Mike's Home Inspector BlogMichael Burfitt |
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I don’t get a whole lot of messages outside of potential clients looking for a home inspection, but when I do, a common theme is from prospective new home inspectors looking to get into the industry for the first time, usually as a mid-life career change. I always love talking about my journey and what led me to forming my own home inspection company. There is very little information online about how to become a home inspector and I am happy to answer any questions someone may have. Let me start by saying: Being a Home Inspector is NOT Easy Money! I have been asked occasionally what I think of my local competition. The answer is simple: my passion is helping homeowners have a safe and healthy place to live by offering high quality services at affordable (but not rock-bottom!) prices. However, if another local home inspector can better fill that need, they have my full support. My biggest pet peeve is when someone enters the industry looking to get rich quickly and tarnishes the reputation of the home inspection industry as whole by cutting corners and acting in a dishonest and/or unethical manner. If there is one thing that I want to make crystal clear, it is that doing home inspections is NOT, in ANY way, a path to riches! Like real estate agents, many people see that a home inspection costs an average of about $500 along with the relatively low barriers to entry and think they just found a cheat code to get rich. You could even substitute “Home Inspector with the phrase “Real Estate Agent” and not much would change. Let me say it again: this is not a path for the lazy to get rich quickly! While accurate data is hard to find, at least in Halifax, for home inspectors, based on data from the Nova Scotia Realtors Association and my own knowledge I would estimate the median income for a home inspector in 2023 was less than $5,000 a year! There is a LOT of Potential Overhead I give anyone who wants to become a home inspector a simple piece of homework: get a quote for E&O (errors and omissions) insurance in Canada while asking them what they think would be a reasonable quote for a year of coverage. The answers are always the same: $500 a year is a reasonable expectation. E&O insurance for even a part time home inspector (in other words almost all home inspectors due to the fluctuating nature of the industry) runs about $6,000-$7,000 annually, paid 100% in advance. We are presently about 400-500% more expensive than our American counterparts and that’s not getting into the high deductibles and many exclusions! I tend to believe that many home inspectors spend more than they need on equipment. However, the fact remains that to perform a quality inspection you need a lot of expensive equipment. I would estimate all my equipment is about $6000 and that is on the low end. Thermal cameras, drone and sewer scopes are very expensive pieces of gear and while not required, are essential to complete a thorough assessment. I also haven't gotten into the education and opportunity costs: sure, you can start a home inspection company without taking any formal education or training but that is a quick way to go out of business, fast. There is a lot of diverse knowledge required to be successful and it requires a combination of studying and hands on experience. The Fail Rate is Sky High in This Industry If you research the various home inspection schools, you will see grandiose claims about how you can “make $100,000!” The simple fact is that most students in both Canada and the United States who start a training program do not complete it, and very few last more than 2 years let alone hit six figures at any point. Too abstract? I did the homework for you and here is some sobering data for those who think they have what it takes to beat the odds and strike it rich: in the 2-year period around when we launched in 2021 (1 year before, 1 year after), there were a total of 33 other home inspection businesses registered and launched in Nova Scotia. As of my writing (May 2024), only 6 (yes, SIX!) are still in operation. In other words, only 18% made it to 3 years. A Final (Positive) Note I chose to become a home inspector because I am a)really skilled at doing quality inspections and b)extremely passionate about what I do, not because it is the way of making the highest income possible. The freedom of being an entrepreneur makes up for the hard work and long hours, especially when I genuinely enjoy working in the industry. Providing relief to a worried homebuyer or information to someone nervous about the largest financial decision of their life provides a deep sense of satisfaction. I highly recommend you do your own research before going down the road to becoming a home inspector to make sure you are aware it isn't all sunshine and roses all the time. The simple fact is that flashy advertisements for home inspection training programs never even hint making a $100,000 income requires a lot of hard work, sacrifice and even a good bit of luck.  If you only want lots of these, think of another career path! It’s no secret that 2021 was a tough year in the Home Inspection industry, especially in the Halifax area. With the sharp increase in competition for home buyers, many have chosen to waive the inspection contingency when purchasing a home. Needless to say, skipping the home inspection is a B-A-D idea and while not the ideal solution, I do offer walkthrough consultations and strongly encourage post-sale inspections. If you are a first-time homebuyer, it is especially important to know what to expect in the coming years and plan accordingly as homes require a maintenance plan to avoid costly and disruptive issues.
