The A-Pro® Advantage

With an annual potential of over 6 million transactions (translated into an estimated $1.8 billion in fees) the home inspection business is booming. In fact, Money Magazine has rated our industry as one of the "Top Ten Highest Income Home Businesses", and Entrepreneur calls home inspection "one of the best opportunities".

And now, you can profit from that boom by teaming up with A-Pro® ­ one of the most respected names in the home inspection industry.

About Us

A-Pro® Home Inspection is a family-owned company founded in 1994 by Greg Mangiaracina, a longtime home inspection professional, vice chairman of the Louisiana Licensing Board for Home Inspectors and co-author of the proprietary guide, How to Market a Home Inspection Business.

The philosophy that Greg built for A-Pro® is simple: to deliver fast, fair and balanced service that our customers can rely on with confidence, and to build a nationwide team of business owners who strive together toward the common goal of success and professional integrity.

A-Pro® currently boasts more than 75 business owners on our national franchise team, handling thousands of inspections across the US every year. We've become one of the fastest growing home inspection companies in the country, based on our dedication to quality, honesty and professionalism. The A-Pro® team prides itself on standing behind its inspectors ­ day in and day out ­ providing the training, logistical and marketing support they need to successfully grow their businesses without limit.

Dedicated Support Team

When you become an A-Pro® business owner, you gain instant, around-the-clock access to our staff of engineers, technicians, copywriters, designers, technical support personnel, computer programmers and information managers ­ all of whom work with you to develop and grow your business.

We also save you time, money and effort by providing professional marketing materials like brochures, postcards and self-mailers (including mailing and telemarketing services), coupled with a solid marketing plan, so ­ once again ­you can concentrate on inspections and not operational headaches.

What Makes Us the Best?

By teaming up with A-Pro®, you'll be able to take control of your future by offering your customers a myriad of features, benefits and added value that other inspection companies simply cannot match, including:

• A free warranty evaluation included with every inspection.
• A free 90-day inspection warranty for the homebuyer that clearly tells our customers that "If We Don't Report It, We Repair It." This feature assures the buyer that you are competent and your services are backed by a National Home Warranty provider.
• Our exclusive 120-day warranty for the seller.
  This feature helps move the seller's home more quickly and efficiently because the buyer knows that the home has been pre-inspected and is already warranty-protected against potential problems. Both warranties include free structural and roof coverage at no cost to our customers - a huge advantage that no one else we know of in the home inspection profession offers.
• Our "All-in-One Plan", which guarantees no third party inspectors are needed after the inspection.
A common practice of the home inspection industry is performing a visual inspection; then, if a possible problem exists, recommending a further evaluation from a specialist (eg electrician, plumber etc). This means added time, expense and headaches for all parties ­ the homebuyer, the seller and the real estate agent. We eliminate that problem with our unique All-In-One Plan.
• We also provide a free Foundation level survey with a CAD drawing to our clients. Again, this is something that other inspection outfits just aren't doing for their customers.

What all this basically means is that all A-Pro® inspections are covered by warranties or guarantees that protect both our customers and our inspectors in the event that the inspector omits a problem in his findings. And that's not only ironclad protection for the inspector; it's also a strong selling point to prospective customers when they¹re choosing an inspection firm to team up with.

In a nutshell, most inspection companies focus simply on price, whereas we focus on quality and benefits ­ and that keeps our customers coming back, and puts more profits in our inspectors' pockets.

Vast Customer Base

As an A-Pro® Inspector, you¹ll be getting about 90%-95% of your business directly from your local realtors, who ­ once they get to know you ­ will refer clients directly to you on an ongoing basis. The other 5%-10% of your business will come from responses to the advertising and marketing program we provide to you and, of course, word of mouth once you begin to build your customer base. One of the great things about the home inspection business is that it truly builds upon itself with every inspection you perform and, when you consider that an average of 20% of Americans move each year, you can imagine the number of new client opportunities you'll have every day.

Strategic Marketing Support

A-Pro® provides its business owners with a fully-scripted, strategic sales approach to maintain an effective, consistent message across all their marketing efforts.

Regardless of your past experience in marketing, our full-time staff of copywriters, designers and production specialists combine their years of expertise to help you achieve success, virtually from day one. And you don't pay anything extra to have these professionals at your disposal. They serve as a full-time extension of your operational and marketing team.

Normally, a full-fledged marketing program for any company would cost thousands of dollars to develop and produce. But our program is included, and it's yours to use from day one.

In addition to printed marketing materials, we also provide our inspectors with business leads through what's known as a predictive dialing telemarketing program. This service provides announcements directly to your exclusive territory each quarter during the first year to help you get off to a fast start.

State-of-the-Art Reporting System

We believe that our Inspection Reporting System is the best the industry has to offer. Our proprietary system was personally developed after studying dozens of the others and combining the best, most useful features of each into the patented A-Pro® Report. And, because it's based on a Microsoft Word platform, it's very fast and easy to use, yet highly detailed and comprehensive.

