The COVID market was INSANE! How Hello Home Inspections grew into Tampa's top team in 4 yrs

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ROLL THE INTROOOO!

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All right, episode, another week, another episode of the Ride Along and we're going right
into the guest segment here because this is just inspections, inspections and more

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inspections.

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Cause we got Mr.

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Ryan Wall from Hello Home Inspections on the show here today.

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But first and foremost to my stunning co-host, Matt Braiding, how's it going out in Texas?

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You have changed up the background lighting in your studio.

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I change it up every now and again.

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I just like to keep it interesting, you know, but things are going fine in Texas.

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I just arrived back from the Round Rock area, is just north of the Austin area.

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Ryan, I believe you might be familiar with the Round Rock area of Texas.

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Is that correct?

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I am familiar, that is where Hello Home Inspections was born, was in Round Rock, Texas in
the spring of 2020.

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Dude, so okay, so this was back during COVID.

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honestly, guys, so we actually we got talking before hitting record.

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And the conversation went so great that we realized that we should have just been
recording it right off the bat.

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you know, this is basically going to be take two for us take one for all of y'all watching
and listening.

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But honestly, I'm excited, Ryan, to have you on here.

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Because when you know, I moved down to Florida from Virginia, first of all, Ryan, you and
I have a connection back in Virginia, another home inspection connection up there.

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good friend of ours.

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We all kind of went to college, the same college at different times apparently.

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But as it were, I moved down here and the first, the first big inspection company that I
hear of is like, you got to check out Hello Home Inspections.

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I'm like, oh.

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Okay, so not only do they have a super slick website that I refer to because you guys have
some features on there that I think are awesome in terms of code lookups or permit lookups

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and things like that for the state of Florida.

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But, you know, even for me, I refer to that website.

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It's awesome.

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But you guys have been crushing it down here, dude, seriously.

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Yeah, I appreciate that a lot.

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It's been fun.

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It's been about four and a half years.

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Yeah, just to dive in there to how it all started.

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I've had a really interesting career pre-home inspection ownership, I guess you could say.

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Got an opportunity to work, kind of starting in the trades early on, but then also get to
work for some big housing funds, investment companies, things like that, kind of behind

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the scenes.

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Got to see stuff from a different perspective.

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And one of the kind of avenues that led to us being in Round Rock for a bit was I was
working for a housing fund, made a couple really good connections there, which eventually

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led to me joining a startup that was aimed at home maintenance and basically teaching
people how to maintain their homes.

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was everything from subscription services where we'll come in, teach you how to do some
things, but also do some things for you.

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And that company was bought by a big home insurance company that was based out of Austin,
Texas.

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And so I joined that company at this like really interesting time where they were actively
being absorbed.

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And so I joined, you know, I joined as an employee of one company and two weeks later, I
was an employee of another company by nature.

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And so that's what took me to to to Round Rock or just north of Austin, Texas there was

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you know, part of the role was to be present in their offices in Austin.

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It just so happened that that was in the spring of 2020.

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So it seemed like a great time to move.

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Nobody was on the road.

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It was like, all right, things are kind of, you know, slowing down a little bit.

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So we, my wife and I packed up and moved to Austin, Texas.

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We were there, I think about a week before like my official first day in the office,
walked in, they handed me my computer and said, hey,

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probably kind of weird, the office is empty.

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There's this thing going around called COVID.

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And if you don't mind just like chilling out at home, we're going to kind of be remote for
a week or two.

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Yeah, and until things go back to normal.

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And nine months later, yeah, yeah.

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And eight or nine months later, still sitting on that couch at our rental house and in
Round Rock still technically doing this job just, you know, not in the capacity that we

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were.

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we were planning on.

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So there was just a lot of free time.

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So I use that time to dive into my home inspection course.

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I already had started it with a previous employer.

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And so I was like, why not just finish this?

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Because I figured at some point we're going to end up back into Tampa area, or at least in
Florida.

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So went ahead and finished that course and said, hey, we'll see what happens.

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And by mid-November of 2020, we were back in Tampa for the foreseeable future and figured,
hey, I'll do a home inspection or two on the side.

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threw my number up on Google My Business and just stared at the phone for a month, just
praying it rang.

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funny because you had mentioned that at first it was like supposed to be that kind of a
side gig and that's really kind of where I started too because I was in a dead-end job.

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I was in a job where like I couldn't grow anymore and I really feel like I had more to
offer but it paid me very well and I had family support so I thought like how am I gonna

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do this you know how am I gonna figure out how to like make more money make a better
lifestyle for myself and do something that actually made me proud of what I was doing

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because I was just

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I was just existing over there.

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And, and so I started home inspections and thinking like, yeah, I'm gonna start my own
home inspection company and kind of do this on the side.

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You probably learned as much as me, like pretty quick.

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Like once you start putting money into advertising and everything, like this really in the
side gig, especially if you want to maintain your license, if you're in a licensed state

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that requires it, maintain your license, your insurance and all this stuff.

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Like you gotta be bringing in, you know, several inspections to make that make sense.

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and for you to actually start making money.

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And by that time you're like working two full-time jobs.

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like, well, why don't we just do home inspection then?

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Hey, I got a question for you though.

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I love the name.

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Hello.

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Home inspections.

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if I think a lot of people like fall into, naming the company after like their initials,
but my company name, I mean, I love it.

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Right.

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But it's, it's, it has limited me a little bit.

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I mean, not that I'm trying to be, you know, a nationwide company, but I, I,

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couldn't, right?

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I can't move.

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I couldn't move to another state and I would have to change the name of my company.

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I think it'd be weird to move to Florida and have Texas edge home inspection.

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I was thinking about you hire me, right?

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And so, but I mean, so I've made a name for myself here, but if I move, I'd have to change
that, right?

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Where are you?

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Hello.

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Home inspection.

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You've made a name for yourself, but that's totally universal.

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You can go nationwide.

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You can move.

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You can do whatever you want to do.

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and the name itself is just super inviting.

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and unassuming.

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I don't know.

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I really like it.

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Where'd you, how'd you come up with that?

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Yeah, no, I appreciate that.

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And it's funny looking back on it for all the things you just said, right?

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I got a couple of really good mentors in the business startup space who taught me a bunch
of things.

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But one of the things that always stuck, especially when thinking about naming a business
is never name yourself something that either geographically or otherwise like pins you to

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it.

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So to your point, like I went through all those like, what is it?

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it Tampa?

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Is it Florida?

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Is it?

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you know, tropical, like anything that truly does, hey, this would be awkward if I went
elsewhere, was off the table for me.

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I think this calls for an it's not supposed to do that, right?

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I did that.

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The the second thing was the reason I like Hello.

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There was a lot of I was in that kind of like startup Silicon Valley world.

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Those were a lot of people I was like shoulder to shoulder with especially when I was in
the housing funds and when I was in Austin.

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A lot of they're just like basic contact domains like it was always Hello at startup
right.

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It was like they're like that was what they put publicly.

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It seemed inviting.

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It was like OK.

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Maybe it's a trend or a fad, but I kind of liked it.

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It just sounded nice.

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then the third thing that really drove is like what domains are available?

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Because I don't want to be the guy who would like hello at gmail.com.

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Like what screams professionalism is like a nice domain that is consistent across all your
platforms.

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And so as with any business that I've started over the years, it's always, obviously
business concept first, but like before you launch,

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making sure that domain is available, not only for websites, but email addresses, all of
that kind of stuff.

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And Hello Home was available in Florida, and it wasn't registered previously as an LLC,
and the domain was available.

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And so we just grabbed it and said, all right, let's go, let's see what happens.

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And over the years, it's kind of become a joke.

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Everything I get into, somebody will just say, what is it?

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Hello what now, right?

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It's always hello something.

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I'm not gonna say I haven't bought all the domains.

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Anytime I run into something clever, I'll laugh about it, go home and buy the domain, just
in case.

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Yeah, just in case.

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Yeah.

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Dude, this is why I was looking forward to bringing you on the show.

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mean, because we've talked about this for a while, but you it's you've had to go and have
a baby and stuff, you know, just some cool, exciting life changes and all that.

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but no, I mean, it's you you have really just in four and a half years, I would have
thought that you were a 15 year home inspection company.

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Like when I first heard about you, the brand was refined.

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The website is simple.

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It's clean.

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You have features on there that most people don't think to include on the website.

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And we're going to get into that in a bit.

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But but you've really endeared yourself to agents all around the Tampa area in a short
time.

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So for inspectors that are listening that are just starting out, I think you are an
invaluable person to listen to.

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And this is going to be an episode that hopefully they save and refer back to.

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But before we get into it, we got to do our drink of the day because we've been sipping on
it for a little bit here.

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But, you know, at least two of us came prepared and one of us has a really good story as
to why they're not.

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So the drink of the day is, as of the last couple of weeks, sponsored by Inspection Fuel.

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And you want to sign up for this.

