Hello everybody, I am not licensed yet but plan to take the exam by the end of the year and start my own business.
I was wondering if anybody can give me some advice as well....
Does anyone know of a good practice exam out there?
Also, when started a new business I was wondering while creating a name for your company I know uniqueness is good but what are the statutes about having the same name as an existing company. Meaning I am sure you can't use the same name as another company in you city. Can you have the same name as a inspect co .... say in MI and you are in TX? What about a co that is in a diff part of the state?

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Welcome to the board... For get all that. when you pick a name and then try to set up on the WEB. You don't to look like the other guy in Plano Texas.

Best thing you can do is get you name tagged to a big CITY.

Like ( HOUSTON HOME INSPECTION ) Or something like that.

The name is a BIG thing of a new company.

Best

Ron

Consider using the first letter of your company name as an A,B,C, or D. That way you will be among the first listed in the phone book.
Good Luck,
Ben Gardner
Town and Country Inspection Services
Dripping Springs, Texas

Good luck starting out now on Gulf Coast.

About a quarter of TREC inspectors are on inactive status. You can get a feel for the TX attrition rate by searching for inspectors at the TREC site. Use a common name like Smith or Johnson and scroll thru.

For the web you will need multiple sensible site names that all point to your main page. Thats why there are a couple of thousand inspectors in TX and many more thousands of active domain names. Your webmaster will keep coming up with new and exciting strategies to fool the engines. Along with regular invoices.

Be sure to offer Peace of Mind for their Dream Home. So far no one has been sued over that. Once it happens PoM will disappear from ads.

And watch out for sellers. Theres one suing a Houston inspector for a million $ for killing a deal. Look on TIJ for more info on that.

What is this?


And can anyone give me a good name for getting E&O insurance?

Welcome TC. Houston is a brutal market for home inspectors. However a lot of attrition (due to people not being able to make any money the first year or two) and the cost of E&O insurance. At first I didnt like the E&O requirement, but the reality is that it weeded out a lot of part timers that couldnt afford the insurance by only doing a few home inspections every year.

Im certainly not trying to discourage anyone. If its something you like doing, you will be able to make it.

Good luck.

As far as a name you need something like that lawyer on TV. The Texas Hammer! You know who Im talking about.

So why is Houston a brutal market? Too many inspectors?

Like "The tuff ,smart Inspector". LOL

As far as a name in my opinion be careful and think out your name for instance you would rather have "general over view home inspections" instead of "We catch everything home inspection" just because of the implications of the name (as an example). I agree if you can attach a major city to your name that is how most search on the net for a home inspector IE:"Dallas Home Inspections" instead of "Super Home Inspections" People search for city then what the business is in most cases. The phone book where I live is useless but other areas of the country it still pulls, you will have to do some research. As far as using the same name as another we here on the left coast have to post a fictitious name in the paper and see if anyone objects, if not then you roll with it. One of the reasons I used my name is you don't have to post anything to use your name and I don't have a major city near me. Welcome & Good luck!

There seems to be an over abundance of inspectors. Another problem is with the over abundance you are getting some folks that are desperate and will do inspections for hardly nothing.


When I first started, I thought I had a lot of angles figured out that would give me a lot of business. None of them really worked out except for doing enough inspections that I got a lot of referrals. Referrals meant more referrals and so on.

One or two agents that I have worked with that send business my way, but the majority of my work is referrals from past clients.

It takes a while to get that referral base.

I spent a lot of time shopping for E&O insurance, and I decided to go with Liberty-Union Insurance in Plano, Tx. my agent is Janice Smith (janice@liberty-union.com) . Talk to her and tell her I sent you.
Good Luck,
Ben Gardner
Town and Country Inspection Services