Just a poll
As a home inspector, what basis do you use to establish inspection fees? Note I asked for the basis of establishing not the fee itself. However, I think that would be an interesting topic just to compare across the U.S.

Square Feet: What do you include to establish SF?
Selling Price: Listed, final?
Time: cost plus?

What other factors influence the process?
Age Differentials?
Historical Value?
Crawlspace?

Me? I use SF and add $25 per 25 yrs age. If I run into a really large deck, add for that.

About fees: If I asked for that information, not to be posted publicly, but emailed, and I compiled the results by state or perhaps metropolitan area, would anyone participate or even be interested in the results?

I saw somewhere and earlier about Radon test fees in CA. Boy, I sure would like to be able to charge $500-$600. (I'm NEHA-NRPP certified too).

Stu

Are inspection referrals from past clients important to you? If so, click here to get even more referrals!

We base ours on :

1. Age of Home
2. Square footage
3. Location (drive time)
4. Gas or Electric or both
5. Extras: Pools, spas, sprinklers, additional mechanical
equipment.
5. Slab / or Pier and Beam
6. Vacant or Occupied
7. Is it a Foreclosure
8. WDI REPORT
9. Is the father of the buyer coming out?
And #10. Kind of car their agent the client drives

rick

Thanks Rick -
And under #9 add "or friend/other relative who is a (pick one) builder, electrician, plumber, handy-man, HVAC guy, ..." and possibly "A bored retired military officer"

That's double? Right?

Mine is ditto Rick's reply... we ask and need the exact same information he requires.

• I'm now at .13-.14/sq ft. livable space (rounded up to nearest $5)
• add $2.00/ a year for every year the home is over 25 years old (example: add $70.00 for a home that is 60 years old)
• add $35.00 crawlspace
• add $40.00 pool
• add $20.00 spa
• Foreclosures and repo's-- I charge .17/ sq ft.

After calculating all of the above, I now add $30.00 per inspection. The $30/per is now a gas/insurance surcharge.


rr

__________________
"If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?"
Richard Rushing, HCRI
Duncanville, Tx.

Stuart,

In addition to what was said above, if you haven't done so, you might want to go through Brian's Cost of Doing Business. That should be an indication of what you should be charging.

Also, call your competition and pretend to be a buyer. Find out what they charge and you'll get a general feel for your market.

__________________
Tim Moreira
Suncoast Home Inspections
Suncoasthomeinspections@yahoo.com

Here is what we base our price on:
1. Age of Home
2. Square footage
3. Location (drive time)
4. On big houses I ask how many baths, kitchens, laundry rooms and HVAC units.


Since we have a mix of slab/crawl/basments, I don't charge more for crawls, I just figure I make out better on the others.

If the house is over 60 years old, I charge more, if it's over 100, I charge a LOT more - sometimes as much as double the fee.

While I ask if the house is vacant or occupied, it has no bearing on my price. I have found that when someone tells me it's vacant, that might mean the people have just moved out, but left all of their furniture and belongings.

I don't inspect pools or spas, so it has no bearing on my fee.

As far as square footage goes, I ask my client or the person booking the inspection. Most of the time they are pretty accurate. If I come out and find they have mis-quoted the footage by a bunch, I bring it up right away. But there again, I have over priced many homes because they mis-quopted the footage the other way, so I don't get too excited if I'm not there much longer than I expected.

ABOUT CHECKING OUT YOUR COMPETITION
1. Be aware that most of us have caller ID.
2. Most comsumers do not ask questions like a home inspector does. We can usually spot you a mile away.
3. You are wasting our time, and tying up our phones.
4. If we spot you early on - you may not get accurate numbers. Example, "Uh, how much do you charge for a 2000SF house, on a crawl with 2 HVAC units?. "$1200" or if we feel like it, the answer may also be, "This weeks special is $149".

While knowing what the others in your area are charging may be good information, one really has to set their fees to 1. make a living and 2. make a profit.

Everyone in this field needs to know their own cost of doing business. I had a conversation the other day with an investor about the $175 guy in my area. He probably has no idea of his true cost of doing business, and is going broke with every job - he just doesn't know it yet.

His cost for each inspection he does is likely way higher than mine, yet I'm charging twice what he does. E&O insurance is a good starting point. His insurance is probably around $3000/year. He is probably going to do maybe 100 inspections this year. My insurance is close to that, but it also covers the guy working for me, and we will probably do between 600 - 700 inspections.

Add in the required continuing education, license fees, etc, his per inspection cost is way higher than mine - yet he is charging so much less. I'm guessing he will not be around next year.

Sorry for the thread drift.
JF

Everyone needs to do Brian's cost of doing business program. I probably need to do it again to refresh my numbers, and I've been doing this gig for about 19 years or so

[ABOUT CHECKING OUT YOUR COMPETITION

Yes, I had a call from Richmond,Va about 50 miles away. Said he was gonna buy a house between now and Dec 30th. Wasn't sure how big, where, just wanted to get prices for info. Hmm, sounds kinda suspicious doesn't it. I just emailed a standard price list. I charge what I charge and if somebody wants to undercut it they can.

My fees are based on how much time I will have invested in the inspection, this includes the report. On a large property (over 7,000 sf) I charge by the hour. Otherwise I pretty much know how much time it will take to inspect a home, this type of knowledge comes with experience.

I do not have a posted or printed price list. This allows me to adjust my pricing as I see fit. If it is slow and I really want a job, I can adjust my price. If the home is in a bad area, or an area that I really don't want to drive to, I will raise my fee. I also don't add a "Travel" or "Mileage" fee, I just build it into my fee or quote.

