Jannard Cheeks - Good I Home Inspections

ITB - Jennard  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: [00:00:00] What is going on y'all here is another episode of in the black I'm your host techs. And I'm just trying to bring a little knowledge to the people, trying to bring up some entrepreneurs, trying to help those who've already started their business scale and really try to get people at the business, trying to get the folks around so we can build our community. 

Today we have a very, very special. He is a Georgia certified residential home inspector. Now he's also the founder and CEO of good eye home inspections. He specializes and focuses on safety systems and the structure of any property. He looks for minor and major issues of deficiencies. And within these three subjects of any property, he loves meeting new people every day and he brings a great energy wherever he is now. He would like, he also brings like a lot of love and, giving his clients that peace of mind and knowing what to expect and what they're getting into with purchasing their home. I have the wonderful honor of introducing you [00:01:00] all to Mr. John, our cheeks. If y'all out there, give them a hand. 

I don't know if anybody's listening, but give my man hand and what's going on, Mr. Gerard.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Yes, sir. Thank you everyone. I want to, I want to thank in the pre I appreciate you dicks for, allowing me on your plate. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Always man, always, man, you know, I'm always trying to bring something to the people, make sure everybody's getting a little bit of knowledge, you know, especially with this younger generation, they have so many options and you know, this is actually a really good industry for people to gain into because you know, being a part of somebody's home, being a part of that safety that, that gateway and to making sure somebody is not getting,  

money paid is it's kind of a big deal, you know? 

I saw this meme earlier today about how I've reached the age to where I understand why somebody gets so happy over winning an appliance on a game show. And I get that feeling about home stuff. So I it's, it's always those small things, man. It's no longer Ferrari's for me. It's like, oh, check out this new [00:02:00] Samsung dishwasher or whatever. 

So Samsung lights, that little promo, they can send the check, the powder Springs. All right. Brother. You got to tell him, man, how did you get into home inspections? 

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: You know what dicks man? I, my, my wife have been married for 12 years and my wife and I, this is our third home and we bought our first home in 2011. And I can't even remember. I don't remember at all. The home inspection process, the appraisal process, anything like that. So we lived there for maybe seven, seven years. 

we moved to union city. I really don't remember my home inspection, there, but what I do remember is I, when I seen the actual PDF file, I just, I want to say, I wanted to know was what was wrong with it was anything major.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah, [00:03:00] most people do. Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: And, I went third home. We moved here in Newnan in 2020, and I'd just gotten off of work. 

My background is more so the warehouse bill I've been in that field for 15 years and I'm 30, I'm 38, by the way. So in this  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Oh man. I thought you were like 28, man. I, you got me wrong in those numbers, man.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: They may add that day for the compliment, man. I try to get a hit every single one of them I can get these days. But,  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Oh,  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: In 2020, , in that process, the homeless Becker came and he pulled up and he was in a brand new BMW. In my mind I was thinking, you know, somebody with a truck, you know, there's older, new, or whatever, you know, see, and, you know, he just came and he was, we were the same age and I asked, I must say it was this, all that you do. 

 He was like, yeah, man, you know, it's not hard work and everything else. My relative at the [00:04:00] time, suggested it to me. He was like every house we, once we probably went through maybe 45 to 50 homes. like, man, you seeing all this different stuff and it was more cosmetic, but he was saying, he was saying all this different stuff. 

 I think you'd be a good home inspector. And he put the bug in my ear. So when the home inspector came to our house, I just kinda got the information from them. And I felt like it was a great career move with. , it's not hard work back breaking work, like in the warehouse where I'm lifting 50 pounds every 10 minutes and, you know, just doing all this physical stuff, you know, it's more not being, being knowledgeable and, you know, just something that you can do for the next 20, 30 years or whatever. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: yeah. Yeah, definitely. May I? Yeah. I mean, Yeah. You know, that's one thing I wanted to really espouse on. And this is something I do in like a lot of previous shows is, each one reach one, you know, somebody else put that bug in your ear. You probably never thought about it. [00:05:00] And you went through three homes before you actually really thought about it, you know? 

And, and here you are, man. Now you've given somebody else something, you know, that peace of mind that, you know, we all deserve. So there's that man. That's, that's pretty dope, man. That's pretty dope. So once you did get into it, what all did you need to get started? , certifications tools. 

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: So first they got different certifications you can do , from, asked you those two are the. The national, accredited programs associated with home inspecting. So, in a NACI or certifications or whatever, you can probably get a job so many everywhere. Me personally, I got mine from the Georgia conference of home inspectors and they're based out of on smart. 

It's a very good program. Very good instructors. They I'm hands-on with everything. So I went through them, and that's because that's who our home inspector went through. So, you know, I just went through [00:06:00] that process, due to that certification, but You pick one, you get certified, go through the program and you take a test at the end. 