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It's going to be in New Orleans.

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We definitely going to be sipping when we're in New Orleans.

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It's going to be September 8th through the 10th.

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So go to inspectionfuel.com to sign up.

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So let's go right into it.

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Matt, what are you sipping on today?

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Okay, so today I have one of my standbys, one of my favorites.

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This is Wild Turkey 101.

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I know what you're thinking, but that is some of the best bourbon, definitely the best
price point out there.

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Always available, always cheap, always consistently good.

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It makes a really good cocktail because it's higher proof and it's just good, but it is
also a sipper, which is what I'm doing tonight.

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So cheers.

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Cheers to you sir.

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All right, I am sipping on we're skipping Ryan for reasons he'll explain here in a bit.

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But I am sipping on an El Dorado 12 year aged rum spiced rum here.

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I get into a rum kick now that especially it's starting to warm up in Florida.

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And, you know, in Virginia, it was it was a pretty good bourbon scene because you're close
to Tennessee, there's a couple distilleries that source their mash bill out of Buffalo

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Traces distillery.

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So things were coming to Virginia from Kentucky, but you get down here.

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It is rum baby.

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And I've found out on vacation, if there is one liquor that I can sip on that won't get me
in trouble over the course of a day in the sun, it's wrong.

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yeah, I was going to say it's good, man.

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It's good.

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So Ryan, why are you not sipping?

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Not that we're hazing you and judging, you know, for those that are like averse to it in
our listener group, but you got a story on this one.

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I do.

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Yeah.

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So like every good contractor has a office that is in total disrepair.

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Every good home inspector has problems with their house.

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And over the last nine months, our house basically got to the point where it was so full
of mold that we moved out, sold it, sold it as a, as a lot to a builder.

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So there's a lot there, but we've been living with my in-laws for the last nine months in
a thousand square foot house.

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a two one, so sharing a single bathroom with a four month old baby.

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So it's been fun.

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They're gracious.

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They're awesome in-laws.

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But with that being said, all of our belongings, including all of our liquor, has been
packed in a storage unit for the last nine months.

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So I am I'm looking forward to breaking it out here in two weeks when we move into our new
house.

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So in the meantime, we're sipping on a nice medium roast of Tim Horton's coffee imported
from the great country of Canada, which is where I am from.

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Get out of town.

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that's what we're doing with tonight

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Well, cheers.

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Hey, hey, so question.

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If you were, if your liquor wasn't locked up in a storage facility, what would you be
drinking?

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So I am a, it's funny what you guys are both drinking tonight because I am a bourbon guy
naturally and I'll say I do fancy an Eagle Rare for the most part.

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It's a great drink, a good friend of mine kind of turned me onto that over the last couple
years.

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But if I'm not drinking, I guess seriously, so I'll say if there's my serious drink where
I'll sit down and have a good bourbon.

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If I'm just enjoying my day by the pool, it's always rum.

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and I'll be honest, a little bit of coconut rum, that's where it's at.

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I hear

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Hey, nothing wrong with some coconut rum.

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I get it.

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get it.

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I got a bottle of Eagle Rare back over here, so I know what you're talking about.

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Well, tears.

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will have not an Eagle Rare, but I'll have a turkey.

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I love it.

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dude, Ryan, let's talk a little bit more about how you've kind of built out the brand with
Hello, because you guys have done a masterclass job with it.

214
00:14:10,647 --> 00:14:17,174
So I mean, you, you told us off air before we got started that really, and I found this
kind of amusing.

215
00:14:17,295 --> 00:14:22,281
Your goal was starting as an inspector was maybe to make the odd couple hundred bucks or
so here and there.

216
00:14:22,281 --> 00:14:32,221
which we've talked on the show before about raising prices and you actually were the one
that told me recently that I should raise my prices down here.

217
00:14:32,481 --> 00:14:38,801
So I feel like you've definitely broken out of that couple hundred dollar here and there
mold for sure.

218
00:14:38,801 --> 00:14:42,221
But how did that take off and how did you end up scaling the business?

219
00:14:42,221 --> 00:14:43,621
it a product of COVID?

220
00:14:43,621 --> 00:14:45,081
Was it a product of marketing?

221
00:14:45,081 --> 00:14:47,120
Did you learn the marketing side as you went?

222
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:48,721
Yeah, great question.

223
00:14:48,721 --> 00:14:56,268
So I would say first and foremost, like not not immune to the fact that I got started a
really great time in real estate, right?

224
00:14:56,268 --> 00:14:58,169
Things were flying off the shelf.

225
00:14:58,270 --> 00:15:06,647
I was just like looking back through some of these graphs that are always fun to look at,
you know, on years past and just some crazy numbers.

226
00:15:06,647 --> 00:15:14,534
The the first what was it the our highest like count of inspections ever.

227
00:15:14,534 --> 00:15:19,225
was in our first year, sorry, second year in July.

228
00:15:19,225 --> 00:15:25,727
was just like a home insurance company went under and the phone just rang off the hook.

229
00:15:25,727 --> 00:15:27,548
Everybody trying to switch providers, right?

230
00:15:27,548 --> 00:15:34,690
So we were doing like six, seven inspections a day, three guys, like just flying through
these insurance inspections.

231
00:15:34,690 --> 00:15:44,172
so, yeah, the goal initially, going back to your question was, you know, just see what we
can do and, you know,

232
00:15:44,264 --> 00:15:51,904
make some extra bucks here or there, Christmas money, holiday money, whatever we want it
to be.

233
00:15:52,404 --> 00:15:56,844
And really quickly, it grew to more than I could handle part-time.

234
00:15:56,844 --> 00:16:02,024
And that's kind of what I used as my initial trigger to hire my first guy.

235
00:16:02,024 --> 00:16:04,644
And then from there, kind of a similar trigger.

236
00:16:05,064 --> 00:16:13,564
But yeah, the success that we've had down here is nothing short of just
relationship-based.

237
00:16:13,665 --> 00:16:23,253
And it's easy to say that, you you like look through the Facebook forums and you know, you
see a lot of like newer folks getting in and saying, hey, where should I invest my money?

238
00:16:23,253 --> 00:16:24,554
it Angie leads?

239
00:16:24,554 --> 00:16:27,577
Is it like, you know, should I go to BNI groups?

240
00:16:27,577 --> 00:16:31,489
Is it, know, where do you, where do you spend your time and spend your money?

241
00:16:32,030 --> 00:16:34,533
I'll say like, I'm pretty sure we've tried all of it.

242
00:16:34,533 --> 00:16:39,617
If there's something we haven't tried, it's cause we've tried something so similar that we
just, you know, assume it's all the same.

243
00:16:39,617 --> 00:16:42,651
But for the most part, it's.

244
00:16:42,651 --> 00:16:46,833
finding out where people's pain points are and then trying to be the one that solves it.

245
00:16:46,833 --> 00:16:56,278
And even if you don't do that perfectly, I feel like people see the effort in you trying
to solve their problems and they naturally want to do business with you.

246
00:16:56,278 --> 00:16:58,219
And so that's what we've kind of seen over the years.

247
00:16:58,219 --> 00:17:10,586
And I really think that's what allowed us to continue to grow consistently over the last
four or five years here is anytime we feel like we're hitting a slump or just like not

248
00:17:10,586 --> 00:17:11,446
going

249
00:17:11,446 --> 00:17:13,867
either as fast or as hard as we want to.

250
00:17:14,308 --> 00:17:17,858
It usually boils down to like, we're not trying to solve people's problems anymore.

251
00:17:17,858 --> 00:17:20,091
It's like, we think we figured it out.

252
00:17:20,091 --> 00:17:22,612
And we're just trying to do what we think we should do.

253
00:17:22,612 --> 00:17:26,354
And we've stopped really asking, you know, the important questions.

254
00:17:26,354 --> 00:17:33,518
And so, you know, probably get into a little bit later as to like, what I'm doing now as
well, in addition to inspections.

255
00:17:33,518 --> 00:17:38,191
But, you know, that's really what it's all about is just solve people's problems.

256
00:17:38,191 --> 00:17:40,454
And the only way you know what problems they have is if you

257
00:17:40,454 --> 00:17:43,934
genuinely just ask and start those relationships.

258
00:17:44,394 --> 00:17:57,614
So yeah, think the, you know, one of those first pain points that we discovered and we
started solving was, you the first couple of agents we worked with was like, you know,

259
00:17:57,614 --> 00:18:02,534
hey, why did you choose us, first of all, and nine times out of 10, was, well, I didn't,
my client did.

260
00:18:02,534 --> 00:18:07,074
Like, I have my guy, but it's great to meet you, but I'm going back to my guy.

261
00:18:08,014 --> 00:18:10,270
But as soon as you hear that, it's like,

262
00:18:10,502 --> 00:18:11,113
That's great.

263
00:18:11,113 --> 00:18:12,844
Like, I'm glad you have a guy.

