Ep 53 - InterNACHI COO Ben Gromicko on why we should be charging $1000 for a Home Inspection

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Well guys, we got another episode of the Ride Along here and we've got, Matt, we got a
pretty cool conversation we're about to have because we've discussed today's topic

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previously, but I'm looking forward to kind of getting in depth with it with kind of the
guy who was talking about it in the first place.

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Likewise.

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Yeah, for sure.

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We've yeah, this this topic has been brought up a couple of times on the show.

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And yeah, I'm looking forward to you hashing it out and talking about, you know, how we
can either make it happen or make sense of it all.

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And yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

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Now it's gonna be good.

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We'll go ahead and introduce them right here.

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Ben Gromico, really doesn't take a whole lot to introduce you because InterNACHI is the
conglomerate of home inspectors.

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And so if anybody's a home inspector and they don't know you, I would be shocked.

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So, but we're honored to have you on the show today, man.

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Yeah, definitely.

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And how's it going?

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First of all, North Carolina, I heard you uh a recent move.

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Everything's going good?

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Yep, I lived in Colorado for a long time, but I don't ski.

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So what's the point of being on a on a hillside when you can't ski in the wintertime?

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So raise a family there for about 15 years, but move to where it's really nice.

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Raleigh, North Carolina, and it's right now it's about 82 degrees sunny and the birds are
chirping, so I'm loving where I am.

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Raleigh Durham area is awesome, man.

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It's been on the come up for a while too.

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booming.

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There is so much going on, so much building, so many homes for sale.

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um There's a lot of people coming in.

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I think they all took off during COVID from California and other places, and they all
wanted to come here.

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Now, definitely.

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Now, I mean, is this giving you like a whole new batch of content to work with because you
do most of the content filming or at least a lot of the content filming for NACHI So are

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you doing this with a lot of new construction stuff down there or what are you doing with
that?

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Yeah, so uh right next door my friend is building his home and so we're filming uh
everything uh from footer to roof and everything inside step by step and I thought that

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that would be a really good opportunity for home inspectors to understand how a home is
built.

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If you don't know how a home is built, I'm not sure if you can really.

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Compete well in the marketplace with other home inspectors with that background.

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So why not show everybody the guts of a home?

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No, it's good.

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And especially with, with new construction practices kind of changing big time in the last
several years and some big modern advances coming.

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I've got some questions that we want to get to, uh, in the, in the rest of the interview
here with you, but we want to start off first and foremost.

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Usually Matt, we do our drink of the day, uh, in the evening because that's when we record
this, but it's new.

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Right, right.

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Yeah, so it's a little bit different today.

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Actually 11 here, so it's not even noon for me.

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And so, yeah, I'm going with coffee.

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Definitely.

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Yeah, right.

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I mean, it prevents, that's a little moral quadra here, right?

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Like it's like, do we just go ahead and just be complete derelicts?

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Do we go ahead and just day drink or like, you know, what do we do?

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But you know, I, I'm responsible to court.

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I've gotten, I've got meetings coming up still.

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So, you know, HR, if you're watching, you know, it's just coffee, but, Ben, if we were
recording this in the evening, what would you be sipping on?

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um I love a bourbon Manhattan on a rock.

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Nice.

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A-Raw, like a nice solid big chunk of ice.

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uh I make my own.

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oh And also I don't do the like the wimpy bourbon.

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I go for the like the high proof.

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So I think Jack Daniels makes one of the highest proofs that I know of whiskey, and it's
like 126 proof.

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I want to be able to.

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I want fire.

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I want pepper.

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I don't.

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I don't want it.

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I don't want smooth because then you just drink too much, right?

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really solid move, especially on a mixed drink.

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Like go for the higher proof.

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Like I want the bourbon to come through in a mixed drink.

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I want you to get that punch.

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And if you get something that's lighter proof, that's what most of mine, just because of
affordability and a high proof, use Wild Turkey 101 cocktails a lot because it's just a

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little bit higher than your typical stuff.

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yeah, I'm on board, man.

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I like it.

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I like your style.

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This is actually giving me an interesting idea because the drink of the day, of course, is
always sponsored by inspection fuel, which is going to be again happening September 8th

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through the 10th in New Orleans.

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But there's going to be a conference kind of coming up right after that band.

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You want to go ahead and plug that one too?

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Is that the international conference you're talking about?

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Take it my B.

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it might be, yeah.

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You know there's so many going on.

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You know the hurricane down in Florida kind of bumped one conference convention, so we
just had it recently and now we're having another one and we've got one coming up in Texas

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and we've got another one coming up in Colorado.

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So just make sure you uh know where your next event is.

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Some of the events going around for these home inspectors are so fun.

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I mean there's a lot of really great events and there's nothing like.

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I mean, Internet is the world of online.

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If you want to go online and meet people from all over the world, go to Internet.

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She's forum or Facebook or something like that.

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But if you want to rub elbows with like minded people, I mean, you got to do an event and
Internet.

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She chapters are really great local way, but these big conferences and conventions, not
just Internet.

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She's but you know the ones you go to and the one you you you are attending and you know,
it's just fantastic to meet other people there, you know.

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we did the podcast, or we did some podcasting at InterNACHI in Orlando in February, Matt,
but I'm thinking we need to have like a co-sponsored like drink of the day, kind of a

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happy hour between InterNACHI and the Ride-A-Log at the next one.

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I don't know.

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I don't drink and work at the same time.

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Okay, all right.

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All right.

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We'll take care of that on your behalf.

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Don't worry.

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But I'm sure there's plenty of other inspectors that do the same.

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but anyway, no, Ben, we're excited to have you on because you said something recently that
really got our ears buzzing.

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And we've talked about it on a previous episode.

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And so we figured, let's just get you on the show to discuss this.

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The big question being, does the home inspection industry, or the real estate industry in
general support a $1,000 average ticket price?

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First of all, give us your views on this and why you think that's what it ought to be and
if you think it's even possible.

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It is possible.

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I mean, I just, I'm a sucker for Starbucks, right?

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And I just had a cup of coffee from Starbucks and it was six bucks for the coffee.

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And then you add a tip, right?

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It's just an example of like, why would anybody let alone millions of people buy a
commodity like a cup of coffee for maybe, I don't know, five times more than it's actually

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worth, right?

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because it's so valuable to the consumer.

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So if I find it really incredibly valuable, that burger, that cup of coffee, that service,
I'm to pull out my hard earned cash for it.

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Now it's, it's incredible how, how many home inspectors devalue their position on this
planet.

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We are one of the most important critical people that anybody can know.

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Because we all live in a home.

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But is that home safe, functioning and healthy?

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There's only one person on the planet who can answer that question.

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That's incredible valuable information.

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You should be charging for that type of value that you provide.

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Don't be the cheap piece of crap coffee that you can get right?

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Sure.

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I guess on that analogy, know, Starbucks has...

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You know, you're good.

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Oh, once the last time I did an inspection for a client, right?

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I've been doing it.

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I do inspections all the time, but I have any clients.

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But when I was doing inspections back in the 90s, 1990 and 2004, 2007 was my last
inspection.

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I brought home $1000 per inspection.

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And that's with ancillary inspections, but.

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I had a grant.

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want to talk about for sure.

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I mean, I like the analogy and for one second I was, was, you know, taken by it, but I do,
I do want to point out like to me, like there's like in that analogy, a little bit of an

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elephant in the room.

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I mean, like when we're talking about a $6 cup of coffee, is that six, seven bucks, you
know, that's, is that too much to pay for cup of coffee?

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Is that, you know, a lot to pay?

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is.

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I don't know.

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No.

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go to let's go to let's go to the mall.

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Mean you us three.

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Let's go shop.

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Let's go to Macy's.

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Let's go to the men's jewelry department.

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Let's look at the under the glass on the left.

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There's a $10 piece of crap that tells the time on the right.

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There's a $1000 gold watch.

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They do the same thing.

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They do the same thing.

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one home inspector on the left is charging ten bucks one home inspector on the right is
charging a thousand dollars they basically do the same thing if all the same standards of

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practice these inspection reports they take pictures they have a summary they identified
defects what what makes that thousand dollar watch self it's because of the value that is

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perceived in that product or service

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disagree with that.

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It's just like, you know, when we're talking about things that are like 10, six, seven
dollars, like I could, I could take a chance on something that was like that that much.

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And if I didn't like it, I just wouldn't go back or if I loved it, I might go back.

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But like when we're talking about a home inspection and the thing is, is like where it is
like I I deal with a lot of first time home buyers, right?

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And it's like they I while I 100 % agree like they need to be paying like more versus less
like they're buying this huge, very important purchase.

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um Do you want somebody in there that is just trying to hack under all the rest and get
the job?

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Or do want somebody in there that knows their value?

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But it's really hard to convince some people, especially first-time home buyers of that.

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um Because like I say, they don't get to do this very often.

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So they don't have a comparison point to know whether or not it's valuable.

