Four leading home inspection franchises
by Georgie Binks
As prospective homebuyers seek peace of mind and protection against hidden issues, franchise opportunities have emerged to meet this demand. In this article, we will explore four prominent home inspection franchises in Canada: A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections, Carson Dunlop, Pillar To Post Home Inspectors, and Mike Holmes Inspections.
A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections
In 2005, real estate industry veteran Bill Redfern was so frustrated with the quality of property inspectors that he created his own home inspection business, A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections. Today, “There’s no home or property inspector more entrenched in the Canadian real estate industry than us,” says Rick Mayuk, regional owner and managing director of A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections.
Mayuk notes that the industry lacks national licensing standards. A Buyer’s Choice Home inspections’ vision was to create a system whose franchisees brought a new level of professionalism to the industry. The company trains and certifies every inspector who joins the A Buyer’s Choice Home inspections family to the same high level, which is more than double the highest standard in Canada.
The company began franchising in Halifax in 2007. Since then, it’s grown to 146 locations in Canada and 42 locations abroad. The franchise system is looking forward to adding another 80-100 units in the next few years. In addition to home inspections, the franchise also provides commercial inspections and environmental services.
There are many benefits in operating an A Buyer’s Choice franchise, explains Mayuk. “This is a people business, meaning it’s a great margin business for the franchise owner.”
He adds that franchisees also have less overhead because they’re based out of their homes and don’t carry inventory. “Their greatest asset is their personality and great customer service,” Mayuk says.
As with any industry, there can be challenges. Mayuk says that dealing with clients can be challenging for a franchisee, so strong people skills are a must.
Initially, franchisees grow their own franchise as an owner-operator. Each territory is awarded generously enough that franchise owners can scale their business and add another inspector team to grow within their market.
Training includes 650 hours of technical, field, and business operations training before franchisees go live. “It’s a company in a box,” says Mayuk. “The company provides all the backup, and our franchisees and inspectors are responsible for belly-to-belly marketing, in person, in their community.” Simply put, when it comes to drumming up business for new A Buyer’s Choice franchisees, no marketing effort goes farther than simple face time.
The ideal A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections franchisee is a self-directed people person. “They have a fire in their belly and are entrepreneurial,” says Mayuk. “We recruit for personality, and we train for skill.”
Carson Dunlop
Before 2022, Carson Dunlop provided home inspection education courses in Canada. However, when it acquired National Property Inspections (NPI), A U.S.-based home inspection franchise that year, it started to franchise its business model.
Sydney Bailey, marketing director for National Property Inspections, explains: “NPI has been franchising since 1987, so we’ve been helping Carson Dunlop, now our parent company, launch an emerging franchise brand under the Carson Dunlop name that’s only for Canada.”
“It’s the best of both worlds,” Bailey says. “We know how to make a franchise successful, and we’re now partnering with our parent company, Carson Dunlop, that’s been in the home inspection education industry for 45 years.”
Franchisees start with a two-week training course in Omaha, Nebraska. One week is training with technical trainers, and the second is focused on running the business and marketing. “We’re not just teaching individuals how to be a home inspector. We’re teaching them how to grow a successful home inspection business that goes beyond any of the technical knowledge you’d need to be a home inspector,” explains Bailey.
Most franchises are owner-operated, and the primary business is performing inspections, but Bailey says there’s always room to grow a franchisee’s business.
“What I love about the home inspection industry is it’s really rewarding both on the franchisee level and franchisor level,” says Bailey. “For franchisees, it’s working with homeowners and walking them through the buying process and making sure their homes are safe. From my position at the corporate level, I get to help our franchisees every day be more successful.”
The ideal Carson Dunlop franchise owner is personable and highly self-motivated. “It’s all about making connections with real estate professionals,” says Bailey. “Being able to sell yourself, [being] confident in your services and [making] those good, strong in-person relationships are the key to success.”
Mike Holmes Inspections
Scott Piccolo, president and CEO of Mike Holmes Inspections, laughs when he tells stories about the well-known company namesake. “Mike’s been on TV for more than 20 years. For the last 15 years at Mike Holmes Inspections, we always have somebody who says, ‘I was expecting Mike to come and do my house.’”
Piccolo explains that while Mike Holmes Inspections was formed 15 years ago, the company has only operated as a franchise for the past one-and-a-half years. It started franchising during the pandemic and now has 35 franchises nationwide. The franchise’s territories are exclusive, and the company has an in-house call centre. In Canada, the franchise is the exclusive provider of home inspections to Costco members.
Piccolo says the name differentiates the brand from other inspection franchises. “Obviously, the Mike Holmes name is huge. It has more than 20 years of goodwill. You have the brand, the system, the support. The brand is well-established, and that helps us out in many ways,” he says.
An ideal franchisee always represents the brand. “We have to do a bit of extra work to make sure we have somebody who is going to communicate well with the client and be able to represent the brand, [and] be top end when working with the general public,” Piccolo says. “Mike has a reputation for doing it right the first time.”
Piccolo says the key to success is to work hard from the start. “At the very beginning, you work very, very hard to establish yourself. Every day you’re reaching out to real estate agents and mortgage brokers; you put all of that marketing work in the beginning.”
But, “be prepared for one or two disappointed faces when customers realize you’re not Mike,” he adds.
Pillar To Post Home Inspectors
Pillar To Post Home Inspectors started franchising in 1994 and now has 500 franchise business owners across Canada and the United States. Eric Steward, the brand’s senior director of franchise recruiting, says that because home inspection licensing varies across the country, the franchise works to ensure consistent training. It also prepares franchisees to be successful home inspectors and to run a successful home inspection business.
According to Steward, the key difference between Pillar To Post and other home inspection businesses is the franchise system’s in-house proprietary technology.
Steward says that technology allows inspectors to take 360-degree photos of every room when they visit a home. Then buyers can interact with the home inspection report in the form of a 3D model of the house, which “brings the words of the home inspection report to life,” according to Steward.
Pillar To Post Home Inspectors is a relationship-based business. Franchisees must enjoy building relationships with realtors to run a successful home inspection business.
“We have the tools to build those relationships,” Steward says. “We’ve got scripts put together to make going into real estate offices and connecting with realtors really simple.”
Training includes an initial eight-week technical knowledge and sales and marketing skills training program. Then, franchisees are assigned an experienced coach as part of the “Foundations For Success” program to work with them during the first year. After that, franchisees work with a regional coach on an ongoing basis.
“If you’re a people person who can follow a plan, the benefit is we have the plan; you’ve just got to follow it,” explains Steward. “The flip side is if you want to reinvent the wheel, you might be a successful business owner, but you won’t be a successful franchisee.”