 9/8/2015	9/18/2015	NO CONTACT $7.00
> 9/10/2015	9/20/2015	BK-DRIVEBY $7.00
> 9/10/2015	9/17/2015	CONTACT (MAKE CONTACT) $7.00
> 9/7/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $11.00
> 9/8/2015 PROPERTY INSPECTION $11.00
> 3 attempt $10.00
> 3 attempt $10.00
> 
> TOTAL $281.00


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## GTX63

We just had a bid approved with a lender that we were doing light maintenance for. They wanted monthly inspections on their entire portfolio. We gave them areas we would handle and bids for drive bys- $25, to get out and confirm utilities $27.50 and interiors up to 20 pics for $30. They send them with a 15 day window to complete. Email direct with a short form. A couple variations depending on the area or state, but it is the only way we will do them.

These orders go out with the mowing and securing guys depending on where they are. No apps, no proprietary software, it is private and per our bids. These are minimum rates and we get the work thru word of mouth or history with the client. I'm not Trump, I'm not Bill Gates. I'm no different than the guy doing the $3 dog bite followed by the car chase inspection. I just learned to work hard at making what I am worth and not take no for an answer. Folks, $3 per inspection vs $25 per = covering a days wage for your help plus some and for the same hours.
It is out there.


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## GTX63

My experience with the $3 inspection.


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## Trey9007

GTX63 said:


> We just had a bid approved with a lender that we were doing light maintenance for. They wanted monthly inspections on their entire portfolio. We gave them areas we would handle and bids for drive bys- $25, to get out and confirm utilities $27.50 and interiors up to 20 pics for $30. They send them with a 15 day window to complete. Email direct with a short form. A couple variations depending on the area or state, but it is the only way we will do them.
> 
> These orders go out with the mowing and securing guys depending on where they are. No apps, no proprietary software, it is private and per our bids. These are minimum rates and we get the work thru word of mouth or history with the client. I'm not Trump, I'm not Bill Gates. I'm no different than the guy doing the $3 dog bite followed by the car chase inspection. I just learned to work hard at making what I am worth and not take no for an answer. Folks, $3 per inspection vs $25 per = covering a days wage for your help plus some and for the same hours.
> It is out there.


If you dont mind me asking, if you get paid $25 for those inspections what do you pay the guys who actually do them.

The $25 inspection is still out there. But they usually go to you guys, as they are usually want people with man power. If you are first in line at the sub-a-thon and have the ability to cover multiples areas, you are likely going to be the one who gets them.

When you're 2nd and 3rd in the sub-a-thon line and only cover your immediate area, its not a good chance those kind of inspection are coming your way.


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## madxtreme01

Trey9007 said:


> If you dont mind me asking, if you get paid $25 for those inspections what do you pay the guys who actually do them.
> 
> The $25 inspection is still out there. But they usually go to you guys, as they are usually want people with man power. If you are first in line at the sub-a-thon and have the ability to cover multiples areas, you are likely going to be the one who gets them.
> 
> When you're 2nd and 3rd in the sub-a-thon line and only cover your immediate area, its not a good chance those kind of inspection are coming your way.


problem is, can you earn a living on those $25 inspections. As nice as it would be to receive that kind of money, I don't think the volume of them is enough to call it a job. I have full time inspectors. Yes I wish they could be doing a lot less volume and higher quality work, but unfortunately I don't believe that is reality. Your sending it out with your P&P guys while I have dedicated inspectors and dedicated P&P & REO crews. 100 $3 inspections can be done in 1-2 days depending on the area. $300 in $25 inspections may only happen once per month


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## GTX63

The $3-$5 inspection industry is something I would think the individual wanting more control over their business would avoid. With a few exceptions, it is highly controlled by above with little to no input by the sub. It is a mill philosophy using a minimum wage practices disguised with volume and a one man office on wheels as a gimmick to pull people in. There is no representation and little flexability on the part of the regional. There is nothing you can offer over another inspector other than your willingness to accept the job. Take or leave it is the thumbnail version.

