New home inspector longs for experience
Q: Your column often advises people to find the most experienced home inspector possible. That's great advice for homebuyers but creates a problem for those of us who are starting out as new inspectors. Home inspector associations, such as the American Society of Home Inspectors, won't give us full memberships until we've done hundreds of inspections, and many real estate agents won't recommend us if we only have candidate memberships. How can we get the experience we need if no one will hire us because we lack experience?
A: You raise one of the perennial quandaries of life in the workplace: How does one gain work experience when experience is needed to gain work? It is a question that plagues newcomers to most professions and is particularly troublesome for novice home inspectors. The answer to this dilemma is simple in concept, difficult in practice, but definitely surmountable.
All home inspectors start out with little or no experience and without full-status memberships in home inspector associations. At first, business is slow, as with any fledgling enterprise. It might take weeks or even months to get your first job. Maintaining a positive outlook can be a challenge as your first year in business drags along. A few jobs may be lost when people ask how many homes you have inspected, but most buyers fail to ask or even to realize that vital question.
Generating business as a new home inspector requires thick-skinned perseverance. You must continually market your services to real estate agents and not become discouraged when positive responses are not immediate. Most agents already have their favorite inspectors. This is an important point to remember. You're not merely requesting that they call you: you're asking that they stop calling the other inspectors. Most agents are not ready to make that kind of change, but a few will. If those who give you a chance are happy with your services, they'll call you again. Little by little the great ball of commerce slowly begins to roll.
Some agents actually prefer to work with new inspectors, rather than experienced ones. These, of course, may not be the most ethical agents. They are the ones who are afraid to gamble a commission check on heavy disclosure. In their shortsighted pursuit of a buck, they provide new inspectors with the opportunity to become experienced.
Little by little, as experience is gained and inspection skills become more refined, you'll attract the attention of better agents and lose the interest of those who gave you your first jobs. Most home inspectors start out in this manner. The only exceptions are those who begin as employees of multi-inspector companies.
Starting an inspection career as an apprentice/employee may not be attractive to someone with entrepreneurial spirit, but it can be the best way of becoming a true journeyman in a complex and demanding profession. However, the home inspection company that hires you is not in business to train future competitors. If you sign on with a multi-inspector firm, stick around for a few years and give them their money's worth. In the long run, you'll be a better inspector for having worked and waited.
• Email Barry Stone, certified home inspector, at barry@housedetective.com.
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