TOPIC: Part time

I know I just mentioned this to you Dom, however, I am wanting to get some feedback on why it would be a bad idea to let clients know I am a part time inspector.

Here is the deal guys and gals! I shut down operations of my business in the Des Moines, Iowa area due to financial reasons and personal reasons. When I started the business I could only do it part time. I never disclosed that bit of information upfront. If they asked, I told them. It was never anything that came up very often at all.

Now that the personal issues are behind me and my stress level is at an all time low, I want to get back into this. I am in a different city now and will be serving the area around where I grew up. I will still have to do this as a part time gig.

What would be the draw backs to me being upfront and honest about being part time? (I already know what answers I will get, by the way)
Me being part time shouldn't give people the impression that I am not a quality inspector! I feel that I give a very thorough, quality inspection along with a great report, thanks to HIP! By being upfront and honest about being part time and advertising my hours of availability, wouldn't people look at that as a good thing?

As a potential client visiting my website looking at my fees and reading about me, seeing that I do inspections on a part time basis and here are the hours and days I can do this, would that make a big difference as long as you liked what you saw and read on my website, and the available time and day worked for you?

Here would be the scenario for available inspections:

Monday- 8am
Tuesday- All day
Wednesday- 8am
Thursday- off
Friday- off
Saturday- off
Sunday- All day

I could do one inspection in the morning Monday, two inspections on Tuesday, one inspection in the morning Wednesday and two on Sunday.
That is 6 a week on a part time basis. At $250-$350 a pop, that is $1500-$2100 per week when fully booked. If that was able to be done consistently then I would bust out to full time. Realistically getting started again I may only have 3 a week. That's still and extra $750-$1050 per week in income.

In my experience, doing inspections on a Sunday has always gone over well with my clients. I ALWAYS booked inspections on Sunday! Most people are free that day! Also, and this is not an ideal situation, I have scheduled inspections where I had to do the exterior one day and the interior another. It has worked the few times I had to do that. Again, not an ideal situation but it was thinking outside the box.

Does any of this make sense?

I welcome all opinions and am not set in stone yet on of I should advertise that or not.

Thanks.

Scott Hand

Welcome back Do you still own inspectintegrity.com ? Looks like it's a filler site right now. If so, point it back to our servers.

If you were a firefighter inspecting on your days off I could see it being a positive (we have quite a few inspector/firefighters).

Let me ask you this. You're about to spend $250,000+ on a home in your area. First big purchase of your life. Do you go for the guy who says on he's site that he inspects part time or the guy who says he does it full time? What would you do?

I guess I'm just thinking about playing the honesty card.

After sleeping on it I have decided that I will just do what I did before...leave out the whole full time/part time thing.

If it comes up I will be honest of course and tell them.

Dome, I don't own inspectintegrity.com anymore. I think it is still available but need to see if there is a better domain. Any suggestions on domain names I should try to capture?

I tried getting inspectintegrity.com for you. They want a minimum of $1000 to bid on it (darn cybersquatters).

What are the top 3 cities, population & distance from you?

Scott,
The honesty aspect is great; but it's also a MAJOR marketing tool for your competition.  I'd market that like crazy if I knew someone was "part-time". 
Just my thoughts...best to you!
Casey

It's dishonest to advertise you're full time, but I don't feel it's dishonest to not mention you're part time on your site. If you're asked (which you won't be), be honest.