As I often talk about the role that ethics plays in running a successful home inspection business, as expected, I tend to get pushback from some inspectors. One thing that’s often said is that it’s very easy for me to say that I place ethics and relationships over money, because I’ve been an inspector for so long that I don’t really need the money anymore.
While I certainly wish that I was independently wealthy, I can assure you that it is not the case. I have a daughter who is currently studying at an out of state college and planning on going to medical school. With lots of schooling and years of residency ahead for her, she’ll be showing up on my balance sheet for quite a while. It’s likely that I will be working until I can’t work any longer.
Hopefully, I don’t drop dead on a home inspection. If I do, please let my clients know that their inspection report probably won’t be delivered within my normal 24-hour window…
I know that making money is incredibly important. It’s one of the main reasons that we go to work. Most (sane) people would not choose to work if they didn’t need the money. While there is an outside chance that some rich people keep on working just because they enjoy it, the rest of us are working because we need to pay our bills.
I understand that the reason I’m working is to make money. I also realize that the way in which I run my business could potentially lead to the loss of some agents’ business, and yes, that means lost income for me. While the prospect of losing income is certainly something that any good business owner would like to avoid, that doesn’t mean I’m willing to bend the truth to make sure that a sale goes through (and that I’ll continue to get referrals from that agent.)
As a professional inspector, if I do my job correctly, it naturally follows that I’ll sometimes discover things that will lead to a contract being cancelled. Some houses have significant issues, and some things can’t be negotiated to an acceptable settlement, no matter how experienced the agent happens to be.
As a result, that particular agent is not going to get paid for the work that they’ve done on that house. That means it’s quite likely I’ll be talked about in a negative light amongst agents at their weekly meeting or on an “agents only” social media page. Obviously, such negative publicity is bound to adversely affect my future earning power. However, I’m not here just for short term profits.
I’m playing the long game.
The odds are that lots of us are going to be in this industry for many years to come. I know that if I do something unethical just to get a payday, it’s likely to come back to bite me in the future. Without a doubt, doing something like that would have a negative impact on my future income.
Professional real estate agents know that there are some houses that are not right for a particular buyer. Selling a fixer-upper to a young couple with little disposable income and no remodeling skills is a recipe for disaster, likely saddling that agent with years of negative publicity on social media.
Taking advantage of your clients is always a bad business strategy. Anyone that operates a business this way is unlikely to get much repeat business and will always need to look for new clients. Unless that business owner is planning on relocating and starting over again in a new area, there are only so many clients to be had in each market. If we keep screwing them over, eventually we’ll run out of customers.
Doing the right thing is always the best plan (and is required by the LSBHI Code of Ethics Title 46, Part XL, Chapter 5. §501.B.10.):
The LHI shall… not knowingly understate or overstate the significance of observed conditions.
If we do our jobs to the best of our abilities, regardless of any negative impact to our short-term bottom line, we can be certain that we’ve done the right thing to “safeguard the public.” And isn’t that exactly what the Code of Ethics tells us we’re supposed to be doing?
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Thanks, Joe
