Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Listen and learn how some stand out from competition and gain market share. Information helpful to agents and buyers. Conversations with professionals and entrepreneurs regarding their stories and what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain competitive advantages. Listen to stories from Ohio real estate agents and related businesses to help you know how to improve and who to consider using for yourself or friends. Created by the owners of a highly rated home inspection company in Ohio and the Winners of Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest https://homeinspectionsinohio.com/
Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
The Art of Hiring: Navigating Challenges and Strategies in the Home Inspection Industry
Can hiring a home inspector really be as random as flipping a coin? Join us as we tackle the perplexing challenges and strategies of recruiting the right talent in the home inspection industry. Whether you're weighing the benefits of hiring newcomers versus seasoned professionals, we bring personal anecdotes and proven methods to light. Our conversation uncovers the inherent challenges posed by licensing requirements and the delicate balance of aligning these hires with your company's standards. Discover why our most successful hires often stem from customer service backgrounds and how this insight can transform your own hiring process.
We also delve into the ongoing debate of training versus hiring pre-licensed individuals. Through sharing our experiences, we reveal why inspectors trained in-house with a focus on strong service mentality and moral character tend to outperform their peers. We also candidly discuss the threat of other companies poaching these well-trained inspectors and how a structured training program can mitigate these risks. Amidst professional musings, we touch on our personal aspirations, like building forts and launching a new podcast with friendly competitions, underscoring the importance of a cohesive, adaptable team in achieving these goals.
What traits make an exceptional home inspector? We share our insights on the significance of work ethic, moral values, and a willingness to learn. Sports experience can often indicate resilience and teamwork, translating well into the workplace environment. Our preference for "blank slate" candidates open to training and mentorship is discussed, alongside the advantages of bilingual team members. With a humorous nod to our past hiring adventures, we highlight the importance of thoroughly assessing candidates—including their social media presence—to ensure they truly align with company culture. Stay connected with us for more insights as we navigate the complex world of hiring in the real estate and home inspection industries.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Two-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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Welcome to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast, where we discuss topics, upcoming events, news and predictions with real estate professionals and entrepreneurs. Listen and learn what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain advantages over the competition and gain market share. Subscribe for the latest news and discussion on what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Now here's your host, jim.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, Welcome to the Standing Out and Out podcast. This is Jim, and with me is Laura, the office goddess.
Speaker 3:Hello everybody.
Speaker 2:All right. So hiring people, that is probably one of the toughest things to do for any business. Yeah, in business is finding the right person and somehow being a match with each other that works out. So that's what we're going to talk about today, and is it better to hire somebody who's brand new in the field, depending upon the field or someone with experience. Or somebody with experience. But first let's listen to this.
Speaker 4:Habitation investigation is the way to go for a home inspection in Ohio. Trusted licensed home inspectors for your needs. From radon to mold to warranties For a great home inspection, you really can't go wrong. Visit homeinspectionsinohiocom.
Speaker 2:All right, laura. So hiring you have to hire people a year to grow a business.
Speaker 3:Yes. Because you can't do it on yourself.
Speaker 2:I guess there's probably a very select type of businesses where you probably could do it all yourself, but I'm talking like that would be an online business where you're really just drop shipping products.
Speaker 2:And you can do that, but you're outsourcing to other people, other companies that work for you. So you're not really by yourself doing that, but you can do that yourself. But you're outsourcing to other people, other companies who work for you. So you're not really by yourself doing that, but you can outsource, but they're not employees. So if you're going to hire, so you need to divide up, divide and conquer the tasks so you continue to grow Right. Real estate agents they're all independent contractors.
Speaker 3:So each person has their own independent business.
Speaker 2:They can work in a teams. Right, they do that. I'm not certain how the paperwork is for that, but it doesn't really matter. They work in teams and even there they're dividing, like here's a buyer's agent, here's a listing agent, somebody here's coordinating buyer's agent, here's a listing agent, somebody here's coordinating everything. So they still need to divide things up to grow the business Home inspection. There's only so many inspections a person can do a year.
