Whaaaaat am I doing?!?
This is a post for all those entrepreneurs who aren’t sure they are making the right choice, or who find themselves with only two nickels to rub in their pockets.
Business Second-Guesses
My business of home performance and home diagnosing (conditions review and consultations) is fledgling by almost all standards of measurement. Add atop this the fact that this is a “side business” resulting from years of self-education while running a home inspection business. I decided that this line of work was not the same as home inspecting, rarely spoken of in the world of home inspecting, and so could be treated separately to best perform for clients.
To complicate matters more, the region of the country in which I reside is not exactly known as a hotbed for building science or home performance. This is ironic since some of our most prominent figures in this field – Allison A. Bailes III and Grace and Corbett Lunsford – are just a few hours drive away from me. Also, some pretty good work occurs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory related to building science and this isn’t too far away.
Still, trying to get people to see the worthiness for paying a home performance consultant in my market is very tough. The only ones who take that dive tend to be those who already are experiencing issues in their homes. But, this is sad because more proactive assessing could curtail or prevent some of these adverse issues from continuing or becoming very expensive to address.
“ Be true to the value you bring, but don’t be defensive if you have to speak to these things. Just be real and care.”
Real World Example
As an excellent example – we have encapsulated crawlspaces. Currently, the companies and contractors performing these encapsulations are charging consumers (be it homeowners or home buyers) exorbitant amounts of money for what is very simple science. Seal the crawlspace off from intruding air and moisture, clean up the space as needed, and manage the air space. That’s the gist of it. Yet, I often see – as a home inspector and a paid home diagnosis consultant – these installs poorly performed and apparently poorly understood by the installer and occupant. If consumers knew they could hire someone such as TNergy Services to assess the condition(s) of their home and then provide them a roadmap for actionable steps, as well as help explain the science and methodology intended to be used, they might get more for their money when they pay for encapsulation. A more educated consumer is a better advocating consumer.
Improperly sealed seams negate the effectiveness and intent of an encapsulated crawlspace.
Fungal growth on framing due to improperly executed encapsulation of crawlspace. Properly installed, encapsulations limit elevated relative humidity which then reduces a favorable environment for fungal growth.
I would be happy to go into the specifics of encapsulating at some point in the future, but for now we have no need – we could be talking about air sealing, water drainage in a wall assembly, insulating an attic, HVAC duct work. There are so many home system components that are often poorly assembled, understood, maintained; there are equally as many home system components paid for that perhaps are not needed, or not as worthwhile as other options would have been – Do you pay for a new window/door package, or do you air seal your wall assembly? This is a question a company like mine can answer based on the home’s conditions, your goals and budget, and other building science information out there.
So What’s To Say For Start-ups
To circle back around to our entrepreneurs who aren’t watching money pour in – one way to stay motivated and find solutions for effective marketing should be to self-argue your way to the same place as these last few paragraphs – what do you feel you bring in value for your client(s), how do you communicate the worthiness of your services, and what can you do to empower consumers writ large? If you have answers to these questions; if you have answers that you believe in wholeheartedly; if you get excited articulating these answers – pinpoint that focal point and go with that. Genuineness is hard to fake and very appealing for most of us. Be genuine. Be caring. Be proactive in marketing. Be true to the value you bring, but don’t be defensive if you have to speak to these things. Just be real and care.
