Advisory Report

December 1999

Inspection Industry Issued Good Bill of Health
A comprehensive study of the home inspection industry reveals that the average American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) inspector is 49 years old, is working full-time and has more than seven years of experience.

ASHI's 1999 Home Inspection Business Operations Study provides the home inspection industry's 1998 year in review. Moreover, it provides a bunch of interesting tidbits, such as the following.

The 1998 average fee for a residential home inspection increased about 5.9 percent from the 1996 average cost for a full inspection. Three out of five inspectors based their fee according to property size, while more than one-third based their rate on a flat-fee basis. Full-time inspectors are more likely to use property size or property age as a determining factor in their fee structure. The average number of home inspections performed during 1998 is 243 inspections, compared to 224 in 1996. More than 66 percent of home inspectors operate as independent inspectors.

For more information, contact ASHI at (800) 743-2744 or visit their Web site at www.ashi.com.