Have you ever wondered what it takes to rebuild a successful business from the ground up in a completely different state? That's exactly what Chris Rakowski from Wynn Home Inspection Services has done, relocating his Washington State enterprise to the sunny terrain of Arizona. On the latest Mind Strength Podcast, I, Christina Seawick, sit down with Chris to discuss his journey, emphasizing resilience in the face of new challenges and the art of networking. Tune in to discover how Chris turned potential setbacks into a revamped, thriving business, even amid the unforeseen hurdles presented by COVID-19.
Buying a home can be fraught with hidden pitfalls, but Chris unveils how diligent home inspections can be your safeguard. This episode peels back the layers of new constructions versus seasoned homes, revealing why newer isn't always better due to shortcuts and insufficient oversight in the building process. Chris highlights how third-party inspections, particularly the strategic 11-month inspection, are crucial for leveraging the builder's warranty to your advantage. In addition, we unpack the significance of re-inspections to ensure that repairs on resale homes are completed to standard, offering a shield for your investment.
Running a business is akin to sailing on unpredictable seas, and Chris explains how Wynn Home Inspection Services stays shipshape, ready for expansion. With a dynamic team of seven inspectors and a marketing maestro at the helm for eight years, Chris shares insights into preparing for growth and maintaining a positive outlook. We also touch on the practical aspects of home inspections, from sewer scoping to spotting red flags, ensuring a comprehensive service. Join us as we explore the inner workings of Chris's enterprise and the lessons in adaptability and optimism that every entrepreneur can appreciate.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to rebuild a successful business from the ground up in a completely different state? That's exactly what Chris Rakowski from Wynn Home Inspection Services has done, relocating his Washington State enterprise to the sunny terrain of Arizona. On the latest Mind Strength Podcast, I, Christina Seawick, sit down with Chris to discuss his journey, emphasizing resilience in the face of new challenges and the art of networking. Tune in to discover how Chris turned potential setbacks into a revamped, thriving business, even amid the unforeseen hurdles presented by COVID-19.
Buying a home can be fraught with hidden pitfalls, but Chris unveils how diligent home inspections can be your safeguard. This episode peels back the layers of new constructions versus seasoned homes, revealing why newer isn't always better due to shortcuts and insufficient oversight in the building process. Chris highlights how third-party inspections, particularly the strategic 11-month inspection, are crucial for leveraging the builder's warranty to your advantage. In addition, we unpack the significance of re-inspections to ensure that repairs on resale homes are completed to standard, offering a shield for your investment.
Running a business is akin to sailing on unpredictable seas, and Chris explains how Wynn Home Inspection Services stays shipshape, ready for expansion. With a dynamic team of seven inspectors and a marketing maestro at the helm for eight years, Chris shares insights into preparing for growth and maintaining a positive outlook. We also touch on the practical aspects of home inspections, from sewer scoping to spotting red flags, ensuring a comprehensive service. Join us as we explore the inner workings of Chris's enterprise and the lessons in adaptability and optimism that every entrepreneur can appreciate.
Hi, my name is Christina Seawick and this is Mind Strength Podcast. Today we're joined by my friend, chris Rakowski. He is with Wynn Home Inspection Services and you started in 2011,. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:That is correct. I started in Washington State with three territories it's a franchise model and built it pretty significantly. We were number two in the entire country in terms of our volume. Pretty significantly, we were number two in the entire country in terms of our volume. And then I just love the weather here and decided three years ago we wanted to move here to Arizona. Wow.
Speaker 1:And so I've been building the territories here. I own four territories here in Arizona. You own four here. Where do you own? Where are your offices at here?
Speaker 2:We cover. We'll go anywhere in the Valley, of course, but our territory, our franchise models Fountain Hills, paradise Valley, the West Valley area and then Peoria, so we pretty much go anywhere. Mesa's the only area we don't own actually in our territory at this point.
Speaker 1:But you'll go down to Mesa and Gilbert. Of course, go anywhere Anywhere, okay.
Speaker 2:Queen Creek. We'll go as far as we need to for opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you started in 2011 and then three plus years a little bit three-ish years ago you decided that you wanted to come down to Arizona after you had such a successful business up in Washington. What made the desire to do the change?