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How do we get them to know how valuable it

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I wasn't ever in the business of trying to convince.

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I hate sales on the phone, so what I would do is I just gave it to Steve.

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I don't want to his last name, but he was a buddy.

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He was a chief inspector in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania when where I was doing home
inspections.

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I ran a home inspection business for a dozen years and we had that list of cheap
inspectors.

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And so if someone was looking for a cheap inspector, that's not me, but I know a friend.

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I know a buddy.

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He's super cheap.

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he will do that job in fact if you ask him for a discount i bet he'll give it to you
because you in this in this job you get what you pay for so if you want to cheap ass

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inspector i have one his name is steve and he's right down the road that is not me that is
not me i'm the i'm the gold one i am the gold watch

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to the cheap guy.

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I've never done that.

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That's a really an interesting way of looking at it.

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That is an analogy or a perspective that I really can grasp onto.

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Because like I say, I refer to people when I'm not available to people that I know
sometimes their fees are actually more than mine.

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But it's like, I know they're going to be in very good hands when I refer them to them.

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You've got a different method and that's like, if chief, what you're looking for, there's
a couple of guys.

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Let me give you some numbers.

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That's great.

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man.

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There's a lot of them down in Florida too.

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Down in Florida.

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Where are you guys?

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Where you're at, Brad?

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Like, I don't know how you all are making it charging such low prices.

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You're all competing on price.

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Yeah, no, it's coming up.

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There's there's guys like, like Ryan Wall, we've had him on the show before out of Hello
Home Inspections up in Tampa.

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ah He actually we were on the phone a few weeks ago.

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before we even recorded the episode and he was like, Hey, what did you charge for your
last inspection?

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He goes, we raised it to at least 750 for what you just did.

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And I was like, I need to do the same.

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But there are guys like I had an agent up in up in Newport Richey area, say, Hey, how much
are you going to charge for this older home, the square footage and I, I told her the

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price at the time, which I think all in was like 650 700 bucks and she goes, that's way
too high.

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I've got a guy who'll do all of that plus your insurance inspections for 350 and I

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said you go get them.

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I ain't driving all the way up there for that.

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You know, but we did we wanted to talk about that because it's like, you know, you're
talking about the two watches, I want to get into both analogies, because I actually do

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think there's some merit to the Starbucks one also.

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Um, but, uh, you know, one, you're competing on other people's budgets, not just the
market.

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but when you put those two side by sides, a lot of times homeowners are going to go, okay.

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Um, if this one just does the job and that's all I need, why don't I just go ahead and get
that one?

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So you've given us one example of how you can raise perception, which is one, just
believing in the quality of your own service, but how do you elevate consumer expectations

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so that it does justify that high ticket price?

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I think that's actually really important.

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Like I know that like maybe your thing isn't really to convince people, but as an industry
standard, if we're trying to, you know, get the industry to raise their standards, we have

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to convince people.

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I feel like it's driven by the consumer.

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Yeah, I just want to be the only person in the field.

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So like when.

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00:13:56,118 --> 00:13:59,759
You have a field of competitors.

215
00:13:59,759 --> 00:14:04,681
You want to be the only one that your consumer sees your customer sees.

216
00:14:04,681 --> 00:14:05,962
So I just want to.

217
00:14:05,962 --> 00:14:07,922
I think of differentiation.

218
00:14:07,922 --> 00:14:13,865
That's instead of like trying to convince somebody to change their mind to pull out more
money for me.

219
00:14:13,865 --> 00:14:17,626
It's really like I will only want them to see me or hear me.

220
00:14:17,626 --> 00:14:19,887
So you have to produce.

221
00:14:20,189 --> 00:14:28,286
I would say um that kind of credibility so that people can feel like they can trust you
because they'll hire you if they trust you.

222
00:14:28,286 --> 00:14:30,518
so you just uh social media.

223
00:14:30,518 --> 00:14:36,233
If you're on social media, you're just, I don't know, dumb or you haven't gone around to
it yet.

224
00:14:36,233 --> 00:14:43,739
But people, people will make huge decisions based upon what they see on this silly social
media stuff.

225
00:14:43,739 --> 00:14:48,453
In fact, even like Google reviews, they'll take the word of a total stranger.

226
00:14:48,827 --> 00:14:50,768
over anything you could possibly say.

227
00:14:50,768 --> 00:14:53,169
If you're really good, convince her Matt.

228
00:14:53,169 --> 00:14:56,690
I can convince anybody about anything about me.

229
00:14:56,690 --> 00:14:58,231
It doesn't matter.

230
00:14:58,551 --> 00:15:07,635
People will look at the opinion of a total stranger over anything you can say to convince
them to hire you for more money.

231
00:15:07,635 --> 00:15:09,596
So you gotta do those two things.

232
00:15:09,596 --> 00:15:16,144
Just keep dumping a ton of stuff on social media and get Google reviews.

233
00:15:16,144 --> 00:15:16,694
Yeah.

234
00:15:16,694 --> 00:15:23,529
So showcase your value basically and other people's testimonials and in ways that people
can consume and see it with their own eyes, essentially.

235
00:15:23,529 --> 00:15:28,132
ah The other thing too, and this is where I want to get back to the Starbucks analogy.

236
00:15:28,132 --> 00:15:32,815
I think Starbucks can charge the higher price because they own the market.

237
00:15:32,815 --> 00:15:34,227
They have a monopoly on it, right?

238
00:15:34,227 --> 00:15:39,220
And you were talking about how there is such huge competition in the state of Florida,
Texas as well.

239
00:15:39,220 --> 00:15:42,623
are two of the states with the biggest inspector populations.

240
00:15:42,623 --> 00:15:44,444
ah So.

241
00:15:44,749 --> 00:15:46,075
What do you got?

242
00:15:46,075 --> 00:15:48,007
he just drinks the 7-Eleven Starbucks.

243
00:15:48,007 --> 00:15:50,447
hey I built before I was a home inspector.

244
00:15:50,447 --> 00:15:52,727
I built homes with my hands and we would.

245
00:15:52,727 --> 00:15:54,327
That was my breakfast.

246
00:15:54,507 --> 00:15:58,987
I got the big one big coffee man is in the before the sun rose.

247
00:15:58,987 --> 00:16:01,007
I'm just slurping on a coffee.

248
00:16:01,007 --> 00:16:02,805
Get into the job site, yeah?

249
00:16:02,805 --> 00:16:05,791
this mean I'm the guy that's not paying $1,000 for a home inspection?

250
00:16:05,791 --> 00:16:06,802
Is that what this means?

251
00:16:06,802 --> 00:16:08,793
there you go.

252
00:16:08,854 --> 00:16:14,428
But yeah, when you when you are the preferred go to of everybody, you know, then you can
afford to charge that price.

253
00:16:14,428 --> 00:16:18,782
So is there is this raising your price come on the same scale?

254
00:16:18,782 --> 00:16:23,315
Or does it progress with uh the same level to which you grow your business?

255
00:16:23,315 --> 00:16:27,248
Is it commensurate with the scale of your business in terms of market share?

256
00:16:27,613 --> 00:16:29,894
I don't want to say that I've never done this before.

257
00:16:29,894 --> 00:16:36,296
So what I say when I give a recommendation to inspectors, it's because I know that I've
done it before in my life.

258
00:16:36,296 --> 00:16:43,728
So in my home inspection business, I had a partner and we raised our fees and we worked
less.

259
00:16:43,728 --> 00:16:50,750
So instead of working seven days a week, which is what we would do, me and Nick, I was
working four and a half, right?

260
00:16:50,750 --> 00:16:54,381
We had our Friday afternoons off Friday, 12 o'clock.

261
00:16:54,381 --> 00:16:55,485
We're all done.

262
00:16:55,485 --> 00:16:58,577
And we were making more money because we raised prices.

263
00:16:58,577 --> 00:17:00,678
We never thought we could actually do that.

264
00:17:00,678 --> 00:17:10,563
So when I say just raise your prices and work less, it's coming from this core that I know
it can work, but you have to have the goods to back it up.

265
00:17:10,603 --> 00:17:11,483
Right?

266
00:17:11,804 --> 00:17:16,767
So you don't want to price yourself out of the out of the car.

267
00:17:16,767 --> 00:17:18,958
You want to take a look at your competition as well.

268
00:17:18,958 --> 00:17:20,449
what I did this morning was really cool.

269
00:17:20,449 --> 00:17:22,130
I went to you were talking Brad.

270
00:17:22,130 --> 00:17:23,209
You're talking about like.

271
00:17:23,209 --> 00:17:25,981
You know the number of inspections your competitors and things like that.

272
00:17:25,981 --> 00:17:32,855
I went to Zillow this morning and I just put in my zip code and I could tell very real
quick how many homes are for sale, right?

273
00:17:32,855 --> 00:17:35,207
It's couple thousand homes in my zip code, right?

