Recently I attended a seminar put on by FLIR, a manufacturer of infrared cameras. The seminar was specifically for home inspectors and building inspectors, and focused (no pun intended) on how to market additional services utilizing the IR camera. Steve Ramos of The House Detective, a TV show, was the presenter.
Steve claimed to have increased his average inspection fee by $125. He said that after some trial and error, he settled on a menu of choices:
Mold inspection $250
IR moisture scan $100
IR electrical scan $100
IR energy audit $250
IR structural scan $300
The approach to selling the services that he suggested was to ask the client if they have done a walk through, and ask them what they like about the home, and what are their areas of concern. Then he can hopefully sell an additional service or two.
The other two approaches he talked about were integrating the IR camera into every home inspection, or offering packaged deals, i.e., a general home inspection for around $350, a general home inspection plus an IR moisture scan for $500, or a general home inspection plus an energy audit or mold inspection for $750.
The cheapest camera can be leased for $99/month, but it takes more than a bit of training to learn how to use it properly and interpret the results. FLIR offers courses, but they are not cheap.
I think they have great potential, and at some point they will be part of our standard toolkit, but I know I'm not ready to spend that kind of money just yet.