264
00:18:12,844 --> 00:18:15,046
Why do you like the guy that you use?

265
00:18:15,046 --> 00:18:16,207
Like, you don't have to use me.

266
00:18:16,207 --> 00:18:20,910
I'm genuinely curious why you like the guy that you've used for a while.

267
00:18:21,711 --> 00:18:26,575
And really quickly, those answers tend to, you know, start aligning.

268
00:18:26,655 --> 00:18:34,171
And sometimes there's really bad reasons why, you know, it's like, because he makes every
deal easy, or because he's really, really cheap, right?

269
00:18:34,171 --> 00:18:36,262
Like, those reasons are out there.

270
00:18:36,563 --> 00:18:40,484
But lots of the reasons that stuck were simply, you know,

271
00:18:40,484 --> 00:18:47,289
they make the process smooth or they educate my buyers instead of just giving them lists
or things like that.

272
00:18:47,289 --> 00:18:55,206
so I kind of picked up those little things along the way and just started implementing
them.

273
00:18:55,206 --> 00:18:56,837
I love healthy competition.

274
00:18:56,837 --> 00:18:59,008
I think it's important in business.

275
00:18:59,349 --> 00:19:04,833
But if I'm not constantly learning from, I guess, I would consider competition, what am I
doing?

276
00:19:05,154 --> 00:19:09,157
The goal isn't just to see what somebody else is doing, laugh at it, and then go do
something else.

277
00:19:09,157 --> 00:19:10,510
It's like, hey, if you're

278
00:19:10,510 --> 00:19:13,831
If somebody's making a living doing something, they're doing at least something right.

279
00:19:13,831 --> 00:19:15,932
And you want to take what you can.

280
00:19:15,932 --> 00:19:17,713
And it's not always going to be a perfect copy.

281
00:19:17,713 --> 00:19:27,567
But man, we've learned, I've learned so much stuff from, you know, what I would consider
my competition down here, which a lot of them are our great friends now, which is, which

282
00:19:27,567 --> 00:19:28,098
is really cool.

283
00:19:28,098 --> 00:19:31,609
Obviously like Brad, we met through a connection, but ended up down here anyway.

284
00:19:31,609 --> 00:19:38,886
But yeah, I have, have multiple inspectors here who, know, my phone rings daily, us
talking just about like.

285
00:19:38,886 --> 00:19:42,672
Hey, what's the fastest way to get a customer result on a lab test?

286
00:19:42,672 --> 00:19:43,994
My lab's letting me down.

287
00:19:43,994 --> 00:19:44,775
Who do you use?

288
00:19:44,775 --> 00:19:45,996
That sort of thing.

289
00:19:46,599 --> 00:19:54,704
Well, that goes back to like whenever we had Travis Jones on the podcast and he was
talking about training your competition and how much he would rather lose a job to the

290
00:19:54,704 --> 00:20:01,108
guys that are trying to do a really good job than somebody that was just, you know,
undercutting bids and everything.

291
00:20:01,569 --> 00:20:07,353
You know, I love what you were talking about about like, you know, solving people's
problems.

292
00:20:07,353 --> 00:20:09,695
I can't say that I don't do that.

293
00:20:09,695 --> 00:20:16,583
I think that there's definitely an element there that I just never really like, like
described it that way.

294
00:20:16,583 --> 00:20:17,583
I like that though.

295
00:20:17,583 --> 00:20:20,843
like like thinking along those lines of solving people.

296
00:20:20,843 --> 00:20:22,823
What are your problems and how can I solve them?

297
00:20:22,823 --> 00:20:28,323
And and I think it's something that I might implement in my marketing whenever I'm talking
to realtors.

298
00:20:28,323 --> 00:20:32,523
I do want to talk to you because we we started this off about pricing, right?

299
00:20:32,662 --> 00:20:40,963
Not that I want to get into pricing, but I feel like this goes along the lines of
something that came up recently and I feel like I have to touch on it.

300
00:20:40,963 --> 00:20:46,263
I don't know if you guys saw this and I hate to call him out, but I'm calling out Ben
Gromigo.

301
00:20:46,385 --> 00:20:54,878
puts out a video like a week or so ago talking about how home inspectors need to be
charging $1,000 for their home inspections.

302
00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:58,410
And I mean, look, you guys are in Florida, I'm in Texas.

303
00:20:58,410 --> 00:21:04,663
I don't know what the difference is, but I suspect it's not that big of a difference in
terms of our price points.

304
00:21:04,663 --> 00:21:07,504
We can get into it, we don't have to get into it, it doesn't matter.

305
00:21:08,004 --> 00:21:14,951
know, and I mean, like maybe he's talking about some ancillary services involved there
too.

306
00:21:14,951 --> 00:21:16,571
But mean, like that wasn't what he was saying.

307
00:21:16,571 --> 00:21:19,111
And I don't think that really is where he was going.

308
00:21:19,111 --> 00:21:24,071
And what he's trying to say is it's the most and I replied that that is great.

309
00:21:24,071 --> 00:21:27,571
And we would love to raise our prices, but that's not the industry standard.

310
00:21:27,571 --> 00:21:29,071
That was my response to Ben.

311
00:21:29,071 --> 00:21:37,171
And he replied back to me, which is surprising, honestly, but he replied back and said,
you know, this is the most important purchase people are going to make.

312
00:21:37,171 --> 00:21:39,991
And the most important thing they can do is have a home inspection.

313
00:21:39,991 --> 00:21:41,771
I'm like, Hey, I agree.

314
00:21:41,771 --> 00:21:42,831
Like 100%.

315
00:21:42,831 --> 00:21:45,111
Like we're good there, but

316
00:21:45,317 --> 00:21:49,770
What I don't agree with is that we can get that much for a general home inspection.

317
00:21:49,791 --> 00:21:52,292
I think that is it worth that much?

318
00:21:52,653 --> 00:21:55,525
Man, I think my company delivers an inspection that is worth that much.

319
00:21:55,525 --> 00:22:00,860
But I also know that the industry standard isn't such that's going to allow me to charge
that much.

320
00:22:00,860 --> 00:22:01,880
Should I charge more?

321
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:03,342
Should I raise my prices?

322
00:22:03,342 --> 00:22:04,582
Probably.

323
00:22:05,584 --> 00:22:11,468
And so I'd like to know, like you were talking to Brad about raising prices and you've
raised your prices through the years.

324
00:22:11,468 --> 00:22:14,939
Like instead of getting into specifics about how much we charge.

325
00:22:14,939 --> 00:22:17,833
Let's talk about the effect of raising prices maybe for one second.

326
00:22:17,833 --> 00:22:19,185
Like you raise your prices.

327
00:22:19,185 --> 00:22:20,748
What kind of effect did that have on you?

328
00:22:20,748 --> 00:22:22,340
Was there a negative blowback?

329
00:22:22,340 --> 00:22:24,333
there realtors that gave you blowback?

330
00:22:24,333 --> 00:22:29,540
Was it just immediately like, yeah, I saw nothing and also I started making more money and
felt better about it.

331
00:22:29,540 --> 00:22:31,743
Or was there anything like what happened?

332
00:22:32,197 --> 00:22:33,918
Yeah, no, great question.

333
00:22:33,918 --> 00:22:40,178
And I truly believe like the concept of raising your prices, it has to be centered and
grounded on something, right?

334
00:22:40,178 --> 00:22:45,544
It can't just be nonchalantly, hey, I want to make more money, so I'm going to raise my
prices.

335
00:22:45,544 --> 00:22:58,111
What we do quarterly, and we usually do it more often than this, but we kind of address it
more dedicated every quarter, is we go and we price check as much of our local home

336
00:22:58,111 --> 00:22:59,972
inspection market as we can.

337
00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:11,352
And so I have our admin go and like check out anywhere from 20 to 50 other home inspectors
Who post their prices online and I realize there you're probably taking a segment there

338
00:23:11,352 --> 00:23:21,705
that is a little bias one way or another But we go and we price check against ourselves to
know where we stand because nothing's worse than saying, you know Hey, our inspection is

339
00:23:21,705 --> 00:23:25,876
you know X amount and somebody says why are you so expensive?

340
00:23:26,122 --> 00:23:33,628
Well, now I have to justify myself with absolutely like no data as to where that price is
coming from other than how I feel about myself.

341
00:23:33,649 --> 00:23:40,474
I think it's to your point with, you know, knowing the market, it's important to know
where your market is.

342
00:23:40,835 --> 00:23:45,899
If you believe it's genuinely too low, like we should be pricing ourselves accordingly.

343
00:23:46,039 --> 00:23:48,631
But at the same time, you you kind of have to know where you stand.

344
00:23:48,631 --> 00:23:54,366
So we like to hover somewhere between like three and five percent.

345
00:23:54,418 --> 00:23:57,420
above the highest home inspector in the area.

346
00:23:57,420 --> 00:24:02,764
And the reason we do that, we like to stay on the high end because, I mean, there's a
couple reasons.

