ICA School gives you more tools to succeed.

You’ll Feel More Connected

Online learning can give you a detached feeling on the best of days. Iowa State University lists a feeling of isolation and disconnect as one of the primary drawbacks of learning online. Instructor-led video helps you feel connected as a student instead of out there on your own.

Online learning is easier when you can watch demonstrations.

Video Lets You See How It’s Done

You can read about a theory or technique used in home inspections over and again, but nothing can compare to seeing it with your own eyes. A picture is worth a thousand words, and so is video. Where it’s particularly valuable is for demonstrating a complicated procedure or unfamiliar topic.

When you see how to perform inspections, you won’t have to guess about whether you’ve got the right idea. There’s no room for confusion because you’ll learn it correctly the first time. This is a useful tool for students without construction experience, but it’s also valuable for seasoned pros.

No matter where or when you study, video lets you watch and listen step-by-step as often as you like.

Real World Experience Comes Through

There’s a certain trust that comes through when you realize that not only has your instructor performed home inspections before, but he’s got years of experience in the field. Real knowhow brings more to the learning process than any amount of reading a book could match.

Trust is imperative when planning a brand new career. If you can trust the instructor to teach you the right way to perform inspections, then you can rely on that same knowledge once you’re out on your own in the field.

If you want to see one of our inspector training videos in action, get a free demo and start watching within minutes. We’re confident that you’ll agree: Instructor-led video training is the best, most-effective tool available to prospective home inspectors.

Getting your certified home inspector business noticed is no small feat. You’ll gradually build a system of referrals over time, but what if you’re ready to grow now?

Every business, no matter how large or small, needs better visibility to survive and thrive. Here are four ways to help get your marketing off the ground and make it happen.

#1: Lose Your Fear of Cold Calling

Home inspectors get a lot of business from referrals, and referrals come from people. What do people respond to? Communication. Authentic communication, to be exact. Emails are great and so are social media conversation snippets. But there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned phone call.

ASHI Reporter says Dustie Amatangelo was almost hired by her current company to “run candy bowls to the real estate offices” and set appointments. But FBI Group home inspectors liked her vision better.

She’s VP of Business Development now and it all started with phone calls to real estate offices, which she continues today. Ten offices per week, she says, and each call has a personal touch.

#2: Create Memorable Presentations

What kind of presentations do you offer agents who’ve carved out a slot on their calendar? If they’re interesting and engaging, agents will want to attend and fewer of them might doze off.

Think about what you’d like home buyers to know. They’re your customers, after all. But agents have more contact with them, and from an earlier stage in the process. The more they know, the better educated your customers will be about the home inspection process.

Dustie says presentations should cover a wide range of topics that clarify the inspection process and special areas of concern, such as:

Home inspection basics How a home inspection is performed Mold, radon, pest, and other special inspections Areas of concern unique to your city or state

Get creative. Make presentations something special. The more value agents get from knowing you, the more likely they’ll be to make referrals.

#3: Keep Association Contact Information Current

Many home buyers go straight to the source to find the name of a good home inspector. Home inspector associations tend to have a professional directory that home buyers can search and review before making a call. How your information displays makes a difference.

At ASHI, the directory is called “Find an Inspector.” ASHI Reporter recommends updating your information and checking it regularly to see how your business ranks.

Here are a few tips:

Upload your company logo. If you don’t have one, ASHI has free graphic design services for members. Double-check contact information for accuracy. Update anything that’s outdated. Fill out every field, including a company description and which services you provide. Check out other certified home inspector profiles to see how yours compares.

The more complete and accurate your Find an Inspector profile, the more page views, and hopefully appointments, you’ll get.

#4: Learn About Google Search Rankings

Your website looks great, it’s mobile friendly, and everything a prospective customer needs to make an appointment is handy. Your profile is updated at your association, too. So where is all of the business?

If Google doesn’t favor you in search rankings, your beautiful efforts won’t help much at all.

