Winning the Consumer's Choice Award for home inspections in Columbus has been a remarkable journey for us, and there's so much we've learned along the way. Laura and I, Jim, talk about the systems and consistent service that have been our backbone, emphasizing the freedom we've found as a locally owned business without the constraints of a corporate franchise. You'll hear how our proactive measures have helped us maintain control while continuing to deliver exceptional service. We're excited to explore the challenge of meeting the rising demand for licensed home inspectors, and we're on the lookout for passionate individuals eager to join our team.
We’re also thrilled to share career opportunities now available through our website's career page. The application process is straightforward, and we invite enthusiastic team players to explore the possibilities with us. Don't forget to subscribe on Spotify or Google Podcasts to catch our latest episodes, and engage with us on social media and through our website. We're committed to providing valuable insights and resources for both aspiring professionals and our loyal followers. Remember, keep learning and taking action—there's always room for growth and excellence. Thank you for joining us on this journey!
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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For home buyers: What to expect from a home inspection. YT video for home buyers
Home Buyer and Seller Resources | Habitation Investigation
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If you would like to be a guest on the podcast contact us and let us know. You can visit Home (jimtroth.com) and go to the podcast page or message Habitation Investigation.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast,
where we discuss topics,upcoming events, news and
predictions with real estateprofessionals and entrepreneurs.
Listen and learn what makestheir companies and themselves
stand out and gain advantagesover the competition and gain
market share.
Subscribe for the latest newsand discussion on what it takes
(00:23):
to stand out from the crowd.
Now here's your host, jim.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Standing Out Loud
podcast.
This is Jim and of course Ihave Laura, the office goddess,
here.
Hello everyone.
All right.
So I can't remember if weactually announced this or not.
I know we did somewhere.
I know we did online.
Something maybe, yeah, butanyway, we won a Consumer's
Choice Award for homeinspections in the Columbus area
.
Yay, which is nice.
(00:52):
We didn't know anything aboutit and they have some method for
figuring that out.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, and it has to do with reviews and website and
AI looking through and findingstuff.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So I I don't know what their formula is gotta love
ai well there's gonna be a lotof hate thing down the road.
We'll sell it.
Yeah how that goes.
So that was big for us becausewe're choice awards with a nice
little like lunch little awardceremony, kind of thing.
I see we got pins that we canwear.
So if we go to real estateevents, we should wear these.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yes, I was thinking that too.
And we got cute little stickers.
Consumer's Choice Award 2025.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I don't know if we're going to stick those.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I don't know either.
We got a little sticker.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We could put those on our brochures that we leave at
places.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, oh yeah, that could be possible.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
We can do something like that.
So with that we're sitting.
Good, we have great systems.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
We've got great reviews.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
People ask us if we're a national franchise,
which we're not.
It's Lauren and I own it.
That's it, and then we have ourinspectors, so we just do it.
We've done a very good job ofsystematizing things and just
really keep it proactive andeverything yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It makes it so that everybody gets the same service.
It's all equitable across theboard.
It's easier for everybodybecause those are all systems
that are set up and have beenfor years.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And we did not want to have to ask some corporate
office go hey, can I do this?
Can I do this for marketing?
Neither one of us do that well,no, no, so we have control.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
We do it ourselves.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And we have very good systems and everything and we
have a lot of things that we'vedone over the years to help
clients and agents take care ofit things that we've done over
the years to help clients andagents take care of it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Pretty much any service we offer has been a
request from a client for helpyep, now we are struggling a
little bit yeah, yeah, we areright now one area we just one
we need home inspectors.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
we we have good demand for our services.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Okay, except for, like Christmas, new Year's Eve,
slowest time of the year for it,but it's already.
We're having some capacityissues.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, we're busier now than we've been in years at
this point.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So if you know of a home inspector, or if you are a
home inspector.
Yes, we are looking and wedon't take just anybody, that's
for sure.
We've had licensed people notbe able to write a report and
then some other inspectors.
They all were nice people theyreally were.
(03:40):
It just didn't really work outwell, for whatever reason Right
Things happen.
But we are looking forinspectors and we need them to
be licensed, because this isOhio and we have the licensing
now.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So that will make it easier to get them up and
running faster for busy seasonfor busy season.
So if you or someone you knowis licensed and struggling and
not sure what they want to do, Imean maybe they work for a
franchise.
One of our inspectors right nowwas working for a franchise and
I don't think this person hadmuch of any business at all.
(04:21):
Like they were forced to doinspections with other people
and split everything becausethat was the model for that
company yeah, yes, so I've seensome weird.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I've seen some weird models.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, system, what way people do things um but yeah
like if you work for anotherfranchise and you're not quite
getting as much as you want orneed give us a call, which all
right.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So, new inspectors, you can be new.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, you can be new too.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
There's still training involved with us.