If I wanted to focus and maximize revenues on our own inspections, then yes, we could do it. When you are truly working for yourself, the ladder doesn't stop; it goes as high as you like and spreads out. We currently do enough for three dedicated people if it were a stand alone setup. It is all from existing clients or referral from brokers. One can advertise and get middle man occupancy checks fairly quickly.
You can also get your ASHI certification and make more in one inspection than many do in a month for regionals. Motivation, self confidence, ambition will take you where you want to go. If you do have to solicit locally or make cold calls, don't be afraid of "no". Getting a "thanks but no thanks" is more productive than just sitting in front of the computer monitor waiting to be found. The photo in the previous post isn't meant as an insult; he is the guy that is supposed to make you wonder why you working for XYZ again.
I knew a guy early on that designed and built the most amazing decks. The engineering and detail were top tier, and he took risks in his designs that were worthy of his own tv show. He started out building sheds on a crew. $10 an hour, 60 hours a week half a day Saturdays, plus insurance and the old man would have kept him busy forever. The thing that held him in that job for 6 years was fear of failing at his dream. He decided he wouldn't let ridicule, lack of self confidence, start up money hold him back any longer.
Now, in half the time it took him to make his $700 paycheck, he was building 5 figure decks around a fairly suburban/rural area near Crossville and Nashville, Tn. He isn't Einstein; he uses a simple business formula that entails finding out what works and wears it out.
Set goals, write them out, post dates and work them. Look at them every day. Cross them out as they are accomplished. It builds confidence which breed success.
What is your value? Are you worth $5 a job? $10 per hour? 10% of the job? $500 a day? How you currently answer can reveal a lot.


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## madxtreme01

GTX63 said:


> The $3-$5 inspection industry is something I would think the individual wanting more control over their business would avoid. With a few exceptions, it is highly controlled by above with little to no input by the sub. It is a mill philosophy using a minimum wage practices disguised with volume and a one man office on wheels as a gimmick to pull people in. There is no representation and little flexability on the part of the regional. There is nothing you can offer over another inspector other than your willingness to accept the job. Take or leave it is the thumbnail version.
> 
> If I wanted to focus and maximize revenues on our own inspections, then yes, we could do it. When you are truly working for yourself, the ladder doesn't stop; it goes as high as you like and spreads out. We currently do enough for three dedicated people if it were a stand alone setup. It is all from existing clients or referral from brokers. One can advertise and get middle man occupancy checks fairly quickly.
> You can also get your ASHI certification and make more in one inspection than many do in a month for regionals. Motivation, self confidence, ambition will take you where you want to go. If you do have to solicit locally or make cold calls, don't be afraid of "no". Getting a "thanks but no thanks" is more productive than just sitting in front of the computer monitor waiting to be found. The photo in the previous post isn't meant as an insult; he is the guy that is supposed to make you wonder why you working for XYZ again.
> I knew a guy early on that designed and built the most amazing decks. The engineering and detail were top tier, and he took risks in his designs that were worthy of his own tv show. He started out building sheds on a crew. $10 an hour, 60 hours a week half a day Saturdays, plus insurance and the old man would have kept him busy forever. The thing that held him in that job for 6 years was fear of failing at his dream. He decided he wouldn't let ridicule, lack of self confidence, start up money hold him back any longer.
> Now, in half the time it took him to make his $700 paycheck, he was building 5 figure decks around a fairly suburban/rural area near Crossville and Nashville, Tn. He isn't Einstein; he uses a simple business formula that entails finding out what works and wears it out.
> Set goals, write them out, post dates and work them. Look at them every day. Cross them out as they are accomplished. It builds confidence which breed success.
> What is your value? Are you worth $5 a job? $10 per hour? 10% of the job? $500 a day? How you currently answer can reveal a lot.