274
00:17:35,207 --> 00:17:36,678
And then you go to an Internet.

275
00:17:36,678 --> 00:17:38,349
You can look in your zip code.

276
00:17:38,349 --> 00:17:40,230
How many competitors you have?

277
00:17:40,251 --> 00:17:42,432
You can do the math.

278
00:17:42,592 --> 00:17:46,555
So the one thing I was thinking about this morning when I was walking with my wife is.

279
00:17:46,555 --> 00:17:49,116
um If you have.

280
00:17:49,116 --> 00:17:52,098
ah If you have competition.

281
00:17:52,339 --> 00:17:53,263
And.

282
00:17:53,263 --> 00:17:57,505
You have a need to be highly successful.

283
00:17:57,966 --> 00:18:00,647
What you need is data instead of being nervous about it.

284
00:18:00,647 --> 00:18:04,449
What you need is to look at what is actually in your marketplace.

285
00:18:04,449 --> 00:18:05,650
The opportunity.

286
00:18:05,650 --> 00:18:09,351
How many homes are for sale and how many competitors are there?

287
00:18:09,351 --> 00:18:22,399
The pie is only is this big right and we're all trying to eat a big slice and that either
is a motivator, which is what it would be for me or.

288
00:18:22,399 --> 00:18:26,199
It makes you so fearful you don't know what to do right for me.

289
00:18:26,199 --> 00:18:36,779
If I have competition like if I have ashy just trying to make fun of online education that
just drives me insane.

290
00:18:36,779 --> 00:18:40,539
I go berserk and I want to be the absolute best.

291
00:18:40,539 --> 00:18:42,559
You'll never see me sleeping.

292
00:18:42,559 --> 00:18:45,299
I will compete with those.

293
00:18:45,299 --> 00:18:51,059
There's about 250 inspectors in Raleigh and there's about 2000 inspections.

294
00:18:51,455 --> 00:18:53,376
potential inspections, right?

295
00:18:53,436 --> 00:18:58,278
And if I want to feed my family, I have an enemy.

296
00:18:58,555 --> 00:19:00,739
I can make it up to right.

297
00:19:00,739 --> 00:19:09,763
But my enemy is that my competitors, my friendly competitors, and I'm motivated because I
know the numbers and the numbers maybe are too good.

298
00:19:09,763 --> 00:19:13,484
You know, there's not a lot of sales going on and there's a lot of us around.

299
00:19:13,484 --> 00:19:20,499
So that's the unfortunate kind of reality that you have to have really good marketing
skills.

300
00:19:20,499 --> 00:19:27,982
You know, and all the other things that you know, the coaches give you advice about, you
know, marketing and me, even me being on social media.

301
00:19:27,982 --> 00:19:34,794
But you really have to have this core mean, just bite the head off of your comp, your
competition.

302
00:19:34,794 --> 00:19:39,166
Cause you, know, the numbers and you gotta, you gotta feed your family.

303
00:19:39,166 --> 00:19:41,728
That's really a great motivator, you know.

304
00:19:41,728 --> 00:19:47,977
So not raising prices almost comes from my willingness to settle for some people then is
what you're saying.

305
00:19:47,977 --> 00:19:49,839
That's an interesting way of looking at it.

306
00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:51,883
Now you're getting into personal psychology as well.

307
00:19:51,883 --> 00:19:54,987
It's like, you actually have a drive to succeed?

308
00:19:54,988 --> 00:19:55,414
Yeah.

309
00:19:55,414 --> 00:20:00,188
you know, you gotta have, you know, you can't just be a really good inspector anymore.

310
00:20:00,188 --> 00:20:02,600
I'm going to be a really great inspector.

311
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,062
The world's best inspector is going to make a ton of cash.

312
00:20:05,062 --> 00:20:17,493
No, you gotta be able to manage your business and you have to have this vision too, where
you have, you know, this, this thought of, you know, growth and taking risk and working

313
00:20:17,493 --> 00:20:19,454
harder than everybody else.

314
00:20:19,574 --> 00:20:20,891
And when you put

315
00:20:20,891 --> 00:20:32,231
all of that energy my point is when you put all of that thought and energy and work into
something how dare you charge less than everybody else

316
00:20:32,231 --> 00:20:33,020
Yeah.

317
00:20:33,312 --> 00:20:34,985
That's good, You do.

318
00:20:34,985 --> 00:20:37,836
I would love there to be a session on on that at InterNACHI.

319
00:20:37,836 --> 00:20:39,697
It's like, why are you not succeeding?

320
00:20:39,697 --> 00:20:41,565
Because you don't have that dog in you.

321
00:20:42,596 --> 00:20:45,317
The bite man, the bite you gotta be able to.

322
00:20:45,697 --> 00:20:51,340
It's dog eat dog and then you have beer and then you can have a nice drink with your
bourbon with your friends.

323
00:20:51,340 --> 00:20:56,283
You know at the chapter meeting at the chapter meeting I'm hugging all of my inspectors,
right?

324
00:20:56,283 --> 00:20:57,964
So that's how you should be.

325
00:20:57,964 --> 00:20:59,054
We're all in this together.

326
00:20:59,054 --> 00:20:59,945
Let's support each other.

327
00:20:59,945 --> 00:21:04,687
But you know when when I leave the chapter meeting I'm I'm back on.

328
00:21:04,768 --> 00:21:05,717
getting your clients.

329
00:21:05,717 --> 00:21:06,835
uh

330
00:21:06,835 --> 00:21:09,376
yeah, I'm gonna still I'm gonna still all your clients.

331
00:21:09,657 --> 00:21:10,627
That's the fun part.

332
00:21:10,627 --> 00:21:20,163
That's because if there's no competition like that, then we're all doll and we're all
going to be charging about $150 because that's uh what's the worth.

333
00:21:20,163 --> 00:21:29,628
But if there's some of us who raise, you know the you know the marketplace and you know
some of those businesses to multi inspector firms are really big ones.

334
00:21:29,628 --> 00:21:30,368
They're good.

335
00:21:30,368 --> 00:21:31,729
They're pushing up.

336
00:21:31,729 --> 00:21:34,420
They're raising the tide of everybody else.

337
00:21:34,420 --> 00:21:35,491
What is that phrase?

338
00:21:35,491 --> 00:21:36,181
You know?

339
00:21:36,181 --> 00:21:37,042
Rising 5.

340
00:21:37,042 --> 00:21:49,983
lead so let you got to support those crazy son of a guns who are charging a lot and not
doing the crazy marketing stuff and really pushing the perceived value of home inspections

341
00:21:49,983 --> 00:21:59,991
will keep pushing don't drag him down and say we're charging too too much for that kind of
service and we should that we should respect other people's hard earned money or something

342
00:21:59,991 --> 00:22:04,490
like that we're not even close to charging 3 % like a real estate agent does.

343
00:22:04,490 --> 00:22:05,261
That's exactly it.

344
00:22:05,261 --> 00:22:06,201
Yeah.

345
00:22:07,222 --> 00:22:15,608
Well, then that's where I wanted to get back at that Starbucks analogy, because when it
comes to controlling the market and establishing demand or establishing value, because you

346
00:22:15,608 --> 00:22:23,234
do control the market, agents still, despite the the NAR uh new agreement, they're still
the gatekeepers.

347
00:22:23,234 --> 00:22:28,468
And so they are kind of still the ones that control the overall perception of the home
inspection.

348
00:22:28,468 --> 00:22:31,820
So how do we how do we change that with agents as well?

349
00:22:31,820 --> 00:22:36,826
Is it just more of exactly like what you're talking about or are there other steps that we
could take in addition to convincing consumers?

350
00:22:36,826 --> 00:22:38,467
You know, I have an opinion on that.

351
00:22:38,467 --> 00:22:47,660
I think that, you know, the online stuff that, you know, myself and some others have been
doing is helping to change that as well, because we are now marketing not just to real

352
00:22:47,660 --> 00:22:48,920
estate agents, but to the public.

353
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:57,982
you remember, we've talked about it before how like home inspection has seemingly changed,
like home inspectors, the perception of home inspectors has somewhat changed over the

354
00:22:57,982 --> 00:23:00,103
last, I would say probably 20 years.

355
00:23:00,103 --> 00:23:01,914
But I mean, I haven't been in it that long.

356
00:23:01,914 --> 00:23:03,844
But I mean, I think that

357
00:23:04,176 --> 00:23:10,909
just overall, like I think realtors change to like newer, younger realtors come in and
then their perception is a newer.

358
00:23:10,909 --> 00:23:15,251
Cause if you get the older inspect, they are the older realtors that have been in the
business for a really long time.

359
00:23:15,251 --> 00:23:22,234
I mean, I feel like, you know, they have the idea of the older inspectors and things are
just different now, right?

360
00:23:22,234 --> 00:23:29,037
But you get the newer, newer ones that, that, and they have an idea that's more aligned
with what value I'm trying to bring.

361
00:23:29,418 --> 00:23:30,538
That's my opinion.

362
00:23:31,531 --> 00:23:42,551
Also, I I I encourage I don't want to say I blame home inspector, but I'm encouraging home
inspectors to do marketing to change that narrative in there.

363
00:23:42,551 --> 00:23:52,651
So when I ask home inspectors that when I do like a coaching session or or or
presentation, I'm always asking like to to you know, think of where you live, you know

364
00:23:52,651 --> 00:23:54,911
where your house is in your street.

365
00:23:54,911 --> 00:23:58,831
Now think of your neighbors, all your neighbors you know and don't know.

366
00:23:59,377 --> 00:24:02,269
Every one of them should know that you're a home inspector.

367
00:24:03,050 --> 00:24:13,616
I mean, if you can't market to the person who lives right next to you, don't tell me that,
I wish other people, or should I didn't have to go through real estate agents?

368
00:24:13,637 --> 00:24:18,190
You know, like you gotta be able to market to anybody who has a home.

369
00:24:18,190 --> 00:24:19,901
You're a home inspector.

370
00:24:20,382 --> 00:24:25,085
Figure out what those people in your neighborhood need from you.

371
00:24:25,085 --> 00:24:28,477
I'm sure you can help him out whenever there's a weather event.

372
00:24:28,477 --> 00:24:29,517
I've told this story before.

373
00:24:29,517 --> 00:24:33,428
Whenever there's a weather event in my neighborhood, I'm in a new neighborhood now in
Raleigh.

374
00:24:33,428 --> 00:24:35,509
Everybody knows I'm the home inspector, right?

375
00:24:35,509 --> 00:24:39,590
Whenever there's a heavy rain port and it rain and roll.

376
00:24:39,990 --> 00:24:43,311
It rains, but everybody knows that I'm I'm the guy.

377
00:24:43,311 --> 00:24:44,491
I'm the guy who comes over.

378
00:24:44,491 --> 00:24:47,072
I'll come over and have yeah, I'll check it out.

379
00:24:47,072 --> 00:24:49,033
Yeah, no again.

380
00:24:49,033 --> 00:24:52,033
I'm I don't have any paying clients anymore.

381
00:24:52,133 --> 00:24:53,034
It's not what I do.

382
00:24:53,034 --> 00:24:53,964
I do all internet.

383
00:24:53,964 --> 00:24:57,095
She but if I was in the business.

384
00:24:57,855 --> 00:24:58,429
I.

385
00:24:58,429 --> 00:25:02,625
I'd have all these people around me buzzing about me.

386
00:25:02,625 --> 00:25:09,965
And if you can't do that, then don't complain about, real estate agents are in control of
everything.

387
00:25:10,336 --> 00:25:14,518
Well, you we were talking before we went on air about hurricane season coming back up.

388
00:25:14,518 --> 00:25:18,019
uh This is another shout out to Florida inspectors.

389
00:25:18,136 --> 00:25:20,511
know, ISN rolled out a template.

390
00:25:20,511 --> 00:25:21,722
I actually helped develop it.

391
00:25:21,722 --> 00:25:30,066
Not, not boasting here, but this was out of necessity last year when the sun coast got hit
with two, actually it might've been three.

392
00:25:30,066 --> 00:25:35,068
If you're counting the sun coast going all the way up to the panhandle, that was three
hurricanes, major hurricanes last year.

393
00:25:35,316 --> 00:25:42,480
And so we came up with a uh storm damage assessment template, I think is what it was.

394
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:53,551
But really it was intended for uh helping homeowners, not home buyers, but homeowners just
get a ballpark idea of what happened to their properties.

395
00:25:53,551 --> 00:25:56,767
Because some of them just didn't even know where to start the damage was so severe.

396
00:25:56,767 --> 00:25:57,328
Brilliant.

397
00:25:57,328 --> 00:26:00,260
I was giving these away for free helping people out last year.

398
00:26:00,260 --> 00:26:04,353
And again, it's not to just, you know, let the left hand know what the right hand's doing.

399
00:26:04,353 --> 00:26:11,218
And it was certainly not with the intention of, you know, using my home inspection
services for free to get business out of it later on.

400
00:26:11,318 --> 00:26:14,120
But it was genuinely to be helpful, but people do.

401
00:26:14,186 --> 00:26:22,261
I mean, charity, charities remembered, you know, when you, when you give your services
away in a sense of, um, the greater good like that, when the, when a weather storm comes

402
00:26:22,261 --> 00:26:26,465
along or some big major weather event, people do remember it.

403
00:26:26,465 --> 00:26:29,488
So, you know, it's, uh, you know, go check out that template.

404
00:26:29,488 --> 00:26:30,427
Storm season's coming up.

405
00:26:30,427 --> 00:26:31,589
Y'all going to need it.

406
00:26:31,589 --> 00:26:32,530
Yeah.

407
00:26:33,070 --> 00:26:33,841
Yeah.

408
00:26:33,841 --> 00:26:34,790
It's fantastic.

409
00:26:34,790 --> 00:26:36,115
Internet actually developed a little logo.

410
00:26:36,115 --> 00:26:37,958
We didn't develop any template like you did.

411
00:26:37,958 --> 00:26:38,944
That's fantastic.

412
00:26:38,944 --> 00:26:41,242
Dude, now I need to get that logo so I can promote myself.

413
00:26:41,242 --> 00:26:44,223
Yeah, yeah, definitely man.

414
00:26:44,223 --> 00:26:44,583
Yeah.

415
00:26:44,583 --> 00:26:46,383
or a truck or a sign, that's fantastic.

416
00:26:46,383 --> 00:26:55,497
You know, but given away you, you touched on something giving giving right is one of the
five things that wealthy people do.

417
00:26:55,877 --> 00:26:58,098
Wealthy people own a business.

418
00:26:58,098 --> 00:27:01,159
They also invest in other people's businesses.

419
00:27:01,179 --> 00:27:04,181
They buy assets that make them money.

420
00:27:04,181 --> 00:27:10,503
They save, you know they don't burn so they don't burn the money and they give you know.

421
00:27:10,503 --> 00:27:13,431
So you gotta be doing all those those five things.

422
00:27:13,431 --> 00:27:16,672
And then if you're doing those five things, man, you're on the path to wealth.

423
00:27:16,672 --> 00:27:21,426
which there's a big difference between underselling your services and being generous,
right?

424
00:27:21,426 --> 00:27:28,241
Like there's a difference between, yeah, you can actually afford to be more generous the
more you charge, if you think about it that way.

425
00:27:28,241 --> 00:27:35,306
If you're making more off your average ticket, you can afford to give something away in
time of crisis, you know, because you're not gonna be pressed then.

426
00:27:35,306 --> 00:27:37,449
ah That's pretty big too.

427
00:27:37,449 --> 00:27:41,400
is not you or you did not take advantage of the situation.

428
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,481
You you were probably a light.

429
00:27:43,481 --> 00:27:56,144
You were in that dark time, you know, because Western North Carolina just got hit by one
of the tails of those hurricanes that came up through Texas in the Gulf and just the tail

430
00:27:56,144 --> 00:27:58,335
of a hurricane destroyed a ton.

431
00:27:58,335 --> 00:27:59,145
It's Asheville.

432
00:27:59,145 --> 00:28:01,866
If you want to look it up, there's still rebuilding.

433
00:28:01,866 --> 00:28:04,887
My friends are still uh affected by that.

434
00:28:04,887 --> 00:28:06,867
And the one thing that

435
00:28:06,867 --> 00:28:17,611
The township can't do one thing that the government can't Deploy enough inspectors who can
assess damage.

436
00:28:17,812 --> 00:28:19,612
They just a FEMA can't do it.

437
00:28:19,612 --> 00:28:21,493
ah The government can't do it.

438
00:28:21,493 --> 00:28:25,895
The local building officials don't have enough building inspectors even for new
construction.

439
00:28:25,895 --> 00:28:36,439
That's why the government should really be thinking about the leveraging and deploying all
these wonderful home inspectors who are trained and and they know.

440
00:28:36,659 --> 00:28:39,780
The neighbors, you know, that's a fantastic thing you did.

441
00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:40,483
That's really great.

442
00:28:40,483 --> 00:28:41,450
I didn't know that.

443
00:28:41,450 --> 00:28:41,970
No, definitely.

444
00:28:41,970 --> 00:28:47,312
I'm happy to partner with InterNACHI to prep inspectors for storm season coming up because
it's going to be another rough one.

445
00:28:47,312 --> 00:28:51,267
They're predicting I think up to 10 storms for this year, potentially major ones.

446
00:28:51,267 --> 00:29:00,894
ah But in terms of preparation, you were talking about, I kind of want to pivot here with
this, because you were talking about InterNACHI's online resources.

447
00:29:00,894 --> 00:29:08,379
And something that Matt and I were thinking about is because I've used InterNACHI for
doing my CEs both at the conference and online.