Of course you get the actual paper certification and you know, they have it. You can pick and choose whether you want to start your own business or join the company the thing about home inspecting is what I experienced myself is nobody wants you when you're it's quote unquote ring. , so I see it may, you know what I'm about to start my own business. 

So, I figured out a name. I got the LLC portion out the way submitted it. It came back and from my, my personal, , realtor, his name is George Paul. He used. I think he's based on a ball. He works for Keller Williams, but great, great, great. I'm a realtor and he gave me my first and I mean, he, [00:07:00] he, he gave my very first inspection and he just keeps sending them to me. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Hey, yay. Shout out to George Paul then. Right.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: yes sir. Yes, sir. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Shout out to him. That's right. That's what's up. So what kind of tools do you need? Cause when you guys did our home inspection, so just this little caveat to listen to us, he actually did a home inspection for me. That's how I met him. And I saw that you guys had all sorts of tools. 

The one that really stood out for me was both the drone and the infrared camera. Tell me about some of the tools that you use.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Yes, sir. So, , in general you may, see a lot of inspectors. They may bring in like some in general tools and wrench, screwdriver. Just a smaller tool bag. Just bringing in with them just in case. But on specifically for home inspections, you have your water, what a presser gaze tester. You have your emotional mayor just for any stains or, you know, you see any, any more stone ceilings, drywall. 

Anything like that, you know, you [00:08:00] can test it out right then. We have your rig, which shows, the temperature differential. It shows on missing installation, behind the walls, it shows a number of things. You also, we also use you use the drones and whatnot because me personally, I am afraid of Heights. 

I  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Okay. Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: of roofs.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: And in my opinion, the drone gives so much better view, on top of the chimney or ramp, like just the whole area of view, is so much better. You have your, you know, your typical, your screw job is you definitely have to have a flashlight. What else you, , have a, all to. 

Kind of probe along like the wood and make sure everything, if anything is rotten or any soft spots in wood. So, you know, just in general tools like that, but that's for the most point, or you can have some, some extra stuff, whatever, but then just basic home inspector, tools and [00:09:00] plugging in the test outlets also. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Okay. And for electrical that correct. Okay, cool. Cool. So the barrier to entry, isn't impossible. For somebody, you know, they just grab a couple tools, get a BMW or a truck show up, you know what I'm saying? Hey, wear a hat, look official, you know, just start doing it. , I mean, they gotta get this there with a case of course, but yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Yup. Yup. And I guess the biggest thing is, You know, just the confidence level. You have to have to come to somebody's house, and really give them information and knowing what you're doing, you know, because that's the. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: I'm sorry, but when you stepped in my house, I thought maybe, you know, you may have had like a construction or a contracting background or something like that. So,  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: I personally didn't, but majority of the home inspectors, they come in, you know, they, you know, you may have some, a lot of them come from like a construction background.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: my dad, he was an electrician and I [00:10:00] can kinda got like bits and pieces for him. But I had no construction background at all, you know, is this more so understanding concepts and learning and knowing how different systems and components work on in your house? 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Okay. Okay. Well, let's, you know, we, we talked about some of the tools you use talk about some of the trends in this industry that you've seen because we've addressed drones, we've addressed the, infrared cameras and stuff. What other things do people not know about that know about when getting into this industry?  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Coming in, definitely should know about the liability issues. There has been a lot of lawsuits that people have gotten just because of , either disclosures or not having the full knowledge of something. Not letting your client know. Everything that this system or component entails, is definitely one of those jobs that you have to [00:11:00] really pay attention to. 

You have to really take it serious because. You can get hurt yourself and you can actually endanger other people and you can have them, going into a situation where it can be very, very costly because you know, homes in general are probably some of the biggest purchases, you know?  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Most people will make in their lifetimes. yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's also the one people are going to stay there. You know, they mean shelter, you know, it's, it's something that every person needs, you know, you can't just do a Tampa anymore. You know, you need to have a home, bro. You need to have, they know nor plumbing. ' 

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: cause. I know when that when, when we were doing, in the process of our home buying and everything from our first time, till I last time, it was like, I was just the whole time you think, and then the way the market is, everything is dumped up like tremendously. And you talking about something that last [00:12:00] year was 200,000, not 300,000, what? 

It was 300,000, 400,000 and you lied, man. You know, you, you, you constantly, I mean, a lot of people battled, they self and like, man, what should I do this? Or whatever. And everybody saw you, just making sure that you are given their person or your client that peace of mind and really getting enough accurate information. 

Some that some that they can really, really count. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah. Yeah. You know that peace of mind, keep talking about it. What are the biggest differences in owning your own home inspector? Business versus working for someone  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Okay. So my experience, like I said earlier, nobody would give me a chance. Like every job I just wanted to just come in. You can pay me the lowest. I just want to learn to continue to, you know, , perfect. My prayer and everything. Just get better. And by me [00:13:00] personally, having to start my own business and I had to. 

