Thread: Frank Carr, First Choice Home Inspections, Deltona, FL

I have really enjoyed the discussions of this group since I found it and now that I am a member it appears it would be rude or against the rules not to introduce myself. I have a background of home construction 3 generations and have been doing home inspections for 18 months now.
The first year was really hard to get into the business even though I knew most of the people in it. I spent most of the first-year marketing and placing ads all over the internet. Over the last three months I have started doing more inspections, sometimes 5 or 6 GHI a week with a few 4 Pt. and Wind Mit thrown in.
You could call me a thorough inspector. I cannot leave a job half done. Usually, my inspections at the site depending on size will run 2-3 hours, had one Friday 113 yrs. old 2? story house took me 5? hrs. After the onsite inspection, I usually spend 2-3 hrs marking pictures, doing research, and finalizing the report. I cannot understand how the inspector that does a 45 min - 1 hr inspection and deliver the report on site can sleep at night.
Whether inspecting, marketing, advertising, taking classes/webinars, or writing a new blog I usually spend 18 hrs a day, 7 days a week, building my business.
Servicing Central Florida: Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Lake Counties; Orlando to Ormond Beach.
Services Provided:

• Home Inspections (Buyer, Seller and Maintenance)
• New Home Warranty Inspections
• Home Checkup Inspections
• Manufactured/Mobile Home Inspections
• 4pt Insurance Inspections
• Wind Mitigation Inspections
• Pool/Spa Inspections
• Roof Condition Certification Inspections
• WDO* Inspections offer by independent contractors

Frank Carr, Inspector/Owner
First Choice Home Inspections, LLC
Deltona, FL 32725
Home.inspections@aol.com
First Choice Home Inspections - Central Florida Home Inspections

Welcome Frank,

Glad to have you here.

Welcome Frank!
Glad to have you here!

Honestly though, you really don't have any idea what you don't know yet. This isn't throwing stones at you, its just the reality of getting into this business. You think you know a lot, then after your first 100, you look back on those first dozen or so, that maybe were not so good. Then, after you do 500, you look back on those first 100 and realize you may not have done as stellar job as you thought. We have all been there.

Welcome!
No offense, but the sounds on your web site are very irritating.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Welcome Frank!
Glad to have you here!

Honestly though, you really don't have any idea what you don't know yet. This isn't throwing stones at you, its just the reality of getting into this business. You think you know a lot, then after your first 100, you look back on those first dozen or so, that maybe were not so good. Then, after you do 500, you look back on those first 100 and realize you may not have done as stellar job as you thought. We have all been there.

Welcome!
No offense, but the sounds on your web site are very irritating.

I am reviewing different website building software now. Too many things about the website I also do not like. Thanks for the comments. Just confirms what I already dislike about it.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Welcome Frank!
Glad to have you here!

Honestly though, you really don't have any idea what you don't know yet. This isn't throwing stones at you, its just the reality of getting into this business. You think you know a lot, then after your first 100, you look back on those first dozen or so, that maybe were not so good. Then, after you do 500, you look back on those first 100 and realize you may not have done as stellar job as you thought. We have all been there.

Welcome!
No offense, but the sounds on your web site are very irritating.

Jack

We are now starting our 4th Year in business and have been booked solid for 2 years now. Our business and service area has grown and we continue to interview inspectors as our business grows.

Funny thing I just re-read this thread and your comment about the irritating noise from the website. Honestly we are still looking for a new website software but have been so busy these past two years we really have not gotten around to it. Just a thought maybe the reason we have been so busy is the irritating noise on the web site. Who knows just love what I do for a living and love helping people find the right home.

Glad you are having success with your business! What I find irritating noise, someone else might find enjoyable.
I'm in the process of updating my website to get it more mobile friendly, and make other changes. I have a local company do it.
If you are not happy with your site, then get a company that does web sites to look at it and make changes.
Again, congrats on your success!

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Glad you are having success with your business! What I find irritating noise, someone else might find enjoyable.
I'm in the process of updating my website to get it more mobile friendly, and make other changes. I have a local company do it.
If you are not happy with your site, then get a company that does web sites to look at it and make changes.
Again, congrats on your success!

Thank You

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Glad you are having success with your business! What I find irritating noise, someone else might find enjoyable.
I'm in the process of updating my website to get it more mobile friendly, and make other changes. I have a local company do it.
If you are not happy with your site, then get a company that does web sites to look at it and make changes.
Again, congrats on your success!

And MAKE SURE it is mobile friendly and compatible with multiple devices.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Welcome Frank!
Glad to have you here!

Honestly though, you really don't have any idea what you don't know yet. This isn't throwing stones at you, its just the reality of getting into this business. You think you know a lot, then after your first 100, you look back on those first dozen or so, that maybe were not so good. Then, after you do 500, you look back on those first 100 and realize you may not have done as stellar job as you thought. We have all been there.

Welcome!
No offense, but the sounds on your web site are very irritating.