Speaker 2:yeah, great question. Um, sometimes I ask myself that. But we owned a home. We bought a home here in 2017 because we wanted a vacation. We love the sunshine. Um, seattle, where we were from, it rains a lot, so it gets to be gloomy and you need some sunshine in order to survive. So, as we were coming back and forth vacationing, I just more and more and more didn't want to go back to the rain and so, even though the business was flourishing and doing really, really well, we wanted to make a. We had to do it at some point in time and I didn't want to wait till retirement age. So we figured, let's just do it and make the move and, um, I'm happy that we did it. I'm glad to have the experience of this weather all the time, the exception of today, where it's rainy.
Speaker 2:It feels a little like Seattle out there today, but it's still 65, yes, it's still beautiful in terms of temperature, yeah, but yeah, we just made the move just to do it and it was one of those things where we didn't really take a lot of planning. It was just sell everything. I still have one business there but we sold the house and we sold the other businesses and decided is to come down here and give it a try.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:It's been, yeah, it's been wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah and then. So 2011 was fairly busy and we went all the way up and then last year was a little bit more challenging. How was business for you? And kind of, how are you doing now?
Speaker 2:Great question. So we were on a probably a trajectory like this where it was constantly growing every year. I mean, sometimes we were doubling what we were doing the year prior and it was wonderful, great, great, obviously great to own that kind of a business. When we decided to make the move here, it was when I sold the two businesses. Obviously, our volume dropped significantly because, you know, two other guys now own those territories, and so it's been challenging to get back up even to where we were middle, you know, 2015, 2016, just because I'm starting from scratch here in Arizona. So it was challenging.
Speaker 2:We're growing every month, though we just got to keep doing what we know we need to do, and that was one of the things, from the mindset perspective is getting back to what brought us. You know what gave us success in the Seattle area. So it's one thing that I didn't think I'd have to do as hard. Yeah, but it's obvious. You know to build a business, you got to work hard and you got to start from, sometimes scratch, and then go out and meet people and do the right things, and business will follow scratch and then go out and meet people and do the right things and business will follow.
Speaker 1:What do you think is one of the most important things when you're starting in a new territory or a new place? What's some of the most important things to generate business? What are you doing?
Speaker 2:Right. So getting out there and meeting people, real estate agents obviously 99% of our business comes from real estate agents, so it's very, very critical to get in front of them. It's more challenging since COVID now, because there are offices but no one's in them, and so it's really, really hard to get in front of people. So the key for us is any class that we can sponsor, any type of an event that we can sponsor. We're there for anything that happens, so we can at least get our name out there.
Speaker 2:And an overtime repetition should help us with that. And when someone's in need of a home inspection, maybe they'll think about us. Um, it's not going to happen right away. That's the issue, you know, that we're seeing is it just takes some time. Sometimes it takes months and months, and months, and then that agent calls and you're like, okay, it worked. Um, but we're doing. We sponsor a lot of classes, whether it be just individual little real estate classes or big events like the MLS has we.
Speaker 2:Serve is who I belong to. They have huge events where hundreds and hundreds of agents show for it, and so it's good to have a booth there and be obviously visible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great idea, but it just takes time. Yeah, when I'm a homeowner or I'm sorry, I'm shopping for a home I want to be a homeowner. Why should I have a home inspection?
Speaker 2:Great question. Well, I'm biased, of course, but I think it's one of the most critical parts of the transaction, the real estate transaction. We look at every aspect of the structure. A lot of people have experience in one area of a particular house, like electrician or plumber or roofer, but do they know enough about all the major mechanicals in order to make their own assessment? Most can't do that, and so that's what we do. We come in and we will look at every aspect of it. We'll start from the roof, exterior siding, foundation. We'll go inside, look at the attic, the crawl space, if there is one. We will look at all the HVAC, which is your heating and cooling. We'll look at the water heater. We'll check all your appliances. We'll open and close every door window. We'll look at all the plumbing, all the electrical. There's just a lot that goes into it, but when you, when you've done it and you're, you're licensed to do it we.
