Floor Inspect

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Pricing & Accounting Changes for A-1 First Impressions Inspections & Consulting There is a lot of misconception & misunderstanding in many professional service industries, including the floor inspection industry. All attorneys are not charging the same hourly or flat fee, nor do all mechanics, physicians, builders, plumbers, electricians, or any other professional. There are many factors that play into how a professional charges for their time. This is also why I do not list a pricing schedule for floor inspections on my website since no two floors are the same. Pricing inspections is more than just placing an arbitrary number on a process; too many variables can affect the cost of a complete, professional inspection in order to write a comprehensive report. No two floors are alike; each will require a unique level of time involved, even if the floors are in same neighborhood, same floor plan, same size, etc since each home in an of itself is unique & the floor may, or may not be from the same lot or run. I price each inspection individually based on criteria such as: • Type of floor covering (factory finished wood requires less time than site finished wood; ceramic tile requires more time to inspect & research than carpet, laminate, or vinyl). • Total size of installation & total % of installed flooring involved. • Type of concerns or number of concerns involved (more concerns requires more time). • Age of flooring (problems occurring months or years later require more time to inspect). • Purpose of the inspection report (one going to retailer, builder, or manufacturer requires a different report than one that may go to litigation). • Commissioning party (homeowners will pay more due to nature of a report & difference in level of understanding than a retailer or manufacturer with a different purpose or need). • Volume discount (manufacturers get lower prices than other parties due to natural volume compared to a retailer who gets some discount or a homeowner who is a one time event). • Nature of the report (manufacturers only need to know if the concerns are their problems in part or full or not to allow them to take remedial action to correct their concerns only). • How fast does inspection need to be done (variables such as travel time/distance, urgency, etc can affect pricing. Inspections done when on route with other inspections get split travel costs which will help lower overall pricing). Before I go on, read the following: Warning, Danger, Rip-off Alert: Clark Howard, a very well known consumer advocate who tries to help people save money & avoid getting ripped off sounds this alarm on his radio or TV shows every day. This is done for a very good reason; there are bad apples in every industry, including the floor inspection industry. Some of these bad apples: • fail to keep their certifications up to date or in good standing with a certifying body. • fail to keep the required Continuing Education Credits maintained. • fail to do proper or complete inspections or reports. • find themselves on a manufacturer’s DO NOT USE list for valid reasons. • have had their certifications questioned as to validity based on what they list they have (yes, there are some who will lie & say they are certified by a group & are not). • fail to carry any, or proper liability or other insurance coverage. • have written reports that were overturned due to negligence (aka malpractice) or not following proper inspection protocol to do complete inspections. • fail to use proper industry standards to support their findings. • misuse industry standards to cover their lack of proper investigative workmanship • may lie or write a report that is unfounded or not true to get paid (aka a hired gun). • offer low price when work gets slow; they tend to cut industry professional pricing to get work, even if it means doing , incomplete, or even bad work (& often do). • get paid on site, do the inspection, take longer than expected to complete a report, & often will not even respond timely to e mails or phone calls once they are paid. • Over promise what they will do for a price and then under deliver since they were paid. • may speak negatively about the work or reputation of other inspectors (by name); a true professional will respect that this is gossip & also poisonous to any industry. • Will discuss a report or findings without written permission with parties other than the commissioning party (viewed as highly unethical). The above was written to warn people who tend to price shop inspectors that inspection prices vary for valid reasons. There is no one setting prices in this industry just as there is no one setting prices in any industry; the Federal Trade Commissions frowns on price setting. Even McDonalds, with more than 13,000 restaurants do not charge the same for all menu items across the country, in a state, or even in the same city. Sometimes the same franchise owner sets different prices in their own stores for whatever reason. All flooring inspectors will charge different prices too based on qualifications, time in the business, or value they place on their services or the reputation they have built in the industry due to the hard work, education, level of experience or knowledge, or other valid factors. Those who have a proven track record amongst their peers & in the industry will tend to charge more than those who have not; this should be expected. Time in the industry does not mean the person is qualified or knowledgeable. We have inspectors in this industry who are on the verge of going out of business & will do almost anything to get work, even bad mouthing other inspectors in their area or undercutting prices. Some of these inspectors have been found to have personal habits that affect their professional work; when a manufacturer or retailer find this out, they tend to use them only when