If you are new, you have to be competitive and charge what the norm is for the area. Once you are established you can charge higher fees.

__________________
Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

I charged by the hour, which would allow me to do as much, or as little, as my clients wanted me to.

Over time, my clients kept wanting more, and, being as my inspection fee was 'by the hour', I did not have to try to meet 2 inspections per day, or 1 inspection per day, if my clients wanted me to, I could spend 1-1/2 or 2 days there, which ultimately grew into my typical time frame.

Yet, I could also spend a week there on large homes checking as much as my clients wanted, documenting it for their builder to repair, potential legal action if their builder did not repair it, or for the seller to address.

The 'best standard', and which give built-in raises, is 'based on sales price', but that does not apply if it is not a 'sale', i.e., 1 year warranty inspection and other inspection (which was most of my business).

Inspection cost 'based on sales price' does not work well with being able to do whatever your clients wants - because you are basically limiting your fee/time to that charged.

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

I charge by the square foot and age and I always seem to be a little under my competition (but not under what the market will bear) .... when I started in business 18 years ago my competition was getting $300 as a base price... I charged $250 as a base and was told I wasen't charging enough but I figured I would rather do two $250 inspections a day than no $300 ones .... I'm a one man shop with little overhead .... many guys in my area (CT) have a sliding scale with various increase incriments for any minor additional service.. I know I'll be at the home for about two hours and then I need another two hours to complete the report and get it out ..... I charge $125 for a continuous radon monitor test (others get from $100 to $200)... I figure I'm already there so why be greedy and maybe loose the job.... right now all of us in CT are sitting on our hands and I'm glad I don't have two or three guys relying on me for work... because there isn't any... the one thing I did learn early on was .... when a customer says ..... "John (realtor/friend) told me to call you for an inspection" that is the one that you can charge more for if you like because he is not shopping and will do what "John" told him to do... I would get an extra $50-$100 depending on the travel time ... but I would not go crazy and loose the inspection and piss off John so he doesn't refer any more to me ...

Good morning gentlemen,

This is my first time on this forum since I joined.

How to establish inspection fees has always been a debatable topic. It seems to be a regional issue. I'm in an area where I have little or no competition, the nearest being over 80 miles away. My fees are based on square footage, with the average being about $400. My driving range is about 30 miles one way, with majority within a seven mile radius. I've been doing inspections for about eight years. I'm well known here and have a reputation for being thorough and sometimes nitpicky. The local Realtors recommend my services and I receive many calls from local ads and referrals. I've been able to increase my fees about 5% each year. I also do new construction code compliance inspections with fees based on the old ICBO fee structure.

Hope this helps. Have a great day!

Alaska Don

Jim,

Are you sure you meant to say it the way you said it?

Being as your competition is still in business, and being as they *charge more than you do* (by your own admission - "I always seem to be a little under my competition"), then, yes, *YOU* are charging "(... under what the market will bear)" because the market has already accepted the higher prices of your competition.

The market will bear those higher prices (or your competition), and may even bear prices which are higher than your competition's prices.

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

I also price by the square foot. I have been having trouble with agents telling people what they think I charge or what they feel I should charge. I also have agents who understate the square footage and they expect me to hold to my price based on their bad information.

How do you guys handle the client or the know it all relative that wants to tag along on the inspection and turns a 2.5 hour inspection into the 4-5 hour inspection? I am tempted to tell them I have allowed 2.5 hours for the inspection and any time after that will have to be billed at $100.00 per hour.
Any input from you guys who have been around awhile is helpful. Thanks, Curt

Curt,

For those who wish to tag along I personally give them a notepad and a pen and tell them to write down anything they might have concerns on and I'll address those items at the end of my inspection.

I let them know if they continually follow me on my heels asking questions, I may possibly over-look an important issue and then I ask them is that what they want? They get the idea and most back off. Most I would say is really interested in what you find and don't really mean any harm.

Had one last week and he followed me around like he was my shadow. He kept apologizing for being in the way but continued to be in my way. I finally told him he could follow me but I didn't believe his apology was sincere and he finally backed off.

rick

Thanks Rick, I appreciate you sharing your experience and insight. I'll be heading to the supply store this evening for note pads. Curt

I like you. Will you come be my call taker? I do charge $70 for a pool b/c that is what many others were charging when I began. I also charge $50 for crawlspaces. I tell people that is my snake finder's fee.

I need to charge for older homes but have yet to do so. I like your calculations.

Bruce

Funny about the way we all can perceive things differently. I, and a lot of inspectors in this part of the country encourage client participation and questions. In order to keep things manageable, I ask them to let me have a run through while they review the contract and SOP, measure things, or whatever then I will take them around on a review of the property, problem areas, or good things noted. I like the "make your own notes" concept. I recall a comment from someone about letting them, (client, family, friends) use a LASER measuring device to play with. And I tell them to plan on setting aside 4 hours or so for the inspection.

Stu

Curt,

It does not matter 'how much time *YOU* have allowed' for the inspection if you quote them a fixed fee and sell a 'complete' inspection.

Your only choices are: Charge by the hour to accommodate those people, and price your inspection that way when they call to schedule the inspection, or, follow Rick's and others advice (as you said you were) by 'giving them something to do'.

Just don't give them a "fixed" price for your 'complete' inspection and then expect to be able to charge more because they get in your way - *while you are with them at their inspection* ... *they should be your priority* ... not 'oh my gawd, how am I ever going to make it to my next inspection on time'.

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )