It’s one of the most common questions home inspectors ask: should you put your home inspection pricing on your website? On one hand, you don’t want a prospect to go elsewhere because your pricing seems too low or too high. On the other hand, the very same thing might happen if you don’t show your pricing and the customer is in a hurry or doesn’t feel like calling you.

Your first instinct might be to leave your pricing off your site.

If you get the customer on the phone, you reason, you can sell them on all the benefits of choosing you. But we’re here to break some bad news: that’s an outdated way of thinking.

To explain why, we want you to take a step back and put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Think Like a Customer

Imagine you’re thinking of buying something. In this case, let’s pretend it’s a toaster oven. Because you’re a savvy shopper and you do your homework before swiping your card, the first place you’re going to go is Google.

Let’s say you type ‘stainless steel toaster oven’ into the search field. Google returns a page of great results–nice looking appliances with features galore. You find one that has everything you’re looking for. A timer. A light. A special setting for bagels. You’re ready to pull the trigger. But when you click on the little button that says ‘Buy,’ you get a message that says please call for pricing.

Remember, you’re playing customer here. You work 9-5, so you’re probably doing this around 9 p.m. when dinner is over and the kids are in bed. Call for pricing? Now?

We’ll give you one guess how this is going to turn out.

You’re going to go straight back to the search results and buy the next best thing, even if it’s not quite as great and doesn’t have that special bagel setting you wanted.

Now, bagels and home inspections are quite different, but do you see where we’re going with this? The digital world is all about convenience.

People are picking up the phone less frequently than ever before.

If you make the buying process more difficult than your competitor, you can kiss your web prospects goodbye.

What You Should Do

When you’re up front with your visitors from the start, you immediately set a tone of transparency.

All home inspections are different, and one price most definitely does not fit all. So what should you, as a home inspector, do about putting pricing on your website?

We recommend offering your visitors a range, or a line like ‘inspections starting at $X.’

Explain in detail the factors that might cause the price to fluctuate. Consumers understand that add-ons and better features cost more. They just want to know if they’re even in your ballpark.

Another good idea is to add an easy contact form where prospects can answer a few simple questions and request a more accurate quote.

And guess what? When you’re up front with your visitors from the start, you immediately set a tone of transparency. You have nothing to hide. Customers appreciate that and it builds loyalty.

In sum, we believe there’s more to lose than to gain by keeping your pricing off your website. You don’t have to give an exact figure, but give potential clients the information they’re looking for. They’ll thank you for it and be more likely to move forward working with you.

Here’s a great example of an effective way to list pricing on your site: