Starting a home inspection business is exciting and challenging. How do you get customers in the door? How do you keep business steady? A home inspection business offers a unique service; knowing how to attract customers can be the difference between success and failure. That’s when the right marketing plan comes into play.

Here are some marketing tips for your new home inspection business to help you attract a client base.

Advertise

Potential customers need to know you exist in order to use your services. Place ads in local and regional newspapers. Many papers are circulated in businesses and restaurants, as well as delivered via personal subscriptions, so the reach can be significant.

Flyers and Leaflets

Everything has gone digital, but tangible, paper advertisement can still be effective. Post flyers on free advertising boards, get permission to place them in real estate offices, and hit the streets on your own to hand them out. A flyer or leaflet gives potential clients something to save and come back to later when they need an inspection done.

Get in Good

When people first buy or sell a home, they don’t always think about their home inspection. But it’s a necessity when doing either, and you want to be the person they call. Get close with a real estate agency or individual real estate agents. Ask them to mention your business when showing homes to buyers. Whether they want payment or to refer you as a professional courtesy depends upon your relationship and what you’re able to work out. Make it a reciprocal arrangement by referring your friends and family to the real estate agent for buying and selling needs.

Bonus tip: Become a member of a national organization of certified home inspectors like the American Society of Home Inspectors. It shows that you’re educated, certified, and verified.

Get Social

Hitting the streets with flyers and business cards is a good way to market. But since everything has gone digital, it’s smart to use social networks to advertise. When building a social page for your business, include as much information as possible. The easier it is for prospective clients to find and contact you, the better. Also, be sure your listings on digital and hard-copy information pages is up to date.

Budget

Marketing for your business is a high priority. It will help get customers in the door and keep them coming back. With the vital need for marketing comes the necessary budgeting to consider. When doing the books, work your marketing expenses into your budget. Be sure to include a generous amount for advertising. Remember that your time is a commodity, and dedicate a certain number of hours a week to ground advertising and digital marketing upkeep.

Once your business is up and running, getting attention to your services is the next step. These marketing ideas are a great basis to grow your marketing system upon.

You’ll discover a lot of variation in air conditioners, and ICA School will prepare you for all of them.

The weather will soon warm up again, and air conditioning units will get a workout. That’s the classic time for lurking problems to surface. In winter, you’ll switch on the air conditioning just long enough to inspect it. But when the weather is warm and the unit might be running more often, problems that have been waiting to emerge can come to the surface.

Types of Air Conditioners You’ll Probably Encounter

A lot of different looking air conditioners are on the market. You’ll encounter some newer systems, and some that are so old they’re barely hanging on for dear life. You’re not typically required to inspect portable air conditioners or those installed in a window. The others will be central units and ductless ones.

Mini-split systems aren’t as popular as central units yet, but the ductless heat pump technology and efficiency mean they’re gaining ground.

Principles of Heat Transfer

Part of understanding how air conditioning operates is learning the principles of heat transfer. In general, heat transfer refers to the natural migration of heat to a cooler area, like the way heat from the sun passes through to the inside of a house in summer and heated air migrates out in winter.

As it applies to air conditioning, heat transfer deals with refrigerants that capture heat and move it someplace else. In our program, you’ll learn how each type of air conditioning removes heat from the interior of the home and releases it outdoors.

Different Types of Defects

Air conditioning is easy to operate, but there’s a lot going on inside. Defects might be obvious, with physical damage, or not so obvious, with defective electronics, leaks, or a number of other problems. Some defects only deal with an overgrowth of vines and similar neglect.

Air conditioning is one a home’s major systems. Maintained properly, they’ll last several years or longer. Left in disrepair, they’ll need replacement much sooner. A home buyer relies on the information that you provide to help guide him to a wise choice. Just remember that defects don’t necessarily mean a home isn’t worth buying, not that you’d offer any advice about that.

There are lots of online home inspecting programs, but only one with as much to offer as ICA School.

You’re Never Really Alone

Video Makes a Big Difference

Reading about home inspecting is good, but with such a hands-on job you’ll also want something more in-depth. That’s why we include instructor-led video lessons. Each of the 27 modules that you’ll complete come with a video component that’s fully narrated.

Access reference material at any time, even after you graduate.

Get Access to Lots of Extras

We also offer full access to a reference library that includes an over 5,000 page e-book on the International Building Code, plus e-books on energy audits, termite inspections, septic inspections and much more.