Speaker 3:Yep or that you should do a year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even physically it's tough. I did 600 home inspections special one year by myself. That was a terrible. It was a very busy year.
Speaker 3:That's too many. We didn't see you much that year.
Speaker 2:Why are you waxing fondly of bats, whatever, but like 350? That's not average. I think that's kind of a good number. Yeah, some people want more, some people want less than that. Everybody wants to work just once a week and make tons of money, but that's not realistic, that's not realistic Every time.
Speaker 2:A business has a certain or position, has a certain amount it can make Right. Business has a certain or position, has a certain amount it can make right. Like a person, the fry guy at a fast food restaurant he's not gonna make eighty thousand dollars a year doing fries. Your value of your, the fries are only this much right you can't pay you more than the value of that right, or how much percentage of that.
Speaker 3:So like if you get paid five bucks per pack of fries, you're only going to give them, you know, a couple bucks because you still have to pay for the product, for the shipping, for the you know, yeah, now you're getting the expense of a business yeah, so do you hire somebody?
Speaker 2:there's a hard part. I've talked to people who do this professionally before and they said, even picking a manager out with all the metrics and everything you look at and personality tests, it's still like a 50-50 shot. It's a crap shot.
Speaker 3:So it's like Anybody can fake it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, you and I in the background. As psychologists, we know anybody can fake being normal, rational and intelligent. Intelligent may be a little harder to do sometimes, depending on what you ask them, but anybody can act normal long enough to get through an interview.
Speaker 3:And maybe even through probationary period, unless they have a meltdown before that.
Speaker 2:Correct, correct. You always should have a probationary period when you hire somebody. But you and I we used to this was before licensing would go to coffee shop, restaurant, wherever we were anyway, and we see an employee there doing excellent work, consistently, not just one time in a good mood, but they're consistently in a good mood, providing good service. They have that service mentality. They might be a good inspector, right. So we'd ask them and we'd hire people. Find people that way. Now, with licensing, a little bit more difficult, because now they actually have to go through training to the state. We always train ourselves.
Speaker 3:Right, but they still need to have the specific training yes, and we've hired people who are already licensed inspectors.
Speaker 2:Remember the guy from uh dayton? Yep could not. Nope, that did not work out. He could not. He could not write a report to our standards he didn't want to learn either.
Speaker 3:He thought I'm I'm licensed this is my supposition. I you know I'm licensed. Who are you to tell me what I need to do? I should just be able to go in and do what I want. That person would not follow our our routine. They wouldn't follow our reporting standards they wouldn't follow what to report on. You know, at a certain point, they're not meeting our standards. You're not meeting my standards.
Speaker 2:And then we tried hiring somebody else who was an experienced home inspector. That didn't work out. Not showing up on time, all kinds of reasons for not getting reports. These are practice reports. Not getting them done and then days later go hey, I didn't get shown how to do this. I'm like why aren't you asking the exact same day you're supposed to have it done?
Speaker 3:And I'm there with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't care If you've been experienced for a long time. I'm wondering if that's a negative to hire somebody because now they're stuck in their old ways and they're not going to do it right. I remember interviewing a home inspector who'd been an experienced home inspector. He was not willing to do things our way.
Speaker 3:But he at least said that.
Speaker 2:He did. I think he was shocked when I said, well, yeah, I'm not going to hire you. Then I think he was a little like, oh yeah, we're done.
Speaker 3:then Right, because it's the habitation method.
Speaker 2:Because we're one of the few inspectors I know that will test an air conditioner when it's cold outside. There's some limits to it, but he's like he couldn't get his head around that. He's like, no, I can't do that. I'm like, well then we're not done.
Speaker 3:I faintly recall him. He's been several ago.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah. Well, he never joined us. I wasn't going to Like no, we're not having one standard for these inspectors.
