Start A Home Inspections Business - Business Ideas

Pat Walls

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Updated: September 15th, 2022

Start A Home Inspections Business

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

Starting a home inspection business can be a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs with a background in construction or engineering.

The business involves conducting thorough inspections of homes, typically before they are put on the market or before a potential buyer makes a purchase.

To start a home inspection business, you’ll need to become certified by a professional organization such as the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). This typically involves completing a course and passing an exam. In addition, you’ll need to obtain liability insurance to protect your business from potential claims.

To conduct inspections, you’ll need to thoroughly understand a home’s various systems and components, including electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling, roofing, and foundation.

You’ll also need to be able to identify potential issues and provide recommendations for repairs or upgrades.

Running a successful home inspection business requires strong communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently. You’ll need to be able to provide clear and concise reports to clients, including photographs and detailed descriptions of any issues or concerns.

To market your business, you can reach out to local real estate agents and offer your services to them. You can also create a website and social media presence to showcase your services and attract potential clients.

With hard work and dedication, starting a home inspection business can be a rewarding opportunity for those passionate about construction and helping people make informed decisions about their home purchases.

Starting a home inspections business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell home inspections, or selling home inspections online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Key Stats

starting costs

$17.4K

gross margin

93%

avg product price

$400

time to build

270 days

growth

Organic social media

business model

Subscriptions

time investment

Full time

Startup Costs

	Min Startup Costs	Max Startup Costs
Office Space Expenses	$0	$7,000
Employee & Freelancer Expenses	$151	$352
Website Costs	$223	$7,215
Business Formation Fees	$600	$4,700
Equipment & Supply Expenses	$63	$200
Vehicle Expenses	$2	$10,004
Software Expenses	$150	$2,769
Advertising & Marketing Costs	$0	$2,300
Total Startup Costs	$1,189	$34,540

See all startup costs ➜

Successful Businesses

Business	URL	Rank
Pikes Peak Regional Building Department	pprbd.org	317,958
PILLAR TO POST	pillartopost.com	342,796
Home and Commercial Property Inspections	npiweb.com	424,365
HouseMaster	housemaster.com	452,310
BPG Inspections	bpginspections.com	511,104
ISN	inspectionsupport.net	557,102
Carson Dunlop	carsondunlop.com	561,029
AmeriSpec	amerispec.com	633,144
US Inspect	usinspect.com	720,018
AHIT	ahit.com	725,417
Maryland Association of Home Inspectors	mdahi.org	811,975

See all businesses ➜

Pros & Cons

Pros	Description
Flexibility	You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.
Meaningful business connections	You never know who you will meet as a home inspections business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!
High customer retention rates	Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.
Pick & choose the clients you work with	Home Inspections Businesses have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!
Control of workload	With starting a home inspections business, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.
Gain exposure and experience	This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you!

See all pros ➜

Cons	Description
Motivation of employees	If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.
Low margins	The gross margins for your home inspections business are typically around 93%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.
High employee turnover	In the home inspections business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.
Niche Market	A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.
High overhead expenses	With starting a home inspections business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.
Churn	In this business, customers can cancel their membership or subscription for your services - which can make revenue forecasting challenging and unpredictable. It's important to focus on your churn rates and trends so that you can prevent this as much as possible.

See all cons ➜

Marketing Ideas

1

Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.

Learn more about affiliate program ➜
2

Direct Sales

Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.
For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

Learn more about direct sales ➜
3

Word of mouth

Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

Learn more about word of mouth ➜

See all marketing ideas ➜

Key Stats

Startup Costs

Successful Businesses

317,958

342,796

424,365

452,310

511,104

557,102

561,029

633,144

720,018

725,417

811,975

Pros & Cons

Marketing Ideas

Affiliate Program

Direct Sales

Word of mouth