On a personal level, I would agree that the inspections are worth much more than that, but that's how I started in this business. Most months I was earning $5k-6k a month. This was also back several years ago with bank of amercia when they didn't care if you did an interior inspection. I literally did drive by inspections using a DSLR and completed probably 150 inspections in an urban area within a 20 mile radius. Today things are much different and the requirements become more and more time consuming. In today's environment not completing work in an urban area and more of a suburban area just because of having to do walkthroughs and get out of the car fairly often, I would say 50-70 in a day is a fair number. My main inspector does on average 70 inspections per day only working Monday - Friday which gives her a monthly salary of $4200 minus expenses. Not bad for a full time job. Yes she puts in more than 8 hours a day, but if it was averaged out by the amount of hours she works it comes out to approximately $21/hr. I don't think that's too bad. If you take away expenses she is still earning probably $18. To support a family on that would be tough, but for a young woman with no children that's just married with a husband who also has a full time job, that adds up to a decent life together. Only part that sucks is the wear and tear on a car to make it worthless. When I started I had a newer car that had maybe 40k on it. I sold it a few years ago with 185k on it. It still ran great and had lots of life left, but I put a decent amount into it to keep it as nice as it was.


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## ReckStar

I can personally vouch, I came from working in a a dead end job to doing around 80 inspections a day. Like you said before, the key is to get out the house early, the traffic can be sometimes. I work for a middle man and get paid around the 3-4 dollar mark. If it wasn't for the volume then I wouldn't be able to do this job, I make almost triple then what I use to make at an IT job. I love the money and if the inspector has the right car then it can be 30% more profitable. Doing inspections is what brought m to this site. I am just starting off, my plan is eventually to start my on business inspecting to profit more an dabble in other property ventures but like I said I am in the planning stages now. It's great to hear someone like you talk about exactly what I do. It is a pleasure reading your posts as they are 99% accurate down to the T. There is money on this business for a single person or a even person with kids in some occasions, I made about $4700 this calendar compared to the $2400 I earned in my last job which was IT, and was "promising"


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## hammerhead

ReckStar said:


> I can personally vouch, I came from working in a a dead end job to doing around 80 inspections a day. Like you said before, the key is to get out the house early, the traffic can be sometimes. I work for a middle man and get paid around the 3-4 dollar mark. If it wasn't for the volume then I wouldn't be able to do this job, I make almost triple then what I use to make at an IT job. I love the money and if the inspector has the right car then it can be 30% more profitable. Doing inspections is what brought m to this site. I am just starting off, my plan is eventually to start my on business inspecting to profit more an dabble in other property ventures but like I said I am in the planning stages now. It's great to hear someone like you talk about exactly what I do. It is a pleasure reading your posts as they are 99% accurate down to the T. There is money on this business for a single person or a even person with kids in some occasions,* I made about $4700 this calendar* compared to the $2400 I earned in my last job which was IT, and was "promising"


Made or grossed? 2 totally different things


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## Trey9007

ReckStar said:


> I can personally vouch, I came from working in a a dead end job to doing around 80 inspections a day. Like you said before, the key is to get out the house early, the traffic can be sometimes. I work for a middle man and get paid around the 3-4 dollar mark. If it wasn't for the volume then I wouldn't be able to do this job, I make almost triple then what I use to make at an IT job. I love the money and if the inspector has the right car then it can be 30% more profitable. Doing inspections is what brought m to this site. I am just starting off, my plan is eventually to start my on business inspecting to profit more an dabble in other property ventures but like I said I am in the planning stages now. It's great to hear someone like you talk about exactly what I do. It is a pleasure reading your posts as they are 99% accurate down to the T. There is money on this business for a single person or a even person with kids in some occasions, I made about $4700 this calendar compared to the $2400 I earned in my last job which was IT, and was "promising"


My personal opinion is that $3 is low. BUt if you can make it work, great.

But when rates are that low its usually not a good sign. 

