What Home Inspectors Should Know About Growing Your Business
After their first appearance in November 2020, Forever Home Inspection owners Brit and Lance Coffman recently jumped onto the Spectora Spotlight Podcast again, this time with their new business partners and fellow home inspectors, Kalyn and Matt Gibson. The Gibsons are heading up Forever Home Inspection’s expansion into Iowa. Podcast host Kevin Wagstaff talked to the four about what professional home inspectors can learn from this unique business arrangement. Here are some of the highlights.
How home inspectors can start a business partnership
Forever Home Inspection founders and co-owners Lance and Brit Coffman
During their first podcast, Brit and Lance talked about what they’d learned as business owners, how they navigated the Covid-19 pandemic, and their advice for new home inspectors. After the podcast was released, they were contacted by home inspectors around the country looking for insight. The Gibsons were one of the inspectors who reached out, and after a nearly two-hour call between Brit and Kalyn, Brit told Lance that “Out of everybody we’ve talked to, these folks are different, and I really like them a lot.” Brit gave Kalyn some homework and tasks to complete, and in a month, they did another call. Kalyn had completed the tasks and more, and Brit and Lance realized they were talking to “super students” who were as serious about their business as they were. The two couples instantly had chemistry. Brit decided to ask the Gibsons if they wanted to join Forever Home, and they said yes! But they have a unique arrangement- Kalyn and Matt are partners, not employees. The whole process has had a lot of questions and unknowns (and legal obstacles). It’s not been “a smooth journey” by any means, but it’s been an invaluable one.
Forever Home Inspection Iowa co-owners Matt and Kalyn Gibson
All four acknowledge there were a lot of fears, frustrations, high emotions, and roadblocks along the way in making this partnership happen. There were times where Brit felt like the company was exposed and vulnerable by allowing other people to come in and see how things were behind the curtain. Overall though, the entire process of merging has been an example of the Proverb “iron sharpening iron,” with the Coffmans and Gibsons strengthening and sharpening one another as professionals. Part of the reason it works so well is that the arrangement didn’t start from a motivation to chase revenue. It started as a relationship, then became a partnership, and now is becoming a profitable long-term investment.
Advice for Home Inspectors seeking to expand
Working with another team means communication, communication, communication! The Oklahoma and Iowa teams are in daily contact, and are constantly reevaluating their processes and systems.
Don’t be afraid to be ambitious. Brit tells the team, “We have to make decisions for a company ten times this size. If an idea can’t be scaled up, then it has to be a no, even if it’s a fantastic idea.” From the very beginning, you need to build your company in a way that can be scaled and duplicated. If you’re not always innovating or ready to make mistakes, you might not have what it takes to grow. And you can’t be married to an idea; you have to be willing to abandon a bad idea at any time. It’s all about flexibility + simplicity.
Ego check! Don’t become indispensable. Brit talks about how for so long, she’s had everything about Forever Home Inspection–systems, programs, growth, strategy– all in her head. But the way to long-term success for the company isn’t by her holding all of the answers. It needs to be written down, created, and in a place where others can take it and run with it. One person can’t be the end-all-be-all.
4. Scalability: Most people think that big companies have to be placed in big metropolitan areas. But there is actually tons of potential for growth in the Midwest, where the cities aren’t as big but there is a huge need for competitive businesses and great potential for growth across smaller, more rural communities where there’s no other big game in town.
But with that comes some unique issues Forever Home Inspection has had to face. As the Coffmans learned, in many small towns and tight-knit communities (even the ones they grew up in) there can be a reluctance to accept new businesses, which can be seen as “outsiders." While sometimes you may just have to back off, Kalyn shared a vision for how to approach these communities. Lead with respect for the established businesses there, then offer to educate and come alongside them (Forever Home Inspection is an accredited real estate school!) Through your own work, raise the bar and provide competition to the marketplace. Show your worth, and look out for opportunities to make partnerships with the local talent.
What Forever Home Inspection is doing is unique and almost unheard of in the home inspection business! We’re excited to break new ground, reject stereotypes of what home inspectors do and don’t do, and continue giving customers–old and new– the best service possible.
About Spectora
Spectora is the cutting-edge home inspection software company that Forever Home and dozens of other high-performing home inspection companies use. Spectora gives home inspectors the tools they need to serve their customers and build their business. If you want to get a taste of what Spectora is like for customers (our inspection reports use Spectora tech), take a look at some sample reports here. You can find the Spectora Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Podbean, Youtube, and on the Spectora website).
