# Advice on Inspections



## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

So here is the email I got...

"We have a new client, who is expecting a high volume of inspections in a concentrated area, and we’re reaching out to our inspectors for capacity and pricing information. Our new client will be offering 2 tiers of inspections: 

- Drive-by (photos taken from your car or the street) The cost will be between $7.00 to $10.00. You need to choose $$$ amount?

- Field (Full Interior and Exterior photos, including any discrepancies) The cost will be between $11.00 to $14.00. You need to choose $$$ amount?

On average, how many inspection would you be able to complete in 1- day?"

I have no experience with these types of inspections. I am however, the bane of the inital services crews I follow. 

I rarely miss anything and have been known to send in 233 pictures of what was not done during the initial services. I report or I fix it for free and I am not going to fix it for free. 

My thoughts are that these could be profitable if I mix a few of them in with my route each day. This way I am not driving out of my way. A few of these each day would just about cover my daily fuel costs. 

So how hard are they? I have been told they are between 5 and 15 pictures each inspection depending on the type of inspection. 

Your thoughts and advice please.


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## HollandPPC (Sep 22, 2012)

Please PM me and I can give you the lowdown on these. Not that I am saying they are good but I can give you a realistic idea. I forget but what state are you in?


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

I won't touch them for less than 20.

By the time you print the w/o, plan your route, drive out of your way even a couple miles, do the inspection
buy your camera and batteries, drive to your next job and then do the upload.................. even 20
doesn't sound like nearly enough.


If you are like me you never take JUST 5 to 15 pics. 


In my opinion there simply is no money in doing them for their prices, heck in my opinion you are going 
backwards at their pricing!


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## JDRM (Apr 16, 2012)

Smells FISHY to me! Do your homework! Not many ask you what you would like to get paid.

:detective::detective::detective:


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## GTX63 (Apr 12, 2012)

I'll post an answer I gave on another thread. Nationals would rather you ignore how much money it breaks down to per hour. They would rather you look at it as how much you can make a day.


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## Omega (Oct 30, 2012)

I used to do bpo, occupancy verification, etc, and never got less than 15, and that was from a company that didn't pay more than 35 for a wint


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## nurumkin (Sep 28, 2012)

*re*



GTX63 said:


> I'll post an answer I gave on another thread. Nationals would rather you ignore how much money it breaks down to per hour. They would rather you look at it as how much you can make a day.


That is how you should always look at it as an independent contractor. I would even go further to how much you make per week/month. 

If you make $40 in your first half of the day but $500 in the second half all that matters is that you made $540 for a days work. Most of my days are like this, I rarely make money before noon.


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## idaho (Oct 20, 2012)

I was offered those prices once, just not in my business model for that price. Seems I would be taking on more work in hopes I could make a little in a perfect world. But the real world I live in thought one return to property request would blow the whole profit for the day. I never even responded back to them.


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## STARBABY (Apr 12, 2012)

Gypsos said:


> So here is the email I got...
> 
> "We have a new client, who is expecting a high volume of inspections in a concentrated area, and we’re reaching out to our inspectors for capacity and pricing information. Our new client will be offering 2 tiers of inspections:
> 
> ...


 

Just can`t see how anybody can make money doing this! after all your cost you might as weel send them a check and sit at home.:mellow:


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## SagesServices (Oct 6, 2012)

Drive by inspections are not the norm. They really require lots of contact and meter pics. The bac delinquent interviews via msc are a joke. The miles between inspections eat up what little profit there is.

They usually cut the pay rates after a while too. I have not found a way to make money on occupancy checks and I've been trying. Its a dead end as far as I can tell. The only ones who profit are the middlemen.


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## Dnmceo17 (Oct 7, 2012)

I always wanted to know how to make money on $15.00 inspections just getting 1 -3 a day? they told me there is not alot of inventory in my area so I told them i wont bother to do them? they stop sending me them


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## GTX63 (Apr 12, 2012)

nurumkin said:


> That is how you should always look at it as an independent contractor. I would even go further to how much you make per week/month.
> 
> If you make $40 in your first half of the day but $500 in the second half all that matters is that you made $540 for a days work. Most of my days are like this, I rarely make money before noon.


Looking at a pig thru rose colored glasses just makes it a red pig.
Inspections and the profitability set aside, when you start focusing on your pay "at the end of the day" then you are sliding into the mindset of an employee.


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

nurumkin said:


> That is how you should always look at it as an independent contractor. I would even go further to how much you make per week/month.
> 
> If you make $40 in your first half of the day but $500 in the second half all that matters is that you made $540 for a days work. Most of my days are like this, I rarely make money before noon.


 
I would much rather sleep in until noon and make $500 for a half days work..... :thumbup::thumbup:

I used to look at it that way, how much do I make in a day. Now if I can't make money on every job, all day long, I don't take every job and work all day long.....