Learn About Starting and Running a Business

We also cover the legal aspects that you’ll need to know, plus other details that many inspectors have to learn the hard way. For example, you’ll learn about drafting and using pre-inspection agreements, types of insurance that you’ll need, and the basics of forming a business.

Our program really is different, and on so many levels. But you don’t have to take our word for it. See for yourself. Get a free course demo today.

While other inspectors are sitting at home or in the office, you could be on the road to earning more.

Probably the last thing that you want to do is a home inspection when it’s pouring down rain. But the Orange County Register in California proposes a different idea. Home inspections in the rain might be a great idea for home buyers, sellers and people who are fine where they are.

As a home inspector, this idea translates to more potential business and a broader swath for your marketing efforts.

Foul Weather Home Inspections are Great for Everybody

Regardless of whether a house is being sold or not, a home inspection during a rain shower is a good idea. For homeowners, an inspection can unearth leaks and other problems that stay hidden, such as attic leaks and wet basements. This lets your client focus on repairs that preserve the integrity of the home.

For sellers, the same applies but for a slightly different reason. Although buyers will have an inspection, a pre-sale inspection works as a heads up before the house hits the market. That way, repairs can be made as needed to help make the house more marketable. And then of course buyers really need an inspection to alert them to problems that might not show up when the weather is fine.

When the weather is dry, a walk through might not be as revealing as it should.

Why Inspecting in the Rain is a Good Idea

Roof leaks and flooded basements are only part of what you might find when you inspect a home during foul weather. Standing water in the yard might signal a clogged drain, says the Orange County Register. Gutters that don’t drain and water that stands around the foundation are more clues that the house needs some attention.

Leaks around a natural gas HVAC system or water heater could indicate a leaky vent pipe seal. Other places to watch for leaks are around doors and windows, where seals might fail. And while a flooded basement is clear and convincing evidence of something that’s amiss, whether it’s a bad grade around the foundation or something else, a damp basement might only reveal itself while it’s raining.

Your Marketing Efforts Might Reap Bigger Rewards

Most inspectors are always in search of new ways to grow their business. You can continue handing out business cards and networking with real estate agents to market for buyer home inspections. But focusing on whole communities could add a nice bump up in business. That’s especially true in areas where there’s not a tremendous amount of rainfall and leaks are tougher to find.

Marketing to a broader pool of potential clients makes you more valuable to the whole community where you work. The more you offer, the more people will need your home inspection services. And the more people who hire you for an inspection, the bigger your reputation as an industry leader will grow.

Bad weather might make you want to stay home and wish for better weather. There’s nothing especially fun about inspecting a house in the rain. But the added business might be more than fun; it might be downright profitable.

Mike Chamberlain is the owner and lead home inspector with MC2 Home Inspections. He has a background in construction and residential real estate and has nine years of experience as an inspector and business owner. We recently asked him about the challenges of running a home inspection business. Here’s wha the had to say:

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced running a home inspection business?

The biggest challenge by far has been running our business without marketing to real estate agents. Like politics, if you are not in the good ol boy network, you tend to get shunned by your peers. The biggest lesson I’ve learned? Never take anything for granted.

What type of training or certification do you recommend aspiring home inspectors get?

In order to become a home inspector, you do need to become certified by an accredited school. Also, 32 states require home inspectors to be licensed which comes with having to take a national exam and keep up on continuing education every year. Not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

What do you think it takes to build a reputable home inspection business?

It takes a lot of time as well as persistence in doing what is right. The first year as a home inspector is always the hardest. Once you get past the first year and grow your clientele, as long as you continue doing what is right, people will talk and that is how you succeed in this industry … word of mouth.

How have you grown your business? What are your favorite marketing resources?

Without question the way to grow and succeed in this business is online. If done correctly, the internet continues to be one of the very best resources to get your name out there and recognized.

What are the most common mistakes or oversights you see other home inspectors making?

The continued marketing to real estate agents. Most inspectors bribe real estate agents constantly with trips to their offices, buying them lunch, sponsoring real estate agent-related functions, gift cards etc. In the past, the general public has been unaware of this “pay to play” mentality, however, thanks to the internet, more and more home buyers are becoming aware that this is a growing problem in this industry due to the conflict of interest it portrays. That’s where we come in.

What’s one final piece of advice you’d offer to novice home inspectors?

You will ultimately have two paths to take: 1. The most common path, to bribe real estate agents for referrals or 2. the less common, more difficult path to take is to market directly to the public and leave the real estate agents to their job and you to yours. It will take longer, but in the long run, you will be able to sleep at night knowing you are doing the right thing.

Connect with Mike on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.