necessary. Since certifications can not be revoked in this industry (most states do not license floor inspectors like other professionals such as plumbers, doctors, accountants, engineers, etc), the most damage a certification body can do is send a notice to manufacturers that until further notice, these inspectors are not in good standing. These inspectors have two choices; respond to the certification body to do what is necessary to resolve any issues, or ignore them & do whatever it takes to get work from other sources. Home owners & retailers are often the targets they seek to get this work from since there is no way they could find out this person is under scrutiny; they will definitely not admit it if asked since there is no way for anyone outside of the industry to know this. Due to potential legal recourse, the certifying body can only notify manufacturers or suppliers who support the education process. I took extreme measures years ago in my professional & personal life to go against the norm in this country. I paid off my business in full & also my house, cars, & other debts. I took the pay as I go basis which has helped me keep my overhead under control & not forced me to lower my standards, quality of my work, or pricing. My prices are very reasonable based on my education, experience, qualifications, standing among peers, manufacturers, & certification bodies. To my knowledge, I have never been put on a “Do Not Use” list, nor have my certifications ever lapsed or put under scrutiny or probationary status. I have even been the first inspector on two very high dollar commercial inspections; one in the Leesburg, VA area involving nearly $500,000 worth of custom carpet & the other in the park & lodges in the Shenandoah National Forest in VA. Both of these inspections involved huge amounts of custom carpet & hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs. Once my report was submitted, the party that commissioned me also commissioned one of the most noted industry experts to render a second opinion. This person is very well known & respected in the flooring industry for his vast knowledge, experience, & accuracy on claims performed. Between this person & his partners, they have well over 100 years of industry knowledge, including secrets the industry guards highly. I have personally sat under this person’s teachings as well as taken seminars & classes with him. He is on my e mail list & granted me a half day of one on one time to help me grow my business & give me advice to help me grow professionally. I was notified by the retailer on the second claim after he received this expert’s report; it stated the very same findings & conclusion as mine did. He did admit to me he felt like my price for what I did seemed low; he paid this person a lot more than me to get him flown there & have him perform his work. He was not upset that I did not charge him what he felt like was enough, and also not upset he paid this person to do what they did. He found that paying for reputation, knowledge, & experience comes with a price. By the way, I had not been inspecting 5 years at the time of this inspection. I was made aware of the inspection in Leesburg being one this industry expert was called to go behind me on. He was hired to do a presentation at our NICFI (National Institute of Certified Flooring Inspectors) education & training convention & seminar. His presentation included showing pictures & report & findings of the very inspection he had just performed in order to show us some of the unusual things we may come across in this industry. He also noted the inspector who did the initial inspection was “spot on” in every aspect of his report & findings. He was called in on this one due to the HOA had a lot of money & spent a lot to get this custom carpet. They felt like the first inspector had not charged them enough; they thought paying more to hire one of the best & most noted experts would surely give them even more information; it did not & he told them this inspector did an excellent job in his findings and report & did not miss a thing. I went up to him on a break & asked if this inspection was at….. He said it was & I said to him, my name is Steven Johnston; I was the first inspector. He applauded me for my quality or work & report & explained the only reason they paid him many times more to hire & fly him there to do the second inspection was over price & felt there was no way I could be right & not charge more than I did. This was also within my first five years in this business. It was at that moment I knew I had invested way too much time taking the best training classes the industry has to offer. I sought training by the most noted & knowledgeable instructors in the industry & have done this for several years. I have aligned myself in personal relationships with several of these industry experts, including Mr. Lew Migliore. I have toured the independent lab in Dalton, GA managed by Lee Phillips. Lew also uses this lab to do testing to confirm findings. Lee & I have met & spoken several times; they are one of the best equipped labs in this business & do much of the testing for this industry, including FHA testing & perform hundreds of ASTM certified tests. I had worked too hard & grown professionally through mentoring & training to sell my services to cheap. I am NOT the highest priced inspector in my area, but I am also not the cheapest. I refuse to price match with competitors less knowledgeable or qualified, regardless if they have more years in this industry. I worked too darn hard to earn my reputation & maintain my training & knowledge to stoop to price matching those who have not. They know who they are; I will not name them or call them out. Their work & reputation tend to find them out. I also find in many cases, they are hired at the lower price & do not perform as expected. There are a few inspectors besides myself who know very