I guess bigger out my direction. I want to go. I remember my very first inspection. I was kind of all over the place. You kind of get, you kind of go to their property, whether it's the biggest property or it's a small property, you have to have a starting point and you just break everything down in sections, no matter how big it is. 

And through time and experience, you know, you just learn how to do that. Learning how to talk at work at the same time. And a lot of class B is coming in and talking to you, you can start something and they'll kind of pull you away. And then you come back, you may forget, not necessarily forget where you were or whatever, but you kind of lose your train of thought. 

And then you have to start that process over whether it's at the furnace or the HVAC system, or how have you test the go about it.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah, I'm guilty of that, man. I'm guilty of that. I talk too much and that's all you had to say, man. You just had to say I talk too much. That's  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: No, no, [00:14:00] no, no. But you, you know, you just kind of learn how to pace yourself. You kinda, you know, sometimes if this, a house that has a whole lot of stuff a whole lot going on with it, you just kinda, let me just take a breathe of, you know, you may need to go outside and get a first breath of air and then come back in and you know, it just kind of reset sometimes. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: But, you know, you just kind of figured that out, especially if you don't have any direction or how to go and you just kind of learn as you go, no false efficiency, everything, because you don't want to be in the house all day. I think my first, my first three home inspections, they probably took me maybe five or six hours. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. I was just getting into that about how much time you spend on it, you know, because with that, you'd almost have to charge by the foot or something like that, or is it sets the package?  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Yeah. So, so typically talk bass graph. Would it let me personally, some people may be different. I just don't. I tossed by all scrap with it's. My price [00:15:00] rates started around $300 and, um, worked my way up. So. It's a typical 2000 on the 2000, I'm starting at $300. Typically, now that I have my own system, I do things, my average inspection, it was probably two and a half, three hours, three and a half hours at a real problematic home where I have to document it because this is what a lot of the time it gets real time consuming is when you have a whole lot of stuff on. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. I can see that.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: But was versus working for a company, you know, a company has everything set up, they have their own structure, and you're going by their policies, their procedures, how they want you to do things. I guess doing that, what I have experienced, Even going that route is you get to see different inspectors and I didn't do it. 

You can kind of pull different stuff from this inspector, that inspector you say, ah, I don't wouldn't [00:16:00] necessarily do that, but I would take that and, you know, and make your, the efficiency and procedures on how you do things with your own business on a little bit better. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Okay. Yeah. So you leverage their experience to get yourself a little bit better. Again, you know, there's that knowledge for you right there. You know, you can't, you can't buy that. You gotta get that sweat equity in.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Mm. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Let's move over to marketing. You own your own business, you probably got your systems in place as far as what you do and you, and you do it. 

Well. What kind of marketing do you do for your company? Is it just word of mouth? Do you have a website? Do you do social media? Tell us.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: I do have a Facebook and Instagram. My Facebook has my logo. I'm good at home inspections. The same as on Instagram I'm market there, I reached out to, re realtors mortgage lenders, brokers, somebody, everybody. When I first started, I went through Angie's list.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: okay. Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: ,I had a account set up with them for a [00:17:00] year just to see how it works on everything. 

Angie's list really didn't work out for me personally, I was able to generate a little business from them and everything and get a couple of contexts, my mom realtors, and a couple other people, definitely word of mouth. That's where it starts at. For me, I mean in time when I got my certification and I started calling everybody through my phone and, you know, saying who, who knows, who, if you have a realtor you working with, or do you know any realtors or mortgage lenders, brokers, anybody that's associated with the industry that can help me. You know, far as on Angie's list, I did, I was on Yelp, for a second, this was, try it out. 

 I guess in those two, you're paying for leads and, sometimes you can pay more for the leads per month versus what you're getting out of it per month. So you can just got to kind of try it out and balance it out. It works for some people, some people, you know, you may try that, you know, you say I tried it out there [00:18:00] and keep it moving. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah. Yeah. That's what you literally have to be. You got to try it, see if it works. If it doesn't, you've got to keep it moving, keep it moving. 

 When you first got into this industry and I meant to ask this earlier, what do you wish that you knew before you got into.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: had a little bit of construction background. I just made this because when you're going through the courses is so much information there's so much that can go there's so much goes on with a house there's so much that can happen with the house. Just a drop of water coming down from the roof. You just, you have a little, and this can be something very small that you may not even think about. 