Speaker 3:And then you get your own standard, you go by.
Speaker 2:No, no, we're not doing that. We have a very good reputation is because the system and the thoroughness that we have, which comes off the system, and somebody shows up late or can't do the sequence in the system completely. I'm like no, listen you.
Speaker 3:You haven't met our requirements.
Speaker 2:So I'm almost thinking that it's better to go with somebody who's brand new, never really done inspections before, but they have the training, right, the schooling, because before we train ourselves and we still have training though they go through all the state requirements. Now we still train people to do it our way because, well, the schools don't don't give you the system, the sequence, they don't tell you like, how do you handle this situation, what you do, they don't don't give you any practical world experience they also tell you, you can make 400 000 a year.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's crazy yeah.
Speaker 3:No, it needs to be realistic because it's not as high as schools believe and I expect the other day to show me that we're talking about the schools.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because the home inspection schools. Now there's licensing. Okay, let's push, push, push, let's push. Let's sell all these school trainings, which I understand, that's get all. Let's sell these, all these school the trainings, which I understand, that's fine, there's nothing wrong with them doing that. But on the one website there's like hey, we have our, some of our inspectors making four hundred thousand dollars a year and I'm like I mean, that's practically like we're like no, that's, that's not really practical.
Speaker 3:Not for one person.
Speaker 2:No, not for one person. Now we did the math on that and let's say we talk about maximum the spectra can do a year. We said about 350.
Speaker 2:350 is not a sweet spot, right, let's just go. So let's go 400. 400,000. $350,000 is not a sweet spot, right, let's just go. So let's go $400,000. $400,000. Okay, okay, and let's divide that by, let's say, the average home inspection, let's call it $500. Okay, that's the basic home inspection and maybe one ancillary Right. Most inspectors do not start adding on termite right now. They don't termite radon.
Speaker 3:Not until they've been doing it for a while.
Speaker 2:Well, let's say we'll add a little bit, so we'll say 500. That means they're doing 800 inspections a year. That's not feasible for one person that's not feasible to do a decent job of that at all. Another thing, though, just because you brought in $400,000 in top line revenue does not mean that's what you're walking away with. There's no way.
Speaker 3:You've got E&O, you have office rentals, you have equipment, you have licensing, you have certifications, you have classes, you have termite license, you have radon classes and radon licenses and all of that stuff. You are not walking away even remotely with that yeah, what did I say?
Speaker 2:that was 600, what was?
Speaker 3:that? No, it was 800 inspections 800 inspections.
Speaker 2:okay, yeah, let me bring that I. I'll get 400,000 divided by 500. Yep, 800. So 800 is divided that by 50. Let's say 50 weeks. Okay, you're doing 16 a week. That's a lot. That's not impossible to do, but man, you're you're cranking. This is a seasonal business. It's not going to happen like that.
Speaker 3:No, and not. Not only that, but at a certain point you're going to be ragged. Doing two a day is physically challenging, especially when it's hot and it's the summer, and yeah that the other day I had that the other day.
Speaker 2:Well, we had some commercial building inspections and, uh, laura, who is certified to do commercial building inspection, came along with me and I'm now a contributing member here. So you you checked out some things while I climbed up the roof and did other things um and spent quality time with the buyer, who was also a real estate agent. I spent quality time with them. It was really helpful with them.
Speaker 3:They were sweet I liked them.
Speaker 2:They were very nice, but the schools are going to oversell this. You can make this much, but while they, their job is to bring in people. Can you bring in $400,000?
Speaker 3:a year, oversell this. You can make this much, but while they yeah, their job is to bring in people.
Speaker 2:Can you bring in $400,000 a year? Yeah, but it's going to be you and like four other guys yeah, three other guys Depends how busy you want to be. But as you grow and have these employees, there's a management side to that. Even if it's just by yourself, there's a management side to what you have to manage yourself.
Speaker 3:The money, the expenses.
