You may know him as the guy pointing silently at busted plumbing on TikTok. But Inspector Randle isn’t just a content creator – he’s a business-builder with a two- to four-week waitlist and zero reliance on agent referrals.
In episode 52 of The Ride Along Podcast, Randle shares how he leveraged viral social media growth to launch a successful solo inspection company – one that’s entirely driven by content, not cold calls. With over 100K followers on four platforms, he books all his jobs online and offers only services he enjoys (no pre-drywall, no pre-listings, no septic tanks – unless they’re aerobic).
He also talks about walking away from a multi-inspector firm on good terms, navigating his non-compete with integrity, and crafting a business model that prioritizes family time and work-life balance.
This episode is a must-listen for inspectors looking to modernize their marketing, customize their service offerings, and book out smarter – not harder.
Want more insights like this? Subscribe to The Ride Along newsletter for new episodes, expert takeaways, and business tips from inspectors in the field.
Transcript
Brad Lowery
My goodness, y’all, we have a very distinguished guest on the show today, don’t we, Mr. Matt? I would say that he even gets right to the point about things.
Matt Brading
Indeed we do. That would be very accurate. It was very hard to get a hold of because honestly I don’t even think he owns a phone.
Brad Lowery
I don’t even know if he has a full set of fingers, if he just has the two. But Handel, how are you?
Matt Brading
OK.
Brad Lowery
That’s good, man. mean, have you been busy this week, Handel?
Matt Brading
Yeah, yeah, us too. Yeah, we’ve been busy as well. It’s been it’s been quite a week.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, that’s – Yeah, I mean, it’s a there’s a lot of things in a house to tap on. But what would you say your most frustrating thing to tap is like what do you not want to tap if you couldn’t tap anything?
Matt Brading
It, you know, I don’t know, man. I’m starting to think this was a bad idea. I don’t, I don’t know, Handel, you’re great and all, I’m starting to maybe think that we made the wrong decision here.
Brad Lowery
I agree. But he should stick around, right? Stick around.
Matt Brading
Well, yeah, stick around, but maybe maybe we bring Randle in.
Brad Lowery
Maybe we bring Inspector Randle on. Yeah, that’d good, man. Inspector Randle, welcome to the Ride Along, dude. How you been? Yeah, I mean, we love Uncle. There he is. Dude, Randle, not only… We’re just hanging around.
Matt Brading
Are you there? No offense, Handel. No offense. There he is.
Inspector Randle
Oh hey guys, hey how’s it going? What are y’all doing here?
Matt Brading
We certainly weren’t having a conversation with Handel, I can tell you that.
Inspector Randle
No.
Brad Lowery
Yeah. I mean, it’s been a freaking long day, I think for all of us. And then, you know, to end it talking to the hand, I feel like is a kind of, kind of, we get that emotion now and then as inspectors, right? dude, how did you, how did you come up with that? First of all –
Inspector Randle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt Brading
The
Inspector Randle
So I saw a random video on TikTok, some dude using it for Grand Theft Auto. And as soon as I saw it, it was one video. I’m like, I need to use that for home inspections. And I immediately searched it, found it on Amazon, and I couldn’t wait for it to show up. I had a feeling it was gonna work. It did. And yeah, yeah, so I…
Matt Brading
Yeah.
Brad Lowery
Holy Christ, dude!
Inspector Randle
I’m like, think this is gonna be fun for sure to do, which doing social media, I’m getting to a point where I’m starting to get burned out on some things. So I was excited to try this one. It worked out great. But I’m probably gonna stop doing it here pretty quickly, just for what it’s worth. I may do it a little bit here and there, but I think it’s ran its course.
Brad Lowery
It blew up.
Matt Brading
handle cover your ears. Well, I don’t know, man, think, I mean, for me, like, like, you know, of course, my, it’s not supposed to do that thing. It’s funny because like, I try to not make that my only thing, you know, like I do it once a week and it’s funny because people, I’ll put out a video sometimes people like, but you didn’t say it. And I’m like, Hey, you come back on Thursday. Stop that. You know, like I only do that on Thursday because I don’t want that to be the only thing I have. It’s really meant to be.
a comedic, you know, I am showing problems usually, they’re usually pretty obvious problems. And I think that’s what makes that whole thing and the deadpan thing work. But I mean, like, I don’t want to do that all the time. I didn’t want that to be my only thing. So maybe handle just, you know, pops up every now and again or something.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, and that’s my plan. I feel like I’ve created this weird monster. And you’re probably experiencing this with your, like what you said with your catchphrase, but when I post a handle video, the OGs get mad because they like my old content. I we like it when you explain things. And then if I do that, all the new pointer fans get mad. I didn’t do a pointer one. So I try to make both happy, but…
Matt Brading
You have.
Inspector Randle
The biggest reason I’m kind of over it currently is just the volume of inspectors who have also started doing it. I feel like my feet is just saturated with the pointer finger and I’m like, kind of over it.
Brad Lowery
It’s so imitated now, yeah. I get annoyed because Matt and I were talking about this before. I get annoyed because it’s like you have to understand how a good bit works. And I don’t want to disparage anybody from attempting something. And imitation is always the greatest form of flattery. But at the same time.