347
00:24:02,764 --> 00:24:06,506
One of them, it really weeds out the clients we don't want to work with.

348
00:24:07,207 --> 00:24:17,434
And like every horror story I have, I can look back to the day the client booked and I
compromised something when it comes to that booking and it's usually price.

349
00:24:17,715 --> 00:24:22,540
So I gave a discount that was being asked for that I just should have stuck to my guns or.

350
00:24:22,540 --> 00:24:29,614
you know, was working with an agent who's notoriously cheap and, you know, likes to push
their clients to the cheap inspector.

351
00:24:30,154 --> 00:24:36,037
And so I like to kind of be priced a little bit higher purely based on who I want to work
with.

352
00:24:36,778 --> 00:24:43,301
And, you know, the agents that refer us business, I like to align values and if they want
to make more money, so would I.

353
00:24:43,782 --> 00:24:46,803
So that's definitely, you know, one reason.

354
00:24:46,803 --> 00:24:51,746
The other is obviously less work for more or the same.

355
00:24:51,746 --> 00:24:53,088
amount of revenue.

356
00:24:53,088 --> 00:25:03,140
And so we saw, you in our first couple of years, as we, you know, we started off fairly
cheap, especially in like the insurance game, a lot of new Florida inspectors do, they try

357
00:25:03,140 --> 00:25:07,886
to like, lowball those insurance inspections, because if you do enough of them, they're
profitable.

358
00:25:08,467 --> 00:25:10,406
Yeah, absolutely.

359
00:25:10,490 --> 00:25:10,796
Yeah.

360
00:25:10,796 --> 00:25:17,252
that's a, honestly, think like within reason, I think that's a pretty decent way for a new
home inspector to get a foothold in the industry.

361
00:25:17,252 --> 00:25:20,094
That is sometimes the only way you're going to get jobs.

362
00:25:20,094 --> 00:25:22,876
And yeah, you're going to get the jobs that like me and you don't want, right?

363
00:25:22,876 --> 00:25:29,962
Because they're going to, you're going to get those people that are literally, you know,
going down to the penny to save, you know, a little bit of money here and there.

364
00:25:29,963 --> 00:25:35,195
And they are going to be the pain in the butt or the problem child that we don't really
want to deal with, but they'll get them.

365
00:25:35,195 --> 00:25:39,421
I think it's actually a decent way to get as long as you're within reason, a decent way to
get a foothold in the industry.

366
00:25:39,421 --> 00:25:41,463
But anyway, sorry, total interruption.

367
00:25:41,654 --> 00:25:42,915
absolutely true.

368
00:25:42,915 --> 00:25:43,565
Yeah.

369
00:25:43,565 --> 00:25:54,590
we, you know, those first couple of years, it was, how much care as we raised our prices,
you know, the inspection, the amount of inspections kind of stayed the same revenue

370
00:25:54,590 --> 00:25:55,040
increase.

371
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:55,670
And it made sense.

372
00:25:55,670 --> 00:25:58,131
was like the two metrics kind of followed each other.

373
00:25:58,131 --> 00:26:06,124
And then you get to a point and we got to that point, maybe like three years in where it
was like, OK, how much more can I raise my prices?

374
00:26:06,124 --> 00:26:06,435
Right.

375
00:26:06,435 --> 00:26:10,216
Like at this point, I'm I'm kind of hitting that like

376
00:26:10,457 --> 00:26:14,898
$500 per inspection, no ancillaries, just home inspection mark.

377
00:26:14,938 --> 00:26:20,978
And it's like, I could raise it to 550, but I know I'm gonna start losing inspections to
the next guy.

378
00:26:21,438 --> 00:26:25,958
So we kind of sat there for a little bit and things were good.

379
00:26:25,958 --> 00:26:29,298
The inspection count kind of remained consistent.

380
00:26:29,838 --> 00:26:34,938
And so, you know, we raised it a little bit more that quarter and then a little bit more
the next.

381
00:26:35,274 --> 00:26:45,109
to the point where like our average inspection right now is sitting at about 675
pre-ansolaries and We are doing the same number of inspections same size staff.

382
00:26:45,109 --> 00:26:46,080
We are not massive.

383
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:59,387
We are a Myself not included a four inspector team So we're doing the same amount of
inspections as we were doing last year with a three-person team But like revenues

384
00:26:59,387 --> 00:27:03,551
drastically different so we're able to like not burn out our guys

385
00:27:03,551 --> 00:27:09,383
A lot of the guys we've hired over the years are like, I was doing, you know, I'm coming
from a company doing three full inspections a day.

386
00:27:09,383 --> 00:27:11,224
How do you do that and be good?

387
00:27:11,224 --> 00:27:12,905
You can't, you absolutely can't.

388
00:27:12,905 --> 00:27:19,637
And I've done it, I've done three full inspections in a day, you know, on a Saturday
trying to, you know, just trying to wrap things up.

389
00:27:19,637 --> 00:27:20,878
But you never feel good about that.

390
00:27:20,878 --> 00:27:23,819
You never feel good about that product and you naturally miss things.

391
00:27:23,819 --> 00:27:28,931
And so, you know, our goal has been how do we allow our inspectors to make a living?

392
00:27:28,931 --> 00:27:31,052
How do I make a living from this?

393
00:27:31,152 --> 00:27:33,525
While also giving people, you know,

394
00:27:33,525 --> 00:27:35,566
their time that they deserve.

395
00:27:35,746 --> 00:27:37,107
We aren't open on the weekends.

396
00:27:37,107 --> 00:27:42,629
We're closed Saturday and Sunday, which is pretty wild in, I think, the real estate
industry in general.

397
00:27:45,190 --> 00:27:46,130
Absolutely.

398
00:27:46,130 --> 00:27:52,633
And I am proud to refer out Saturday and Sunday work to some great inspectors down here.

399
00:27:52,693 --> 00:28:01,793
Because I think it says more about who we are to say, I give my guys Saturday and Sunday
off for a reason, because I want them to be with their families.

400
00:28:01,793 --> 00:28:05,927
but I know that like real estate's still moving and so I have a really good contact for
you.

401
00:28:05,927 --> 00:28:07,298
Yeah, I think there's a lot too.

402
00:28:07,298 --> 00:28:10,529
But I mean, like, I think it says a lot just that you give them off.

403
00:28:10,529 --> 00:28:12,780
Like, yes, the referral means a lot too.

404
00:28:12,780 --> 00:28:15,451
But, you know, the fact of the matter is that I get it.

405
00:28:15,451 --> 00:28:18,882
Real estate doesn't stop on Saturday or Sunday for that matter.

406
00:28:18,882 --> 00:28:19,373
Right.

407
00:28:19,373 --> 00:28:21,884
But it doesn't stop on Monday either or Tuesday.

408
00:28:21,884 --> 00:28:23,815
And so like, when is the day off?

409
00:28:23,815 --> 00:28:31,738
And these inspectors, they have families and a majority of people with families, you know,
they're going to have weekends.

410
00:28:31,738 --> 00:28:33,269
The kids are out of school on the weekends.

411
00:28:33,269 --> 00:28:34,543
It just makes sense.

412
00:28:34,543 --> 00:28:37,151
Sorry, but if it can't wait till Monday, we're not doing it.

413
00:28:37,537 --> 00:28:38,578
Absolutely.

414
00:28:38,578 --> 00:28:39,138
Yeah.

415
00:28:39,138 --> 00:28:40,957
so, go ahead.

416
00:28:41,279 --> 00:28:41,829
No, you're good.

417
00:28:41,829 --> 00:28:45,001
was just kind of going back to pricing a little bit.

418
00:28:45,542 --> 00:28:53,086
You know, it's so can we talk about like, you know, the strategy of, you can only raise
your prices so much and then you kind of price yourself out of the market.

419
00:28:53,086 --> 00:29:00,090
So oddly enough, we actually dropped our prices this quarter, not substantially, but
enough to stay in line with the market.

420
00:29:00,090 --> 00:29:05,249
And it was kind of we were on a trajectory to be, I think, a little bit like out of the
ballpark.

421
00:29:05,249 --> 00:29:16,089
And you know that from a few things, you'll start to get more more price droppers, you'll
start to get comments from agents and we could spend a whole podcast on talking about an

422
00:29:16,089 --> 00:29:19,369
agent's ability to dictate a home inspector's business.

423
00:29:19,889 --> 00:29:23,789
And we don't need to go there, you both drink at the same time, so I know it's true.

424
00:29:25,009 --> 00:29:33,940
So we won't go there, but when you start to get those questions, it's like we had one
agent recently and

425
00:29:33,940 --> 00:29:44,680
these kind of like little stories I use as, you know, like indicators or markers along the
way who said like, hey, you got, you know, my client had to go with somebody else even

426
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,247
though I recommended you.

427
00:29:46,347 --> 00:29:48,368
By the way, like when did you guys raise your prices?

