Many home inspectors start part time. They keep a day job, inspect on evenings, weekends and days off, and build the business one client and one agent at a time. It’s a smart way to start, but it comes with a math problem: you pay many of the same bills as a full-time inspector, and spread them across far fewer inspections.
Knowing what to look for in home inspection software and whether or not to invest in a website are important decisions for a part-time home inspector. Before making any decisions, make sure you understand what matters most to you, what the costs are and how to stay in business.
What it costs to stay in business part time
These are typical published figures. Your state, your market and your coverage choices will move them up or down.
| Cost | Typical range | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance | About $600–$1,200; median about $989 ($82/mo) | Yearly |
| General liability insurance | Median about $545 ($45/mo) | Yearly |
| Training course | $600–$2,000 | Once |
| National exam and license (where required) | $225 exam, about $250 license | Once, plus renewals |
| Starter toolkit | $500–$700 | Once |
| Moisture meter / ladder | $350–$550 / $150–$200 | Once |
| Thermal camera (optional) | $400–$4,000+ | Once |
| Report software | Commonly $50–$110/mo, up to about $218/mo; some add $3.75–$7.25 per inspection | Monthly |
| Website | $10–$30/mo do-it-yourself; $500–$5,000 from a freelancer; inspector website services $69–$159/mo plus $499–$799 setup | Monthly or upfront |
| Google Ads | $6–$28 per click; about $40–$150 per scheduled inspection | Per click |
Here is why this hits a part-time inspector harder. Take insurance at about $127 a month, report software at $100 and an inspector website service at $69. That’s about $296 a month before a single inspection, ads or gas.
A full-time inspector doing 30 inspections a month carries that at about $10 per inspection. A part-time inspector doing 4 a month carries it at about $74 per inspection, or around a fifth of a typical $350 fee. Every monthly bill you can shrink goes straight back into your pocket.
Some costs you can’t avoid. Your E&O policy and your moisture meter aren’t optional. But software and a website are two of the few big costs where you have real choices, so they are worth choosing carefully.
What to look for in the software
1. A flat, low monthly price with no per-report fees
Part-time work is uneven. You might do six inspections in a busy spring month and one in December. Software that charges per inspection, or charges a full-time price for a part-time business, eats the most profit in exactly the months you can least afford it.
Look for a flat monthly price, no per-report fees, no setup fee, and the freedom to cancel any time. If you can try it free on a real inspection first, even better.
2. Everything included, with no add-ons
A low starting price doesn’t help if scheduling, payments, agreements or specialty forms cost extra. Add-ons are how a $50 plan quietly becomes a $150 one.
Ask for the full list of what’s included at the price you’ll actually pay. Scheduling, online payment, agreements, AI help and forms like 4-point and wind mitigation should all be in the plan, not on a menu of extras.
3. Clients can schedule while you’re at your day job
When you inspect part time, you can’t always answer the phone. A buyer whose offer was just accepted will call the next inspector if you don’t pick up, and you may not even know the inspection was lost.
Look for an online scheduling form you can put on your website, a notification on your phone when someone schedules, and confirmations and day-before reminders that send automatically. The business keeps taking appointments while you’re at work.
4. Quote and schedule from your phone, on a break
When you do catch a call on your lunch break, you want to finish it with a price and a time, not “I’ll call you back tonight”. Software that lets you quote and schedule from your phone, using your own services and prices, closes the inspection in one call.
5. Availability that fits a part-time week
Your hours aren’t 9 to 5. Maybe it’s Saturdays and two weekday afternoons. Look for software where you set your own available times, block off days you can’t work, and add travel time between inspections, so online scheduling only ever offers times you can keep.
6. Reports you can finish the same evening
Report writing is where part-time inspectors lose their evenings. If a report takes three hours after a full day at your other job, the business starts to feel like a second shift.
Look for software that builds the report while you inspect: take the photo, pick the comment, move on. A large ready-made comment library, voice search, templates from past reports and a way to finish on a bigger screen at home all cut the time between leaving the house and sending the report.
7. A signed agreement and payment before the report goes out
Two things put a small business at risk: an inspection without a signed agreement, and a report delivered before you’re paid. The first is a liability problem; your inspection agreement is part of how you limit claims. The second is a cash problem, and chasing a $350 invoice costs you more time than a part-timer has.
Look for software that sends the agreement when the inspection is scheduled, can hold the report until it’s signed, takes card payment online, and releases the report when payment clears.
8. Help being thorough
Your E&O premium exists because a missed item can turn into a claim. Anything that helps you record what you saw, accurately, protects you. Look for features that read equipment data plates for make, model, serial number and age, check that equipment against recall databases, and include clear scope, limitations and Standards of Practice wording in every report.
9. Works with no signal, and your data stays yours
Basements and rural properties don’t always have service. Software that stops working without a signal costs you time on site. Look for an app that works offline and syncs later, and that saves reports and photos somewhere you control, so a lost phone isn’t a lost business.
10. Keeping agents in the loop
Agents are free marketing. Every agent who has a good experience with you is a referral that didn’t cost you a click. Look for software that lets you add agents quickly while scheduling, sends them the appointment details and the finished report, and lets them build a repair request from it. It’s the best-value advertising a part-time inspector has.
What to look for in a website
A website is often the first thing a buyer or agent sees, and for a part-time inspector it has to do the selling while you’re at your other job. Here is what to look for.
1. A price that fits a part-time business
Website costs range from a $10–$30 a month do-it-yourself builder, to $500–$5,000 from a freelancer, to $69–$159 a month plus setup for services built for inspectors. A do-it-yourself site is cheap but takes evenings you may not have. A custom site looks great but may take a year of inspections to pay off. Look for a professional result at a monthly price with no setup fee.
2. Online scheduling built in
A website that only lists a phone number sends clients back to the problem you’re trying to solve. Your site should let clients schedule an inspection directly, connected to your scheduling, so an inspection scheduled on the site lands on your calendar.
3. You can change it yourself
Prices change, you add radon testing, you earn a new certification. If every change means emailing a designer and waiting days, the site falls out of date. Look for one where you can edit any word or photo yourself, any time.
4. Your own domain name
yourcompany.com looks like an established business; a long address on someone else’s domain doesn’t. Look for a website that uses your own domain, with clear steps to connect it.
5. Found on Google and in AI search
When ads cost $6–$28 a click, showing up for free matters. Look for a site built to be found by Google and by AI search tools, that you can link from your Google Business Profile.
6. Trust built in: licenses, certifications, samples and reviews
A new or part-time inspector has to earn trust quickly. Your site should show your license, certifications and association badges, link to your Google reviews, and let visitors see a sample report, so a buyer can see your work before they schedule.
7. Mobile friendly and securely hosted
Most buyers and agents will find you on a phone. The site should work well on small screens, and hosting and security should be handled for you, not a separate bill.
8. Your services and fees on the page
Clients want to know what you offer and roughly what it costs before they call. A site that shows your services and fees, from the same price list your software uses, answers that question and keeps the numbers consistent.
9. A professional look without a designer
Look for a choice of professionally designed layouts, room for your own photos, and touches like a background video, so the site looks like a serious business on day one.
10. What happens if you cancel
Part-time plans change. Ask what happens to your site and your pages if you stop paying, so you aren’t left with nothing online.
How JetInspect measures up
Here are both lists, answered for JetInspect.
The software
Price. $20 a month for one inspector, with unlimited reports and photos, no setup fee and no per-report fees. 30 days free for new users, and you can cancel any time.
Included. The same features at every plan size with no add-on pricing: the observation library and AI, scheduling, quotes, card payments, agreements, hosted reports and PDFs, 4-point and wind mitigation forms, and CPSC recall search.
Online scheduling. A scheduling widget for your website, a notification on your phone, and automatic confirmations and day-before reminders.
Phone quoting.Quote an inspection from your phone while you’re on the call, using your own services and prices.
Availability. Set your availability, time off and travel buffers.
Faster reports. Capture a photo or video and pick the observation as you inspect; a complete inspection library, searchable by voice, text and video; any finished report can become a template; finish on the web editor at home.
Agreement and payment.The agreement is linked to each appointment, reports can be blocked until it’s signed, and the report unlocks when card payment clears, or you release it manually.
Thoroughness. A data plate reader captures make, model, serial and manufacture date, and equipment is checked against the CPSC recall database. Scope wording, limitations and your Standards of Practice go in the report.
Offline and your data. Works with no signal and syncs later; reports, photos and clips are saved to your own Google Drive.
Agents. Import your realtor list, add an agent in a few keystrokes, and agents can build a repair request list from the report.
The website
Price. A one-page website is included free with your $20 JetInspect software subscription. If you want more, the six-page premium website is a separate, optional upgrade: an additional $20 a month, or $220 a year, with no setup fee.
For many part-time inspectors, the included one-page website is enough to start. You can upgrade to the premium website when the business grows, or right away if you want a bigger site from day one.
Scheduling, editing, domain. Online scheduling is built in for JetInspect users, you can edit any word or photo yourself, and you can use your own domain.
Found and trusted. Optimized for Google and AI search results; shows your licensing, certifications and badges; showcases sample reports; links to your Google reviews.
Look and hosting. Five professionally designed websites, a background video, services and fees on the site, mobile friendly with secure hosting.
If you cancel. The premium site stays up through the paid period; JetInspect users keep a one-page website, and premium pages are saved for 60 days.
Back to the math. Insurance at about $127 a month plus $20 for JetInspect software, with its included one-page website, comes to about $147 a month. At 4 inspections a month, that’s about $37 per inspection instead of $74. If you add the optional $20 premium website, it’s about $167 a month, or about $42 per inspection.
Try it free for 30 days. Set up your services and prices, run a real inspection, and see whether it fits your part-time week before you pay anything.
Cost figures are published estimates, not quotes: insurance medians from Insureon; training, exam, license and toolkit from AHIT; moisture meter, ladder, E&O range, thermal cameras and software pricing from published software vendor guides and a 2025 software price comparison; inspector website plans from published vendor pricing; general website costs from Levitate; Google Ads figures from Graphed; average fee from a published industry estimate. Your costs will vary by state, market and coverage.