well who these inspectors are & antics they will stoop to in order to continue to survive. There are manufacturers who will no longer hire them unless absolutely necessary, & even then, not use them on the more technical inspections involving larger claims or higher knowledge levels. There are some of these inspectors in other pockets of the country; the industry is well aware of whom they are, but the retailers & consumers often are not & are taken in by “big talk” & price cutting only to find they got what they paid for. Those of us who have worked harder to build our knowledge & reputation sit back & wait until the party commissioning their services finds this out. They often end up commissioning & second opinion inspection or end up living with the concerns. Mr. Lew Migliore was much higher priced than I was on these two larger commercial claims due to his level of knowledge or expertise, he also does what most of the more noted inspectors do & charges more for second opinion inspections (or 3rd or 4th opinions if litigation is pending). Second or later opinion inspections will require a much higher level of time & expertise; we are being hired to either confirm the original findings if they were correct, add to them if they were incomplete or inconclusive, or refute them if they were wrong. These inspections are also consultations & will be charged much higher fees. Other than national services or manufacturers, most inspectors will require payment in full at time of inspection (I may require payment in advance-see below), especially from homeowners, attorneys, retailers, builders, contractors, or other end users. If things seem to be pointing towards disputes among several parties or pending litigation, this is becoming common practice. If payment is not rendered at time of service, I will send the findings C.O.D. & add on the handling fees before a report will be rendered or delivered. I will not be part of the dispute since I can not promise how the outcome will be; it may be against the party commissioning the inspection. Manufacturers will pay regardless; if it is their problem, a reputable manufacturer wants to know this to handle it properly. This claim was only a small part of a larger production unless this was a custom run; they will also want to trace where the rest of the run is at. If it is in a warehouse or retail store, they may send a rep out to determine if there are valid manufacturing issues before it is sold & replace it if it is found there are. If it was installed already, they will monitor these sites in the event the issue or concerns show to be a problem in order to handle these as needed under warranty. In closing, due to the state of our current economy & seeing many businesses & consumers forced into default or even bankruptcy, I had to make some sound practical business changes in my billing practices. These are not meant to punish anyone, but are meant to ensure my business can continue to grow & maintain by ensuring I am paid timely for services I render & avoid problems with slow paying or uncollectable accounts. These new policies will allow me to devote my time to doing what I am in business to do. I will have much more time available for inspecting, reporting, & consulting. I have an agreement between my company& banker. I will not do financing & my banker will not do flooring inspections. I am not much different than a doctor, attorney, retailer, builder, or any other professional; I want to be paid at time services are rendered. The new policy simply states: All inspection requests must be paid in full, in advance or at time of inspection. No inspection will be scheduled until an Inspection Request form is filled out and sent or an e mail requesting the inspection to be performed; we will price each inspection prior to that based on what you want to hire us to do. If additional services are requested, they will be billed accordingly if they were not priced in the initial request. The Inspection report will not be released until full payment is received, or it can be sent C.O.D. along with the C.O.D. & processing fees added. Until payment is made to the Postal Service to be deposited into our account, you will not be given any information on the findings. The policy applies to all builders, contractors, attorneys, retailers, home owners or any party hiring our services to commission an inspection or consultation. I was given some sound advice by one of the most noted flooring installers in the country who is hired to do installations involved hundreds of thousands of dollars of custom flooring in multi million homes all over the world. He is a 3rd generation installer, a friend, a mentor, & highly respected in the industry. I have never forgotten his advice since he first said it to me in training. He told us he did not price match his competitors; he knew what his services were worth based on reputation & experience, & refused to prostitute his services or play price matching games to get work. He knew most times, he would likely be called in to bail out the lower priced guys or even be hired to repair their bad work. At that time, he could name his price & either get it, or walk away. His advice: I have never lost money on a job I did not do or take. I have been paid even more to go in & finish the job & at that point, my initial price seemed like a bargain they passed up. This policy is being put in place to ensure we do not have problems going forward since I have never had a claim where I did not perform what I was hired to do & completed my work in the time I stated or sooner. This policy is to ensure neither the economy, nor anything else allowing me to be in the same position several business people are in; going under due to cash flow concerns after products or services were rendered in good faith. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

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