428
00:29:48,368 --> 00:29:53,051
Like I've been quoting my clients like X amount, right?

429
00:29:53,051 --> 00:29:55,292
When they ask how much is a home inspection.

430
00:29:55,292 --> 00:30:01,375
And I was like, appreciate the feedback first of all, cause it tells me that like I'm a
little out of some expectations.

431
00:30:01,575 --> 00:30:03,036
But two, it's like,

432
00:30:03,295 --> 00:30:10,815
Do you mind if I show you what your last like 20 clients had paid because it's over $200
more than what you think they've all paid.

433
00:30:11,295 --> 00:30:15,435
like, you know, helping adjust some expectations on that side too.

434
00:30:16,135 --> 00:30:20,415
Yeah, so you can only kind of price yourself with the market.

435
00:30:20,415 --> 00:30:23,735
The other piece is really like justifying your value.

436
00:30:23,735 --> 00:30:27,015
So this is the core of what we've built ourselves on.

437
00:30:27,015 --> 00:30:28,655
And so all of that other stuff is great.

438
00:30:28,655 --> 00:30:29,455
It's all important.

439
00:30:29,455 --> 00:30:31,735
all part of a pricing strategy.

440
00:30:33,211 --> 00:30:38,375
most important part that we found is you have to back up your value.

441
00:30:38,375 --> 00:30:49,012
And so we've taken like a pretty hard stance into the environmental world down here, just
because naturally you have so much mold, have so much, you know, everything from asbestos

442
00:30:49,012 --> 00:30:51,354
to all that fun stuff.

443
00:30:51,354 --> 00:30:53,465
And it's just, it shows up everywhere.

444
00:30:53,465 --> 00:31:01,170
And so we're like, let's be the best home inspector who's focused on the environmental
side of every property.

445
00:31:01,533 --> 00:31:12,048
For a couple reasons, one, like it's profitable, like doing genuine mold assessments, not
just like air quality testing on home inspections is like a good thing.

446
00:31:12,048 --> 00:31:13,688
It's good for everybody.

447
00:31:14,809 --> 00:31:18,551
But two, it's like, you know, the age old can't say mold.

448
00:31:18,551 --> 00:31:20,381
It's like, well, one, that's not true.

449
00:31:20,381 --> 00:31:22,052
Like it doesn't exist anywhere.

450
00:31:22,052 --> 00:31:24,073
That rule is not real.

451
00:31:24,613 --> 00:31:28,447
it's also like, you know, if you're...

452
00:31:28,447 --> 00:31:37,707
If you're meaning mold, if you're gonna say, I saw some microbial growth, I would hope
that if I was hiring a home inspector, I would want them to be like, and I'm gonna tell

453
00:31:37,707 --> 00:31:42,287
you what genus and species and what those things mean and how to get rid of it.

454
00:31:42,287 --> 00:31:48,907
And all of those other things that come with, because that's what we saw was killing deals
unnecessarily.

455
00:31:49,187 --> 00:31:53,487
there's a whole conversation about like, we deal killers, deal makers, whatever.

456
00:31:54,107 --> 00:31:55,645
You want...

457
00:31:55,645 --> 00:31:59,097
the house or the product to kill the deal if it needs to be killed.

458
00:31:59,097 --> 00:32:08,481
You'd never want it to be you as the inspector who kills the deal because of something you
did or how you describe something or like, you know, whether you over, under exaggerated

459
00:32:08,481 --> 00:32:08,871
something.

460
00:32:08,871 --> 00:32:11,022
And so we looked at like, is it?

461
00:32:11,022 --> 00:32:14,083
What is it that's causing our agents, our buyers the most grief?

462
00:32:14,083 --> 00:32:15,724
And it's a lot of this environmental stuff.

463
00:32:15,724 --> 00:32:21,706
So why wouldn't we be as qualified and is as good at it as we could possibly be?

464
00:32:21,706 --> 00:32:23,547
And it just so happens that

465
00:32:23,719 --> 00:32:32,411
You know, both myself, Jordan, one of our other inspectors, like had the paper
qualifications to go get our, you know, mold licenses.

466
00:32:32,411 --> 00:32:33,482
So we did.

467
00:32:33,642 --> 00:32:40,444
And we've just really dove into that on a number of fronts and we really focus on that
kind of stuff.

468
00:32:40,444 --> 00:32:47,326
you know, as much as we like the bulk of our business is home inspections and we kind of
charge according to what we think we're worth.

469
00:32:47,326 --> 00:32:53,007
We also have this, this whole other piece of the puzzle where it's like, we're
environmentalists and.

470
00:32:53,388 --> 00:32:57,120
Maybe I can't say that but like we try to understand.

471
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,018
Yeah, try to understand

472
00:32:59,018 --> 00:32:59,658
it that way.

473
00:32:59,658 --> 00:33:05,970
Like you're, you're, you're modeling your company off of, environmental awareness, whether
or not you're environmentalist.

474
00:33:05,970 --> 00:33:06,390
get that.

475
00:33:06,390 --> 00:33:15,420
But, but yeah, I understand that it's attractive to people, especially in this day and age
and in an area like yours, which is very similar to Texas where we are to Houston, where

476
00:33:15,420 --> 00:33:18,094
we're super humid and dealing with all kinds of mold and stuff.

477
00:33:18,094 --> 00:33:18,284
Yeah.

478
00:33:18,284 --> 00:33:19,944
I get that you mentioned his name.

479
00:33:19,944 --> 00:33:20,915
So we've got to talk about this.

480
00:33:20,915 --> 00:33:22,853
So, you know,

481
00:33:22,853 --> 00:33:26,226
We spoke about this before we actually went on air.

482
00:33:26,226 --> 00:33:34,673
I was going to keep it a surprise, like I, as a content creator, I unfortunately don't get
a lot of time to consume a whole lot of content.

483
00:33:34,673 --> 00:33:40,959
And so I go on whenever I try to make it a point to get on there and like watch some of my
friends and see what they're doing.

484
00:33:40,959 --> 00:33:46,323
But years ago, whenever I had a chance to a little bit more, I was already starting before
things kind of really started going for me.

485
00:33:46,323 --> 00:33:50,509
I was already starting to lay some groundwork with some inspectors all across the country.

486
00:33:50,509 --> 00:33:53,541
And, and one of those inspectors was Jordan Mason.

487
00:33:53,831 --> 00:33:56,142
and, who is out of the Tampa area.

488
00:33:56,743 --> 00:33:58,684
Brad, do you know Jordan Jordan?

489
00:33:59,885 --> 00:34:00,325
Okay.

490
00:34:00,325 --> 00:34:11,492
So, I, I've never met him in person, but you know, we, we have, communicated via the phone
or, or, or just, you know, text or something like that for not a while, but for the last

491
00:34:11,492 --> 00:34:12,953
several years.

492
00:34:12,953 --> 00:34:16,359
And, and so then, so I was kind of following him and

493
00:34:16,359 --> 00:34:18,039
I really enjoyed his content.

494
00:34:18,039 --> 00:34:19,499
liked the way he put his content out there.

495
00:34:19,499 --> 00:34:22,119
And he always seemed like a really nice, honest guy.

496
00:34:22,119 --> 00:34:24,999
I sent him as much business as I possibly could.

497
00:34:24,999 --> 00:34:32,039
then until then, you know, I found out that Ryan was going to be on the show today and
having no idea.

498
00:34:32,079 --> 00:34:36,419
I just a few minutes before the show, I was like, I got to figure out who guy Ryan is.

499
00:34:36,419 --> 00:34:39,259
And so I, I wanted to at least have some, type of value.

500
00:34:39,259 --> 00:34:41,139
didn't know, you know, I didn't know what it was going to be.

501
00:34:41,139 --> 00:34:46,119
I didn't know we were going to so easily be able to chat, but I went and looked and I was
like, okay,

502
00:34:46,119 --> 00:34:50,879
I was trying to learn about you and I didn't even look at the top to see like the name of
the company, right?

503
00:34:50,879 --> 00:34:51,619
Cause it's there.

504
00:34:51,619 --> 00:34:52,279
I didn't see it.

505
00:34:52,279 --> 00:34:55,359
I was flipping through Instagram and then I saw Jordan and I was like, wait a minute.

506
00:34:55,359 --> 00:34:57,639
And so then I went to the top and I was like, Oh wait, no.

507
00:34:57,639 --> 00:34:58,419
Hello home inspections.

508
00:34:58,419 --> 00:35:05,339
This is, and I realized that a few years ago, you and Jordan's company, I'm not sure what
happened, but there was some type of merge or something.

509
00:35:05,339 --> 00:35:07,119
He told me about it as it was happening.

510
00:35:07,119 --> 00:35:12,559
And of course, you know, I knew him, I didn't know you and he's not as active online as he
once was.

511
00:35:12,847 --> 00:35:23,867
Which is a shame because still Jordan I still like the stuff that you put out there still
like his presence online but I don't think he much cared for the social media thing.