Marketing expert, Neil Patel, recommends nine steps that boost your Google search rankings to help customers find you:

Learn about the Google ranking algorithm Find out where you rank among other home inspectors Track and measure important metrics such as organic site traffic and keyword ranking If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, make it so Learn about Google penalties, such as spammy links, and fix any that ail you Put in the legwork to research keywords Get Search Engine Optimization (SEO) down to a science Weave the top ranking keywords into your content Build better, healthier links

There’s yet another way to pull all of these threads together. When you’re ready to hire a new employee, choose someone for marketing so you can delegate the work. Hire someone part-time or outsource a dedicated professional who doesn’t find cold calling intimidating, understands how to build an engaging presentation, keeps your contact information current, and won’t go cross-eyed when talking about Google search rankings.

There’s plenty of time to hire another inspector in the near future. With all of your marketing ducks in a row first, your business will grow enough to support them and more.

You are in control of how fast and big your business grows.

 

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” — Walt Disney

One of the biggest keys to growing your business is reputation, and you will get one whether or not you try. Every day that you’re in business, you are earning it. So it’s up to you to craft the reputation that you want. That’s how to grow your business.

Of course there’s a lot more to it. Your reputation is based on how customers perceive you and the services that you provide. It’s more than just whether an inspection was done properly; it’s the whole package.

Whether you’re just starting out or if you’ve been an inspector for years, you can always take steps to make your business grow.

One quick phone call can make all the difference.

Stay in Touch with Customers and Clients

If you perform a home inspection for a client and never contact her again, you’ll one day be that guy who did the inspection. Did he have brown hair and drive a white truck? Who knows. If you follow up, clients are more likely to know you by name, and also more likely to recommend you to a friend or colleague.

This is especially important when working with real estate agents. That’s where a lot of your repeat business can come from. Always follow up after the inspection is finished. Pick up the phone, and also send a professional letter with a business card for their file. Sometimes what seems like a small, unimportant thing to you can turn into more business.

Don’t Undervalue Your Services

Pricing your services is challenging. It’s the same for nearly every person in business for him or herself. There should be a market average for your area, and you don’t want to stray too far from that. But also be cautious of lowballing.

Customers perceive value where the service is assigned value. A lowball cost can make customers wary about whether or not you’ll do a good job. Don’t be afraid to price your services competitively, and you’ll gain more trust.

Conferences are just one of many ways to increase your knowledge.

Keep up With Continuing Education

Continuing education is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, your business, and your customers. What you know to be true today will almost invariably change in 5 or 10 years. If you stay on top of new developments, you won’t be caught off guard.

An inspector who is out of the loop can’t perform as good an inspection as one with his ear to the ground. Learn from colleagues, at conferences, and through courses. Everything new that you learn translates to more value to your customers.

Diversify the Services That You Offer

You can certainly perform quality inspections without ever deviating from the basics. But if you branch out, you’ll offer that much more to customers, and your value as an inspector will grow accordingly.

The more you can do for customers, the more likely they’ll be to hire you. Perform mold or radon testing, specialize in termite inspections, or as much else as you feel like taking on. ACI School offers additional study materials that can help. If you branch out, you’ll be the inspector that a customer can call for most if not all of her needs instead of hiring out different jobs to different inspectors.

Growing your business takes effort. It’s more than being on time and filing out a report accurately. It’s in how much customers believe your services are worth, and how motivated they are to hire you again and recommend you to friends.

Everything you do to help create a positive reputation for yourself helps. There are certainly cantankerous inspectors who have great businesses, but that’s likely the exception instead of the rule. Provide the best that you can for your customers, and your reputation and business will thrive.

Home inspecting lets you be in business for yourself.

There’s a lot to learn about this business, and most people need a home inspection course to do the job correctly. Even if you’ve worked in some facet of the construction industry, home inspection is different so there’s more to cover.

Legal and Business Aspects of the Home Inspection Business

Home inspection is a business, and it’s your business. To get off on the right foot, you’ll need to understand this side of the industry, as it will be part of your everyday life.

You’ll learn what to inspect, and how to inspect it.

How to Perform a Home Inspection

Naturally, a home inspection course teaches you how to perform an inspection. We instruct on the best methods to use in a home inspection, and the Standards of Practice, which outline what is universally expected, and not expected, of a home inspector.

How to Create an Inspection Report

An inspection is only as good as the report that you create to document it. That’s why there’s a class on report writing, which teaches you how to create a written report for your client, whether it’s a home owner, a real estate agent, or someone else.

Report writing doesn’t mean that you write your reports by hand. In this digital age, you’ll learn how to use technology to make report writing faster, more efficient, and more thorough than a handwritten report.