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

GTX63 said:


> Looking at a pig thru rose colored glasses just makes it a red pig.
> Inspections and the profitability set aside, when you start focusing on your pay "at the end of the day" then you are sliding into the mindset of an employee.






Yes and no.


Maybe general contractors don't have a problem with their hammer breaking down but guys that do lawn care can have equipment issues early in the day that blows most of the morning.
By the time things are back up and running its debatable on whether its worth going to work now.
But you get the guy's tails tied up in a good tight knot and put an incentive on them like a case of beer or some thing and low and behold you get the critical mowing work of the day done by maybe an hour or two later than what you wanted to work. 


Was the morning worthless???? Sure as ****.

Was the day worthless, NOPE.


NOW, I understand it doesn't work like that in all trades....... but I wouldn't blanket say looking at it that way is the employee mindset.


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## GTX63 (Apr 12, 2012)

I agree, that was a broad statement I made. Your example of a landscaping operation layers you between the crews and the client and is a different animal. I'm referring to the one or two man operation. When discussing inspections, it is difficult anymore to reasonably sub them out. You almost have to be a mom/pop/solo biz to make it work. So when these cattle calls for inspectors come around, it is usually under their terms. You take everything in an area or not at all. The nationals preach volume, volume, volume. Some of these folks fall for that gimmick and they rationalize the miles and hours with a mediocre but steady check every week. You can't grow your business because your on the road every day doing $5 and $10 inspections. The contract gets rebid or your screw up and your out on the street with little or nothing, just as if you were an employee.


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## JDRM (Apr 16, 2012)

You make up for it with VOLUME.......... :whistling2::whistling2::whistling2::whistling2:


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## nurumkin (Sep 28, 2012)

*re*



GTX63 said:


> Looking at a pig thru rose colored glasses just makes it a red pig.
> Inspections and the profitability set aside, when you start focusing on your pay "at the end of the day" then you are sliding into the mindset of an employee.


I would say the exact opposite once you start looking at what you make hourly you are getting into the employee mindset, basically you do your time for consistent pay. 

@jrdm "You make up for it with VOLUME." 

Well there is a reason I broke $900/day alone doing $25-$30 lawn cuts (very long day granted but still one day)

Hell I've had days where I make $600 doing nothing but inspections


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

nurumkin said:


> Well there is a reason I broke $900/day alone doing $25-$30 lawn cuts (very long day granted but still one day)






Get the right commercial jobs and you can do a lot better than that..... without the looooong day.


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## GTX63 (Apr 12, 2012)

Nothing wrong with your game. Everyone has their goals and means to reach them. Just saying...


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

GTX63 said:


> Nothing wrong with your game. Everyone has their goals and means to reach them. Just saying...




:thumbsup:



Thats the beauty of being an INDEPENDENT contractor. You make it work for YOU.



Well thats what the business plan says any way, lol.


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## GTX63 (Apr 12, 2012)

Gypos, I'll try and answer your OP a little better.
Pros
*You might may some money if they are priced right.
*You won't get dirty.
*You don't need a license or major skills.
Cons
*They are rarely priced right
*Time intense
*Can be dangerous
Many drive by pics, if you can call them that, include a front pic, an address or a house number, the street, and a photo showing why you feel it is occupied. Vacant props take more, interior take a lot more. Miss a pic, take one that's blurry, input wrong info,you go back.
From my own experience and from personal friends in the industry, it is a lot of drive time, desktime, report time, routing time, with little time for anything else.
Yes, you can make some good money in the right area, with the right volume and concentration. You will also run the wheels off your car, sometimes completing 15 inspections in one town and then driving 60 miles for one inspection ($7) out of your way. Then you get home and find out 6 of the inspections were canceled while you were out. Or the last report was different than you submitted, so go back that 60 miles and take more pics, for free. 
So, you drive 60k per year to make 40k.
Your so swallowed up trying to get all of their work completed on time that you can't do jobs for anyone else and you eggs are all in one basket.
I will take them from smaller companies that have low volume and are near by and will pay $10 or more. I give them to our crews to hit on the way to another job. Hooks us up for potential future work and pays for their lunch.


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

nurumkin said:


> I would say the exact opposite once you start looking at what you make hourly you are getting into the employee mindset, basically you do your time for consistent pay.
> 
> @jrdm "You make up for it with VOLUME."
> 
> ...


I would have to disagree with the caveat of it depends on your business size and services you provide. One man show, yeah you can probably get a way with figuring what you made for the day. As someone who has subs, laborers, etc. Not so much. Costs AND Earnings per job, per hour, per employee, etc. ALL matter to me and should to anyone else in business. 