512
00:35:23,867 --> 00:35:27,147
Although I mean, you know, it's a connection maker, right?

513
00:35:27,147 --> 00:35:28,307
That's how I know him.

514
00:35:28,307 --> 00:35:29,707
That's how I know of you.

515
00:35:29,727 --> 00:35:32,267
So anyway, but that's beside the point.

516
00:35:32,267 --> 00:35:35,047
Yeah, I was familiar with Ryan and you guys kind of merged.

517
00:35:35,047 --> 00:35:36,767
So what's the story there?

518
00:35:36,767 --> 00:35:38,695
You have the flip notes on that?

519
00:35:38,695 --> 00:35:40,186
Yeah, happy to talk about it.

520
00:35:40,186 --> 00:35:47,009
yeah, Jordan was definitely one of the initial inspectors that I ever connected with when
I started doing this.

521
00:35:47,710 --> 00:35:57,405
Can't recall even how that connection was made, but I know he was just always so helpful,
like reaching out Instagram texts and you know, when you're, I think when you're a new

522
00:35:57,405 --> 00:36:06,990
inspector, one of the biggest struggles you have is just like admitting you don't know
what you're doing and then finding somebody who's like, okay, with being like, yeah, we

523
00:36:06,990 --> 00:36:08,101
were all there.

524
00:36:08,537 --> 00:36:09,798
I know you don't know what you're doing.

525
00:36:09,798 --> 00:36:10,428
Just ask.

526
00:36:10,428 --> 00:36:12,518
Like just ask me about it and we'll help.

527
00:36:12,518 --> 00:36:16,361
And so there were several inspectors early on who were very much like that.

528
00:36:16,361 --> 00:36:19,523
But Jordan was one that stuck around for a while.

529
00:36:19,803 --> 00:36:23,285
Always willing to just like, you know, any question, just help.

530
00:36:23,285 --> 00:36:26,337
Even if it meant like business got directed to me and not to him.

531
00:36:26,337 --> 00:36:27,728
Like he was always there.

532
00:36:27,728 --> 00:36:37,563
So we stayed in touch the first couple of years and there came a point where I was, know,
Hello Home was growing.

533
00:36:37,785 --> 00:36:40,576
And I was really starting to think like, who do I want on this team?

534
00:36:40,576 --> 00:36:46,087
Like at the end of the day, yes, I want good inspectors, but who do I genuinely want on my
team?

535
00:36:46,087 --> 00:36:54,449
And that's, think that's a life lesson that you learn when you get into business more than
it is a business lesson is you just want people that you can trust and who are good people

536
00:36:54,449 --> 00:36:56,689
and you know, would have your back.

537
00:36:56,689 --> 00:37:00,750
And that like profile fit Jordan really well.

538
00:37:00,750 --> 00:37:04,031
I was like, I would like to be friends with this guy.

539
00:37:04,031 --> 00:37:07,672
And if I feel like if I want to be friends with them, like he'd be a good business
partner.

540
00:37:08,032 --> 00:37:11,625
or like, you know, related in business some way.

541
00:37:11,625 --> 00:37:19,540
And so I bugged them a few times over the course of probably a year, I would always say
like, hey man, you know, we're hiring, come on over.

542
00:37:19,540 --> 00:37:23,012
And, you know, looking back at it, I was like, man, this guy's really successful, he's
killing it.

543
00:37:23,012 --> 00:37:27,655
He's been, I think he inspected for like six or seven, maybe eight years before he joined
us.

544
00:37:27,655 --> 00:37:29,906
So I was like, who am I?

545
00:37:29,906 --> 00:37:31,887
Who am I to ask this guy to come join this team?

546
00:37:31,887 --> 00:37:33,548
Like clearly he's killing it.

547
00:37:33,652 --> 00:37:44,358
And I must have persisted enough because it got to the point where I think the trigger for
him was he was having his third kid under five, his third girl under five.

548
00:37:44,358 --> 00:37:45,599
And he's like, you know what?

549
00:37:45,599 --> 00:37:47,200
I love inspecting.

550
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:48,610
Don't love the business anymore.

551
00:37:48,610 --> 00:37:50,741
Like don't have the business side of this.

552
00:37:50,942 --> 00:37:58,215
And I'd love to keep doing this and just not have the stress of, you know, managing and
running the business and the backend and all that.

553
00:37:58,215 --> 00:38:03,010
So yeah, we, we chatted for a while.

554
00:38:03,010 --> 00:38:14,710
a couple months to kind of finalize it, but it was essentially a merger, a merger where
his brand died in the merger and he became part of our brand.

555
00:38:14,710 --> 00:38:16,691
And we were really intentional about that.

556
00:38:16,691 --> 00:38:21,736
was like, hey, agents in Tampa Bay, you probably know one of us.

557
00:38:21,736 --> 00:38:25,178
You probably know Jordan if you don't know me.

558
00:38:26,159 --> 00:38:30,383
this isn't a Jordan Mason sucks.

559
00:38:30,383 --> 00:38:32,124
And so he's coming over here.

560
00:38:32,162 --> 00:38:34,834
or this isn't a, know, hello home failed.

561
00:38:34,834 --> 00:38:36,755
so we're, you know, joining Jordan.

562
00:38:36,755 --> 00:38:40,377
was a Jordan's coming to join our team and he's going to be a huge part of it.

563
00:38:40,377 --> 00:38:43,799
And, would love for the business to kind of follow them over.

564
00:38:43,799 --> 00:38:54,395
And it was, you know, it was obviously very successful, but came with its bumps and
challenges of, everything from the logistics of like, he had a phone number that rang to

565
00:38:54,395 --> 00:38:55,966
his business for seven years.

566
00:38:55,966 --> 00:38:59,238
It's like, how do you get people to stop calling that phone number?

567
00:38:59,238 --> 00:38:59,518
Right.

568
00:38:59,518 --> 00:39:00,263
Like,

569
00:39:00,263 --> 00:39:00,792
time.

570
00:39:00,792 --> 00:39:10,760
those little things that that seem little that are actually really important all the way
to You know, he did something is a very he had all his procedures and systems a very

571
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:21,058
certain way and so adapting to our our way of doing things our culture is something that
like I commend him for because that's not easy to do after a long time is you know to

572
00:39:21,058 --> 00:39:26,908
change your ways of doing things and I'll be the first to say like he probably took a
couple steps backwards and

573
00:39:26,908 --> 00:39:32,428
in his professional career coming over here and then ended up helping, pulling us forward.

574
00:39:32,588 --> 00:39:35,788
So yeah, was, it has been a lot of fun.

575
00:39:35,788 --> 00:39:37,208
Jordan now runs our team.

576
00:39:37,208 --> 00:39:39,448
So he's like our operations manager.

577
00:39:39,448 --> 00:39:42,068
He trains all of our inspectors.

578
00:39:42,108 --> 00:39:44,448
He's still actively out in the field.

579
00:39:44,448 --> 00:39:46,348
He loves it, or at least he tells me he does.

580
00:39:46,348 --> 00:39:48,928
And I hope he does cause he's great at it.

581
00:39:48,928 --> 00:39:51,308
He does a little bit of our social.

582
00:39:51,308 --> 00:39:56,353
So like if you'll see like actual in the field videos on our like hello home inspections
Instagram.

583
00:39:56,353 --> 00:40:07,892
Usually it's Jordan, but he's really focusing on the environmental stuff like we talked
about earlier, really pushing into that realm while keeping our team up and running.

584
00:40:08,073 --> 00:40:18,061
yeah, it was interesting because we went through the whole gambit of like, what does it
mean to buy and sell an inspection company all the way to just like, what does merging

585
00:40:18,061 --> 00:40:18,952
look like?

586
00:40:18,952 --> 00:40:23,025
What is starting a new company with two existing companies look like?

587
00:40:23,962 --> 00:40:24,504
It's a lot of fun.

588
00:40:24,504 --> 00:40:29,362
Learned a lot of stuff through it and I'm glad he's around and hope he's around for a long
time.

589
00:40:29,971 --> 00:40:30,858
Dude, Brian, there's-

590
00:40:30,858 --> 00:40:32,442
because Jordan's good people.

591
00:40:32,442 --> 00:40:32,797
was great.

592
00:40:32,797 --> 00:40:33,617
No, I got to meet him.

593
00:40:33,617 --> 00:40:34,108
Seriously.

594
00:40:34,108 --> 00:40:35,789
That'd be fun.

595
00:40:35,789 --> 00:40:39,420
mean, one just again, connecting with other inspectors in the area.

596
00:40:39,861 --> 00:40:49,014
But honestly, I've got to say there's there's two things that I really we could talk about
next one, I think might need to be an entirely different episode, which is how to

597
00:40:49,014 --> 00:40:52,407
capitalize on a down market through ancillaries.