448
00:29:08,379 --> 00:29:10,180
ah But

449
00:29:11,338 --> 00:29:20,303
Are y'all thinking on adapting the coursework or continuing to evolve the coursework to
encompass some of the modern technologies that are coming out and debuting, starting to

450
00:29:20,303 --> 00:29:25,459
make their way into new builds these days, or how are you guys adapting in that way?

451
00:29:25,459 --> 00:29:34,324
Yeah, so just so everybody knows that if you took a like the electrical course 10 years
ago, it has gone through updates.

452
00:29:34,324 --> 00:29:40,698
It goes through a cycle of updates every year and we update every course of Internet.

453
00:29:40,698 --> 00:29:44,489
She according to the latest code.

454
00:29:44,610 --> 00:29:54,275
So it's reviewed every year, but every three years the code gets updated and so all the
courses get updated and I do a lot of the work, but I also hire out.

455
00:29:54,857 --> 00:30:03,852
for people to go through the course and make sure that we don't have any old crap in the
courses people think i took the electrical course i was as well a long time ago because

456
00:30:03,852 --> 00:30:11,397
we're in a credited college we have to update things so that's just the building standards
and then we're running a very uh...

457
00:30:11,397 --> 00:30:22,783
writing right now a new course on smart home features for tax taxes pre-licensing actually
requires the the new home inspector in the pre-licensing to understand

458
00:30:22,975 --> 00:30:26,595
You know the new home features right to smart home features and all that other stuff.

459
00:30:26,595 --> 00:30:28,595
So we're on the cutting edge of everything.

460
00:30:28,595 --> 00:30:37,295
I mean, because we're in accredited college, the only tuition free online accredited
college accredited by US Department of Education for home inspectors.

461
00:30:37,295 --> 00:30:39,235
We have to be on top of everything.

462
00:30:39,235 --> 00:30:40,895
We have to be updated.

463
00:30:40,895 --> 00:30:42,195
There are no old.

464
00:30:42,195 --> 00:30:44,955
If there are any old sections, you tell me.

465
00:30:46,715 --> 00:30:47,566
I'll change.

466
00:30:47,566 --> 00:30:55,950
touched on what he was talking about, with, you know, introducing courses that like have
things to do with smart homes and newer technologies.

467
00:30:55,950 --> 00:30:59,082
think not necessarily code changes and course updates.

468
00:30:59,082 --> 00:31:10,758
mean, you guys have always been very good at that, but I think like just kind of looking
forward to course material that might uh encompass uh modern building techniques and

469
00:31:10,758 --> 00:31:12,068
modern devices.

470
00:31:12,285 --> 00:31:14,296
Yeah, yeah, like tankless water heaters.

471
00:31:14,296 --> 00:31:18,037
mean there's that was a new thing, but that's kind of actually old.

472
00:31:18,037 --> 00:31:20,927
But you know, a of home inspectors don't even know about tankless water heaters.

473
00:31:20,927 --> 00:31:23,538
So inside the plumbing course there's tankless water heaters.

474
00:31:23,538 --> 00:31:32,140
uh I live in a home that has a spray foam on the roof, right?

475
00:31:32,140 --> 00:31:34,901
And the attic is conditioned.

476
00:31:35,401 --> 00:31:38,042
And it's mechanically ventilated.

477
00:31:38,042 --> 00:31:41,770
I mean, so watch out, there's going be a video course coming up.

478
00:31:41,770 --> 00:31:42,690
well we were talking about that.

479
00:31:42,690 --> 00:31:44,020
Do you have an ERV?

480
00:31:44,522 --> 00:31:46,123
Yeah, yeah, no, I don't.

481
00:31:46,123 --> 00:31:47,004
No, I don't.

482
00:31:47,004 --> 00:31:50,127
No, it there's a there's a fresh air.

483
00:31:50,127 --> 00:31:56,193
It's simply a pipe with a damper and it brings in fresh air every for 10 minutes every
hour.

484
00:31:58,576 --> 00:32:03,750
Yeah, I wish I had that's right.

485
00:32:03,750 --> 00:32:04,430
them.

486
00:32:04,844 --> 00:32:05,404
Okay, got it.

487
00:32:05,404 --> 00:32:08,244
So it's an encapsulated space at the very least.

488
00:32:08,344 --> 00:32:11,624
Yeah, no, that's kind of the stuff that we've been getting into.

489
00:32:11,624 --> 00:32:13,624
In fact, we just shot a special.

490
00:32:13,624 --> 00:32:16,524
I'll share it with you once it goes live.

491
00:32:16,524 --> 00:32:22,164
this was at, I don't know if you're familiar with Matt Reisinger out in Texas, big
building science guy.

492
00:32:22,164 --> 00:32:28,484
But we were filming at one of his new projects and we took a look, was a heat pump water
heater.

493
00:32:28,498 --> 00:32:31,654
And it's like, okay, we understand water heaters and we understand heat pumps.

494
00:32:31,654 --> 00:32:33,803
But you put both of these together, we looked at each other.

495
00:32:33,803 --> 00:32:35,534
I was like, do we want to try to film on this?

496
00:32:35,534 --> 00:32:36,750
And we went, no.

497
00:32:36,750 --> 00:32:42,310
Yeah, I mean, that's that's something like, well, I know enough about it, right?

498
00:32:42,310 --> 00:32:44,150
Like to be able to probably inspect it.

499
00:32:44,150 --> 00:32:48,670
But like, do I know like if somebody started asking me a whole bunch of questions about
how it works, like I probably wouldn't be able to answer that stuff.

500
00:32:48,670 --> 00:32:57,258
I could probably put it together if I sat there and thought about it long enough, but I
would thoroughly love some information on stuff like that for sure.

501
00:32:57,503 --> 00:33:07,988
well i think building sites we got a couple building science courses for energy they're
pretty good and i think i think home inspectors should understand that the houses of as a

502
00:33:07,988 --> 00:33:18,893
system a whole system system of parts that all work together and if they're not working
together if one part is off if you really screw things up and uh...

503
00:33:18,893 --> 00:33:24,855
i've been concentrating on and how water bulk water moves

504
00:33:24,911 --> 00:33:29,725
And I just learned a ton about capillary action and osmosis and efflorescence.

505
00:33:29,725 --> 00:33:31,206
It's just an amazing thing.

506
00:33:31,206 --> 00:33:33,357
Like if you're a home inspector.

507
00:33:33,828 --> 00:33:35,158
yeah, yeah.

508
00:33:35,659 --> 00:33:41,443
Water is everything it's it really is like the beginning of every home inspection, right?

509
00:33:41,443 --> 00:33:45,166
You should think you should look at this building or even a commercial building, right?

510
00:33:45,166 --> 00:33:48,889
You should look at this thing is like how is water managed?

511
00:33:48,889 --> 00:33:51,898
Where's the water management features, you know?

512
00:33:51,898 --> 00:33:53,339
destructive force.

513
00:33:53,339 --> 00:33:59,340
yet, you know, yes, we can control like what's going on plumbing wise, but water just
falls out of the sky too.

514
00:33:59,340 --> 00:34:01,681
And we don't, we have no control over that.

515
00:34:01,681 --> 00:34:01,931
Right.

516
00:34:01,931 --> 00:34:04,322
And so yeah, all of that has to be managed.

517
00:34:04,322 --> 00:34:07,272
Um, and it's just, you know, wildly destructive.

518
00:34:07,272 --> 00:34:13,404
And so, yeah, I mean, I'll do home inspections sometimes the water's turned off or I'll
arrive and the water's turned off.

519
00:34:13,424 --> 00:34:14,324
I refuse to do it.

520
00:34:14,324 --> 00:34:16,035
I won't do a home inspection with water not working.

521
00:34:16,035 --> 00:34:17,365
That doesn't make any sense to me.

522
00:34:17,365 --> 00:34:20,718
That's the one thing that, you know, is a deal breaker.

523
00:34:20,718 --> 00:34:21,688
I will do it.

524
00:34:21,688 --> 00:34:23,741
mean, probably electricity too, but like I'll do it.

525
00:34:23,741 --> 00:34:24,862
The gas is off.

526
00:34:24,862 --> 00:34:27,605
You know, there's some unfinished business around a new construction house.

527
00:34:27,605 --> 00:34:28,136
No problem.

528
00:34:28,136 --> 00:34:28,987
Most of the time.

529
00:34:28,987 --> 00:34:32,110
But I mean, like, you know, whatever we go back and do unfinished business later.

530
00:34:32,110 --> 00:34:35,233
But if the water doesn't work, I'm not doing an inspection.

531
00:34:35,233 --> 00:34:36,504
That's ridiculous.

532
00:34:37,162 --> 00:34:42,126
Now on your new build there, uh what steps did you guys take in terms of ceiling?

533
00:34:42,126 --> 00:34:44,918
I'm assuming you guys have a basement, you're up in North Carolina.