Most of the tools you’ll need are fairly basic.

Which Tools You’ll Need to Succeed

Every trade has its tools, and home inspecting is no different. We teach you which tools you’ll need, and where to find them. Fortunately, you probably own some of them already.

A home inspector’s toolkit consists of a flashlight, GFCI tester, and other common items that you might have or can buy for about $200 total. You’ll also need certain technology, such as a laptop computer, the software to generate your reports, and probably bookkeeping software.

How to Market Your Business

The best home inspector in the world won’t have much business without a good marketing strategy. That’s why we have two classes that teach you how to market and build your business.

Marketing is about promotion, or getting the word out. There are many methods of promotion, including the simple business card. But you’ll also learn about attracting a wider customer base.

With so many home inspection training courses available, choosing the right one can be a bit confusing.

We cover more areas, too. Compared to other courses, the real value is in what we offer. You’ll get the basics, just like any other reputable school. But instead of asking you to pay extra for additional training in areas such as HUD, mold, and fire code inspections, all of that and more is included in your tuition.

You don’t have to live in a gym and measure your meals to improve your physical fitness. The fitter you are, the better you’ll feel and the easier your job will be. You’ll also be less likely to sustain injuries on the job and have more stamina to take on more work.

Here’s how moderate exercise could help you become a better home inspector.

#1: Improve Your Stamina and Energy

Do you tend to crash around 3 p.m.? If so, you’re not alone. Coffee tends to wear off and whatever you had for lunch might be weighing heavily. If you were home, you might take a nap. On the job, that’s not an option.

Exercise helps improve your stamina and energy naturally and predictably. That means you need less coffee to stay on task and the afternoon lag won’t hit you quite as hard.

#2: Sleep Better Every Night

Getting a good night’s sleep is arguably one of the most important, healthy things that you can do for your mind and body. If you get plenty of exercise, you’ll probably sleep better instead of falling asleep late and crawling out of bed in the morning. Science says it’s true.

The National Sleep Foundation says there’s not enough evidence to claim that exercise always improves sleep for everyone. However, they go on to explain that in several studies, after a few weeks of regular, moderate exercise, people who had trouble getting enough sleep fell asleep faster, stayed asleep longer, and had better sleep quality.

#3: Improve Mental Clarity, Mood, and Alertness

The American Psychological Association (APA) can’t say enough good things about exercise. Michael Otto, Ph.D., who is a professor at Boston University, tells the APA that exercise improves mood in the short term and in the long term.

Otto also says exercise can help overcome anxiety. Men and women get different benefits from different levels of exercise. He says some research suggests that men gain more benefits from heavier physical exertion, and women benefit more from moderate exertion.

#4: Reduce Your Stress Level

If you want to go to the top in medical authorities, it’s hard to beat Mayo Clinic. They make no bones about it; exercise can reduce stress. Here’s how they explain it.

It increases the brain’s production of endorphins or “feel-good” hormones. It’s meditative because it forces you to think about what you’re doing instead of the worries you carry around all day. It can improve mood and self-confidence, lower depression and anxiety symptoms, and help you relax. #5: Reduce the Likelihood of Accidents and Injuries

The stronger and more sure-footed you are, the less likely you’ll be to trip and fall, lose your grip, or otherwise experience an injury. While exercise isn’t a foolproof way to prevent injuries, being healthier, more alert and stronger can only help. The Centers for Disease Control say that a brisk walk can reduce the risk of falling and it improves your ability to perform everyday tasks.

The caveat is that sports injuries are a very real thing. If you exercise too much or exercise in a way that’s not safe, you could sustain a different kind of injury, one that puts you out of commission while you recuperate.

#6: Lower Your Risk of Disease

According to the CDC, exercise wins again in disease prevention. It can’t keep colds and the flu at bay, but it can reduce your likelihood of developing some serious conditions.

They explain that exercise helps control body weight, which is a factor in disease prevention. If you get active and stay that way, your risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer decrease.

With all of that said, you should never take on any new exercise program before talking with your doctor. Chances are, you’ll get the green light. But a checkup and your doctor’s official word lets you know for sure.

Being physically fit improves life on many different levels. From a good night’s sleep to stamina during the day to a lower risk of serious disease, you’ve got plenty of reasons to give it a shot.