598
00:40:52,407 --> 00:40:56,409
You know, you guys are leaning into mold in a time when the Florida market is dipping.

599
00:40:56,621 --> 00:41:04,696
There's a correction going on and people realtors don't want to say that but there is it's
a slight correction and you know That's a time where it's like, you You might not have as

600
00:41:04,696 --> 00:41:12,971
many inspections as you did when people were buying houses as soon as they came available
But you're leaning into something that's gonna make you money and help establish your

601
00:41:12,971 --> 00:41:16,814
brand in another niche So that's that's brilliant.

602
00:41:16,814 --> 00:41:22,677
But I want to talk about How inspectors down here

603
00:41:22,747 --> 00:41:26,379
are friendlier than in any other state that I have been in.

604
00:41:26,379 --> 00:41:30,320
Maybe, Matt, maybe Texas inspectors are awesome.

605
00:41:30,341 --> 00:41:33,902
I mean, Ryan, you've been helpful.

606
00:41:34,142 --> 00:41:37,134
I've got several other inspectors that I'm friends with down here.

607
00:41:37,134 --> 00:41:39,195
Kenny McLaurin is one we both know.

608
00:41:39,195 --> 00:41:40,725
He's another great guy.

609
00:41:40,966 --> 00:41:45,668
I've gotten work from both of you guys.

610
00:41:45,668 --> 00:41:49,560
I'm just a dude that was inspecting up in Virginia for eight, nine years.

611
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,511
And I come down here and I'm picking up stuff on the side.

612
00:41:52,723 --> 00:41:58,989
you know, y'all don't want to come down to Sarasota area, so you call me and you're
willing to send some down here.

613
00:41:59,110 --> 00:42:08,150
But I'm so used to like up in Virginia, there were inspectors that were so territorial,
that if we happen to be because I was inspecting during COVID up there, if we happen to be

614
00:42:08,150 --> 00:42:12,861
in the same house at the same time, they wanted me to put the panel cover back on.

615
00:42:12,861 --> 00:42:15,362
you know, before because they wanted to take it off themselves.

616
00:42:15,362 --> 00:42:25,068
God forbid I should help them or leave a ladder up or a hatch open or they just it was you
do you and I do me and no path shall cross beyond that.

617
00:42:25,068 --> 00:42:28,490
And that's so different than what I've experienced down here.

618
00:42:28,490 --> 00:42:35,254
Where does the willingness to embrace competition as coopetition come from?

619
00:42:35,274 --> 00:42:37,785
And is that something that you see as significant down here?

620
00:42:37,785 --> 00:42:41,197
Or is that just something that's, you know, you've kind of helped to bring to the area?

621
00:42:41,595 --> 00:42:46,038
Hey, before you answer that, like, feel like there's been a bit of a climate shift in the
industry.

622
00:42:46,038 --> 00:42:57,336
mean, like, I think, I think that like there, there, was a bit cutthroat, like, and I
think that some of the online presence that we have worked towards creating has, has

623
00:42:57,336 --> 00:43:00,368
bridged a little bit of a gap and there's enough business for everybody.

624
00:43:00,368 --> 00:43:02,229
And I think it's a little bit of a climate shift.

625
00:43:02,229 --> 00:43:10,572
And so while you still have some of those people that are like that, I think that there's
a whole lot of more let's work together going on, like in general, but anyway.

626
00:43:10,572 --> 00:43:11,082
Yeah.

627
00:43:11,082 --> 00:43:11,895
it away,

628
00:43:11,895 --> 00:43:13,836
Yeah, no, I would absolutely agree.

629
00:43:13,836 --> 00:43:20,538
think whether it's, you know, next generation of home inspectors, whatever you want to
call it, I think there is there's definitely a shift.

630
00:43:20,538 --> 00:43:33,813
The one of the reasons that I got into home inspections was, you know, careful how I say
this, the inspector who inspected our home, who I had a lot of previous other, I guess,

631
00:43:33,813 --> 00:43:35,454
experience working with.

632
00:43:35,454 --> 00:43:37,420
And he's I know he's not on social or whatever.

633
00:43:37,420 --> 00:43:38,515
So we're fine.

634
00:43:38,955 --> 00:43:41,120
But just like a very

635
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:45,143
typical like what you hear about a home inspector, right?

636
00:43:45,143 --> 00:43:53,118
Older guy, no frills, like couldn't get any extra other than a paper report out of him
kind of guy.

637
00:43:53,118 --> 00:44:02,635
And I think the industry is just changing a lot there to be like, hey, if you've got to
differentiate yourself and you can't just do it in a cheesy way, you got to actually

638
00:44:02,635 --> 00:44:03,385
provide value.

639
00:44:03,385 --> 00:44:09,579
And I think as people start leaning into that, okay, I have to provide value in order to
make it in this industry.

640
00:44:10,284 --> 00:44:13,046
providing value isn't just for the client.

641
00:44:13,046 --> 00:44:18,821
It's gonna be working with who you refer out, your subcontractors.

642
00:44:18,821 --> 00:44:25,246
We do a lot of subcontracting to termite inspectors down here, because it's a completely
separate license.

643
00:44:25,246 --> 00:44:27,568
We work with a lot of trades and all that sort of stuff.

644
00:44:27,568 --> 00:44:30,641
so you naturally have to, you don't wanna burn bridges.

645
00:44:30,641 --> 00:44:39,158
I think that's just like, it's something I live by regardless, but I think especially in
this industry, like we are,

646
00:44:39,158 --> 00:44:44,759
by far from what I've seen in my short time down here.

647
00:44:44,759 --> 00:44:46,328
And I'm a licensed contractor.

648
00:44:46,328 --> 00:44:47,721
I have a plumbing company.

649
00:44:47,721 --> 00:44:50,472
I've got my hands in a lot of things.

650
00:44:50,472 --> 00:44:53,542
And so I get to see, it's not.

651
00:44:53,542 --> 00:45:00,145
I tried to keep that a little bit separate.

652
00:45:00,145 --> 00:45:05,076
But when we're over on that side of the ball, a lot of the times we see just like.

653
00:45:05,312 --> 00:45:09,814
I don't know why, but it's so easy for the trades to just like rip each other apart.

654
00:45:10,554 --> 00:45:16,277
And especially when it comes to real estate, the trades will rip home inspectors apart,
them under the bus in a heartbeat.

655
00:45:16,277 --> 00:45:25,641
And so seeing that over and over, like one of our core values was, and all my guys know
this, it's like if you're on site and you see work that was done by another professional

656
00:45:25,641 --> 00:45:33,564
or you hear about, know, the seller drops the pre-listing inspection on the table and
says, see, there's nothing wrong with the home.

657
00:45:33,592 --> 00:45:41,932
The last thing we wanna do is down talk another professional, regardless of whether it's
justified or not.

658
00:45:42,432 --> 00:45:49,432
You want to hold everybody who has a professional license or has good intent or whatever
to a certain standard.

659
00:45:50,012 --> 00:45:54,732
And we do not talk down about those people, especially in front of a client.

660
00:45:54,732 --> 00:46:01,378
And I think like that mentality kind of changes how you look at your competition and who
you're.

661
00:46:01,378 --> 00:46:04,099
collaborating with, competing against, whatever you want to call it.

662
00:46:04,099 --> 00:46:14,713
It's like, I cannot remember a time, regardless of what another professional has said
about me or my product, I can guarantee you that my intent was never ill.

663
00:46:14,713 --> 00:46:21,396
It was always for the client's best, or at least always, you know, with the intent of
doing the best job I could.

664
00:46:21,396 --> 00:46:25,878
And so I have to assume that most other people are going to have the same intent.

665
00:46:25,878 --> 00:46:31,530
And if you look at kind of everybody like that, sure, you're going to be wrong here or
there, but most of the time,

666
00:46:31,879 --> 00:46:39,041
the people who you end up working side by side with are out there just trying to hustle
and be the best at what they can be themselves.

667
00:46:39,041 --> 00:46:40,962
And then we're all just growing through the process.

668
00:46:40,962 --> 00:46:53,586
So, you know, that's kind of how we look at it being helpful down here in this market and,
you know, just trying to work with other inspectors as best we can.

669
00:46:53,853 --> 00:46:55,838
Yeah, given the storm surge.

670
00:46:55,838 --> 00:46:56,221
sorry, Matt.

671
00:46:56,221 --> 00:46:56,628
Go ahead.

672
00:46:56,628 --> 00:47:05,310
no, no, I was just saying that like, I think that like, that's part of like the whole,
breaking the mold and the, and the shift, you know, is like, you know, we, have that, that

673
00:47:05,310 --> 00:47:16,453
kind of mutual respect, which I say this a lot, but I think that like inspectors had have,
did have a bit of a reputation, right?

674
00:47:16,463 --> 00:47:19,394
very similar to the one that you described that inspected your home.

675
00:47:19,394 --> 00:47:22,375
And I think that that has

676
00:47:22,527 --> 00:47:28,511
fueled the fire with a lot of these trades people and everything that have a certain
perception of home inspectors.