It usually means there are more than the avearage number of hands in the pot before the work or money gets to you. Again if the rates are working for you, fine. But with that many hands and you being at the end, its almost a guarantee you're gonna get burned and not get paid, as its pretty common, for companies handing out the $3 inspections, to not have the ability to pay you if they don't get paid. With the extra hands in the pot, that mean 3,4, or maybe 5 transactions must go smooth in order for you to get paid correctly.

$3 inspections often aren't inspector friendly. As an inspector you want geographic location to be the primary factor of how you route yourself. The $3 inspections usually come with faster turn around times because so many hands/people must review your results before its sent to the primary who actually cuts the check. This results in inspectors having to route according to due dates instead of addresses, which is nightmare and can really cut into your profits.


Photo requirements are usually over the top. As mentioned there are usually a lot of hands involved in these kind of orders. This usually means the photo requirements are over the top, as each hand puts additional requirements in, to help ensure they meet the other hands requirements. For example, the $3 inspection will often require a separate picture for each occupancy indicator, where as all the bank wants is pic of the house that includes the car. Im hearing now you have to show a photo of your feet at the door on jobs that require a contact or a letter delivered... WTH??

All this is just my opinion and what I have experienced as an inspector with about 7yrs under my belt. I get it that some people like knowing they are in a situation where the work is going to be there everyday, and that's the one thing the $3 inspections have going for them. These guys have the bulk of the work. But just be careful. $3 inspections from the wrong companies can get you into financial trouble. The same can be said for the $30 inspection companies. But the amount of hands involved with the $3 is usually so high that if someone in the pyramid doesn't get paid or is shorted, its very likely you will feel the pain, even though you correctly performed the job you were contracted to do. Many of these companies simply can't pay you if they dont get paid.

Good Luck!


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## madxtreme01

Trey9007 said:


> My personal opinion is that $3 is low. BUt if you can make it work, great.
> 
> But when rates are that low its usually not a good sign.
> 
> It usually means there are more than the avearage number of hands in the pot before the work or money gets to you. Again if the rates are working for you, fine. But with that many hands and you being at the end, its almost a guarantee you're gonna get burned and not get paid, as its pretty common, for companies handing out the $3 inspections, to not have the ability to pay you if they don't get paid. With the extra hands in the pot, that mean 3,4, or maybe 5 transactions must go smooth in order for you to get paid correctly.
> 
> $3 inspections often aren't inspector friendly. As an inspector you want geographic location to be the primary factor of how you route yourself. The $3 inspections usually come with faster turn around times because so many hands/people must review your results before its sent to the primary who actually cuts the check. This results in inspectors having to route according to due dates instead of addresses, which is nightmare and can really cut into your profits.
> 
> 
> Photo requirements are usually over the top. As mentioned there are usually a lot of hands involved in these kind of orders. This usually means the photo requirements are over the top, as each hand puts additional requirements in, to help ensure they meet the other hands requirements. For example, the $3 inspection will often require a separate picture for each occupancy indicator, where as all the bank wants is pic of the house that includes the car. Im hearing now you have to show a photo of your feet at the door on jobs that require a contact or a letter delivered... WTH??
> 
> All this is just my opinion and what I have experienced as an inspector with about 7yrs under my belt. I get it that some people like knowing they are in a situation where the work is going to be there everyday, and that's the one thing the $3 inspections have going for them. These guys have the bulk of the work. But just be careful. $3 inspections from the wrong companies can get you into financial trouble. The same can be said for the $30 inspection companies. But the amount of hands involved with the $3 is usually so high that if someone in the pyramid doesn't get paid or is shorted, its very likely you will feel the pain, even though you correctly performed the job you were contracted to do. Many of these companies simply can't pay you if they dont get paid.
> 
> Good Luck!




