The majority of property inspectors tend to specialize in either residential or commercial buildings, although some inspectors will do both. Today, we’re going to talk about the difference between these two kinds of property inspections!
While of course every family home is different, the variety you will find in residential buildings is nothing compared to the variety found among commercial buildings. In fact, within the umbrella title of “commercial,” there’s much room to further specialize your range. Entire apartment buildings, retail stores, warehouses/factories, shopping malls, grocery stores, retail stores, and much more are all considered commercial buildings. Commercial property assessment is also the name given to the inspection of an inspection done on a commercial property.
As commercial buildings are larger and more valuable, and the work more complicated, these buildings will call for higher inspection fees and more time given to each property. Home inspectors who choose to venture into commercial inspections may overall earn more money, but the difference is generally due to the amount of available work, not a significant pay increase. Some home inspectors who inspect commercial properties say they enjoy commercial work because it gives them the chance to do something different and further expand their skills.
The most significant benefit of commercial inspections for inspection companies is in the opportunity for referrals and repeat clients. All home inspectors heavily rely on referrals, but how many people purchase a home every couple years? There’s not a lot of chance to pull a client back in within the realm of residential inspections. Commercial inspections, however, can turn into much more. Commercial real estate brokers are likely to have a web of higher end clients. If these people are very happy with your work, you are guaranteed repeat customers.
Something to note, however, is that commercial building inspections do come with more risk and challenges all of their own. The buildings are significantly larger, and this can be very intimidating for a brand new commercial home inspector. Your clients also have the potential to be more demanding, with their tight deadlines and the amount of money on the line. For example, an overlooked HVAC defect in a residential home could cost your client $10k or more to replace. In a commercial property, you’re looking at tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace the whole system. There is no room for error.
Some commercial inspectors chose to work in teams to ensure the inspection process remains efficient and to keep the possibility of errors as low as possible. It is also common for inspection companies to hire subject matter experts (SME) for inspecting specific aspects of a commercial property. For example a commercial HVAC company may be hired to inspect the commercial sized boiler system that heats the entire building or to have a specialist in to inspect commercial kitchen equipment. SME’s can also be called in to help speed up the inspection. It is not unheard of having several people at once on site all inspecting different things. The gathered information then get put together to create the report. Organizational skills are important.
No matter how you get into commercial work or if you need it done for a commercial building you are buying use a company that has experience.
Columbus Ohio commercial inspection website
The Habitation Investigation company provides mold testing and home inspections in the Central Ohio Columbus and home inspection in the Dayton Ohio areas, Hilliard, Powell, Pickerington, Pataskala, New Albany, Delaware, Gahanna, Westerville, Galloway, Grove City, Worthington, Dublin, Marysville, London, Springfield, West Jefferson, Mechanicsburg and other cities surrounding Columbus, Ohio. The most/best reviewed home inspection company in Columbus Ohio is Habitation Investigation LLC. The website is: https://www.homeinspectionsinohio.com
Written by Kaitlyn Troth of Troth Media