Just because you're licenseddoesn't mean you're mainly able
to go.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Whether you've been doing it for 20 years or two
months.
There's training with us,there's the habitation
investigation inspection way.
We've got our own system and wedo it that way and it doesn't
change, yep.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
But if you listen to the schools, it teaches a
homeless training.
Oh, yeah, it's.
Uh.
I'm like, oh, you'll make,you'll make a hundred thousand
your first year.
Yeah, no, no, no, that isnowhere, nowhere low.
There's probably some inspectorwho've done that, so I'm,
that's my.
They've done that but they'realso in a large metropolitan
(05:31):
area and the ones I know theyhave crashed and burned hard
because they didn't have thesystems and they were doing
really some of them I know weredoing really bad reports, report
systems.
Yeah, because they wereexpecting like, wow, people like
I'm there's only a smallpercent that will actually ask
for money back or sue us andthey were like, well, if we get
(05:56):
away with it most of the time,we're still making money.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That's not how you think.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
That's not how we operate.
So we want good service,mentality, people that aren't
afraid to do a good job and puteffort into it.
So, anyway, that's what we'relooking for.
So the team approach.
We need more people to help us.
Right, join us so we cancontinue to grow and serve other
people Right?
You and I live now insoutheastern Ohio.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's a little bit harder for you to get out there.
Office in.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Columbus.
So we still have ColumbusInspector.
We still cover Dayton, delaware.
Now it's so much easier to doAthens because we're down here
already here.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So yeah, pretty much anywhere in the state, as long
as you would be able to get toColumbus or wherever to do
inspections and and get used toour process.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I would kind of like that.
I'm kind of torn if I wantbrand new, never did an
inspection, yes, inspector, um,or yes, or somebody who does,
who's been doing for a while andand they need some trend.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
But you have to retrain you had to retrain on
that report, and that that's thebiggest problem that we've seen
is the re, because they getinto their own habit and their
own method of doing things intheir own report and then they
have to unlearn all that andlearn ours, and that's where
it's been throwing people it's.
I think it's easier.
I think it probably is a brandnew person or at least or not a
(07:28):
very old one, well, the onespectrum I'm thinking of.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
He had a different system but he spent one, two
days just going through ourreport system versus the
spectrum I did with him.
He had like 90% of everythingwas correct and everything.
I want five more like him.
And then we had another guy whowas wanting mentoring Right, so
also somebody who's learning tobe a homeless inspector.
(07:54):
We can mentor you and help youget going.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Of course, we need to follow up with that guy too.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Of course we're hoping that if you decide not to
do it on your own, you'll joinus and we can support you and
basically we do the marketingfor you and then we just send
you off.
Right, you and basically we dothe marketing for you and then
we just send you off to theinspections.
You're part of our employees.
But the one guy firstinspection he'd ever been on
With us.
He may have done a mockinspection with his training
(08:21):
class when I'm at the coffeeshop, didn't it, victor?
Oh, okay, I don't know if he'dever been been on one no, he
hadn't been we were his first,first one he did.
It was a mock and he didn'tfollow our inspector and he gave
him a stamp report sending.
We have here, it is he had itdown, it was yeah, it's an easy
(08:44):
system I'm sad.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
So he went somewhere else.
He wasn going to stay as aninspector.
He never even got started as aninspector.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
He was trying to get a license, but he decided to do
something else.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I think he decided to become a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Went to the dark side .
Speaker 3 (08:59):
He went to the dark side.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Well, I'm glad he didn't spend time doing
inspections and go, oh thissucks Right, and not want to do
it.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
At least he figured it out before he got too far
down the rabbit hole and money.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So good for him.
But maybe he'll decide like ah,let me do this instead.
Either way, as long as it worksout for him, that's cool.
But yeah, that's about it onthis one.
If you know anybody, send themour way, send us up.
Somebody will be an inspector.
We would definitely like to dothat, and they do not have to be
(09:36):
directly in Columbus.
Central Ohio is probably thebest location, at least for the
amount of business that we have.
We do a lot in Columbus.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Columbus and all the surrounding counties.
So there's something driving.
Of course there's driving.
We never know where it's goingto be the inspection, but
definitely send them our way.
If I remember, I will put alink in the show notes that has
a link to a form that theyfilled out the employment form,
the career page.
Yeah, I'll do that.
(10:06):
So thank you everybody, bye,bye-bye.
The employment career page yeah, I'll do that.
So thank you everybody, bye.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Bye-bye.
You've been listening to theStanding Out in Ohio podcast.
Be sure to subscribe on Spotifyor Google Podcasts to get new,
fresh episodes.
For more, please follow us onInstagram, Twitter and Facebook,
or visit the website of thebest Ohio home inspection
(10:34):
company athomeinspectionsinohiocom or
jimtroffcom.
That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H andclick on podcast.
Until next time, learn and godo stuff.
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