Home Inspection Diploma Program Outline
Module 5 – The Home Inspection
Setting Up a Business
Now that you’ve covered the steps involved in performing a home inspection, it’s time to focus on some of the business skills you need to succeed in this fast-growing field. This first lesson in a series of several covering business topics guides you through the basics of getting a business up and running. You learn about choosing a business structure, setting up an operating budget, getting insurance coverage, obtaining licenses and permits, zoning laws, taxes for the self-employed, and more.
Promoting a Business
Even though you could be the best home inspector in the world, if nobody else knows how great you are, business is going to be slow. In this lesson you learn how advertising and promotion can help you sell your new skills. You find out how brochures, resumes, and referrals can help you create a professional image for your business; how to place classified and display ads; how to respond to ads, listings, and leads, plus how direct mail, publicity, and other promotional techniques can bring you a steady stream of customers.
Business Records and Bookkeeping
Even if you have somebody else doing your record keeping, you must understand “the books” in order to ensure a secure financial future for your business. This lesson offers insider’s tips on record keeping for the small business. You learn how to keep income, expense, and bookkeeping records; how to set up a practical bookkeeping system with reports, schedules, and balance sheets – and even a computer; plus learn how to use award-winning Quicken finance software to your best advantage.
You and Your Customers
Whether a real estate agent, a bank, or a homeowner hires you, knowing how to communicate effectively with your client is critical to your success in the home inspection field. This lesson gives you the basics of establishing good customer relations. You discover how things like your office; your telephone, your business cards – and even the way you dress – can help you project a professional image. By developing your professional communication skills, you can create and maintain the kind of customer confidence you need to make your business grow and thrive.
Using the Computer as a Business Tool
The personal computer has changed forever the way people do business – and home inspectors are no exception! Now you explore the computer and its uses in greater detail, learning about the kinds of operating techniques – such as formatting disks, copying files, and building a directory – that you need to begin using your computer and software to create professional-quality home inspection reports. What’s more, you see how computers have revolutionized a full range of business operations. You survey applications for word processing, data base management, desktop publishing, and spreadsheets. This information will help you determine how your computer can be your most valuable business partner.
Starting Your Own Home Inspection Business
Your final lesson gives you an opportunity to pull together everything you’ve learned – not only from the inspection side, but also from the business side. You’ve already studied how to get a business up and running, plus general business functions like bookkeeping, marketing, and customer relations. Now you take a closer look at business and liability issues particularly important in the home inspection field. As you wrap up this lesson, you’ll be confident that you’ve gotten the inspection skills, the computer know-how, and the business basics you need to make your new home inspection career a success!
|
