Don’t Get Upside Down When Pricing Inspections!

Always do the math BEFORE you accept an inspection assignment. READ about what one inspector experienced.

I get paid $37 an hour for one of the companies. Sounds good, right? Well, they don’t pay for any drive time or mileage under a 50 mile radius.  They also don’t pay to put your information for each job into the computer. Most of the places I go in rural [state name deleted] don’t have internet access for me to use while on site (condos, rural homes, etc.)  so I have to write out the report, then go back home and put it in the computer.  This often takes me 2-3 hours extra, as the reports they have me fill out are usually 10+ pages long.  They require me to make diagrams, which also take a while.  

So for example, I just did a job that was 48 miles from my home.  It was a 34,000 square foot building which was very complex, with complex ownership as well.  My total time on the job, phone calls, driving, internet research, high-resolution scanning, etc.  was 8 hours.  I billed for 4.  I got paid for 2.  So that makes a total of $9.25 per hour.  Oh, I forgot the gas money. Take $32 spent on gas out, and that leaves me a whopping $5.25 per hour of my time. 
You should charge a minimum of $25 an hour for a commercial inspection. You need to compute on-site time, drive-time and report-time in your calculations. You need to add vehicle expenses … 56.5-cents a mile is what the IRS says it cost to operate your vehicle. Add all of this up and this is your minimum price to perform the inspection. If the offered fee is low, you need to negotiate a price.

Don’t get upside down on inspections. You will hate how it feels. As an independent contractor, you are in charge. You must make money. You provide VALUE … you must receive adequate pay. Don’t work for any firm that pays below-market fees. Stand you ground.