677
00:47:28,511 --> 00:47:32,454
And I think that we have worked to change that a little bit.

678
00:47:32,454 --> 00:47:36,657
But I think that that was earned, like I think inspectors earned that.

679
00:47:36,657 --> 00:47:39,758
And so it's up to us to change that perspective.

680
00:47:41,349 --> 00:47:51,004
It's the rising tide raises all ship thing which I you know, which I don't know if we're
allowed to talk about rising tide in Florida after two hurricanes and storm surge but but

681
00:47:51,004 --> 00:47:57,838
yeah, no, surely it really is that I feel like that you might have been really onto
something with saying that it's the younger generation of inspectors that really embraces

682
00:47:57,838 --> 00:47:58,309
that model.

683
00:47:58,309 --> 00:48:09,625
Because Ryan, I mean, you you honestly carry that even onto the website onto the Hello
Home website, which I refer to, because you have links to to county permit.

684
00:48:10,077 --> 00:48:18,483
you know, sites where it's like, instead of having to actually like search this up myself,
I can go to the Pinellas County website or the Hillsborough County website.

685
00:48:18,483 --> 00:48:26,138
And, you know, for Florida inspectors, you know, doing four points and win minutes and
having to pull up the permits is nothing new to you, but to the rest of the country, this

686
00:48:26,138 --> 00:48:28,950
is something that I never had to do in Virginia.

687
00:48:28,991 --> 00:48:38,327
I don't know if it's required in Texas or in other states, but having to actually pull the
permit file itself, government websites suck.

688
00:48:38,625 --> 00:48:49,609
And, and, you know, Ryan, you provided a shortcut for realtors, for buyers, for inspectors
to basically do the same thing that, gosh, what is it?

689
00:48:50,569 --> 00:48:52,890
it's, was it building center.com?

690
00:48:52,950 --> 00:48:53,270
Yeah.

691
00:48:53,270 --> 00:48:58,692
Like they, they did for looking up serial numbers, but you do that same thing on what's
that.

692
00:48:59,052 --> 00:48:59,532
That org.

693
00:48:59,532 --> 00:48:59,772
Yeah.

694
00:48:59,772 --> 00:49:00,172
Yeah.

695
00:49:00,172 --> 00:49:01,773
Building center.org.

696
00:49:01,853 --> 00:49:02,113
Yeah.

697
00:49:02,113 --> 00:49:02,799
Yeah.

698
00:49:02,799 --> 00:49:05,401
But I mean, it's the cheat sheet for home inspectors.

699
00:49:05,401 --> 00:49:08,433
But you did that same thing for Florida permits.

700
00:49:08,433 --> 00:49:14,437
And I just thought that was so brilliant because one, it's helping other inspectors, it's
helping agents.

701
00:49:14,437 --> 00:49:24,514
But two, I mean, it's feeding right back to referrals and co-op petition where it's like,
we're using your site, dude, you know, and if you, you know, the rest of us, it's like, we

702
00:49:24,514 --> 00:49:32,393
could probably, you know, try to incorporate that on ours, but why reinvent the wheel, you
know, and you're getting leads straight from that just from being helpful.

703
00:49:32,393 --> 00:49:34,633
Yeah, I think it's brilliant.

704
00:49:34,633 --> 00:49:35,222
Absolutely brilliant.

705
00:49:35,222 --> 00:49:41,782
Yeah, I think any way you can help anybody is rarely gonna be a bad thing, right?

706
00:49:41,782 --> 00:49:52,022
When I created that link on the site, and to be totally blunt, all it is is a page with
other links that I've been frustrated trying to find over the years.

707
00:49:52,022 --> 00:49:59,962
And every time I find one where I'm like, that sucked, I'm gonna throw the link on there
because I know somebody else, whether it's an inspector, an agent, a homeowner, somebody's

708
00:49:59,962 --> 00:50:02,122
gonna be looking for that at some point in the future.

709
00:50:02,134 --> 00:50:13,134
The one I always laugh about is like if your address down here ends with the seat like
with Tampa in the address There's three possible websites where you need to go to find

710
00:50:13,134 --> 00:50:21,954
permits on your home There's gonna be like unincorporated Tampa which falls under you know
Hillsborough County and then depending on the year You're either gonna go the old Tampa

711
00:50:21,954 --> 00:50:24,563
permitting website or the new Tampa permitting website

712
00:50:24,563 --> 00:50:28,775
And so you can find permits on three different websites all for one address.

713
00:50:28,775 --> 00:50:33,436
And after a couple of times getting frustrated, I'm like, somebody else has to hate doing
this.

714
00:50:33,436 --> 00:50:38,038
so, it was a hidden link on our website for the first year.

715
00:50:38,038 --> 00:50:41,619
And only our inspectors knew what, it was slash permits.

716
00:50:41,639 --> 00:50:46,481
And I was like, got enough requests and I was like, hey, if this is helpful to everybody
else, let's do it.

717
00:50:46,791 --> 00:50:48,902
Yeah, no, I think it's genius, man.

718
00:50:48,902 --> 00:50:50,362
Absolutely genius.

719
00:50:50,563 --> 00:50:53,782
So, well, dude, Ryan, it's been awesome having you on the show, man.

720
00:50:53,782 --> 00:50:54,882
We'll have to do this again.

721
00:50:54,882 --> 00:50:56,923
I think we need to get Jordan on the show as well.

722
00:50:56,923 --> 00:50:59,866
mean, that'd be, yeah, definitely.

723
00:50:59,967 --> 00:51:02,718
Any last thoughts from you guys before we sign off?

724
00:51:02,718 --> 00:51:05,509
What's the craziest thing that you guys have seen this week in the field?

725
00:51:07,057 --> 00:51:10,234
Well, I mean, it's it's Monday.

726
00:51:10,587 --> 00:51:13,911
I was gonna say, we've got some stuff.

727
00:51:13,911 --> 00:51:15,015
was the weekend?

728
00:51:15,015 --> 00:51:22,875
company's closed on the weekends and so is Ryan's, but, I haven't seen anything because I
haven't gone to work yet.

729
00:51:22,875 --> 00:51:27,095
But, uh, um, what, what I, what I have seen though is the phone's ringing.

730
00:51:27,095 --> 00:51:28,615
Uh, it is picking up.

731
00:51:28,615 --> 00:51:37,175
Uh, I can tell that summer was around the corner and that, uh, it is about that time for
people to start, uh, you know, buying and selling homes because the phone is starting to

732
00:51:37,175 --> 00:51:37,823
pick up.

733
00:51:38,963 --> 00:51:40,404
Yeah, very true.

734
00:51:40,404 --> 00:51:43,916
I, the most part, I'm not in the field much anymore.

735
00:51:43,916 --> 00:51:54,081
And, you know, it's for another time, some other things I'm working on right now, but same
here, I kind of keep my pulse on our incoming bookings.

736
00:51:54,081 --> 00:52:01,405
And it's interesting seeing, you know, that we'll have weeks where nearly everything's an
online booking and other weeks, everything's a phone call booking.

737
00:52:01,405 --> 00:52:08,109
And I think all those things mean something, you know, figuring out exactly what that
means is kind of tricky sometimes.

738
00:52:08,109 --> 00:52:08,767
But

739
00:52:08,767 --> 00:52:17,399
To Matt's point, I think the market is picking up, especially when you have weeks where a
week will be slow and then the next week is busy.

740
00:52:17,720 --> 00:52:24,922
It's easy to get frustrated in the midst of that, but then you look at the data and it's
funny, it follows the same trends every year.

741
00:52:24,922 --> 00:52:30,715
So, looking forward to this next couple weeks here, because it's looking good.

742
00:52:31,197 --> 00:52:32,457
Nah, I love it.

743
00:52:32,638 --> 00:52:36,010
For all y'all watching, make sure you guys go follow Ryan.

744
00:52:36,010 --> 00:52:38,542
Check out Hello Home Inspections online on social media.

745
00:52:38,542 --> 00:52:39,953
They're awesome down here at Tampa.

746
00:52:39,953 --> 00:52:41,084
Check out their website.

747
00:52:41,084 --> 00:52:42,985
Did a bang up job on that as well.

748
00:52:42,985 --> 00:52:44,926
Just don't check out the software that they use.

749
00:52:44,926 --> 00:52:46,608
We don't like them very much.

750
00:52:46,608 --> 00:52:50,180
anyway, Ryan, thanks so much for coming on the show, man.

751
00:52:50,180 --> 00:52:51,551
This has been a lot of fun.

752
00:52:52,832 --> 00:52:53,392
All right.

753
00:52:53,392 --> 00:52:55,293
And thank you guys so much for watching.

754
00:52:55,293 --> 00:52:59,616
And we'll see you right here next time on You Got It.

755
00:52:59,616 --> 00:53:00,757
We'll see you then.