Kirk Bingenheimer, founder of B-Home Inspections, started the company from scratch and grew it into a home inspection business of over 400-plus home inspections annually in the Charleston, S.C. area in just three short years.
B-Home Inspections is offering franchise opportunities in select states and markets using his proven systems and marketing strategies. We recently sat down with Bingenheimer to discuss a typical day for franchisees and where he sees the franchise headed in the next five years.
What’s special about the B-Home Inspections franchise?
Owning and operating your own home inspection franchise does not require any inventory, employees or a large investment in equipment or supplies. Best of all you can work from home and set your own hours.
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What is the idea behind the franchise?
I started my home inspection business in 2009 at the bottom of the real estate downturn. When I started, I had no idea how I was even going to obtain my first customer. Through a lot of hard work and tough lessons learned I was able to grow my business to 400+ inspections annually by my third year in business. With my proven home inspection systems and marketing strategies in place, I am excited to help other people start their very own home inspection businesses.
How does it compare to its competition?
The B-Home Inspections franchise fee is less than half the cost of other home inspection franchise systems. We charge a low flat-rate royalty fee per inspection as opposed to a percentage of gross sales like most other franchise systems. There are no marketing fees nor any requirements to purchase marketing or promotional materials from us. We provide our franchisees with marketing strategies, online scheduling, report writing templates, online franchisee operations manual, monthly online video calls and additional one-on-one online training as needed.
Who benefits from B-Home’s services?
Nearly ninety percent of all real estate transactions involve a home inspection. The demand for inspectors is growing year ever year.
Where do you see B-Home Inspections in five years?
Right now we have two franchisees in our system. My goal is to have twenty-five franchise locations in place within five years. We want to help our franchisees launch, grow and make money quickly. Later as their business grows, we want to help them become multi-inspector firms so that they can build a stream of income that will benefit them throughout retirement.
Can you describe a typical day in the life of a franchisee?
Operating a home inspection business is hard work but rewarding at the same time. It is a great business model because you perform a service and receive compensation from your customer immediately. On a typical day each inspector can perform two home inspections during the day and complete the inspection reports in the evening. It takes about three hours for each home inspection and about an hour to write each report.
What’s your background?
After obtaining my Masters in Building Science and Management, I began my career teaching at Clemson University for three years. After that I spent the next 15 years working for large production home builders. In 2009, I started my home inspection business and steadily grew it year after year. Now I am combining my teaching background with my hands-on experience to help other people start their own home inspection business.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
If I was to start all over again, I would have purchased a home inspection franchise system. What I did instead was waste a lot of my time and money trying to figure out what inspection systems and marketing strategies were effective. I managed to succeed and now have a business model to share with people that want to start up a new home inspection business.
Please tell us your secret to success.
A strong determination and a relentless focus on sustaining self-employment.
Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Find something that you are good at, work hard to become and remain self-employed.
Where can people find out more about B-Home Inspections?
Visit the website here
Where can people find B-Home Inspections on social media?
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