The past two years have been hell again compared to 2016 -2020. I guess we were just coasting along enjoying the good life. Even during Covid we were still busy. The last two years have got homeowners and home inspectors nervous. Our business has shifted from Home Inspections to Insurance Inspection with a few Mobile Home Inspections. We still get home inspections but not like before. I get home inspectors calls looking for work or asking what we are doing for a side hustle. We are still steady but not taking on new inspectors.
We have completed a few more inspections since our last contract.

Home Inspection - 6945
4 Pt Insurance Inspections - 11,003
Wind Mitigations - 2854
Swimming Pool Inspections - around 350

I do sleep better at night now. I do not second guess myself like I used to. All the 18-hour days have paid off. I seldom spend 18 hours a day working but sometimes you still have to. If there is one thing, I am constantly telling all the new inspectors that call looking for work is, you have to put in the time in the beginning and don't give us your day job.

I hope you are still doing well and thanks for the unsugar coated advice you gave me when I need it in the beginning.

Yes, business for me is very slow as well. Fortunately, my expenses are fairly small (for this area), because my income last year was down by 30%+ and this year is worse. August has seen a little uptick in inspections, but nowhere near busy. And, generally, September sees a bit of drop-off in business.

There just isn't much on the market and therefore not may accepted offers. I keep hoping that the CPI gets down to where the Fed is comfortable and we can see interest rates drop a bit. Maybe that will spur sales enough for me to start paying into retirement again.

Funny to see this thread. I posted in 2015, and in May of 2019 I retired after 30 years of crawling in, around, and under houses. Sold my business, consulted with new owner a couple years, and have to say I hope I never have to crawl under another house.
It took a while to shut it off, but I can now drive by houses and not "inspect" them, or imagine what a horrible crawlspace it must have.
While I do come by here once in a great while, I'm pretty much out of home inspector mode.
Funny thing is, I still get calls from previous clients wanting me to inspect a house for them.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Funny thing is, I still get calls from previous clients wanting me to inspect a house for them.

Pretty sure that will go on for a long time, unless you ditch your phone number.
I actually look forward to the day when I can throw my cell phone into the biggest lake in a ceremonious goodbye gesture (or at least imagine doing it).

Originally Posted by Dom D'Agostino

Pretty sure that will go on for a long time, unless you ditch your phone number.

I even changed my phone number and area code when I retired from home inspections in Feb 2006 and moved out of South Florida.

People tracked me down and called for about 8-10 years. What helped stop the calls was having a good inspector/engineer I referred people to. It helped him out and my past clients received inspections similar to what they were used to. They then had a person to call.

Jerry, I wish I had a good electrician to recommend. The ones I used to recommend turned out to be a little more hassle-averse than hazard-averse, so I stopped giving out their contact info. Right now I have my eye on one colleague; when I have a little more faith in his reliability, I may ask to visit him on the job.

Originally Posted by david shapiro

I may ask to visit him on the job.

David, there were three of us in the same market. We helped each other and, when necessary, did inspections each other, and occasionally for each other.

The inspector/engineer I referred to was younger than the three of us (I was i the middle of the other two), and this inspector worked for the older inspector quite often.

We were bringing the 'new guy' up to our market level so he could be a fourth inspector in our market, and take some inspections as we retired.

Doing that worked out for the benefit of all of us. I retired from HI and went into code inspections and the youngest of our 'original three" took over my phone number; the older inspector retired a few years after I did and the 'new guy' who had been working with him took over most of his business, and took on some of my referrals; the youngest of our 'original three' has basically only been doing expert witness work for the last 5 years.

Other than the inspector/engineer who is doing that market now, I don't know who else is doing it.

Yes, you need to cultivate someone who can step up to be able to start filling what you are leaving.

It's my cell, so Im not going to throw it away. At my age, trying to remember a new number might be the last straw for my limited brain capacity. They are not a nuisance, and it's kind of nice to reconnect with some of them.

Funny thing happened recently. I hired a contractor to do a deck repair job that was beyond my scope. We were talking about him moving here for SoCal about 8 years ago, and I asked him if he had an inspection done. He said that he looked it up, and discovered I had done the inspection. He gave me the address, which meant little to me, and I asked him to describe the house. He got a sentence or two in, and I had a vision of his house and described the outbuilding and other things to him. I have no idea where that came from, but it's a common occurrence. Im horrible with names and faces, but with a few prompts, I can remember the house. IN fact I ran into a woman at Trader Joes, and I even remembered the neighbors dog barked non stop during the inspection.
Its amazing what the brain retains, and what it doesn't.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

... Its amazing what the brain retains, and what it doesn't.

The area that I inspect is somewhat limited in size and it is not uncommon for me to inspect a home that I inspected anywhere from 2 to 25 years ago. I generally leave my initials in the far end of the foundation crawlspace (vast majority of homes here are perimeter foundation) and will run across my initials periodically. Typically, no memory whatsoever of the house or clients.

My brain is filled with useless crap like the theme song to Gilligan's island (beginning and end credit), dialogue from movies, etc. It would be nice to be able to purge some of that stuff and remember things that are actually important.