Speaker 2:We have knowledge on every aspect of the of the property, which is is something that most can't say, and so if you don't have a home inspection, you're losing those eyeballs, you're losing that opportunity for someone to give you perspective on all of the things that are going on Most home inspections that we do there's nothing crazy, nothing critical no scary things going on, but every home has stuff going on and a lot of homes have mechanicals that are aging or not working properly, and it's important for a buyer to get that understanding before they purchase the home, to know what they could be looking at in the short term in terms of additional expense in addition to buying the home.
Speaker 1:So I want to know, like how old the HVAC is and what's the life expectancy on that.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right. Yeah, so we're going to look at every mechanical and tell you first of all, is it functional or not functional? If it is functional, what's the age?
Speaker 2:on it and then from there what's the life expectancy statistically for that particular thing? So if we stick to HVAC, for example, 15 to 20 years statistically on an AC unit or furnace or heat pump, If the home is 20 years old, if it's still functional, that's great. But know it's statistically at its life it could last another 10 years. It could stop working tomorrow, you just don't know. But that's the education piece that's important for a buyer because we're going to tell them not only the age fact but every single system inside the home.
Speaker 1:All of the guts.
Speaker 2:Everything about it and they're going to have a really good understanding of what could happen to this home. What kind of money could they be looking at in the short term and long term?
Speaker 1:Nobody wants to be purchasing a home like that movie, money Pit. I think that we've all maybe seen Absolutely right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely right and we see that a lot where you know it's a 20-year-old house and the house hasn't been updated and every single mechanical has to be replaced Roof, hvac, water heater, paint around the structure. It could get windows. It could get very, very expensive for someone not anticipating it.
Speaker 1:Right Now. I mean, I know that 2021 was a nice market for sellers, not so great for buyers, except for interest rates were fantastic, right. But I love this market better because I feel like we're moving slower, we're able to get home inspections, we're able to negotiate things with the sellers, and I think that that's much more beneficial for the buyer.
Speaker 2:I agree, it's balanced, much more balanced. Does it feel better for you out there? It does. I feel it's more balanced. Which?
Speaker 1:is great.
Speaker 2:I feel that there's not that one day contingency like we've seen before which we were able to handle, but it's difficult when you get a call in the evening. I need an inspection tomorrow, contingency expires in one day, and so it's just everyone's scrambling a little bit more than in a balanced market where they have seven days, ten days to schedule things out.
Speaker 2:I mean there's situations where we're going to, we're going to ask for further evaluation on a particular mechanical, because there's issues with it and it's good to have that additional time for the buyer and the agent to be able to do those things.
Speaker 1:Is it important for me in Arizona to also inspect my pool to get a pest inspection? Are those important as well?
Speaker 2:I think yes. I mean we're going to do exactly what we would do with the structure in terms of the pool we're going to turn everything on, we're going to tell you the age of the mechanicals, the pump and the systems, and then we're going to tell you if they work or not.
Speaker 1:Light for the pool.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's exactly the same concept as the home. Now, we're not going to be invasive, like we don't do with the home either. So we're not. We're going to turn things on if they don't operate to controls and we know. Note that, but, um, but, yeah, it's, it's critical you do that from a termite perspective. Um, even just as critical, um, every home is going to have termites as they say or if it does not.
Speaker 2:It's going to at some point, and so it's a very easy thing to fix, it's a very easy thing to treat, um so I shouldn't run away if that's, if that's on there.
Speaker 2:No, no, gosh, no um, it's more times than not, we see evidence of of termite activity, whether it's past evidence or, you know, current issues inside or outside the structure. So very, very important, my opinion you, we partner with a termite company, um, so they get the business but they do the inspection with us. So there's no really benefit financially for us, but it's still very, very critical for a buyer to get a termite inspection. It's $70 to get it done.
Speaker 1:It's pretty reasonable.
Speaker 2:Very reasonable, and the pool is about that rate too, about $75.
Speaker 1:And if I'm in a home and I'm checking it out and I see a crack, should I be alarmed? Good question.
Speaker 2:It all depends on the crack, of course. I would say most of the time there's no issues at all. It's normal settling. Cracks are always something buyers get excited about, which is understandable.
Speaker 2:But most of the time those cracks are just normal. If they're straight cracks, whether they're horizontal or vertical, they're normal settling. If you see cracks that are going diagonally through a drywall situation, that's an excessive situation which could be a truss issue, could be a structural issue that needs to be addressed. That's not normal to see. Now, fortunately, most of the time we don't see those cracks, we only see the standard ones and we note them in the report as an awareness thing, but they're nothing to be concerned with. If I get a home inspection report and I have pages and pages and pages of things and 35 plus items, is that normal or am I supposed to be running away at that point in time? Another great question so I would say the average inspection.
Speaker 2:If you take a thousand inspections that we do, you're going to see between 30 and 40 items. Excuse me, 30 to 40 items on the summary section of that report.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So a typical inspection report is going to be 50 pages, 60 pages. There's a summary section at the beginning that's going to talk about the things that we need to at least make sure you're aware of, whether you need to react to them immediately or just be aware of them from a maintenance perspective. So to see 30, I would say it's an average home inspection, an average home.
Speaker 1:Really Okay.
Speaker 2:Normal. Yeah, if you see 50, 60, 70, that means there's just a little more going on there that needs to be addressed. Potentially it doesn't mean the house is bad, it just means there's a little more that needs to be addressed. Seldom do we have 10, 15, 20. That's not even new construction which we may get into new construction but um, yeah, it's most of the time it's going to be in that 20, 30, 40 range.
Speaker 1:Okay, good to know, good to know, kind of what the average is Makes me feel a little bit better if I'm the homeowner and I'm out there shopping for a house Um, yeah, new construction. So you know a lot of times the site agents and in general, you know a lot of times site agents you know in general, you know they say everything's going to be done by code, you don't need home inspection. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:Well from, if I was a buyer going in, I would want to know all the little things that are going on with this, with the structure, as well as the code requirements, and so if the buyer does care about those things, then it's pretty critical to get a home inspection. We see more, statistically, if I were to take all the home inspections that we do new construction and then just a regular five to 10 year old home we see more issues with the new construction than we do with the five to 10 year old home.
Speaker 1:And that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the house. It's just more of the process, maybe in how it? Was built, or what do you think about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that the builders are rushed to get things completed, and so they hire subcontractors, perhaps to handle some portions of the work, and then there's no follow-up there. So that's where we come in.
Speaker 1:We're the follow-up, frankly to those kind of things. You're working for the buyer, you're the third party inspection that's on the buyer's side up. Frankly, to those kind of things You're working for the buyer.
Speaker 2:You're the third party inspection. That's on the buyer's side right, Absolutely yeah, and so most of the time there's nothing critical. We've had some issues where the sewer wasn't connected.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Which is a biggie, but it doesn't happen very often, but those are things. Where are you going to know until it becomes a huge problem, years or maybe? Oh gosh, yeah Missing insulation in the attic is another biggie, but we don't see it very often, so there, are times when it's like, oh, they didn't mean to, they just were just no oversight.
Speaker 1:It's still a good quality built home.
Speaker 2:There's just a lot.
Speaker 1:They're working on a lot at one time. Right, exactly Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're. So you're running through things. You just attention to detail sometimes isn't, isn't the best, and so we will come in and evaluate and create a report that will have all the little things, as little things as fixtures loose and doors not closing properly, little things, but stuff that should still be fixed. For the buyer, they should have a brand new home, no issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if I have a third-party home inspection and I get a home warranty, does that help with my home warranty at the end of year one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Great question. So most builders do honor a one year warranty on everything. And so what we do primarily? We do more 11 month inspections than we do new construction. Um we do both. We like to discount and do both, um, but we see more 11 months, which is smart from a buyer's perspective. If you're not going to do it at the beginning, absolutely get it done at the 11 month, because between when they moved in and 11 months, things change.
Speaker 1:I'm doing an 11 month, because why? What am I doing that for?
Speaker 2:Basically you're getting a full home inspection. So we're going to go through everything we would have went through initially inspections. We're going to go through everything we would have went through initially, but with just normal wear and tear in the home. There's probably going to be things that the builder needs to go in and repair or tweak or fix, and so it's important to have those listed for the builders and come in and fix everything for you. We like to say that at the end of the first year, the end of the 11 months, you should have another brand new home and then after that it's on you, on the buyer, to take care of whatever maintenance is required. But it's critical. We see, like I said at the beginning, we have a lot of issues with small things, but those small things become bigger things if they're not addressed at the new construction. So leaks could occur because the fixtures are loose. So you kind of see the domino effect of things not being addressed at the new construction stage.