I agree with most of your points, but the nationals are only paying $5-10 except safeguard which is much lower. With that being said, most of the companies pay for insurance to cover the inspectors, and software like ez or inspectorade or tos, so when it's all said and done, I can't picture most of these guys paying more than $4 to the sub even if the company is getting it direct from the national. On the other hand the national wants a company that can cover a decent area, not just the 7 or 8 zip codes that surround your house. So unless you have 4+ people working for you, getting it direct from the national in most cases doesn't seem possible. But you are correct about the requirements. The clients just want to make sure the right house is being inspected and occ/vac is accurate. It used to be 3 photos, now its jumped to 7 for a regular occupied house. Notice how street signs were added. It used to be that a street sign was only necessary if there was no house number. It's gone down hill since then back in 2012


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## AHAForeclosure

*As others have pointed out...*

In a high density area, $3-$4 per is doable. Unfortunately,the orders I get are too spread out to do 50 orders etc per day. I could refuse to take the jobs, as is our right as contractors. I choose to take them, provided they include a trip fee as well. As we all know, there is no great effort here. 95% of my work is taken from the car. So far, only one client has required being outside the vehicle. With the rate they pay, I will most likely not stay with them as most properties are outside my normal coverage area.


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## AceVentura

AHAForeclosure said:


> In a high density area, $3-$4 per is doable. Unfortunately,the orders I get are too spread out to do 50 orders etc per day. I could refuse to take the jobs, as is our right as contractors. I choose to take them, provided they include a trip fee as well. As we all know, there is no great effort here. 95% of my work is taken from the car. So far, only one client has required being outside the vehicle. With the rate they pay, I will most likely not stay with them as most properties are outside my normal coverage area.


What you said "In a high density area, $3-$4 per is doable."

Your attitude is incorrect

I strongly recommend taking all money you have been received for performing these services, go run to the bank get some more money, visit a bar, visit a liquor store, and proceed to drink until any memory of this attitude is wiped clean. :vs_cocktail::drink::bangin::vs_rocking_banana::thumbup1:


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## Inspectorgadget

Drive by verifications are just the lowest of low, best practices is to know your area, conduct your own prices, and use zip code pricing, not the county pricing. The county vs zip codes just allows the low prices and the " all exclusive prices" , along with doing free work. Do your home work , volume doesn't equal $$$$ anymore but expenses. There are far better services out there that pay better, remember quality vs quantity, don't be about the quantity but the quality, you work less the time and make more money.


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## madxtreme01

Inspectorgadget said:


> Drive by verifications are just the lowest of low, best practices is to know your area, conduct your own prices, and use zip code pricing, not the county pricing. The county vs zip codes just allows the low prices and the " all exclusive prices" , along with doing free work. Do your home work , volume doesn't equal $$$$ anymore but expenses. There are far better services out there that pay better, remember quality vs quantity, don't be about the quantity but the quality, you work less the time and make more money.



I feel like I'm listening to the commercial for uber I've been hearing over and over lately


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## ReckStar

This is what I'm struggling with right now, I need to find higher paying inspections, I'm doing way too much for way too little, I needed quality not volume... Well said. My next avenue is going to be commercials...


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## lionpride

*Inspections per day*



Preservationpete said:


> 70 inspections a day is a load of baloney. I live in nj and run 40 per day sometimes and trust me, it takes all day. You could only run 70 inspections in a very dense city and almost every home would have to be next to each other. Now if you had a team of 3 inspectors you could get it done quick, but then no one makes any money. And 3 bucks per inspection is below food stamp wage, what company are you getting your orders from?[/QUote
> 
> 70 a day is easy. I work outside of Philly in Delaware County, PA. I do 80 on a bad day and 130 in a good day. I make $4 per inspection and I do almost 2000 inspections per month. You can make money in this business. I have been working with the same people for 4 years and never had any problem with volume or getting paid,


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## lionpride

*pay*



Trey9007 said:


> Most inspections apps do all this for you, via an excel spread sheet. Use of excel is pretty key as it can be used for your invoives as well as entered to your GPS for routing purposes. For invoices All one has to do is modify the system's spread sheet a bit and you now have a spreed sheet that can be used for all your jobs. For example heres some of the data from my spread sheet this weekend. If he needs a spread sheet I would be more than willing to send him the one I made for myself. Naturally I left some info off.
> 
> Copy and pasting from excel is nightmare. It looks MUCH better than this. Just rename the file the date you worked and whala you have your own invoicing system.