The system is designed to report the home's condition in a fair and balanced way, allowing you, as the inspector, to highlight the positive aspects of the home as well as pointing out the potential problems. Most clipboard and off-the-shelf reporting systems focus solely on the negative aspects of a home, which many times can be a deal-breaker for everyone involved ­ the buyer, the seller and the realtor. Our system has a built-in failsafe to avoid that type of situation and allows you to provide your customers with a true anatomical look at the home they are buying.

What the positive information in our reports does is add intrinsic value to the home, giving the prospective buyer yet another incentive to close the deal. That makes the buyer happy. It also makes the seller and the real estate agent happy. That's why realtors quickly come to appreciate the neat, organized and balanced format of our reports, and one of the main reasons why you'll be so successful in securing their repeat business. The realtor knows the system is fair, honest and objective.

Intensive Expert Training

A-Pro's award-winning training program is conducted under the auspices of the Inspection Training Institute of New Orleans (ITI), and has been recognized by the Louisiana State Board of Home Inspectors as among the very best in the business.

As a Louisiana Licensed Engineering firm, ITI stresses the importance of whole-house inspection, starting with a foundation level survey and then working up through every system and component of the home. The ITI program is overseen by Professor Bill Springer, a licensed professional engineer and national TV guest expert with more than 35 years of experience in the profession. Professor Springer is considered one of the top home inspection authorities in the country, and as such currently serves as acting president of the International Society of Home Inspectors (ISHI).

The training begins at our Distant Learning Center, where you'll take nine accredited online courses to prepare you for the most complete home inspection examination in the country. Following the online courses, you'll fly into beautiful New Orleans, where ITI will provide you with a comprehensive six-day field training course at their newly remodeled campus, giving you an overall understanding of the home inspection process and earning you Certified Home Inspector (CHI) and Professional Home Inspector (PHI) designations. This is real-life, hands-on training that will teach you about entire inspection process, inside and outside, top to bottom.

Again, the curriculum covers every aspect of a home's systems and components - including exclusive training on spotting potential problems before they occur - giving you a distinctive professional edge in the field. Then, to apply what you've learned in class, your final field exam will include a real inspection at our on-site residential property, including preparing a full blown report. During training, you'll also receive mold sampling certification - yet another added revenue stream for you when you launch your business.

Franchise Investment & Benefits

A-Pro's basic franchise fee of $23,900 is significantly lower than many of our competitors, although we believe that our package offers a whole lot more.

The Total, Turnkey A-Pro® Franchise Package Includes:

• Your own exclusive territory of 500 exclusive, full-time real estate agents.
• A comprehensive training and certification program through our Distant Learning Center at the ITI campus in New Orleans.
• Your own, state-of-the-art tablet computer, pre-loaded with A-Pro's home inspection management system, Intranet network and complete proprietary reporting software.
• Your own, custom-designed web page to help you get top exposure in your market.
• Digital camera, so you can import photos into your reports when you need to.
• An array of home inspection tools and supplies, including gas detection equipment, laser thermometer, foundation level survey equipment and more.
• Uniforms, vehicle magnets, patches, business cards and other materials to strongly establish your brand.
• Free membership in ISHI, one of the most respected trade organizations in the home inspection industry. ISHI members also benefit from a free one-year membership in NACHI, now 9,000+ members strong and growing.
• A complete arsenal of marketing materials, including a strategic print, direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing program targeted to your protected real estate agent database.
• Complete marketing support from our copywriters, designers and strategists.
• A full set of home maintenance guides, reference manuals, business forms and all software licenses.
• A subsidized business liability insurance plan up to $500 for your first year.
• 90-day or 120-day free warranty rights on all inspections ­ probably the key ingredient that sets A-Pro® apart from any other home inspection company in the country.
• Access to affordable group health insurance, health savings accounts, disability and life insurance plans.
• Access to prescription drug coverage, eye care coverage and even pre-paid legal services through our extensive group network.
• Toll-free phone and online support any time you need it.

All told, our package amounts to a total, turnkey system that sets you up to run your own successful home inspection business virtually from day one. And there are no hidden fees and NO surprises.

A Word About Royalty Fees

Other home inspection companies charge what's known as a "royalty fee" based on their franchisees' sales, ie the more their franchisees earn, the more the franchisors take off the top.

At A-Pro®, we do things differently, offering our franchisees a simple, flat fee royalty system that eliminates quotas and lets you concentrate on building your business instead of bookkeeping. We've seen what a stumbling block escalating royalty structures can be and we've nipped the problem right in the bud. Our fee is a flat $125 per week. That's generally less than half of what our inspectors earn on a single home inspection.

Taking the Next Step

Since 1994, we've taken great pride in becoming the most innovative and respected home inspection company in the nation ­ bar none. We exercise exceptional care when interviewing our franchise candidates and awarding our exclusive geographic territories. After all, these are partnerships designed to last a lifetime.

Once we do award a franchise territory, we follow through on a truly dedicated partnership basis ­ providing our business owners with the experience, support and professional insight necessary to become successful. We appreciate your interest in an A-Pro® business ownership opportunity and look forward to teaming up with you.

Ready to get started with your new career? Fill out the Request form below, today!