Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris McNally.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was actually born in the Philippines and my parents traveled a lot for work during my youth. I spent most of my school years living and working in Japan and Asia. Early on, I was always fascinated by architecture and even considered going to architectural school, but I faced the challenge of learning and studying that field in Japanese. Still, I started working in concrete and home construction as a teenager in Osaka, Japan. I learned from a young age the value of a strong work ethic and to always give every task my best effort. I changed careers to food and beverage (F&B), working every position imaginable along the way. When I moved to the California I continued in F&B, specifically in the hotel industry, and was promoted to management and soon enough found myself as a F&B Outlets manager responsible for restaurants, in-room dining and poolside food service. Interacting with people was always a strong point for me and I enjoyed the many working relationships I developed with both staff and clients alike. However, I worked insane hours, basically I lived at work. So I made a conscious decision to look at my long-term goals and decided that spending time with my family and being able to enjoy life was far more important than the salary I earned. I turned back to my early passion of home architecture and started to research ways I could start a business in that field. I kept coming back to home inspection as a career choice that would allow me to control my work hours while also still utilizing my skill set of communicating with people and my attention to detail. I was able to become certified as a professional home inspector and worked early on with some of the top home inspection teams in San Diego. I was fortunate to learn from some of the best inspectors around. I continued to learn as much as I could to become the best inspector possible. I then made a business plan and launched my own inspection company, North County Inspections Inc, in 2020.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I was very fortunate to learn from some of the best home inspectors around, I found the topics very interesting and put all my time and effort into learning as much as I could about every aspect of home inspection. When I felt that I had learned as much as possible and gained enough experience in the field, I started to plan how to launch out on my own in the future. However, starting out as a relative “newcomer” to the home inspection industry is a huge challenge without a built-up client base. Most inspectors that start their own companies do so after many years, during which they have built a substantial list of realtors who use them as their go-to inspector for their clients, even though they work as part of a larger company, then when they launch on their own, the agents often continue to use them as they have developed a level of trust and they prefer to use who they are comfortable with. A few different factors contributed to me launching on my own earlier than expected, one big one was of course the pandemic that we are all dealing with. I felt confident in my skills but knew my biggest challenge would be how to build up a client base as a relative “newcomer” to the inspection landscape. I believed that once I was able to work with an agent and their clients, they would be happy with my service and reporting, but my biggest obstacle was/is creating opportunities for realtors to use me for the first time without having worked with me previously.
We’ve been impressed with North County Inspections Inc., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am an InterNACHI certified professional home inspector. I established North County Inspections Inc. (NCI) with the goal of working towards setting the “gold standard” of home inspection in San Diego. I inspect residential properties, swimming pools and spas, and am also a mold certified inspector. I inspect all the major systems and components of a home, such as: the roof, structure, plumbing and electrical systems, to name a few. I utilize the latest technology in inspection equipment as I inspect, and I provide a thorough and easy-to-understand inspection report for my clients. Even though I am starting out as a one man operation, I developed all my standards of practice and unique inspection process with the long-term goal of having multiple inspectors all consistently achieving the highest standard of home inspection in the industry. With NCI, I inspect homes all throughout the greater San Diego area, as well as parts of Orange County. As a home inspector, I am detail-oriented and thorough, however, my goal is always to help guide my clients through the home inspection process without them feeling overwhelmed or stressed about their inspection report. I have always simply enjoyed talking and interacting with people, and this helps me greatly in speaking with clients and real estate agents and providing them with a better understanding of the home they are buying or selling. I feel that how I relay the information that I find is key in helping the people I inspect for to feel confident in their decision-making process. I want them to walk away from the inspection feeling like they can sleep well at night knowing they have a better understanding of the property they are buying or selling.
What matters most to you? Why?
People. No question. What good is a house without the people who make it a home? My family is my motivation and the reason I work as hard as I do. So no matter what property I am inspecting, I always keep the same thought in the back of my mind: “Would I want my family to live here?”. I want whomever lives in the homes I inspect to be safe and to rest easy with the huge investment they are making as a homeowner. Safety is paramount, as an inspector, ensuring the property is safe to live in is the main objective, and that is truly about the people or person who will be living in that home.
Pricing:
- My prices start as low as 350.00 for a Condominium inspection (<1000 Sq. Ft.) and 425.00 for a Residential Home inspection (<2000 Sq. Ft.)
Contact Info:
- Email: chris@northcountyinspections.com
- Website: northcountyinspections.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ncinspectorlife/
Image Credits
Chris McNally – NCI Inc.
