Pricing Your Pre-Purchase Inspection Business: A Framework for Sole Operators

Pricing an inspection business is less about what competitors charge and more about what your own fixed costs, time commitment, and liability exposure actually require. Most working inspectors complete one or two full inspections per day including site time, photographs, and report writing, and that is a genuine ceiling, not a conservative estimate.

Start with fixed costs: Professional Indemnity insurance (mandatory in most states for licensed inspectors), Public Liability, vehicle, fuel, software, phone, accounting, and ongoing CPD. Divide by the number of inspections per year you can realistically deliver at quality. That is your break-even per inspection before you have paid yourself anything.

Add your target hourly rate. Inspection work is personally liable under tort law, limitation of liability clauses must be conspicuous to be enforceable under Australian Consumer Law, and the unfair contract terms regime further restricts what you can exclude in consumer contracts.

Three common pricing models: flat fee, per-square-metre, and tiered by property type (single storey, double storey, strata, commercial). Flat fees are easiest to sell; per-square-metre is fairest over time; tiered models balance both. Avoid discounting below break-even, it is cheaper to refuse a job than to deliver it under-priced and get sued.