Speaker 2:Yes, paperwork. Which makes me wonder is it better to hire somebody who has experience, who may be stuck in their ways, or hire somebody who has experience who may be stuck in their ways, or hire somebody who's new, has the background, information, some training? I want the blank slate and then you can kind of mold them in the way you need them.
Speaker 3:I want the blank slate it is leaning that way.
Speaker 2:The most of the people that we train from the ground up.
Speaker 3:Do much better.
Speaker 2:Have done a much better job. Yes, how many people have we trained that have been already licensed inspectors? I think we're doing. A third of them are able to make it.
Speaker 3:Um Bobby Joe came to us licensed.
Speaker 2:But never inspected.
Speaker 3:but she had never inspected don't talk about people who have inspected like if they were on their own and inspecting before they came to us. None of them have made it. Yeah, like literally none of them have made it. The only ones that have lasted are ones that we've taken in and trained ourselves from the ground up.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing it sucks. Other inspection companies are trying to take our people.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, well, and then, not only do they take them, but like they don't even bother training them, because they know we trained them well.
Speaker 2:Well, you should not do that, you should not do inspections. I'm like, okay, we trained them.
Speaker 3:Well, you should not do that, Not do inspections. I'm like okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well.
Speaker 3:Says a lot for us, but oh yeah, we have a great training program.
Speaker 2:So if you're an inspector or you want to become an inspector and you take in your classes, maybe you're licensed, maybe you have worked for somebody or for yourself for a little bit, but it's just not working well.
Speaker 3:Not more than a year.
Speaker 2:Or it's not more than what you wanted to do Because we've had some people go hey, I'm running a business. I really don't like running the business aspect of it.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's a lot.
Speaker 3:We can talk.
Speaker 2:We can talk, because I like doing inspections, but I don't want to do a bunch of them, right. I'd much rather do some other things and help the other inspectors. Stay busy, get going. I want to play in the woods. I want to play in the woods, I want to be a frontiersman in the forts I do I want to play frontiersman?
Speaker 2:make three houses, forts and then I can rent them out to people. I want to play frontiers man? Make three houses, forts and then I can rent them out to people who want to rent them out. Yeah, but you know mine are going to be better than yours. We're going to have a contest on that one.
Speaker 3:We'll have a contest to post pictures.
Speaker 2:We should.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, wait, wait, wait. We'll have a contest, we'll post pictures and then the listeners can vote as to which one they like better and they don't know whose is whose, they just get posted. This is Fort A. This is Fort B. Which do you like better?
Speaker 2:This sounds like you and I need to start a whole new podcast, jim vs Laura, or just a Jim and Laura show.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, the Jim and Laura show. Oh my God, that's just us driving places.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, but it could be the Jim and Laura show, and then we yeah who did a better job?
Speaker 3:Well, of course me.
Speaker 2:Well, whatever, but anyway I'm leaning toward it is better to hire somebody who has the main thing. They have to have a good service mentality. They have to be a good, honest, moral. Main thing they have to have a good service mentality. They have to be a good, honest, moral person. You have to have that and then you can train them yeah, you, you can't you and I can't train those traits.
Speaker 2:Those traits have to be there you and I background psychology, uh, mental health, a lot of all thating. Lots of psychotic people we worked with I mean legit psychotic and needed medication because I can't. I can tell you you cannot change somebody's personality.
Speaker 3:Nope, especially after 13.
Speaker 2:13 years old. Yeah, we used to be five. It's after five. They're kind of stuck in their ways a little bit, but then I think that's changed a little bit. But no, yeah, I think it was Freud, freud Erickson, five years old.
Speaker 3:Freud had his own issues.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, he did, but I'm leaning toward it's better to take somebody who is barely new, not fully ingrained in their doing their stuff, which could be the wrong way. But if somebody comes to us and they go, hey, I've been doing it this way, if it's a better way, Let me know I'm changing. Yeah, yeah, I have no problem with changing how things are done if it's for the better and there's a reason for it.