Speaker 1:Right, you could have a leak later on down the line. That's going to cost you big time and you could have prevented it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Okay, absolutely right.
Speaker 1:And if I'm purchasing a resale home, so not a new construction home. You know, and I've talked it over, and we want a couple things taken care of on the inspection report. We're Binzer here in Arizona. Is it a good idea for you to come back before closing to make sure that those items that you've requested to be done by the seller have been done? Do you do that?
Speaker 2:We do do that Absolutely. It's called a re-inspection. It's a very common practice. It's a very common practice.
Speaker 2:We find that most of the time when we do go back and check, most of the items aren't done, at least done properly, and so if the seller doesn't have a contractor, a qualified contractor do the work, and they do it themselves. A lot of times it's just not done properly and so we'll have to, unfortunately, inform the buyer. It's not quite done the way it should be done, but it is important. Unless you know, as a buyer, what you're looking for, there's nobody checking that process at the end. So it's important, and it's $150 or less to get a reinspection done. So if you had a lot of items, it's well worth it to have somebody come back in, a home inspector, go back in and check everything to make sure that it's done properly.
Speaker 1:To make sure that everything that you negotiated for is taken care of before you close on the home.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, especially from a health safety perspective, critical that they get done properly. Electrical is a big key.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking about the home inspection and I'm wondering is there any sort of big issues that I should watch out for? Is there any advice that you have around that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are some things that are more critical than other components. The sewer is always a big one. Especially in a home that's a little bit older 20, 30 years or more the sewer has a tendency to move. We do sewer scoping, we run a camera through it. We can tell you exactly what the sewer condition is, what kind of pipe it is. So it is something that in an older home especially, it is something that could be a critical, very expensive fix if need be.
Speaker 2:Active leaks, obviously, are another critical component they need to be addressed immediately to prevent, additional issues. Roof leaks are very common, and plumbing leaks are very common as well, and so if they become an issue to where they're not addressed, then it gets worse and worse and worse, and then mold and other factors could come into it. But, um, look, those are the things we're going to point out at the inspection.
Speaker 1:the sewer scoping is the one thing that the buyer has an option of not having a camera scope is there like an age of home, or like if the home is on a hill, or is there sometimes that you would highly recommend having a sewer scope, like what's sort of the age? Or is it like location of the house, kind of? What are those factors?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think both so 80s or younger or older.
Speaker 1:excuse me, so it's 70s for sure.
Speaker 2:Okay, definitely Most modern plumbing was starting to, you know, in the 80s, but definitely consider it if it's an older home, in the 70s or even early 80s. If the home is currently on a hill, like you said, or if it's flat but there's a bunch of trees between the house and the street, that's that's a big thing, because tree roots will move those pipes pretty significantly and we'll be able to catch that on a scope, on a camera scope. But so if you, if you notice that, as a buyer, even approaching the house, like I, see a big tree in the front yard, that's something you're going to want to consider having a sewer, even if it's a 10-year-old house, you want to have a sewer scope done just to make sure the pipe hasn't moved.
Speaker 1:And how much additional is that in the inspection? Great?
Speaker 2:question $250 is the standard fee for a sewer scope. And it comes complete with we're going to run the camera. It's a video that we'll send you with analysis on the video, and I mean it's it's it's the most expensive potential issue replacing a sewer, as you know. Tens of thousands of dollars in a lot of respects. So it's probably the most. I mean a structural issue could be more on a roof potentially could be more, but that's sewers right there with it.
Speaker 1:For an additional just 250,. It seems like a great idea.
Speaker 2:Right, and you get a camera, you get a video of it too, so you can use that when you go to sell the home down the road, if need be.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if I'm, if I'm walking through a house and I see discoloration, if I see what looked like like a stain, is that something that I need to be concerned about, or how do you, how do you handle that when you come across that?
Speaker 2:Great question. I, we see them a lot. We see staining, um, especially in homes that are older, um, generations of stains with different reasons, but, um, anytime we see it, we take it very seriously. Uh, we will obviously try to find the cause of what's going on. If there's a stain above us, what's above that? What could have caused that issue?
