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Let’s just start off by saying, Florida home inspector salaries vary by state and market. Home Inspectors in large markets may be able to secure higher profit margins or stay busier than those in typical suburban markets or rural areas. However, through research from industry leaders, organizations, and Florida home inspector schools, we can decipher what you might be making as a licensed home inspector in Florida.

Average Home Inspector Salary as an Employee

If you were hired on as a home inspector, your pay can be slightly or significantly less than if you worked for yourself depending on who you work for. Furthermore, you may earn significantly more depending on how successful you would be on your own. This will be covered later in the article. We interviewed several highly successful multi-inspector firms to find out what they are paying and here’s what we found:

Home Inspector Trainees (new hires, may or may not be licensed) earned 24k-40k a year.

The training period mostly varies on your skill level as a new hire. If you are licensed, you may be able to fight for more money. However, if you are new to the industry you could have a lower pay scale until you show improvement.

Full-Time Lead Home Inspectors earned anywhere from 42k-90k a year.

Why the large range? Well, there are two large reasons: 1. job benefits (health care, car, tools, insurance, etc.) and 2. company revenue (basically how much business is available to you). For instance, a company may pay you a salary of 50k, on the other hand, another company may pay you a percentage of each inspection you do. Therefore, if you are qualified to do ancillary inspections (sewer scopes, WDOs, mold testing), you could earn more money.

Things to consider when looking for a job from a multi-inspector firm:

  • What are the job benefits (dental, health, 401k), if any? Many smaller inspector firms may not offer benefits due to the high expense as a smaller corporation, but offer higher pay.
  • What items will be required from you to do the job? Some inspection companies may supply everything from a company vehicle to tools, gas, and insurance. Others, may not supply anything, but again, offer higher salary.
  • What is the reputation of the multi-inspector firm and how much business do they actually have available to you? In Florida, you may have to consider the market you will be inspecting in.

Two Highly Successful Multi-Inspector Firms Listed:

Honor Services based in Melbourne, FL.

Waypoint Property Inspections based in Tampa, FL.

Average Home Inspector Salary as a Business Owner

It is difficult to estimate the amount of money you could make on your own as a home inspector. If you are good at marketing, delivering excellent service, and a natural born entrepreneur that is willing to work day and night, then you could make as much as 150,000 a year! On the other hand, you could make as little as 40k or less if you are not market savvy.

As a business owner, here are some cost statistics to keep in mind:

  • Average cost of business for home inspectors is about 30%. This means, you could take home 100k/year, but your actual return is 70k.
  • 60% of new home inspection businesses will fail within a few years.

What do home inspection schools have to say?

Manny Gonzalez, from South Florida “General Home Inspections & Training” says out of a class of 20 students, 50% of them realize during class sessions they cannot be a home inspector due to physical requirements. Furthermore, 20% of each class will be in the industry upon graduation and only 10% of each class will stay in the industry after 5 years. Manny stated those that stay in the industry, stay involved with their school and with industry organizations like FABI.

Interested in Manny’s home inspector school in South Florida? Email him here.

Jon Bolton, from Home Inspection University Florida in Central Florida, says of his participants, 75-80% of each class will pass the exam on average. After graduation, Jon stresses for new home inspectors to seek employment at a multi-inspector firm. Here are a few of his reasonings:

  • Now you get complaints every week compared to before. They’re used to complaining like at a restaurant.
  • It’s not worth the hassle. If you do it wrong, it’s tough to turnaround a bad reputation as agents gossip to each other a lot.
  • You can join a team to have a resource if you need it with procedures/practices that work.

Interested in Jon Bolton’s school? Email him here.

Overall Average Salaries & Recommendation

According to the 2018 US Bureau of Labor Statistics the average home inspector salary was 60,000/year. The lower 10% was 35k while the upper 10% was 97k.

Want to make 100,000/year as a home inspector? Check out this graphic from Manny’s school.

How many inspections to gross $100,000 per year
# of inspections per year x fee per inspection = $100,000/year. Keep in mind the cost of doing business.

Overall Recommendation

If you are going out on your own, you better be ready to buckle down, market yourself, and handle complaints. If you want to go to work to do a job and turn it off at night, seek employment. Be sure to do market research on the real estate industry in your area as it may be worth relocating to find an area that has more opportunities. Moreover, it may be worth it to relocate for a better job offer.

Looking to be a home inspector? Read how to become a home inspector in Florida.