How feasible would it be to offer just ancillary services as a business idea?

[Jbrow327]

How feasible is it to run a business that just offers ancillary services? I read on here about one guy who runs a multi inspector firm who has an employee that does 5 to 7 sewer line inspections per day at 200 to 250 dollars each. That’s very good money. I could somehow market to people in old neighborhoods. Or I could do radon or IR or any of the other services. 

What do you guys think?

[Jim Katen]

20 hours ago, Jbrow327 said:

How feasible is it to run a business that just offers ancillary services? I read on here about one guy who runs a multi inspector firm who has an employee that does 5 to 7 sewer line inspections per day at 200 to 250 dollars each. That’s very good money. I could somehow market to people in old neighborhoods. Or I could do radon or IR or any of the other services. 

What do you guys think?

The first good idea you've proposed here. 

A company that provides sewer scopes and radon screening could do well subcontracting with home inspectors or marketing directly to realtors. The initial investment is minimal, the education necessary is finite and relatively easy to obtain. 

[Jbrow327]

4 minutes ago, Jim Katen said:

The first good idea you've proposed here. 

A company that provides sewer scopes and radon screening could do well subcontracting with home inspectors or marketing directly to realtors. The initial investment is minimal, the education necessary is finite and relatively easy to obtain. 

Thanks for the response. Wouldn't subcontracting to inspectors be unprofitable? It seems like they would try to be as cheap as possible. 

Overall, it seems like there would be more business doing just ancillary services because most people would like to have sewer scope, radon, etc done and not as many people need full inspections. Would you say that's accurate?

[Jim Katen]

Just now, Jbrow327 said:

Thanks for the response. Wouldn't subcontracting to inspectors be unprofitable? It seems like they would try to be as cheap as possible. 

Smart inspectors absolutely do not try to be a cheap as possible. Good business practice is to try to be as expensive as possible. My company uses subcontractors for radon work and everyone does well with it. We'd love to do the same with sewer scopes, but the best sewer scoping guy in town doesn't want to subcontract with us, so we just refer him (and schedule him) for free. He charges the customers separately. 

 

4 minutes ago, Jbrow327 said:

Overall, it seems like there would be more business doing just ancillary services because most people would like to have sewer scope, radon, etc done and not as many people need full inspections. Would you say that's accurate?

Not really. Most people probably *should* do that, but they don't. 

[Jbrow327]

22 minutes ago, Jim Katen said:

Smart inspectors absolutely do not try to be a cheap as possible. Good business practice is to try to be as expensive as possible. My company uses subcontractors for radon work and everyone does well with it. We'd love to do the same with sewer scopes, but the best sewer scoping guy in town doesn't want to subcontract with us, so we just refer him (and schedule him) for free. He charges the customers separately. 

 

Not really. Most people probably *should* do that, but they don't. 

So with subcontracting, does the inspector I subcontract through take a percentage of my fee? 

 

Overall, I know every market is different, but do you know anyone who just offers ancillary services only for their business? Where can I get trained to do ancillary services? Online programs similar to HI training, etc.?

Sorry for all the questions. 

[Tom Raymond]

You charge what you want. If the person you sub for wants a piece of the action he marks up your fee. You want $100, he sells it for $200. 

[Jbrow327]

22 minutes ago, Tom Raymond said:

You charge what you want. If the person you sub for wants a piece of the action he marks up your fee. You want $100, he sells it for $200. 

I see. Which of the ancillary services would you say is the most profitable?

[Jerry Simon]

10 hours ago, Jbrow327 said:

I see. Which of the ancillary services would you say is the most profitable?

Sewer scoping should be one of the most profitable. 

Average cost around here is about $250 I'd say, but if I sub'd it out, I'd get at least $350 without a problem.  Not hard to sell such a crappy job, and well worth the money in my opinion, especially on pre-1970 era houses with *complicated* sewer systems in many cases.

Cheap, too, versus digging up the front yard. . .

[Jbrow327]

26 minutes ago, Jerry Simon said:

Sewer scoping should be one of the most profitable. 

Average cost around here is about $250 I'd say, but if I sub'd it out, I'd get at least $350 without a problem.  Not hard to sell such a crappy job, and well worth the money in my opinion, especially on pre-1970 era houses with *complicated* sewer systems in many cases.

Cheap, too, versus digging up the front yard. . .

Nice! Good sewer scopes are very pricy though. 9k or so. However, if it was one of those cases where I can't even get access to the pipe, for whatever reason, then I just won't charge the customer anything and tell them a plumber can help them further.