534
00:34:44,939 --> 00:34:49,342
We can't do them down in Florida, but when I was in Virginia, every house had either a
basement or a crawl space.

535
00:34:49,342 --> 00:35:00,051
So do you guys employ any new practices in terms of ceiling, uh the basement as far as
protection against water intrusion or ceiling, the housing envelope in general that's

536
00:35:00,051 --> 00:35:04,154
maybe a tick above previous building standards or what'd you guys do there?

537
00:35:04,896 --> 00:35:05,856
Yeah, man.

538
00:35:06,104 --> 00:35:07,544
I'm on a crawl space.

539
00:35:08,205 --> 00:35:11,086
And it's an unvented crawl space.

540
00:35:12,246 --> 00:35:22,751
And so the air that building science shows that the air that you breathe in your first
floor, half of it is coming from somewhere else in your house, right?

541
00:35:22,751 --> 00:35:27,952
Could be from the basement of the crawl space, uh ventilated or unventilated.

542
00:35:27,953 --> 00:35:31,694
So I have an unventilated crawl space and it's the best thing.

543
00:35:31,694 --> 00:35:34,095
I treat it as a short basements.

544
00:35:34,281 --> 00:35:36,752
You know, no open air vents.

545
00:35:36,752 --> 00:35:37,603
It's ridiculous.

546
00:35:37,603 --> 00:35:47,258
It's impossible to control stuff, but when you enclose it, insulate it and uh vapor retard
it, it's no longer a vapor barrier.

547
00:35:47,258 --> 00:35:48,259
It's a vapor retarder.

548
00:35:48,259 --> 00:35:51,911
um It's it's just a clean area.

549
00:35:51,911 --> 00:35:53,142
You go into my crawl space.

550
00:35:53,142 --> 00:35:56,163
You'd be the happiest home inspector in the world.

551
00:35:56,163 --> 00:35:57,284
I mean, it's just clean.

552
00:35:57,284 --> 00:35:58,455
It's actually clean.

553
00:35:58,455 --> 00:35:59,495
It's a clean space.

554
00:35:59,495 --> 00:36:02,559
If you can imagine a clean space and it's all lit up.

555
00:36:02,559 --> 00:36:05,719
And there's aren't aren't any bugs or mice or anything.

556
00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:06,899
It's just an amazing.

557
00:36:06,899 --> 00:36:12,479
I've been in this house for now two years and it is just a fantastic.

558
00:36:12,479 --> 00:36:22,979
I have building science all around me and it's just a fantastic way to handle this space
that has really been a pain in the butt for a lot of homeowners.

559
00:36:22,979 --> 00:36:24,079
A lot of homeowners.

560
00:36:24,439 --> 00:36:25,919
What's it?

561
00:36:26,919 --> 00:36:28,579
I do so right.

562
00:36:28,579 --> 00:36:30,199
I take a look almost every day.

563
00:36:30,199 --> 00:36:31,463
I'm a not Matt.

564
00:36:31,463 --> 00:36:36,016
i took a open up my crawlspace door i signed my flashlight and i got a meeting uh...

565
00:36:36,016 --> 00:36:38,367
that's relative humidity uh...

566
00:36:38,367 --> 00:36:39,768
temperature uh...

567
00:36:39,768 --> 00:36:44,706
and also can detect any water problem and many water problems so i think that

568
00:36:44,706 --> 00:36:45,073
down there?

569
00:36:45,073 --> 00:36:47,849
Do you have any dehumidification or you just rely on HVAC?

570
00:36:47,849 --> 00:36:49,418
What's going on?

571
00:36:49,418 --> 00:36:50,188
ventilation.

572
00:36:50,188 --> 00:36:51,748
you need if you're going to.

573
00:36:51,748 --> 00:36:52,090
I don't.

574
00:36:52,090 --> 00:36:57,415
The code says a lot of things about an unvented crawl space, but you gotta have some kind
of mechanical ventilation.

575
00:36:57,415 --> 00:37:04,662
And so I've got a little bit of the same air circulation in my entire house that's in the
crawl space.

576
00:37:04,662 --> 00:37:05,743
It's really good.

577
00:37:05,856 --> 00:37:06,833
Now I love it,

578
00:37:06,833 --> 00:37:08,419
spaces that were that nice.

579
00:37:08,553 --> 00:37:09,359
Yeah.

580
00:37:09,361 --> 00:37:18,189
It always makes me smile, especially like when it's like, I've got like a three inspection
day back in Virginia and you know, two of them are absolute dumps in the crawl space.

581
00:37:18,189 --> 00:37:21,622
And it's like, I could spend an hour down there just documenting every problem.

582
00:37:21,622 --> 00:37:27,638
And then you open that one hatch and you shine your light and you just go, Oh, okay.

583
00:37:27,638 --> 00:37:28,950
It's like, thank God.

584
00:37:28,950 --> 00:37:30,021
Some people know what they're doing here.

585
00:37:30,021 --> 00:37:30,681
Yeah.

586
00:37:30,681 --> 00:37:32,263
So that was always a treat, man.

587
00:37:32,263 --> 00:37:32,787
Very cool.

588
00:37:32,787 --> 00:37:35,628
But have you have done the the water drip test?

589
00:37:36,769 --> 00:37:40,791
So you get two shots in poor whiskey in each each one, right?

590
00:37:40,791 --> 00:37:41,731
And then.

591
00:37:42,492 --> 00:37:47,094
And then then you get just a drop of water on your finger and let it drop right?

592
00:37:47,094 --> 00:37:50,096
And then you see if you can taste the difference.

593
00:37:50,096 --> 00:37:54,899
They say that one drop of water in that shot makes all the difference in the world.

594
00:37:54,899 --> 00:37:56,029
Is that true?

595
00:37:56,304 --> 00:37:57,837
I don't know, I'll have to, hold on.

596
00:37:57,837 --> 00:37:59,577
Let me go get a couple of cups.

597
00:37:59,790 --> 00:38:01,521
Well, it's almost like with scotch, right?

598
00:38:01,521 --> 00:38:05,504
mean, sometimes you do this, it's like a tiny bit of scotch or a tiny bit of water and
scotch.

599
00:38:05,504 --> 00:38:07,475
Yeah, well, it helps.

600
00:38:07,855 --> 00:38:09,391
It's a scotch thing, yeah.

601
00:38:09,391 --> 00:38:12,796
did that just to drop and I was like, yeah, there is a difference.

602
00:38:12,796 --> 00:38:23,460
brings out some of the other notes cuts down on some of that, that, um, alcohol burn that
hits you when you first, uh, you know, take a, take a sip off of, off of your, your bit of

603
00:38:23,460 --> 00:38:26,560
scotch there, but off your drum.

604
00:38:26,981 --> 00:38:27,701
Yeah.

605
00:38:27,701 --> 00:38:29,231
I w we got to try it, man.

606
00:38:29,231 --> 00:38:33,803
So next time I'm, up through, up through, North Carolina, we'll give it a go.

607
00:38:33,803 --> 00:38:36,223
So it's a pretty good bourbon up there.

608
00:38:37,464 --> 00:38:38,514
Bring it, man.

609
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:42,938
I want to get back to this thousand dollar thing because there was one thing that I wanted
to ask you.

610
00:38:42,938 --> 00:38:48,584
And you said back in the day you were doing them for like in the 90s and early 2000s, you
were doing them for a thousand bucks.

611
00:38:48,584 --> 00:38:52,176
That included ancillary services.

612
00:38:52,176 --> 00:38:57,648
You put out a video not too long ago talking about how inspectors should be charging a
thousand dollars for inspection.

613
00:38:57,648 --> 00:39:01,340
In today's market with today's prices, is that...

614
00:39:01,340 --> 00:39:07,362
thousand dollars base fee or is that including ancillary services and if so how many ends
what do think base fee should be

615
00:39:07,785 --> 00:39:12,856
Yeah, it's hard to make a video on this subject right without route route sounds stupid.

616
00:39:12,856 --> 00:39:19,078
So I you know I've I've done so many videos and I'm I probably have sound stupid in many
other videos.

617
00:39:19,078 --> 00:39:22,859
But my point is right that.

618
00:39:23,639 --> 00:39:27,640
You gotta charge it's based on math, right?

619
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:33,622
Don't go into this business or don't be running a business right now based upon just
guessing.

620
00:39:33,622 --> 00:39:37,747
So you gotta figure if you can do the math, you gotta figure out, you know.

621
00:39:37,747 --> 00:39:39,548
how much profit you want.

622
00:39:39,828 --> 00:39:44,742
In order to give yourself a lifestyle that you're aiming for, right?

623
00:39:44,742 --> 00:39:51,026
You want to be able to support your family and do all the great things and go to, you
know, to charities and all that stuff.

624
00:39:51,026 --> 00:39:54,478
But man, you gotta figure when that phone rings.

625
00:39:54,839 --> 00:40:00,983
You have you have to be able to know that this is going to be a profitable phone call,
right?