I wish I could get paid the same rates you do. I get $4 per and it doesn't matter if it is an interior inspections or not. I would make a killing at your rates as I do nearly 2000 inspections per month.


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## Wannabe

I just got an inspection check in today..... I only do a few a week at $55.00 each but 20-25 a week isn't bad extra change. Why anyone would do for any less is asinine


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## Bigtrucker

lionpride said:


> Preservationpete said:
> 
> 
> 
> 70 inspections a day is a load of baloney. I live in nj and run 40 per day sometimes and trust me, it takes all day. You could only run 70 inspections in a very dense city and almost every home would have to be next to each other. Now if you had a team of 3 inspectors you could get it done quick, but then no one makes any money. And 3 bucks per inspection is below food stamp wage, what company are you getting your orders from?[/QUote
> 
> 70 a day is easy. I work outside of Philly in Delaware County, PA. I do 80 on a bad day and 130 in a good day. I make $4 per inspection and I do almost 2000 inspections per month. You can make money in this business. I have been working with the same people for 4 years and never had any problem with volume or getting paid,
> 
> 
> 
> You using drones
Click to expand...


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## mtmtnman

LOL! For every 20 most of y'all are doing i do 3 in an hour for the same $$$$$. Sometimes that's STILL not enough! February averaged 16 miles between properties on average.....


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## Preservationpete

"Using Drones" LOL classic my friend!


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## disgusted

Don't know about you all but I have seen hundreds of WellsFargo orders with " previously reported as bad address " when I was at the right address.


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## disgusted

Wannabe said:


> I just got an inspection check in today..... I only do a few a week at $55.00 each but 20-25 a week isn't bad extra change. Why anyone would do for any less is asinine


$55.00 is what I get paid for commercial mortgage inspections, $60.00 with a management interview, about 8 questions. Is that the type of inspections you are talking about ?


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## Inspectorgadget

Trying doing a few others that pay around 200.00 a month, friend of mine southern Nevada area, does vacation rental inspections and gets 200.00 a month, inspects 5-10 properties a month. So if you want any to do the $3.00-6.00 inspections , work seven days a week, rather then what he works on NEVADA only a few hours a week, he told me worked 18 hours last month and made $3500.00 vs working seven days a week, for little less then .75 cents each per inspection after you pay your expenses and time.


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## Inspectorgadget

The guy that taught him lives near by in another state and makes more then he does because of being diversified in other services. If you want to make a career out of something then do things you love, not just a living at. In the end I hope everyone is paying themselves first by saving for a rainy day and all. Once I contact that Individual and pick his brain and going to try what he does where I live. These companies are requiring too much liability insurance and risks involved, for working at their prices. I saw a post about working for our own rates and fees and it's about time to make that change, work five days or less, why not? Because the nationals and lenders do, so why can't we?


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## STARBABY

Wow can`t believe I read all that! $3 to $6 inspections WOW.I have done inspection in 4 to 5 years. was doing them for $25 each. Did some for IMS (not sure if there even around anymore)for $15each but they sending around 80 a month. My wife was doing took her a little more then two day to due and this was day light to dark. most was in area she grew up in and she most the roads.
I guess this inspection talk of price and how many being done I`ll caulk up with the same BS of low paying lawn cuts people claiming to be able to mow 20 to 30 yards a day.