For example, my son works for me and loves doing grass cuts. He doesn't care what I make because he is paid hourly. I DO care. I can send him out for an 8 hour day to cut 8 lawns (got drive time as I'm rural). He makes $64 dollars ($8/hr). If I'm doing them at $30/per. $240 gross minus $64 labor, minus my uploading labor, minus fuel, minus depreciation, etc, etc, etc. OR, I can take him with me roofing. He shingles, albeit slower than me at around 1 SQ/hour. I charge $50 per square for install. I pay him ($10/hour roofing because I can make more so he does to).

So what is smarter? Having him mow grass for 8 hours or having him help me reshingle a garage for 4 hours? That is why I go back to my earlier statement about looking at each job, each hour, each process, each cost, etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with turning down non profitable, or not as profitable work. I tell my kid this everytime I turn down a $25 grass cut...


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

GTX63 said:


> Gypos, I'll try and answer your OP a little better.
> Pros
> *You might may some money if they are priced right.
> *You won't get dirty.
> ...


I will throw one more "pro" out there. At least it was for me. I have one client that I agreed to do $15 inspections for. Price was their terms. Which ones I accepted and when I completed them and submitted the results was my terms. I am now doing rehab, repairs, and insurance claims for this company. Had I closed the door on the inspections, I would have shut the door on the more lucrative work. Irony is they don't ask me to do inspections anymore but I'm bidding a vandalism job for them today........


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## SagesServices (Oct 6, 2012)

I would do $15 per in my area.... Thats for sure. Only very rural areas pay that here. I prefer the close houses about 30 miles or less from home. $17 per sounds good till you realize its 80 miles of dead heading to get there, then you come back the same way....

The issue in the rural areas will always be distance though. In my area of AL the average at best is 10 miles per inspection, and I've seen worse. 

If your looking at doing volume, keep in mind there are due date windows. The common one is the 23rd to 27th. Safeguardd and MSC have ones earlier in the month, can't remember which. So, depending on the National or Regionall you end up with, the due dates vary. But, the date windows are usually 3 to 5 days. 

So, you still get the inspections based on a schedule that changes, in other words... They will dump work on you when it makes no sense, just like P/P work. You have to set limits or they will run you out to the same area 5 times per month or more for a house in the middle of nowhere. 

There are also the rush inspections.... Some are not worth it at all.

There is not much in it though, very little profit if your driving around all over. I've been turning down work because its just too far away. 

I've found its best to broaden out and do all kinds of inspections. Roofers hire guys, insurance companies, guys inspect commercial trucks and heavy equipment for out of state buyers. There are FEMA disaster inspectors. Those pay a lot more than occupancy work and they usually pay mileagee too. Occupancy inspections are OK when the area is reason involved and the volume is easily handled. Its best to mix them up and try to stay diversified. You must have a car that gets 30 mpg or better IMO, and it must be reliable.


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## Craigslist Hack (Jun 14, 2012)

I have yet to figure out how to make inspections profitable.


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## STARBABY (Apr 12, 2012)

Doberman Properties said:


> I have yet to figure out how to make inspections profitable.


 
I do not think it can be done!


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## nurumkin (Sep 28, 2012)

*re*



STARBABY said:


> I do not think it can be done!


I honestly kind of agree with you, I view inspections kind of like sales cleans, they are profit neutral at best but they keep the client happy. But every once in a while you get a run of 30 or 40 of them in the same city and then you make decent money.


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

The work is for a national I already do losts of maintenance cuts and cleans for. No trashouts as there is no money to be made with them. 

I have been told I can pick and choose which inspections I do and turn down the rest. Sounds good. 

They have to be completed and uploaded within 48 hours. Business as usual.

My thoughts are that I could include a few of them in my route for the day if they are in the area or decline them all.


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## GTX63 (Apr 12, 2012)

Pick and choose is good news and the only way to show anything for the effort. Not sure why they would want you to decide what you will bill from $7 to $10 unless you are competing against others in your area. $10 is a no brainer.


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

GTX63 said:


> Pick and choose is good news and the only way to show anything for the effort. Not sure why they would want you to decide what you will bill from $7 to $10 unless you are competing against others in your area. $10 is a no brainer.


They claim the "work" will go to the vendor who offers to do the most work at the least price. 

I happen to know they got zilch for vendors in my area and the few they got do horrible work. Staged photos and late uploads.

That is why I get the offers from them. My properties look good and the brokers love me. 

It is not my plan to make this my primary income, but if I have a day with nothing else to do I can just take on a few more inspections.


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## SagesServices (Oct 6, 2012)

If they say pick and choose, they are probably desperate to complete them. 

When penalties get involved the usual price doubles without asking. But, city inspections are still no more than $10 verses the normal $5. Rural inspections can go higher, I saw $45 once last year and others will hit 20 to 30 occasionally. 
All you can do is try it and see... Just be careful, dealing with the hostile people, they can make things interesting and time consuming.


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