626
00:40:00,983 --> 00:40:05,746
And you just can't like look at your competition and say, well.

627
00:40:05,926 --> 00:40:07,583
You know, Mary's charging.

628
00:40:07,583 --> 00:40:09,363
$500 for a home inspection.

629
00:40:09,363 --> 00:40:16,403
And if you add wood and radon and mold to that, maybe I can push it to 800 and that sounds
good to me.

630
00:40:16,403 --> 00:40:18,343
That's not the way to do it, right?

631
00:40:18,343 --> 00:40:18,743
We don't.

632
00:40:18,743 --> 00:40:22,323
We don't train inspectors in our business course to think like that.

633
00:40:22,323 --> 00:40:33,303
We train inspectors to look at the market, but also like it's up to you to figure out what
you should be charging according to your math.

634
00:40:33,303 --> 00:40:37,151
My math is different from Brad's math because.

635
00:40:37,151 --> 00:40:42,591
I desire a certain annual salary that's going to be different than Brad's.

636
00:40:42,591 --> 00:40:54,031
I have a large family and Brad has a bigger family or Mary has a has no family or
something, you know, so we can't be all like I think $1,000 for my home inspections.

637
00:40:54,031 --> 00:40:58,231
It doesn't matter what my friendly competitors are doing.

638
00:40:58,251 --> 00:41:03,927
First and foremost, you have to do the math for yourself and make sure you're.

639
00:41:03,997 --> 00:41:09,463
Your business is operating to support your lifestyle and you're focused on your aim,
right?

640
00:41:09,463 --> 00:41:12,963
make sure that your services are measuring up, I guess.

641
00:41:13,565 --> 00:41:26,759
Yeah, and you'll know that you'll know that for sure when you measure your marketing
strategies and whether your value proposal is meeting that expectation.

642
00:41:26,759 --> 00:41:30,880
So if you have one of the things you can do is use your website analytics.

643
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:39,722
If you have a ton of people visiting your website right and they're not scheduling with
you, you may have a problem with communicating your value.

644
00:41:39,922 --> 00:41:42,063
You may have a problem with your price.

645
00:41:42,063 --> 00:41:43,303
You may have.

646
00:41:43,407 --> 00:41:51,871
If you're charging a certain amount of money, but you're not really selling it, not
convincing like Matt said, then you have a problem with your marketing, right?

647
00:41:51,871 --> 00:41:56,403
If you're doing everything you can in your marketing and you're not making enough money,
right?

648
00:41:56,403 --> 00:41:58,033
Well, then it's your prices.

649
00:41:58,033 --> 00:41:59,154
So you really have to.

650
00:41:59,154 --> 00:42:00,995
It's back to measuring things.

651
00:42:00,995 --> 00:42:02,695
Measure measuring your efforts.

652
00:42:02,695 --> 00:42:04,616
Don't do anything.

653
00:42:04,796 --> 00:42:06,517
Don't do anything.

654
00:42:06,957 --> 00:42:12,159
In your marketing strategies, whether if you can't measure it.

655
00:42:12,159 --> 00:42:14,860
Because if it's worth doing, it's worth measuring.

656
00:42:14,860 --> 00:42:19,522
Even if you post on social media tonight, something really awesome, right?

657
00:42:20,363 --> 00:42:24,284
OK, then you probably know this is worth my time.

658
00:42:24,464 --> 00:42:26,605
You're not in business to waste your time.

659
00:42:26,605 --> 00:42:33,728
There must be a reason that Matt is doing that tonight and I can't wait for him to post
something and I'm gonna watch it right?

660
00:42:33,728 --> 00:42:40,831
But you know it that is part of his marketing strategy, or maybe he's just doing it for
fun and that's OK too.

661
00:42:40,831 --> 00:42:46,451
But he's measuring every business owner measures everything that we do in order to make
money here.

662
00:42:46,451 --> 00:42:47,031
We don't.

663
00:42:47,031 --> 00:42:48,691
We're not in the business of wasting money.

664
00:42:48,691 --> 00:42:51,791
We're in a business of making as much money as possible.

665
00:42:51,791 --> 00:42:58,231
And the cool thing is, the thing is I beat up on contractors because of our business
models, right?

666
00:42:58,231 --> 00:43:05,271
A contractor that pulls up in the driveway with windows is in the business of selling
windows.

667
00:43:05,271 --> 00:43:08,671
A contractor that pulls up in the driveway with insulation.

668
00:43:08,947 --> 00:43:12,499
has a business model of selling as much insulation as possible, right?

669
00:43:12,499 --> 00:43:13,810
That's their business model.

670
00:43:13,810 --> 00:43:15,051
That's their motive.

671
00:43:15,051 --> 00:43:28,258
A home inspector, a home inspector pulls up in the driveway with nothing to sell other
than I'm going to tell you everything about your home, how it works and what's wrong and

672
00:43:28,258 --> 00:43:29,339
how to go fix it.

673
00:43:29,339 --> 00:43:37,567
I'm going to educate my clients about the home in which they live so that they can feel
safe and healthy in it.

674
00:43:37,567 --> 00:43:39,267
Holy cow, that's fantastic.

675
00:43:39,267 --> 00:43:42,867
What a value that we provide.

676
00:43:42,967 --> 00:43:46,167
If you can't sell that for $1,000, what are you doing?

677
00:43:47,428 --> 00:43:54,725
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think uh some of it is probably region specific to I mean,
there's a there's a whole lot that goes into it I get it now.

678
00:43:54,725 --> 00:43:56,516
I mean, it's more just a number.

679
00:43:56,577 --> 00:44:07,078
You know, it's maybe maybe not so number specific but uh but yeah, I mean, I just uh I
like hearing your viewpoints on this and kind of getting a little bit deeper into that but

680
00:44:07,078 --> 00:44:07,378
I'm done.

681
00:44:07,378 --> 00:44:07,869
I'm done.

682
00:44:07,869 --> 00:44:09,286
I'm We can move on.

683
00:44:09,286 --> 00:44:15,522
No, and I, I, you know, agree with everything you're saying, Ben, in terms of, know, we
understand our value.

684
00:44:15,522 --> 00:44:17,423
We understand exactly what you're saying.

685
00:44:17,423 --> 00:44:26,541
And for me, it still comes back to, and maybe this is because I, worked through the COVID
era ah when it was a cash cash buyers market.

686
00:44:26,541 --> 00:44:29,373
was a seller's market, but it played best for cash buyers, right?

687
00:44:29,373 --> 00:44:34,077
If you could come in with a million in cash and go buy that house, you, win the day.

688
00:44:34,077 --> 00:44:37,972
ah But the first thing to go.

689
00:44:37,972 --> 00:44:38,932
was home inspections.

690
00:44:38,932 --> 00:44:48,515
The first thing to get waived was home inspections and it forced inspectors to do half the
job for half the pay with walk-in talks, which is twice the risk.

691
00:44:48,515 --> 00:44:56,766
I was telling other inspectors this the whole time, like that is a massive risk for you to
go in there without providing a paper report and just saying, I'll give you a verbal in an

692
00:44:56,766 --> 00:44:57,548
hour.

693
00:44:57,548 --> 00:45:02,850
ah But inspectors were having to do it to at least stay in the field and stay active and
stay top of mind.

694
00:45:02,850 --> 00:45:12,813
So I'm like, you know, there's I know there's legislation that's being pushed in places
like Massachusetts that are trying to kind of make the inspection of a buyer's right,

695
00:45:12,813 --> 00:45:16,434
where that helps to raise uh perceived value.

696
00:45:16,574 --> 00:45:22,779
So for me, it's like it's still just kind of drilling it into the consumer's mind that you
need this.

697
00:45:22,779 --> 00:45:23,690
You know what?

698
00:45:23,715 --> 00:45:24,186
I don't.

699
00:45:24,186 --> 00:45:29,529
I don't like it when you know a business owner says I rely on the government to do my
marketing right.

700
00:45:29,529 --> 00:45:34,842
It's I mean if they make home inspections required in every state, that'd be fantastic,
right?

701
00:45:34,842 --> 00:45:38,244
But that's not going to happen in my head.

702
00:45:38,244 --> 00:45:51,441
I'm going to assume that's not going to happen and the only person who gives a crap about
our problem of being undervalued in this in critical real estate transaction.

703
00:45:51,891 --> 00:45:53,231
That's on us.

704
00:45:53,352 --> 00:45:54,092
Home inspectors.

705
00:45:54,092 --> 00:45:55,553
We really need to.

706
00:45:55,553 --> 00:45:57,734
This is the time to do it too.

707
00:45:57,794 --> 00:46:01,897
We really need to start communicating the value of what we do.

708
00:46:01,897 --> 00:46:12,562
I know it's great to look at someone who, uh, you know, we have an, it's a bunch of
inspectors who uh do videos that beat up other inspectors.