When I was in the planning stages of starting my company and before the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to know the reasons why the services of a professional home inspector were not being considered. I found that many people have had bad experiences in the past with home inspectors that were lacking in either technical or communication skills. There is also much misunderstanding amongst new homeowners as to the value of having a home inspection and what exactly a home inspection entails. Here are a few of the more common criticisms I hear and my thoughts on them. Home Inspectors are More Interested in Staying on the Good Side of Agents Ask any inspector and they will deny this conflict of interest, but my experience has shown that this, unfortunately can happen. I have heard other home inspectors openly worry about being labelled a “deal killer” or “alarmist” or otherwise getting on the bad side of an agent or brokerage firm. While I personally am always happy to get positive referrals from anyone, including local agents, the bottom line is that I built our company's reputation as your source for trusted, unbiased and independent home inspections and home related information above all else. Simply put, any real estate agent or organization who expects me to compromise our integrity to push through a deal by writing a "soft" report is looking at the wrong company. Just Hire an Electrician, Plumber, Roofer, and Structural Engineer While some inspectors do occasionally come from these various backgrounds, it is safe to say as a general rule, home inspectors are not electricians, plumbers, roofers or engineers. It is true that collectively hiring from 1 of each of these 4 specialties will indeed yield a more in-depth inspection into arguably the four most important parts of a home. Realistically, it is extremely unlikely to coordinate these four separate trades all at the same time, often with short notice, often on the weekend and at a price that is affordable to the average homeowner. A home inspection is the best value for your money as a good overall introduction or assessment of your home. Home inspectors are both generalists and big picture thinkers and see a home as a system of interdependent components that no specialist can match. I Can’t Trust Nova Scotia Home Inspectors: There Are No Regulations! Stating that Nova Scotia has zero home inspection regulations is 100% true and has been a topic I have written about previously. There has been no shortage of people who have tried their hand unsuccessfully at home inspections both in our province and across North America. Some of these home inspectors have no recognizable qualifications or relevant experience and are masquerading as experts, hurting the overall reputation of our industry. Home Inspectors have one of the highest failure rates of any profession because it quickly becomes apparent, while a fun and rewarding career, that home inspectors do a job that is mentally and physically challenging, requires wearing a wide variety of metaphorical hats and is NOT, in any way, a path to easy money! So how do you know you can trust your inspector to do a great job and provide maximum value? While there is no shortage of trustworthy, thorough, and knowledgeable home inspection companies in our area, I can only speak for my own organization. Inside Edge Home Inspections Ltd. was not an idea I thought up overnight but was the result of over 3 years of careful and meticulous planning. I knew nobody should be expected to pay for someone who still has significant gaps in their knowledge base so that is why I made sure I had an extensive knowledge and experience before launching: as the saying goes you only get one chance to make a first impression and I wanted to make sure our company’s reputation was excellent right from the start. Our website details my extensive background and why I am suited to be considered a highly skilled home inspector, with no need to worry about whether calling Inside Edge is the right decision for you. Many home inspector websites have a Q&A or frequently asked questions (FAQ) section, where they answer commonly asked questions about the home inspection process. Most of them involve simple questions such as what exactly a home inspection is, can I attend an inspection (YES!), how long does an inspection last (varies but 2 hours on site is a good rule of thumb) and do inspectors offer buying advice or recommendations (no). This blog is going to answer some questions that are rarely asked. Let’s take a look at a few:
Why Don’t You Do Short Term Radon Tests? Another way to phrase this is why don’t I take advantage of the ‘easy money’ in short term (48 hour) radon testing, especially when I have the necessary training and ability to perform and interpret radon tests. The obvious answer is that, unlike in the USA, they are not considered valid in Canada. Short term tests are highly inaccurate (a recent study from the University of Calgary found about 96-99% inaccuracy) and require very specific closed condition parameters. For starters, all windows have to be kept closed both before and during the test and exterior doors opened only to enter/leave. In a hot summer day without air conditioning, this is a feature that can cause significant discomfort to put it mildly! I once heard someone compare making a radon mitigation decision based on a short-term test is like getting married based on a first date and this isn’t far from the truth. Yes, a short term test is better than no test but a false negative can provide an unwarranted sense of security and a false positive will usually require a long-term test to confirm anyway. As much as I would love to be able to provide accurate information over a weekend, this is simply not possible due to the highly fluctuating nature of uranium decay deep underground and the constant changing of building conditions. It is recommended that radon tests should be completed with a 3-12 month timeframe (bare minimum of 30 days) and is the guideline that I operate under. What Does “Independent Home Inspector” Mean? This question can be expanded to include “are you hostile towards real estate agents?”. The answer to that is an absolute and clear NO! There are a large number of agents in both Halifax and Nova Scotia as whole that work very hard to ensure their client’s best interests are met just like I do. We both have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for our clients regardless of our personal opinions and we are both passionate about homes. In many cases we have mutual clients and work closely together with agents. All “independent” means is that we do not work under the direction of a real estate agent, real estate broker, contractor, or other similar organization and my loyalty is above all else to provide the unbiased truth rather than being influenced into writing a “soft” or "tough" report. Put another way, a "pre-sale" report, a "pre-purchase" report, and a "post-purchase/maintenance" report on the exact same house for the same individual client would have the exact same results with the exact same recommendations which is why I removed this section from my website. What’s the Most Interesting Personal Items or Décor You Have Seen in a Home? Nothing and even if I did stumble upon something interesting, I would not discuss it with anyone. I have stated before that the #1 thing I dislike about being a home inspector is the feeling of being intrusive in someone’s personal space. While I am skilled at looking past home contents, if there was a way to magically make every single piece of personal property temporarily disappear during an inspection, I would be a very happy inspector. A clean house also makes our job much easier, but I digress. There was once a story in the local media about a property inspector who discovered and brought down some long-lost personal property out of an attic. While it was presented as a feel-good story I was infuriated when I read the article. Unless there is a VERY good reason, we do not touch, interact with, or disturb personal property and the person in question admitted they were snooping around. If there is a concern, I will always ask the property owner for further guidance before proceeding. Being a home inspector is about trust, which I have spent many years building with both clients and the public at large. Anyone who uses our services has trust in us: that we will look out for their interests, that we will provide maximum value, that we will show up on time and finish the report as promised and most importantly that we do our best to leave only (hopefully invisible) footprints and take only photographs of the home and its various systems. |
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Inside Edge Home Inspections Ltd.
Halifax, NS 902-209-9921 [email protected] Proudly Serving the HRM & Central Nova Scotia |
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