Building Your Pipe Inspection Business

Building Your Pipe Inspection Business

The key to building your pipe inspection business is knowing your local market conditions and what others are doing in terms of business model, pricing, deliverable, and product quality. Knowing what others are doing provides the insight you need to build a competitive offering.

Business Models

Plumbing and drain service outfits often use a combination of business models, here are a few common examples:

• Inspections as a line-item service
• Sell service work (show and tell/show and sell)
• Increase efficiency (eliminate guesswork by visually identifying the problem)
• Quality control/reduce callbacks (confirm repair)
• Generate repeat business and referrals (before/after images of service work)

Pricing

What you charge will depend on what others are charging in your market and what your camera work entails – you would likely charge more for a comprehensive inspection as part of a real estate transaction than you would to locate and mark the main line for a contractor doing a remodel.

Deliverable

Your deliverable – what you give your customer – can set you apart from other companies.

• Good – show customers the monitor screen in person (don’t provide images or video)
• Better – provide inspection media (images and/or video) to customers
• Best – provide a written inspection report with images and/or video, notes, comments, and recommendations

Delivery Methods

• Print (report with images and text)
• Online via cloud service (inspection report with images and/or video)
• Email (images, short video clips, and/or PhotoTalk files (image+audio)
• Text (images and/or PhotoTalk files)

Quality

A superior product has high quality content and a deliverable that suits the job and customer. Increasing product quality is low-hanging fruit: low effort/high value.

• Image/video clarity – capture the best possible images (see below)
• Audio narration – clearly explain what the customers is seeing and what it means (see below)
• Inspection reports – include images of relevant items/issues with clearly written text comments, and a summary with recommendations; increase the perceived value by adding your company logo and photos of the property, access points used, locate marks, and any work performed
• Video summary – record a short selfie video that summarizes why you were there, what you found, and what you recommend.
• Deliverable – deliver your findings in a way that’s convenient for your customers; a printable inspection report plus the original media on Google Drive or Dropbox can be viewed anytime, anywhere, on any device (and is a great way to long-term archive your inspections)

Tips for Improving Quality

• Use pipe centering guides. Pipe guides improve the in-pipe image by lifting the camera head above water or sludge in the pipe, even out the illumination from top to bottom, and let you see the top of the pipe more clearly. Guides also let you tilt the camera up down a few degrees.
• Turn on the day/date/time and distance displays at the beginning of your inspection. In most cases you’ll want the distance shown at all times but day/date/time can be turned off after a few moments if not needed.
• Show the access point and surrounding area and verbally describe the job: “It’s September 17, 2018 and we’re at 123 Main Street. This is a pre-purchase inspection and we’re entering the line through the main line cleanout in the front yard.”
• Push through the pipe and narrate what the camera is seeing: pipe material, fittings, camera direction through turns (right or left), transitions, pipe condition, issues; let the customer know if you pause the recording or mute the mic
• The mic is on unless you mute it, so be mindful of what you or others around you say
• Your monitor can display and record on-screen text over the video – job address, company information, or to call out in-pipe issues; if your monitor does not have a built-in keyboard you can plug an external keyboard into the USB port

Final Thoughts

It takes time and experience to build your camera business. If you’re new to pipe inspection, the best thing you can do is integrate the camera into your daily workflow. Elevate your game by hitting Record every time you use your camera, then watch each inspection later and evaluate how you did. Do this just a few times and your Quality will soon be top notch.