Like your bit works because you point at things that we obviously know are incorrect or damaged or broken. But you get some guys on here, bless them. They just tap in on things. I have no idea what in the bleep they’re talking about. Like I cannot distinguish anything because you’re shot too wide. It’s you know, or it’s too miniscule of a thing. You know, like if you’re if it’s just an average.
Inspector Randle
Yeah.
Brad Lowery
TikTok viewer like they ain’t gonna know, you know, it’s, it’s the wrong insulation on on the wire, you know, no, you know, but anyway.
Matt Brading
Well, I was…
Inspector Randle
And I’ve shot.
Matt Brading
Go ahead, go ahead Randle.
Inspector Randle
I was just gonna say I’ve shot plenty of stuff on site and then when I’m editing, I’ll leave it out. Cause I’m like, people probably won’t know what that is, so scratch it.
Brad Lowery
Yeah.
Matt Brading
Yeah. I have that issue and I’m putting things together too sometimes, but I was talking to Brad a little bit earlier. We were kind of talking about the show and everything. I was referencing that I, I was actually inspired by somebody else that wasn’t an inspector or anything with my, it’s not supposed to do that stuff. Kind of rolled off the tongue one day and then, I, didn’t really do much. And then a few years later, my following was a little bit bigger and I put it out there and it started to work really good. And I thought, Hey, and I was inspired by this guy. His name’s Pat McNamara. He’s a real like American dude, you know, and like a real, he’s always working out and working in his garden and like, you know, doing all kinds of American stuff. And anyway, I was inspired by him and to do a numbered series like weekly. And so I started doing that. And then a year or so in, like somebody started to imitate it, right? But they weren’t like giving credit or anything. just like took it and they did a numbered series and everything and I was like, well, that’s not cool. And so I asked them about it and they were like, no, sorry. was just, you I thought it was cool. So I was doing it too, but you know, nobody does. Then they gave me credit and whatever. It’s fine. I don’t mind when people do it. I love it when they do it, but this guy was like straight ripping it off. And so anyway, I reached out to that guy that was my inspiration and I said, Hey, what happens whenever, you know, people got to do this to you. Like what happens in his explanation to me was it’s lived with me. But it was like he said, you know, it’s all in your delivery. Like no one’s going to deliver it like you do. So it doesn’t really matter if they do it. They’re not going to do it the same way. First of all. And then he goes, and then I of course got a registered trademark on mine. So, and I did that too eventually, but I don’t know if you can register a hand, but I think it is very true that I don’t think that there’s anyone out there that’s doing it like you. know that that’s
Inspector Randle
Yeah.
Matt Brading
Simple to say, it’s just a hand point and stuff, but I will say that yours is different than anyone else I see working that hand.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, man.
Inspector Randle
Man, well thanks, I appreciate it. I mean, I like doing it. It is nice to just not talk, not have to worry about what you say and the way you say it. I mean, you just tap. So it is rather lazy at times, but I don’t know. It is fun to do.
Matt Brading
I don’t look at it that way. There’s so much attitude in that tap.
Brad Lowery
I know, man. Yeah, it’s there’s a comedic element to it where it’s like a silent film. But, you know, it’s yeah, it’s good, man. But, you know, honestly, before we get into what I really want to talk to you about, which I mean, we could talk about the social media thing we’ve and it’s not that, know, your experience with social media is, you know, better or worse, different or any way than other, you know, TikTok inspector influencers that we’ve had on here. But I really want to get into the crazy growth.
Matt Brading
It really is. It was really a genius thing.
Brad Lowery
that your business has experienced just since you started, It’s such a cool story. But before we get into that, we do have to do our drink of the day, brought to you by Inspection Fuel. Matt, why don’t you tell them a little bit about it?
Matt Brading
Yeah, it’s September. I keep forgetting the dates. I’m going to be there but it is in September and it is in New Orleans. What are the dates, Brett? Eight through the tenth. Okay. All right. That’s it. One of these days I’ll get that down. But yes, we’re going to be doing a live podcast from there. And so that’s gonna be a whole lot of fun and I am looking forward to it. yeah, the drink of the day sponsored by Inspection Fuel, correct? What are you drinking?
Brad Lowery
Through the tenth, yeah. That’s it, man. Yep. That’s it. It’s gonna be cool. It is indeed. I am sipping on something that first of all, let me pause right there. I gotta check the oven. think it’s did it stop? No, it’ll rest. It’ll cool off. It’s just an air fire.
Matt Brading
There’s no way we’re gonna cut that out. Like that’s totally getting left in there by the way. He drops a drink in a day to go check on the oven. Time out.
Brad Lowery
We’re leaving dinner getting done in there on the drink. Dude, I got to, it’s a big old pork tenderloin, man. I got to eat that. anyway, okay. I am sipping on something actually that you gave me, Matt, which I’m pretty excited about trying here. This is the Cooper Family Straight Bourbon Whiskey. And you picked this up for me.
Matt Brading
Brad, what are you drinking on?
Brad Lowery
Before we filmed in Austin this past weekend. And dude, what a freaking fun time we had, We do, yeah. Look guys, you gotta pay attention to the show here, because we got an amazing episode coming out with Matt Reisinger of The Build Show.
Matt Brading
A great time. Yeah, we got matching hats to prove it, right?
Brad Lowery
Huge YouTube following awesome podcast and we get to film at his property that is in development and almost finished. It was incredible. But you know, we, we sipped on a little bit of liquid courage as we were filming there too. So
Matt Brading
Every now and again, we kind of had to it was hot. What can I say? But so okay. Well, you’re you’re drinking the the Cooper’s family. That’s great. Did you just straight up?
Brad Lowery
Yeah. Little old-fashioned out of it, but dude, it’s balanced man. It’s good stuff. How about you? What you got?
Matt Brading
Okay. I’m doing an old-fashioned as well just with wild turkey, but Cheers to the old-fashioned
Brad Lowery
And Randle, what’s Handle drinking? Does he have a Handle of? He’s a tea totaler, okay.
Inspector Randle
He doesn’t drink, no, he’s a stick hand. Yeah.
Matt Brading
You
Inspector Randle
Yeah, Randle’s drinking a big cup of water.
Matt Brading
Mm, hydrating, I like it.
Brad Lowery
Good stuff, Rand. Stay Thursday, my friends. Good stuff. Well, yeah, so Randle, you were telling me when we got on air here just before, just about the crazy growth that you’ve had with your business. I guess the course that you’ve taken, it mirrors some other inspectors in a similar experience to what I had where you kind of did the big company and then you went out solo on your own. Tell the viewers kind of the backstory behind some of the crazy growth that you’ve had this year, man, because I’m excited for you.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, so I actually started my own company first and I had a part-time job at the same time and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like having my own company. I never owned one. I didn’t really know what to do. It was way too overwhelming. I just wanted to do inspections. I do like doing inspections. I’m a worker bee. My buddy, Ryan Cantrell, who I know Matt knows, I don’t know about you, Brad, he’s True Vision Inspections.
Matt Brading
Thank
Inspector Randle
He’s here in DFW as well. He got me in touch with Blake Williams who owns Super Inspector. That’s the company I worked with for most of my career. And it was a good fit. He hired me and I’ve been with him most of the time I’ve been an inspector. I never really had any plans to leave. I liked the whole makeup of just what it means to work for a multifurb. Wake up, go to your inspections, come home, hang out with the family.
Brad Lowery
Blake’s a good dude.
Inspector Randle
All the business stuff is I’ll leave that to the other people. And then last year, the first of last year, January, 2024 , I to finally start trying to build social media. And it was a slow process throughout the year. The last half, it really started to gain traction. then October ish, it just exploded. I mean, massively exploded. And in December, so at the end of the year last year, all of the business I was getting at Super Inspector, I was bringing to the table. And me and my wife sat down and we’re talking, we’re like, it just doesn’t make sense to stay with the company anymore. If I’m able to generate my own business, I’m basically just giving the company a big cut in my opinion. They’re not gonna like I say that, but from what I’m making now, it was a big cut. And I’m like, let’s try it. It was a terrifying decision. We were scared, but we’re like, we should at least try it. And so January, I put my two weeks in, January th, I think was my last day. My first day with my own company was the st of January of this year. The first week. So the night before my first inspection, my wife and I sat down and we were just kind of freaking out. like, is this going to work? Do we make the right decision? And I’m like, I think it will. And so that was a Friday. Before the weekend ended, I was fully booked out for the first week. And I’m like, all right, cool. Before the first week was complete, I was booked out solid two weeks with confirmed inspections, which means I had contacted the builder.
Brad Lowery
Wow, man.
Inspector Randle
They were good to go. had confirmed the inspection, client paid, signed the agreement. And since then I am consistently booked out two to three weeks, a couple of weeks. I’ve been, I was booked out for four weeks, confirmed inspections. I mean, no openings for four weeks. and so at this point I’ve been in business almost four months. It’s like three and a half months. And I’m just sitting here, you know, I’ve been on the Facebook groups for years and I’ve talked to a lot of inspectors over the years.
Brad Lowery
That’s amazing.
Matt Brading
That’s crazy.
Inspector Randle
And I see how a normal business starting in the home inspector world starts and how it slowly grows. I used to listen to Chris Murphy’s podcast and he said, you know, the first two years to struggle and, um, you know, just a grind of trying to make every job work and driving from Houston to Dallas. so it’s crazy that. I have been booked out two weeks from the first week of my business to this day still. hopefully that doesn’t just plummet because I said something about it and then, yeah, yeah. But yeah, it’s been a wild ride. I’m learning a lot. Again, I’ve never owned a business, so it’s been fun, scary, crazy three months.
Matt Brading
Yeah.
Hahaha.
Brad Lowery
Knock on that wall behind you. That’s it. Yeah.
Matt Brading
You know, I think a lot of that, like, cause you know, me and Chris Murphy talked a lot about, you know, how long it takes to build a business. lot of that was centered around people that are starting their own business. That didn’t work for another inspection company, but also even if you did, like you still got to get and earn your own business. Cause it’s not like you can just rob it from the company you worked for previously. but your, your situation was quite unique in the fact that you built the social media following first before you opened your own business. And I think that that really springboarded you into having a ton of business right off the bat. So it’s great. I’m sure super inspectors hated to lose you as an inspector and because you were bringing in a ton of business. it wasn’t like that was business that they were earning. You were getting it because of your social media presence. I mean, you built something before you left. You didn’t know you were doing it, but it made sense. Like you, you, you had already done the marketing and it was working. And so why not?
Inspector Randle
And they understood. I still have a great relationship with them. I feel like I left on good terms. They understood. mean, they could see my following. Also, they saw the phone calls coming in. Super Inspector has their own call center. And at the end of it, I had to have my own phone line just for me, from the people calling in to book inspections. That way they could, because I’m like, look, I’m bringing the company a lot of business.
Brad Lowery
It’s the best man. That’s cool.
Inspector Randle
Is there way we can track this? And so they had a second phone line just for me where if people called that number, they got that number from one of my social pages. I had it in my bio. But I left on good terms. I have nothing but good things to say about the company. It just made sense for me to part ways to start my own thing.
Matt Brading
I get it, I get it.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, I definitely get it too, man. And honestly, like I love that you still have that good relationship. You know, I used to work at BPG and the the area manager there, I don’t know if BPG corporate would have, you know, supported him in saying it, but every single person that he brought on board and he built a million dollar market within a year and a half or so. But, you know, he would always tell us he’s like, hey, look, if you find a better offer, I’m not going to stop you from taking it. This is a job and I don’t want to lose anybody and I want to make sure that you’re happy working here. I support whatever it is that you want to do. And so when I went and started full time at porch doing, doing all this stuff, running around the country, playing with cameras, he was like, well, that sucks. Cause you built a great book of business, but you know, I, I support it, you know, and, we’re still friends to this day. So I love that you got that relationship with them because, because Blake’s a good dude. He didn’t hit his wife or wonderful. So,
Inspector Randle
Yeah. Yep. Big time. Yeah. I am under a non-compete still, but again, what’s great about my situation doesn’t apply. All of my business, literally 100% of my business comes from social media. So, you know, most non-competes, the big focus there, at least in my opinion is don’t steal their agents. Don’t steal their employees. I have no intention of hiring any employees, but
Brad Lowery
Course.
Matt Brading
Yeah.
Brad Lowery
Yeah.
Matt Brading
Agents. Yeah.
Brad Lowery
Right.
Inspector Randle
I couldn’t steal their agents if I want to, because I can’t fit five to seven day option periods in my schedule. I was telling you this, Matt, recently. I just changed my online scheduler. I only offer two services now, new construction finals and month warranties. I had to stop all my other services because I can’t fit them into my schedule. And plus I don’t want to do some of them, like 1960s houses, pre-listings. I hate pre-listings.
Brad Lowery
Now.
Inspector Randle
So I’m like, you know what, let’s try it. Let’s just do finals and warranties and see how it goes. And I’ve been doing that now for about three weeks. So yeah.
Brad Lowery
Good for you, so it’s a final walkthrough.
Matt Brading
I mean, I think it’s definitely, uh, you know, doing like new construction stuff is, a lot, you know, it’s a lot different than the older stuff. And it definitely is a lot. want, I don’t want to say like, cause I’m doing the same stuff and it takes me almost the same time. Uh, um, for the most part as some of the older stuff, but it’s not quite as tedious. It feels a whole lot better. Um, I definitely like doing that too. I get a lot of new construction stuff, but I still do some of older stuff, but I, feel you, man. Some of that old stuff that’s tough. It does. It’s a little bit draining. I don’t. Like I say, it takes me the same amount of time. I think maybe writing the report is a little bit longer. And also I think it’s just a lot more tedious.
Brad Lowery
Now, I guess that also explains what or gives me the answer to what was going to be my other follow-up question, which is how do you possibly book out two to four weeks in advance? And I guess new construction final walkthrough really kind of answers it because if it’s like a normal seven day contingency, I guess that’s tough to do, right?
Inspector Randle
Correct, yeah. So, and that’s how I’m able to book out for a week. Well, for a small period, four weeks. Usually it’s two and a half to three weeks. It’s the finals and the warranties. I had a lot of warranties, like a few weeks out to months out. I also had to stop booking pre-drywall and pre-pour because I couldn’t squeeze those in as well. I was still trying to offer those and just do all new construction, but the pre-pour window is so tight that when the builder’s finally ready, I’m already booked. The pre-drywall, I was able to do quite a few of those the last few months. I don’t like doing them. And it was also difficult to schedule them. I kept having people reach out to get questions about it. And they’re like, okay, we’ll reach out whenever it’s time to book. And then they would, and I’d have to decline them because I couldn’t do it. finally, I’m like, you know what? I’m not gonna offer either of those, the pre-drywall, because I just don’t like doing them. And again, I…Part of me is kind of being stubborn. I worked for a multi-firm for years, and even though I loved the company, I think any inspector who works for a firm probably has things they don’t like that the firm does. And I am in this weird phase right now where I’m almost like in a rebellious, I want to do things my way phase. And so not doing pre-drywall is one of those. I’m not a fan of them.
Brad Lowery
Yeah. No, I think that’s smart, man. I’ve got a friend of mine, a wonderful inspector up in the Tampa area, Kenny McLaurin. He does excavated septics. I don’t get it. I’m like, look, sewer scopes are one thing, but he’s like, yeah, but it’s good money. I’m like, no, no, I respectfully disagree. He charged, think $400 not to give other inspectors prices away, but he charged $400 for an excavated septic. And I’m like, okay, but that took two hours of digging. Right? That could have been spent on another house where you could have been making $650 to $750 for a full inspection plus your insurance inspections down here in Florida. So I’m like, the numbers don’t make sense to me. Like, look, if you had nothing else that day, maybe but I’m like, but why not pick the easier thing in the air conditioning other than taking up a crap box?
Matt Brading
Man, that’s tough. mean, I feel like that had to be way more money than that. You know, it’d have to be priced the same as an inspection to get me out.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I mean, you’ve kind of you’ve earned that right to start your company rental and so you can do what you want and kind of kind of explore what works for you.
Inspector Randle
Man, I’m doing everything I want. I am trying so much stuff. I was talking to Matt about this a few weeks back. I’ve changed my prices so many times. Just trying to see what works and feel what makes me happy, but also is fair to the customer. I also stopped doing septics. I’ll do aerobic systems because I understand those like crazy and they’re easy enough, but anaerobic where you do have to dig them up and then you open the lid and it’s just a tank full of sewage. I mean, I do have some probe rods, but anyway, I don’t want to do it. So I’m not going to do it. I’m going to charge for certain things that we didn’t charge for at Super Inspector. Yeah. I’m kind of just trying all kinds of stuff to see what I like, what I can get away with in the current, like my current situation with social media. I tried to charge $600 for inspections, base fee.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, you don’t want to walk around the yard probing.
Inspector Randle
I’ve had to drop that down, so.
Matt Brading
I just hear a siren.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, you did. So the fire department is right up the road. It’s so possible. Yeah. yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine. just, they’re cruising up the street. hear it about three times a week. So.
Matt Brading
Are you okay? Well, if you got to get out of there, just grab that bottle of bourbon on your way out at least. Yeah, the dog, maybe a guitar.
Brad Lowery
I would at least save that and the dog, right? maybe, I mean, that base is a Squire. So I mean, I’m not too worried about it. Yeah, that’s it. Now the Gibson, the good Gibson in the back, I’m grabbing that, you know, but anyway, dude, no, but Randle back to what you were talking about, Seriously. So what are some of the biggest changes that you’ve made in terms of your operation and how you go about doing the inspection?
Matt Brading
Nah, just leave it then. Throw it in the fire.
Inspector Randle
not much. The inspection process is pretty similar, I guess, to what I’ve always done. know, Super Inspector, they would have a routine that they would teach, but they really left it up to you at how you wanted to do your own inspection process. And I’ve kept most of that. I’ve started inspecting more things I used to not inspect, but I’ve also stopped doing things and I’m like, don’t, I don’t want to do this anymore. So that side is pretty similar. The business side of it is where it’s different from what they do. I have always wanted to charge for certain ancillary services where many big firms include them for free, like foundation measurements, termite inspections. I charge for those. If the client wants it, I’ll do it, but I want to get paid for it. Especially foundation measurements. I always hated doing…
Matt Brading
lot of work.
Inspector Randle
Do y’all do those? Either one of you do those?
Matt Brading
I, so I don’t really do them. I mean, I will, I do have the tools to do it. Most of the time I only break out the tools and do it like if I find a problem and then it’s really just to prove what I’ve already found. But on rare occasion, I have people ask for an actual, you know, foundation evaluation. And I mean, if I got to do if I got to measure out the whole property and put all those numbers in there put it in the report. Like, yeah, I want to get paid for that. But usually I don’t. I try to open it.
Inspector Randle
The way you do it, yeah, same. The way you do it is how I’ve always viewed it. If it’s one of those weird houses where you’re kind of on the fence on the foundation performance, it’s nice to have that tool to just help out, make that decision. But whenever you’re doing it every inspection and it’s a 4,000 square foot house, I mean, just drawing up the footprint can be a nightmare sometimes if your phone app’s not working, we all use the same app.
And then doing the actual measurements in a big house, I’m like, man, I should be getting paid for this. So I charge for it now. And I have two prices. I have just kind of the base cheap price, but if it’s over 3,000 square foot house, I charge extra because they’re just kind of a pain to deal with. so, yeah.
Matt Brading
Yeah. It’s just gonna take more time. Yeah.
Brad Lowery
Yeah.
Matt Brading
I don’t really have a whole lot of people request it. I do have some people that ask about it every now and again, but I mean, I at least have the opportunity to tell them, know, well, this is what I do. And I get out that if I needed, the thing is, is I’m trained to evaluate your foundation without it. And so if I find an area of concern, I might get it to back up my findings. But that’s about the only thing. I just let them know all the things that I do look for. What about you, Brad?
Brad Lowery
As far as state the question one more time. Sorry, I get distracted in silence.
Matt Brading
Just do you do any type of foundation evaluation like with a zip level or anything like that?
Brad Lowery
yeah, no, so not really. mean, I’ll do a kind of a visual scan of what’s available at the foundation. In Florida, everything’s built on slabbing up. You might have the crawl space, but I guess the more exhaustive foundation examinations were always up in Virginia where you would have basements. A lot of clay soil. So you would see a lot more settlement cracking and stuff up there, but.
Matt Brading
Yeah, here too.
Brad Lowery
Anyway, down here, really not so much. And when it comes to like taking measurements and stuff, you know, I guess a good friend of ours, Austin Jenkins, we all know him. I shadowed him on an inspection before and that guy would take measurements around the entire house, every room perimeter of the home. He would give sketches, layouts, drawings, all of this. But I mean, for me, I’m like, that’s not what if that’s what you think is going to set you apart from the competition and you want to give that added value. Cool. I’m giving you two hours, two to two.
Matt Brading
It’s extremely
Brad Lowery
Half hours. It is, yeah. Yeah.
Matt Brading
time consuming. mean, like that is an hour, you know, and then, you know, and especially to get it all like in the report and put out there. Like, I feel like, you know, depending on the size of the property, it can be extremely time consuming. And to me, like with my knowledge of foundations and, and, and what I had, you know, my experience, if I get to the point where I feel like I need to get out that tool, you probably shouldn’t be paying me to do an evaluation. You’d be paying an engineer at that point.
Brad Lowery
Exactly.
Matt Brading
Because I have already found that there is a reason for concern. And if you’re looking for somebody to tell you that it is a problem or it isn’t a problem, like for sure, like an answer that you can hang your hat on or something like, you know, if you’re buying a house and you really need to know, if you’re selling a house and you really need to know, or if you’re buying a house and for resale purposes, like you want to have that engineer stamp that says, it’s been looked at by an engineer and they said it was okay, or they said, you know, it actually needs repair. So I feel like if it gets to that point, that’s where you need to spend your money, not on me running around your house with that tool.
Brad Lowery
No. And the other thing too, mean, you know, there’s companies that once they’ve scaled large enough, they bring on internal engineers. like, I mean, I know green works has an engineering side of their company. Harmony has done a good job with that. But, I mean, for, for most guys, I don’t see why it’s completely necessary, right? That’s where you have the comment in the report where it’s like, see a structural engineer, you know, you,
Matt Brading
Yeah, I have the tool on the truck, but I mean, like, you know, I don’t intend to take it out to do foundation evaluation surveys unless, yeah, I got to get paid pretty good money to do it.
Brad Lowery
Yep.
Inspector Randle
And I only do new construction and I do not push this on my clients. know, they’ll ask me about other services I offer and I’ll tell them, I offer three currently, the foundation measurements, the wood destroying insect report and the sewer scope. The first two I don’t push on a brand-new house. Most houses do not need foundation measurements or even a termite inspection. Sewer scope I pushed like crazy and I’ve sold a ton of those. But I’ve shown evidence through my social media that they’ve watched of all the sewer stuff I find on new houses.
Brad Lowery
That’s the big one right now, yeah.
Matt Brading
Right, right. I mean, and I agree with you. I mean, I don’t do sewer scope, but I certainly load test the plumbing and find all kinds of issues in terms of it being very slow to drain, backing up, backing up, all kinds of stuff. But yeah, I try not to push even termite inspection. I think there’s so many people that feel like they need it. And there’s a lot of companies that’ll like give it away. I mean, it might be built into the price, but they’ll say the termite inspection is free. I’m not doing that because I don’t want to do it on every inspection. It is also another element of work that I don’t want to do if I don’t have to. And I have found termites on one new construction house. And they also didn’t buy a termite inspection, but they got one, you know, because if I find them, I’m going to go ahead and do an official report. But like most of the time, the way I explain it to people is like, why would you want to pay me to give you a report that says, are there any conducive conditions? Like there probably aren’t because it’s new. Is there any active termites? There probably isn’t because it’s new. Is there any evidence of previous infestations?
Inspector Randle
Exactly.
Matt Brading
Well, likely not. Is there any evidence of previous termite treatment? Well, likely not. Like this is what it’s just a document saying. Right, right.
Brad Lowery
Well, it’s fresh like boright on all of the all the plumbing. Yeah.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, the bore eight.
Brad Lowery
So that makes no sense. I used to do this, you know, when people would be buying condos up in Virginia when they would go, Hey, so should I get a termite inspection on my unit here? I would stand in the middle of the room, and I would turn around in a circle and go, you’re good. And they’re like, Wait, what? I’m like, let me explain. You’re on the fifth floor. You fine. Okay. And this is a concrete building.
Matt Brading
Yeah. Yeah. If they made it up here, like you’re you’ve got a real problem. The people below you.
Brad Lowery
Yeah. If they made it up here, I want to high five those little creators individually. Okay, like, I want to get my little handle tap and just give them each a little little high five, you know, but now Randle that says, how do you work the social media angle into that now with everything that you’re doing now? I mean, are you looking to kind of continue the same type of content that you’ve been doing that’s more buyer focused or trying to make it more educational?
Matt Brading
There you go, there you go.
Inspector Randle
I mean, have plans. I’ve kept doing what’s been working. when I first started the first half of 2026 , I was really just learning what’s so I never did social media. So I was learning what worked and what didn’t and trying all the stuff that, you know, trendy stuff and I’d watch what worked for other people. And then I quit for a month and a half. I was off and I wasn’t planning on coming back.
Brad Lowery
Yes.
Inspector Randle
And then finally I’m like, I’ll give it another go. And that’s really when it started to pick up. And then later in the year is when I felt like I found kind of my groove and what worked for me. And I listened to the Preston episode this morning. Y’all kind of alluded to this. I felt like I was just genuine and I was showing people who I was. I’m very sarcastic. have, I like humor and I tried to educate. But also show, this is my opinion. And so if you don’t agree with it, totally understand. Try to show the ridiculous state of new construction homes and DFW Texas. but then also throw in some humor and I don’t know. worked. People loved it. I started to get massive, you know, amount of followers. Then I started the other platforms. like, I need to be on everything. Thankfully I did because now all of them have over a hundred K, which I’m getting business from all four, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. So I tried the handle thing, that was new and fun, but I feel like it’s played out right now. But I have some new ideas I wanna try. I’m not gonna reveal them because I’ve learned people will steal your stuff. But anyway, I have some ideas.
Matt Brading
Yes, yes they will. We were hoping you, I was
Brad Lowery
They do man. Go back to the tray episode about that.
Matt Brading
hoping you would reveal it so I could steal it before you put it out actually. Nah man.
Inspector Randle
Nope. And honestly, it may flop, but I’m excited for it. I don’t think any other inspector has done this ever. So we’ll see.
Brad Lowery
You could do like Sean Misal and do a little dance. mean, we won’t razz him too much on here though. We love Sean.
Matt Brading
Hahaha
Inspector Randle
He can pull it off, I can’t pull that off.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, no, I absolutely love it, So again, what are your goals then for the year? somebody, like when you set your goals at the beginning of the year, do they, you’ve probably already exceeded them numerically. So how do you raise the bar from there? Just for the business, not even talking social media, just for the business now.
Matt Brading
I can’t.
Inspector Randle
Good question. I’m happy to answer because I don’t know, I feel like my answer may be not what you expect and very different from other inspectors. I have met my goal and I planned on maintaining it. Matt and I also talked about this on the phone recently. I don’t have any intentions of growing a massive business. I don’t have any intentions of getting multiple inspectors underneath me. I like doing home inspections. It’s a very good income. So I want to keep doing home inspections myself. And I want a good work-life balance. I have already achieved it. My perfect work week is nine inspections. Two Monday, two Tuesday, one on Wednesday, two Thursday, two Friday. Now some weeks I’m like, you know what, let’s make some money and I’ll pick up some extra jobs or whatnot. Every now and then I work Saturdays. But I like working Monday through Friday and doing a half day in the middle of the week so I can do business stuff. And that is what the last four weeks have been.
Brad Lowery
Remember
Inspector Randle
And then I like the weekends off because I have three girls and I want to spend time with them. So I’m happy. don’t currently I don’t have any intentions of changing my business model. I have considered bringing on another inspector just due to the volume of phone calls. I’m turning away and work and turning away. But as of right now, I’m happy.
Matt Brading
That’s great, man. That’s good for you for building that and building that work life balance like you were talking about. Like that’s, that’s huge, man. Good job.
Brad Lowery
Absolutely.
Inspector Randle
Now this may change, my two youngest, I have a three year old and a one year old 14 and then a year old. But with how young they are, that’s man, I’m happy just working and then spending time with family. That’s where I’m coming from. So once they get older, who knows? Maybe I wanna start adding inspectors to my team, but we’ll see.
Matt Brading
Run.
Brad Lowery
Well, for now, just keep enjoying it, man. You’ve done a great job. Keep it up. You know, don’t, obviously we never want to rest on our laurels, but at the same time, you are doing exactly what entrepreneurs set out to do, right? Which is build work-life balance, work for yourself, enjoy the fruit of your labor and build and craft the life that you think is just the best blessing to you and others, right? I freaking love it, man. So good for you. And we’re so happy for you here, man, for sure.
Matt Brading
Yeah, congratulations on everything you’ve been able to achieve on social media. That’s awesome to hear that you’re getting just so much business from it. I get a lot of business from it, but not quite to that extent. So man, that’s really awesome. Good job doing all that, man. You really, you’ve become a force to be reckoned with on social media and so fast, I mean, great job on
Inspector Randle
Thanks.
Brad Lowery
Definitely.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Can I say something to that real quick? I was on, I try to avoid Reddit, but I was on Reddit a couple of weeks ago and they have a couple of home inspector subreddits and I’m like, you know what, let’s check it out and see what they’re talking about in there. And there was a guy who said, he asked the question, hey, is social media worth it? Should I even waste my time? And so I started reading the comments and most people were bashing it. And then one guy was just like,
Brad Lowery
Yeah.
Inspector Randle
Feel free to do it if you want. It’s not a bad idea, but you’re wasting your time really. There’s no return on investment. So he didn’t recommend it. And I’m just sitting here like, a hundred percent of my business comes from social media. I’m booked out far. It was able to propel my brand new company, know, crazy levels. So I’m just sitting here like, I don’t know, man, I feel like social media, everybody should be trying it and learning how to do it.
Brad Lowery
Absolutely.
Matt Brading
Yeah.
Inspector Randle
That way, who knows what it could turn their life into. mean, maybe they start getting a little more work. Maybe they blow their business up like mine did, or at the very least, maybe they start making money from TikTok and YouTube like you can do. I don’t know. So the reason I said that is if you’ve been on the table, or sorry, been on the fence about doing social media, I recommend it. Try it out. It is a learning process. It’ll take time to figure out what works for you. You’re gonna have a lot of failure videos. You’re gonna have people that bash you, whatever. Just try it, keep posting it. I can’t recommend social media enough.
Matt Brading
Yeah, I actually don’t necessarily think it’s for everybody, but I think it’s probably for everyone to at least try. I mean, like, you know, because you don’t know and obviously like there’s a lot of people that just won’t put in the effort. And, and so that’s what helps some of us be successful because there’s a lot of people out there that just can’t keep up with the demand and the workload that because it is takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to put to film material, put it together, put it out there. You know, it’s a, it’s a whole.
Brad Lowery
Absolutely.
Matt Brading
separate situation from inspections. I mean, when it’s the only form of marketing you have and it’s bringing you all your business, mean, for absolutely free.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, it’s free. It’s free to do.
Brad Lowery
Yeah, it’s that’s exactly it, man. It’s literally we all run around with a K camera in our pockets now. It’s it’s a pretty impressive. But at the same time, you know, not everybody has the same creative mind or has that kind of a penchant. But at the same time, it’s you know, I know there’s inspectors out there that don’t do hardly any social media and they do 600 to 700 inspections a year on their own. This is a BPG top inspector, my old area manager, not a lick of social media. So there’s multiple ways to skin the cat, but at the same time, why pass up free marketing, like you’re saying.
Matt Brading
Read it in, in what’s it, there’s an inspector publication that I don’t even remember subscribing to, but I, I get it mailed to me every so often, like every quarter or something. There’s like a inspector magazine or something that comes. And I remember reading years ago, that if you didn’t have an Instagram account, like you were really, you know, you’re leaving money on the table or something like that. And I was like, I’m gonna get an Instagram account. I went right after it. And, and you know, here I am now. So, and that was years ago in a magazine, but I definitely agree. Like if you’re not doing something or trying something, like why not? What is your hangup? It’s free and there’s a lot of business to be had out there. And I think what makes it so special is that there’s just so many people in the world, so many people on social media. Okay, they may not like me, they might like you. They might like you, they might like me or whatever, you know, or somebody else. There’s something out there for everybody.
Brad Lowery
No, absolutely.
Matt Brading
And so, you just find your audience and then start catering to them.
Brad Lowery
Absolutely.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, and I like the way you phrased it. I understand it’s definitely not for everybody. There were some guys at Super who tried it and they’re like, it’s not for me. I guess my point was if you’ve been thinking about it, at the very least, give it a shot, give it a chance. Who knows, you may love it too. Maybe like, this is what I’ve been waiting for.
Brad Lowery
Now it’s fun, man. Well, dude, we love following you. Seriously. Love saying everything that you’re doing out there. It’s been it’s been a blast. So we really enjoyed having you on the Definitely. Well, Randle and Handel, thank you so much for coming on the show. This has been a blast. We got to do it again soon. We got to keep you a frequent guest, dude. And, you know, hopefully, you know, you come to inspection fuel. We’d love to see the both of you there. You know, the handle as well. But
Inspector Randle
Well, thanks and right back to you all.
Matt Brading
Thanks man, appreciate the support.
Inspector Randle
Yeah, so I didn’t even know about it until the, I mean I knew about it, but the Preston episode today, I’m like, man, yeah, that’s coming up. I need to start planning for that, so.
Brad Lowery
I got you. I’ll hook you up with the the we’ll cover your cover your ticket man for sure we want you there but definitely we’ll talk about that off air for sure for those of you that want to go obviously you can check it out at inspectionfuel.com slash register we want to see you there but Randle again thanks again Matt love doing this with you and dude the people need to be watching because we got a fun one coming up next well next episode with Matt Reisinger from
Inspector Randle
Awesome.
Matt Brading
Well, it’s weird though, because that will be the last episode whenever this one airs.
Brad Lowery
Right. that’s a good point. Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Go back and watch that one is what I mean to say. Yeah. We we had a really good episode with this guy. Yeah, I do. We record these things in batches. I forget when they happen from time to time. All right, man. We love it. Randle. Thanks again. Thank you guys all for watching. I’m gonna go eat dinner. I’m hungry and we’ll see you here next time right on.
Matt Brading
Yeah, really good episode. Now you’re watching this really good episode. That’s right, that’s right. Alright, I got you. Right along.
Brad Lowery
We’ll see you then.