Washington State Inspectors - Doing OK?

[hausdok]

Hi All,

Just curious. It's been nearly a year since the grandfathering deadline for experienced inspectors passed. We'd heard such dire predictions about how requiring licenses was going to "level the playing field" and seriously harm the veteran inspector and cause him or her to lose substantial chunks of business to newbies who came into the business yesterday.

Have any of you experienced that?

I haven't; if anything, I've noticed more questions from consumers. Now that everyone is licensed, instead of making price their primary concern as it used to be, they seem to be asking more about the length of time I've been in the business, how many inspections I've done and how long I'll be onsite.

I don't think consumers are stupid. Even though everyone is licensed and on the rolls, they still seem to be doing their due diligence as they were before licensing - the only thing that's different is they perhaps have a little more confidence that after passing the required exam even a relatively inexperienced inspector at least knows which end of a house is the attic and which end is the crawlspace.

I could be wrong, but I don't sense that I'm losing work to any newbies and I don't think the licensing fee "harmed" me that much either; hell, it costs about .73 cents a day - a cost I easily covered when I raised my prices as soon as licensing kicked in last summer.

For me, business has been rock steady for months; if I am losing business, it's probably mostly to other long-time inspectors.

Washington-licensed inspectors - thoughts, your own experiences?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jerry Lozier]

same here Mike....

have consistantly maintained or exceeded my average inspection # per month. I too raised my prices per inspection. Work actually improved w/o 1st time buyers, and they usually whine about fee, so don't really miss them.

Seems I too get more questions about length of time in business and especially how long on site... they don't appreciate drive by inspections. There are a few Realtors who don't like 2.5-3 hr inspections, too inconvienant for them I guess....I very rarely do 2 inspections a day. Too old to put in 12-14 hr days (inspection, writing report, drive time, nap

[randynavarro]

I don't notice changes; however, other than asking how folks got my name and number, I don't really track why or how folks came to choosing me over others.

[Robert Jones]

I haven't really noticed a major difference with the implementation of licensing. I am fairly sure that the only thing that is causing a busy week from a slow week is the market itself. The last couple of months have been real steady and the past 2 weeks have been like the old days. I am fairly certain that this is caused by the returning troops from down range. My max is 2 inspections a day. Somedays, even that is to much:)