As a Certified Inspector through Internachi and with 2500 inspections behind me there is one thing I have realized in this day and age where data is king. Gone are the days of the agricurltural age, the industrial and urbanization age. Now we are in the technology age. Where first information was at the forefront and now more specifically data. And next without doubt will be the artificial intelligence age.
I must admit I was too young for the agricultural and industrial age, and missed out on the early information age, but not by lack of acknowledgement, but rather lack of action.
But alas! We are now and will still be for some time in the data age of the technological information aspect. And we still l room to take advantage of 'data'. But on the same note at a place where we can still take best advantage of the artificial intelligence age by getting ahead of it the best we can with what tools we are given. Its an age that will move swiftly and so must we move equally as swift.
Far too long have I, as an inspector been either giving away for free or selling off for cheap, the valuable data I collect while toiling a home. We as inspectors toil to garner leads just for a one time (maybe two time) fee with the hopes of a warm referal from their family or friend or favorite social media outlet. I, for too long sold off that data for a free inspection fees on my (and your) well known CRM platform only to have my valuable clients lose trust because they were contacted by an angies-list wannabe entity of whom I know nothing about who they are refering to the clients I have built relationships and trust with. It only took the third complaint for me to opt ALL my clients out of the corporate entity imposing themselves on my clients.
So I approached my own brother that has recently stepped out from behind the corporate veil where he developed technologly 15 years ago that is still being used to this day. He stepped out to be free to work his craft without a corporate beaurocratic oversight which hampers progress and seeks to retain data for their own ends.
I saw too much control, too much value slipping through my own small business cracks where my company was the loser. So I vented my frustrations to my brother one day and his 4 words were resounding. He said " That is easy too fix".
We hashed out options for a few weeks and came to several core ideas that I know would work for how I myself do business and suspect many others do.
Some great ideas were birthed from those discussions and are on the white copy for implementing as we speak. I asked what would such a platform cost and how long would it take? Such a task was not feasible on my own and it is the reason we are looking to a more grassroots effort the implement from the ground up.
From my view, it is apparent that once I plug in my prefered contractors the software works out all or most the details. And I know tje platform will be the primary step in my company model to offer additional income in adherence to my own jurisdiction and code of ethics.
I clearly see this as a necessary aspect of inspections and to best serve a client that clearly has a short time frame to gain clarity on what they face with their next substantial purchase.
Some if not all the tools that are in the pipeline will not only make my referal sources more effcient, but also offer tools to find ways to monetize in ways best suited for my own jurisdiction and regulations. The tools will empower my business model and will not sell it off for pennies. Most of all I am happy to pay a nominal fee for an inspection transaction for me and/or my company to retain and have further intelligent software based options to manage such data that I know I have toiled to obtain. And I will be damned if I am persuaded by a low cost transaction fee to give it away.
So I now know we have some innovative ideas being implemented from the mind of my own experience into a platform that will not only make serving a client with immediate and future resources but to so offer me as the inspector a larger portion of control by not giving it away.
I know I am not alone. We are looking for feedback as to what might benefit you.