And that can lead to a whole lot of issues that a whole lot of constantly issues you'd be like, oh my goodness. I wish I would have more of a construction background. Or at least knew more about, you know, more [00:19:00] about electrical or plumbing any knowledge that you have in construction to help  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Okay. Yeah. So shout out to anybody in construction.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Mm. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: What are your plans to scale your business? Are you going to do anything different or are you going to try and get just a set list of realtors and industry people that you deal with? Are you going to do any sort of other marketing or Google ads or anything like that?  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: No days, man. I've been thinking about that. , I'm still trying to figure it out. I think eventually I do want to, I have put on, maybe I want to say maybe six, six or seven guys who, as I came in, the industry that signed up, not they're certified. , I do, you know, at some point I want to , establish something where, well I have a team of home inspectors maybe. 

No, I, I dunno, you know, I I'm, I'm still trying to figure that out because to be honest with you, um, I know I'm kinda, I guess, all over the place [00:20:00] with the scaling part, but,  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: no, it ain't. It's there's no, this, everybody thinks there's a formula to scaling. There isn't always a formula, because each business is different. Each situation is different. Each person is different, so it's, I get it, you know, and that's sort of what this show is about is you can lend your expertise to somebody and somebody could reach out to you and lend their expertise to you. 

 It's hard scaling. That's one of the biggest things, cause yeah. You know how to do it, but do you always trust somebody else to do. You are way, and that's where things like systems come into place, putting systems and processes in it and, making things easier as centralizing your communications, things like that. 

You know, that's, that's really where scaling goes into and really changed as a business. 

Besides getting more people to work for free, what would make it easier for you to do your job? [00:21:00]  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Are you from a. Marketing point perspective. Maybe if I had a, because the job is up, the inspection and stuff is not hard at all. I can actually , get in the business. Maybe if I had like a sales rep, something I had in place to just expose me to different Businesses people, everything, which, you know, that's what , my social media platform. 

What if I had like a actual person that goes out specifically and, maybe Gill's presentation or whatever. Cause I mean, I can do that myself. out in the field trying to, you know, do the homeless, you know, sometimes you don't eat. I don't have, I also, you don't have the time and I always make the time. 

 That would definitely make it a little bit easier., was from the marketing part. I mean the actually inspection part is not hard. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah. Yeah, I understand that. That's the thing about being a business owner is at some point you need to transition from working in your business to working on your business. [00:22:00] And I asked these type of questions to see what people are doing to get to that point where all the small things, all the easy things are being done by someone else. 

So you can work on expanding the business itself. that's what this show is about. You know, it's about helping you generate this conversation so we can sort of spark that direction for, you are there other side hustles that extend from home inspections? Do you find people that may want you to come back and do contracting work or do you know people ask for, referrals for things. 

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: They definitely, they definitely do that. I have, Alyssa context. I mean, I meet people everyday from handyman contractors painters. Electricians the whole night. I mean, people always want referrals, especially after the home inspection. \ The typical person may ask, well, how much this may cost, how much they may cost or not. 

And I definitely have my referral list. I mean, this a lot. I [00:23:00] have a whole list of people. I get cards from everybody. I talked to everybody. I tried to talk to everybody I can. If I, if I was at handy, God handyman, man, this is a B I mean business on top of business. 

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah, definitely. Man, you know, it's, it really is about making that bag and just sort of finding your independence within it. To you, I wish you luck, man. And you you've always been a pretty cool dude, you know, talk to them about these things and you know, your stuff, bro, you know your stuff. 

 I always hope the best for everyone and, and to you, I definitely hope the best, you make it easy to be a likable person. So hope  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Yes. Ma'am.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: your brother.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: I mean, I thank you, man. I appreciate your decks, man. Hey man.  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: always, man.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Cause I guess you never know who you'll meet when you, when you go out and everything. And so, you know,  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: Definitely keeping in contact with you, man. And I actually have a couple more people who was interested. I was telling, some people did a couple of my inner circle that [00:24:00] I'm going to get on a podcast day or whatever, it's kind of real excited for me or whatever and everything. 

And a couple of them have they own businesses I did tell him that I would like plug them in and everything. So,  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Val and that's, what's up, man. That's what's up, you know, 

speaking to plugs, give everybody your information so they can reach out to you for a home inspection since they just spent 30 minutes getting to know you, man.  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: And so  

dex-2022-4-3__14-12-1: Yeah. Your phone number, all this other  

Jannard-Cheeks-2022-04-03T18_11_51.272Z: of names. Good. I home inspections. 

 My phone number is (404) 431-6847. Again, as far as 0 4 4 3 1 6 8 4 7. You can contact me on social media or Facebook or Twitter or Facebook. Good at home inspections. You can just look me up on the dinar cheeks on my Instagram. , good at good underscore, on the score or home inspection, but I think if you put them on good at home [00:25:00] inspectors or whatever, it would pop right up, you'll see my logo right there and everything. 

 Contact me anytime. I'm good at home inspections at Gmail. I get free quotes on anytime you can just call me anytime. Call me, text me. Have you want to do it?