The Ground Floor: ProEdge hopes to redefine home inspection business

CEDAR RAPIDS - One Cedar Rapids man hopes how he conducts his new business will change the way the home inspections in Cedar Rapids work.

With ProEdge Home Inspections, George Bohren, 27, said he offers services that include pre-sale home inspections, radon testing and pest inspections.

'It's a one-stop shop experience,” Bohren said. 'You don't have to call three different companies for these services.”

Bohren also recently began offering what he calls a property watch service - customers can hire Bohren to watch their home while are out of town. Bohren said he can take care of concerns such as picking up their mail or checking for forced entry damage.

Before he opened up shop this past spring, Bohren received his license as a home inspector from the American Home Inspectors Training Institute - which the state of Iowa doesn't require.

Bohren, who learned from his electrician father growing up and had worked in construction, said the industry fit his skill sets and goals.

'I just felt like all the pieces of the puzzle fit me and I could do it,” he said.

Opened at the end of June, ProEdge Home Inspection is staffed solely by Bohren and operated out of his Cedar Rapids home.

Bohren said it long had been a goal of his to open his own business. However, Bohren said he had to 'jump off the cliff” and quit his position as a CNC machinist at M&W Manufacturing in Cedar Rapids after nine years.

'I knew that I was unhappy going to work every day for somebody else,” he said. 'I had to make myself so I wasn't scared of failure. I had to get to the point where I wasn't scared to fail.”

The owner said he put a substantial amount of his own money - about $19,000 to be exact - in the business for equipment and training.

Before he could build a clientele, Bohren said he needed to establish a reputation with area real estate agents.

'When you first start out, a lot of your business comes from agents,” he explained.

Now, Bohren said he has about five agents sending repeat business - and he's beginning to pick up work directly from clients.

Know a business that would be ideal for 'The Ground Floor”? Contact Michael Chevy Castranova at michaelchevy.castranova@thegazette.com.

At a glance

- Business: ProEdge Home Inspections

- Owner: George Bohren

- Address: 1129 K Ave. NW, Cedar Rapids

- Phone: (319) 533-1859

- Website: proedgeinspection.com