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## G 3

I actually helped a buddy with his inspections for 3 days while he was "recuperating" from March Madness Surgery (You now infertile guys will understand this one). I had my own work, but was able to stretch things from 0630 til 1920. I did 54 inspections the first day, and 41 the second day. Thank GOD the third day only had 30. It was ridiculous. And, the pay? I got it all. Lucky me, eh? Not after figuring gas, oil, time, and upload. The pay for each? $3.

I told him to get a new job, or find a new best friend, because I will NEVER do this $#!+ again. He ended up getting a divorce because all he did was work, and never had any money to show for it. So, he had to get a normal person's job, and I don't have to worry about telling a friend to shove it where the sun don't shine... #NeverAgain


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## [email protected]

Does that company offer work in Chicago? Who is the company?


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## [email protected]

what company is that? $55 wow


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## madxtreme01

G 3 said:


> I actually helped a buddy with his inspections for 3 days while he was "recuperating" from March Madness Surgery (You now infertile guys will understand this one). I had my own work, but was able to stretch things from 0630 til 1920. I did 54 inspections the first day, and 41 the second day. Thank GOD the third day only had 30. It was ridiculous. And, the pay? I got it all. Lucky me, eh? Not after figuring gas, oil, time, and upload. The pay for each? $3.
> 
> I told him to get a new job, or find a new best friend, because I will NEVER do this $#!+ again. He ended up getting a divorce because all he did was work, and never had any money to show for it. So, he had to get a normal person's job, and I don't have to worry about telling a friend to shove it where the sun don't shine... #NeverAgain


The industry standard is somewhere between $3-4.50. I'm not saying that the numbers are great, but my full time inspector makes about $5k a month working about 8-10 hours a day monday through friday. She never works weekends unless there is a holiday in the middle of the week. She is happy. Different areas have different challenges. I am located in the most densely populated state so there is a lot of work in a small area, but I've done this type of work in Delaware and Maryland also. The average for an inspector is 10 completed per hour in normal suburban neighborhoods, and 20 per hour in the city. You really have to know your territory to know the shortcuts and what time of day to be where so you can avoid traffic etc. If you live in a rural area, it's impossible to make any real money unless you are getting paid $15-20 per inspection or more depending on the distance between houses. Average around here is about a mile.


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## Bigtrucker

madxtreme01 said:


> The industry standard is somewhere between $3-4.50. I'm not saying that the numbers are great, but my full time inspector makes about $5k a month working about 8-10 hours a day monday through friday. She never works weekends unless there is a holiday in the middle of the week. She is happy. Different areas have different challenges. I am located in the most densely populated state so there is a lot of work in a small area, but I've done this type of work in Delaware and Maryland also. The average for an inspector is 10 completed per hour in normal suburban neighborhoods, and 20 per hour in the city. You really have to know your territory to know the shortcuts and what time of day to be where so you can avoid traffic etc. If you live in a rural area, it's impossible to make any real money unless you are getting paid $15-20 per inspection or more depending on the distance between houses. Average around here is about a mile.



20 an hour 
That's 1 every 3 minutes you get caught at just 1 red light your screwed


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## madxtreme01

Bigtrucker said:


> 20 an hour
> That's 1 every 3 minutes you get caught at just 1 red light your screwed


Back in the Bank Of America days before Screwguard came along to screw everything up, I did inspections personally from 2008-2010 and my territory was Essex County NJ which includes towns like Irvington, East Orange, and Newark. Most of you know Newark for it's airport, but it's like a Camden, Trenton, Detroit etc. This was really before the need for 20 pictures at an occupied property, when you were able to use gang activity for an excuse for not going through a vacant home, no vacancy postings, call back cards? what's that. I was able to do between 30-45/hr. I also had an SLR, and 3-4 houses on each block. I also knew which houses were occupied, and which were vacant. I drove up, snapped a front of house or 2, a house number, and off to the next. Today, things are a little different and the street sign requirement screws you from being able to fly down blocks. Taking a street sign pic can be dangerous at times.