709
00:46:13,963 --> 00:46:19,266
We have, we have inspectors who beat up builders, right?

710
00:46:19,266 --> 00:46:21,149
We have inspectors who like.

711
00:46:21,149 --> 00:46:23,880
Beat up other things out there.

712
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:24,820
That's it's not.

713
00:46:24,820 --> 00:46:26,621
That's not the value, right?

714
00:46:26,621 --> 00:46:31,042
You have to show you can't scare people into hiring you.

715
00:46:31,042 --> 00:46:33,322
You have to show the value.

716
00:46:33,322 --> 00:46:34,983
I don't know how else I can say it.

717
00:46:34,983 --> 00:46:43,385
Maybe after this Matt, uh Matt and Brad, I'll probably have the right answer for you, but
there's gotta be some other type of conversation and it's going to be.

718
00:46:43,405 --> 00:46:46,966
It's reliant upon home inspectors to start that conversation.

719
00:46:46,966 --> 00:46:49,991
No one else cares that we're not charging enough.

720
00:46:49,991 --> 00:46:50,382
Right.

721
00:46:50,382 --> 00:46:52,472
up to us to show that value.

722
00:46:52,472 --> 00:47:02,975
yeah, no, I think Matt, honestly, what he and other inspectors do as far as content goes,
and there are good guys out there, like we got Trey Hill, we've had him on the show, ah

723
00:47:02,975 --> 00:47:08,157
where they go straight to I think marketing straight to the consumer is the solution.

724
00:47:08,157 --> 00:47:15,909
ah You know, because at the end of the day, the person that's going to choose you and then
you hit on this with Google reviews, it's the it's the buyer, right.

725
00:47:15,909 --> 00:47:20,396
And so you have to you have to find the way to kind of cut the realtor.

726
00:47:20,396 --> 00:47:27,823
ah out of the equation in terms of establishing your value because the only person that
really needs to know at the end of the day is the homebuyer.

727
00:47:27,823 --> 00:47:29,231
uh

728
00:47:29,231 --> 00:47:32,071
right now there are in the United States?

729
00:47:34,015 --> 00:47:37,075
It's about 147 million, 147, 150 million.

730
00:47:37,075 --> 00:47:39,055
Let's say 150 million, right?

731
00:47:39,475 --> 00:47:40,515
Huh?

732
00:47:40,955 --> 00:47:41,457
That's all.

733
00:47:41,457 --> 00:47:42,354
of shocked.

734
00:47:43,903 --> 00:47:45,024
I think that's right.

735
00:47:45,785 --> 00:47:46,847
Maybe it could be more.

736
00:47:46,847 --> 00:47:47,385
It could be more.

737
00:47:47,385 --> 00:47:48,308
Let's let's say it's more.

738
00:47:48,308 --> 00:47:49,250
This day is going to miss.

739
00:47:49,250 --> 00:47:51,112
Guess how many million I know this one.

740
00:47:51,112 --> 00:47:57,124
Guess how many million homes have water intrusion problems today?

741
00:47:57,124 --> 00:47:59,693
Oh, many, many.

742
00:48:01,006 --> 00:48:02,928
11.7 million.

743
00:48:03,448 --> 00:48:07,059
Are experiencing water intrusion problems today.

744
00:48:07,059 --> 00:48:15,151
A roof leak water from the foundation water leak or a water problem coming from inside
like a plumbing leak of some kind.

745
00:48:15,151 --> 00:48:19,713
There's water problems in millions of homes, right?

746
00:48:19,713 --> 00:48:21,813
Now that doesn't have anything to do.

747
00:48:22,294 --> 00:48:24,214
With the real estate transaction.

748
00:48:24,454 --> 00:48:27,871
Now you're telling no, you're not telling me, but I'm just.

749
00:48:27,871 --> 00:48:31,971
just a question you're telling me that we can't monopolize on that.

750
00:48:32,371 --> 00:48:45,331
Like the one thing that connects me to just about everyone else in the United States who
who was living in who isn't homeless is a home where we live in an apartment.

751
00:48:45,711 --> 00:48:55,251
We're renting an Airbnb and all Airbnb should be inspected by the way I've reached out to
them man all Airbnb should be inspected I don't know if you've done an Airbnb or a vova or

752
00:48:55,251 --> 00:48:57,823
verbo they need to be inspected right.

753
00:48:57,823 --> 00:48:58,627
man.

754
00:48:58,627 --> 00:49:00,089
yeah, some of them are really rough.

755
00:49:00,089 --> 00:49:00,969
Some of them really.

756
00:49:00,969 --> 00:49:02,951
There's so many other opportunities.

757
00:49:02,951 --> 00:49:05,042
It isn't just about the real estate transaction.

758
00:49:05,042 --> 00:49:18,521
I think the one thing that connects all of us is that we our health, our health, your
health is affected by the home in which you live and the building in which you work.

759
00:49:19,182 --> 00:49:20,843
Those things.

760
00:49:21,063 --> 00:49:26,833
Those things need to be inspected to make sure that they're safe, functioning and healthy,
and there's only one.

761
00:49:26,833 --> 00:49:30,412
certified professional on this planet earth who can do that.

762
00:49:31,264 --> 00:49:32,144
That's good.

763
00:49:32,144 --> 00:49:39,429
Yeah, I think you're kind of getting that, you know, like the final huge point there
because because we've talked about everything's in terms of knowing your own value, um

764
00:49:39,429 --> 00:49:41,630
promoting your own value and marketing your own value.

765
00:49:41,630 --> 00:49:46,013
But uh it's I think the last one here is seeing the opportunities, right?

766
00:49:46,013 --> 00:49:49,455
Because we we look at home inspections as OK, well, this is only for the buyer.

767
00:49:49,455 --> 00:49:51,370
No, it doesn't just have to be for the buyer.

768
00:49:51,370 --> 00:49:55,902
Like what you're saying, there's, all other manners of incidents in which a home could or
should be inspected.

769
00:49:55,902 --> 00:50:00,123
Um, I, I like, uh, going to investors.

770
00:50:00,284 --> 00:50:05,066
I'll do like, I'll tell, I tell investors, real estate investors that I'll do an
investment evaluation.

771
00:50:05,066 --> 00:50:09,148
It's a home inspection, but so that they know that they're getting what they're, what
they're paying for.

772
00:50:09,148 --> 00:50:09,438
Right.

773
00:50:09,438 --> 00:50:14,761
Uh, but when, as soon as you call it an investor evaluation, they go, you know, I could
probably use that.

774
00:50:14,761 --> 00:50:15,291
Right.

775
00:50:15,291 --> 00:50:19,213
So it's a little bit of, you know, it's semantics, but it's finding the opportunity.

776
00:50:19,213 --> 00:50:20,234
So that's huge.

777
00:50:20,234 --> 00:50:21,354
Well, Ben, I can tell.

778
00:50:21,354 --> 00:50:25,742
there's one thing that's definitely worth the value and that's been having you on the show
today, man.

779
00:50:25,742 --> 00:50:26,864
We really appreciate this.

780
00:50:26,864 --> 00:50:28,851
I've been wanting to get you on here for quite some time.

781
00:50:28,851 --> 00:50:29,904
Thanks, I appreciate it.

782
00:50:29,904 --> 00:50:30,700
Thank you very much.

783
00:50:30,700 --> 00:50:36,197
know, also Ben, I just want to say thank you because, you know, I have used InterNACHI for
years.

784
00:50:36,197 --> 00:50:41,885
I have learned so much from the courses that are provided there and everything that you
guys do for the industry.

785
00:50:41,885 --> 00:50:44,287
I just really thank you.

786
00:50:44,368 --> 00:50:45,149
You guys are awesome.

787
00:50:45,149 --> 00:50:46,390
I love InterNACHI.

788
00:50:46,811 --> 00:50:47,753
Awesome, thanks.

789
00:50:47,753 --> 00:50:49,497
Thanks fellas for having me on.

790
00:50:49,497 --> 00:50:50,700
Brad, really appreciate it.

791
00:50:50,700 --> 00:50:52,583
Matt, check you around.

792
00:50:53,184 --> 00:50:56,285
Definitely man and thank you everybody so much for watching as always.

793
00:50:56,285 --> 00:50:59,687
Make sure if you're not a member of InterNACHI, you need to be, go check them out.

794
00:50:59,687 --> 00:51:03,009
They don't pay us to say that, I'm just saying that because I've gotten huge value from
it.

795
00:51:03,009 --> 00:51:09,491
And make sure to come to Inspection Fuel, go check out the InterNACHI conference as well
and go follow them online.

796
00:51:09,491 --> 00:51:12,213
All the InterNACHI forums are fantastic to be part of.

797
00:51:12,213 --> 00:51:14,214
So thank you guys for watching.

798
00:51:14,214 --> 00:51:16,595
We'll be right back here on the ride along very soon.

799
00:51:16,595 --> 00:51:17,675
See you then.