Speaker 1:You just don't change it because I've always.
Speaker 2:I've always done it this way.
Speaker 3:Now there has to be a reason behind it which is like our sequence right there's a reason for the sequence to be done like that and we've actually had people that have tried to complain about stuff, but because of where that occurred in the sequence, the real estate agents that worked with us knew that that wasn't a feasible option and said that oh, yeah, yep.
Speaker 3:So, like our sequence has protected us and saved us, because everybody knows we have a sequence and they all know what it is at this point, yeah, there's no way the refrigerator door is going to be left open when we leave, because the kitchen is done first. Well, when you go into the house, it's the first one that's done.
Speaker 2:There's no way we're not going to see that refrigerator open the other 20 times. We walk by it and not close it. It's not realistic. Plus we do exit videos. Plus we do exit videos Verify how we left the place. But anyway, Blank slate.
Speaker 3:I'm leaning towards blank slate.
Speaker 2:Blank slate.
Speaker 3:Yep Blank slate or slightly dusty.
Speaker 2:Slightly dusty. Well, they just need a little polishing.
Speaker 3:They just need a little you know polishing but they have to be good to the core they have to have the personality and the ethics and the morality are done.
Speaker 2:If you polish a turd, it's still a turd.
Speaker 3:Can you actually polish him?
Speaker 2:I don't know, I'm not going to try, but if you've got a good person you can polish them up and go. Yeah, here you go, ready to go. What was that? One movie I'm sure you like this movie. What was it? The rain in Spain fall mainly in the plane. What movie was that?
Speaker 3:um, yeah, my fair lady so embarrassed.
Speaker 2:I knew that, but anyway, I don't know the whole story. Was she like she was a good person, right she? I don't know that yeah story. Was she a good person, right?
Speaker 3:I don't know she was a flower peddler.
Speaker 2:Okay, and they made her into a princess, but how I don't get the whole story.
Speaker 3:So Rex Harrison, the professor, got into some debate with some dude some night over drinks and he said that he could teach anybody how to talk and act like a princess. And the other guy bet him that he couldn't. Okay. So he takes eliza um audrey hepburn and they pull her into his house and he works with her and he teaches her. And watch the rest of the story.
Speaker 2:Okay, so did it end with a happy story in the end?
Speaker 3:I think it did. It had some stops and starts to it.
Speaker 2:Did she have to go back to pedaling or did she move up?
Speaker 3:That was part of the problem, because when it was done, what was going to happen to her? And I think his mother ended up stepping in and helping her, if I'm recalling correctly, and then he came to his senses and realized he was in love with her. Oh, okay, it's been like my mom and sister would watch that, and I'm tinny's boy, I'm not watching that it's been a long time since I've seen it, so I I mean, maybe we'll watch that here some night.
Speaker 2:Thank you for well eddie murphy in the 80s, was it trading places, trading places. Is that the same storyline? Because the two wealthy guys had a wager.
Speaker 3:No, they both looked like each other. It was Eddie Murphy playing both parts, I think. And the rich dude was tired of being a rich dude and being followed, and the poor dude was tired of being a poor dude, so they just switched.
Speaker 2:I think, that's what that was, but anyway, that was a segue.
Speaker 3:That was a segue.
Speaker 2:But if the person is good, has the moral, the work ethic.
Speaker 3:You can work with them. They're workable, they're workable.
Speaker 2:They're teachable and that's the key being teachable. Now this having somebody, if you're, you're a higher, if you had two people very equal. One played sports, did dsat sports, other person did not play sports.
Speaker 3:I'm going for the person I played sports, they're going to be more physically fit and able to keep up and do the job that and when you play sports, you as a team team.
Speaker 2:It could be a team player. But also my main thing is you're usually getting criticized and failing and trying to get.
Speaker 3:And practicing to get better.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, because you have to fail and then go. Well, I can, I can do better than that and not be all upset about it. All right, I mean, let me try and hit that ball again, let me go for that arm bar again and you right screw up, you get choked out. You're like okay, that was a crap. I got what I do wrong here.
Speaker 3:You gotta be willing to try again, but it's a learning process yeah, and you have to be willing to learn and if you can't accept that you don't do it right the first time, or if you get frustrated or if you get pissed at someone for correcting you find another point why I always liked going to somebody's job and watching them work.
Speaker 2:Right, marilyn, marilyn wanted that one bartender, one being a home inspector, and we met him at the bar and he was just kind of a douchebag and then. But he found out who we, who we were, and of a sudden he was the nicest person Like. No, he's dumb.
Speaker 3:Or like how many times have we had somebody come in and they were a jerk to Amy or I, not knowing who either one of us were. Like, just automatically, just pen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, if somebody's rude or dismissive to you and Amy, I'm not hiring them, they're done. Or say somebody has a complaint and it's an idiot complaint. I mean, if it's something legit I'll listen, but it's just an idiot pain in the ass complaint. So it wasn't even expected for them and they're dismissive to you guys. I'm a lot less likely to help them out.
Speaker 3:Right, just because that was their go-to. Instead of trying to work or ask questions or, you know, be approachable and a decent human being, you just go right to treating somebody like crap no, that's not how it works.
Speaker 2:You gotta ask to ask us nicely if you have any feedback or something like that or you need help with. Don't be rude and dismissive to people and then think that's going to help you out. That is not so. Anyway, I'm leaning toward hiring people who blank slate fairly blank slate. Well, right now it's hard to train some. Spend all that time training somebody Then to find out they're they're not working out.
Speaker 3:I I kind of want somebody who has the training background like a blank slate, like they've not worked for somebody else for themselves not really they need to be. You know, go through the internachi classes, go through that. We can work with you, get most of your stuff done heck, even get licensed if you want to, and then we'll take over when you're done yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you are somebody who wants to become an inspector, let us know. If you know somebody wants to become an inspector, let us know. Send them our way. We can remember one thing I want to do a home inspector finishing school. Yep, we can, we can finish them up. We can finish them up. We're done. Well, we can help people get their parallel inspections in.
Speaker 3:I have this as a mentor with InterNACHI. You are still as a mentor. I would also love someone that speaks Spanish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'd be nice. We have one girl, but she ended up not ever contacting us back. I don't know what happened to her. She was in that one job and she needed to stay there so she could get her student loans taken care of.
Speaker 3:It was part of, was that? But?
Speaker 2:then she just fell off the face of earth. So all right. Yeah, I have no clue what happened. I've forgotten all about her actually. Oh no, I remember. So all right, I think I'm about late on this one, so think about that if you need to hire somebody, how are you gonna?
Speaker 3:what works best for you figure that out. Yeah, you, you need to know what works best. You have to to have expectations.
Speaker 2:I do recommend stalking their Facebook page. They have one Look at that.
Speaker 3:If they're working and it's some type of a public service type thing, like they work at a restaurant or something, go check them out.
Speaker 2:Well, just imagine and we've never done this checked out on somebody who's applied and looked at their Facebook page and they're being very rude and dismissive of their current employer. If they're doing that, I would never. I'm like no, they can't keep their personal life out of their personal life, out of their business. They can't avoid mixing those things up. But there's you and I.
Speaker 3:It's all mixed baby, yeah, but it's together Right, we've integrated you and I.
Speaker 2:It's all mixed baby, yeah, but it's together, right? We've integrated you and I and work Well. Each one beats the other. Yeah, I think that's about it on this one. Have a great day everybody. Bye, all right, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Google Podcasts to get new, fresh episodes. For more, please follow us on Instagram, twitter and Facebook, or visit the website of the best Ohio home inspection company at homeinspectionsinohiocom or jimtroffcom. That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H and click on podcast. Until next time, learn and go do stuff.