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## Preservationpete

madxtreme01 said:


> Back in the Bank Of America days before Screwguard came along to screw everything up, I did inspections personally from 2008-2010 and my territory was Essex County NJ which includes towns like Irvington, East Orange, and Newark. Most of you know Newark for it's airport, but it's like a Camden, Trenton, Detroit etc. This was really before the need for 20 pictures at an occupied property, when you were able to use gang activity for an excuse for not going through a vacant home, no vacancy postings, call back cards? what's that. I was able to do between 30-45/hr. I also had an SLR, and 3-4 houses on each block. I also knew which houses were occupied, and which were vacant. I drove up, snapped a front of house or 2, a house number, and off to the next. Today, things are a little different and the street sign requirement screws you from being able to fly down blocks. Taking a street sign pic can be dangerous at times.


Yeah street sign pics slow your day up, especially when certain street signs are missing and or a half mile down the street at a major intersection, screwing your route up. But god bless you for being able to do 30-45 houses an hour. You using automated drones, space ships and teleportation technology? Thats a home every 90 seconds! With the current pic requirements you are super efficient. Pull up, Take all sides, roof front and back and street sign/street scene. wow.Oh, and leave a callback card or do a doornock, absolutely amazing. :vs_cool:


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## madxtreme01

Preservationpete said:


> Yeah street sign pics slow your day up, especially when certain street signs are missing and or a half mile down the street at a major intersection, screwing your route up. But god bless you for being able to do 30-45 houses an hour. You using automated drones, space ships and teleportation technology? Thats a home every 90 seconds! With the current pic requirements you are super efficient. Pull up, Take all sides, roof front and back and street sign/street scene. wow.Oh, and leave a callback card or do a doornock, absolutely amazing. :vs_cool:


well lets just say, door knocks and call back cards are optional.... we only get out of the car if its questionably occupied or vacant. As far as pic requirements, most are street sign, house number, front of house, occupancy or vacancy indicators, screet scene, and the other 3 sides plus vacancy posting if vacant. If an interior is requested that definitely slows down production. The way I always did it was I have a tom tom gps that all the stops are pre loaded into itineraries, and when you arrive at one stop, you tell the gps to take you to the next. I've been in this biz long enough to know where to cut corners and where not to. However when a company requires a pic of the call back card and are paying $4, I say no thank you and move on.


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## Bigtrucker

Preservationpete said:


> Yeah street sign pics slow your day up, especially when certain street signs are missing and or a half mile down the street at a major intersection, screwing your route up. But god bless you for being able to do 30-45 houses an hour. You using automated drones, space ships and teleportation technology? Thats a home every 90 seconds! With the current pic requirements you are super efficient. Pull up, Take all sides, roof front and back and street sign/street scene. wow.Oh, and leave a callback card or do a doornock, absolutely amazing. :vs_cool:



I'm thinking spaceships
got it beam me up scottie


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## Hustle

safeguard dropout said:


> Yep, I did calculate wrong. You are correct it is 84 per day to gross 5K for the month. 70 inspections minimum in 7 hrs? That is one every 6 minutes on a SLOW day, IF i calculated that right. (I've been wrong before:vs_smile There are very few locations nationwide that would have that kind of density. I was offered $6 and half my mid west state with only 190 inspections per month....and he said only 60% would come in 1st of the month and then trickle in the rest of the month, so I would constantly be making the rounds to keep them on time. If your business and your people can make money at it without giving away the farm, great, go get it. No way this works for most of us.


Hi! I have a quick question. It seems that you all might be able to give me some direction. I need to get a somewhat inexpensive camera with 10X Optical Zoom and it needs to work on a Camera Pole or Monopod. Ideally 1600 x 1200 megapixels. Does anyone have any idea what camera to get. I don't see anything at walmart or target and it has to be somewhat lightweight due to my shoulder getting jacked last week. Thoughts anyone, and it is truly appreciated.


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