Speaker 2:Um, if it's a bathroom, for example, that's directly above a living room, we will run all the necessary plumbing in that bathroom before we even address the living room stain issue. We're going to make note of it, of course, but we will go back to it. If we check it for moisture before we actually run our plumbing, how are you going to know if it's an active situation? So it's very important to note everything. When we walk into a home, the first thing we do is walk around the entire structure and turn all the lights on. That gives us an opportunity just to look around and see we're not inspecting, we're just looking, we're just turning everything on and prepping ourselves for the inspection, and so those are the times when we see the staining, and so we're mindful of that.
Speaker 2:When we're looking at the roof or we're in the attic, or when we're running the bathrooms. We'll run our moisture meter, our tools around. We do it regardless, but we'll be very mindful of where that stain is and make sure that our moisture meter and our infrared camera gets over to that area and make sure there's no current issues. A lot of the times I would say the majority of the time it's not a current situation. There was an issue. The seller found out, they addressed it, they fixed it, they repaired it and they just didn't paint the area, they just left the stain. That's what we see mostly.
Speaker 1:What are some red flags for you when you come up to a house and you're like, ooh, I don't know, do you ever have any red flags?
Speaker 2:Yeah, most of the red flags occur with us, with some things that the seller may try to do to make us not aware of it.
Speaker 1:I guess, for lack of a better word, Do you find that that happens out there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do find that cover-up is a terrible word. But they do something, whether it's paint, or they do something to address an issue, but they don't do it properly. It's ooh, it's red flag. So then we see, when we're on the inspection I wonder why they did this, and so obviously there's a reason, and so we find that reason. It's really hard to cover up an issue on an inspection it really is, Unless you have something that's blatantly covering it and we can't see it. But most of the time we're able to see other issues that could have, that are occurring or that have occurred that was causing that kind of cause effect thing. So this cause there's a stain there that they may have painted over. You know, there's still gonna be other areas. We're going to notice issues that could be the reason why that stain is there. So really not a lot of when, I pull up to a home.
Speaker 2:There's not a lot of red flags where you're looking at a home and go, oh my gosh what's going on here. We don't see that very often In the home inspection world. It's really there's not a lot of critical things, so no one should ever be scared to buy a home, because everything is fixable in the home.
Speaker 2:There have been issues where, oh my gosh, it's going to be a hundred thousand dollars to fix this structure, but that's one in 10,000. It just doesn't happen very often, so I don't want anyone to think that you know we're, we're out there trying to find major things as we just don't, mostly we're, we're just, we're doing our job. Find it, you know, checking all the major mechanicals, making sure everything's functional, giving you the agent, everything.
Speaker 1:It's a very simple process typically, so red flags are hard there's not a lot of them, All right, so shouldn't be thinking that there's a bunch of stuff to again make us sort of want to run away and knowledge is key, I think here. Right, Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's where we come in is we're going to educate you on every aspect of the home. Not only is it functional or not, but how long does it have remaining Typically? What's the cost on it? Typically, just to give you a really good idea of what you're getting into as a buyer.
Speaker 1:And do you have something that you give to buyers after they buy a home that kind of talks to them a little bit about life expectancy on stuff and kind of how long like when they should maybe change the filter, or do you provide anything like that?
Speaker 2:Yes, we do. That's a great question. We have a preventative home maintenance guide. It's eight pages. It is a wonderful, wonderful booklet. It goes through every aspect of the home, on when things need to be maintained, whether it be quarterly, spring, fall, annually.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, that's great, and it goes through everything, so your filter, for example is in here HVAC getting cleaned, so you're heating and cooling getting clean when you flush the water heater Just all the little things that homeowners forget about. Right, this will help you. If you follow this, you're never going to forget about anything that has to do with the house. So every, every customer or client that we work with gets receives this pdf file electronically yeah it's really nice that's great because you know something.
Speaker 1:Maybe you've never owned a home before or you know. You moved to a different area where things are a little bit, you know different with filters, or you know something like that right? Yep, for sure, yep or the roofs are different. That's something that I found. I'm also from from washington state, and so that's been something that's been a little bit different for sure. Crawl space, lack of crawl space, and then roof systems are the two biggies.
Speaker 2:Um. So, from a home inspector, we love the slab because there's no crawl space, whereas in washington you're underneath houses every day um and so you get to see all kinds of crazy things underneath houses, but we don't have that. That here.
Speaker 1:I don't think I could do that Very seldom.
Speaker 2:But the roofing systems, once you understand how they operate, they're the same as a shingle roof up in Washington State. Pretty much the same.
Speaker 1:What would be your advice? So you moved from Washington after having an extremely successful business, came down to Arizona. What would you give the person that was you that wanted to make the change? What advice would you give that person maybe looking to do that today?
Speaker 2:If I could do some things differently, I would have been a little more patient.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I was just really excited about just getting here in the sunshine and really let a lot of the little decisions that could have been made like waiting for a couple of things versus just going. You know, be patient, have a game plan, maybe have a two year, three year, five year plan. Then run that plan and then you'd be happier that you, when you, when you got to the destination, you'll be, it'd be easier for you stress-wise and you'd be happier too. So you're going to endure more stress by just jumping into it, in my opinion, than if you planned accordingly. I could have started building this business in Arizona years ago and then had it stable to where I moved here.
Speaker 2:It would have been a well machine already versus moving here and having to scramble, so something I would have done differently, but it's still a great experience. Yeah, it's been. It's been really eyeopening to know that it's kind of the same thing. It's any business is kind of the same, where it's just you gotta, you gotta start from the beginning and work your butt off and do all the right things and then eventually everything takes care of itself. It's kind of cool to see.
Speaker 1:What gives you that mindset to keep going? Do you have anything that you specifically?
Speaker 2:lean on? I don't. That's a great question. I'm driven. I always have been in everything that I've done. I enjoy building businesses. I love the home inspection business. It's been wonderful to us. And so, yeah, I do enjoy that part of it, but I also enjoy the building, the business building and seeing it grow, bringing on additional people, watching them grow. The two businesses I sold in Seattle were both sold by or bought by my inspectors.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:So I've seen them from scratch built them. That's rewarding, yeah, it really wow. So I've seen them from scratch built them.
Speaker 2:That's rewarding, yeah it really is, and it's rewarding for them as well, because they get to walk into something that's, you know, running smoothly and they don't have to go through some of the things that a new business owner would have to go through. So it's been, it's rewarding from that perspective too. I see them grow, I see them financially growing, and then, you know, I get to do that down here too, so it's exciting.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like 2024 is off to a more busy start than 2023? I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, january was a good month, better month than any of the months in 23,.
Speaker 1:Believe it or not, here in Arizona.
Speaker 2:Seattle is a different animal. Up there it's pretty consistent, but down here we've seen really great. I'm surprised. Honestly, january is usually a very slow month in the real estate world, but it's been. It was good. It was really good.
Speaker 1:Are you having a chance to talk to me? Those buyers are kind of why are they jumping in the market now?
Speaker 2:Well what I understand is the interest rates are a big thing that is encouraging people just to jump in, which for us, for me, it doesn't matter as long as they're doing it. But I think interest rates dipping it just a hair is bringing in another area and another group of buyers that we're able to capture from a home inspector perspective. So that's good.
Speaker 1:Do you think you're going to have a busy spring in the rest of the year? Is it feeling that way?
Speaker 2:It is, I'm hopeful, the thing with this kind of as you know this kind of business you just don't know exactly what to expect. You just got to be ready for it, and we are ready for it. We have an infrastructure that could do 10 times what we're doing now. So we have the capacity. We just need to get out there and make sure everybody knows about us. And when the time comes that they're willing to give us a shot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and how many people do you have that are on your team right now that work?
Speaker 2:Seven inspectors. I have an office person who handles all the scheduling. She also does all the marketing for us Not all of it, but majority of the marketing for us. So she's a godsend, of course, having good people. She's been with me for eight years.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, that's a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she's been wonderful. I couldn't do it without her, so yep, but she can handle a lot more too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we just need to keep going, keep going. Keep going and keep that mindset positive, which you have, a wonderful mindset, so thank you. Well thank you so much for uh for joining me on my podcast. I'd greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, it's been wonderful no-transcript.