How A Navy Veteran Builds Trust Through Thorough Home Inspections with Philip Nistal

Your home is probably the biggest purchase you’ll ever make, so why do so many buyers settle for an inspection they don’t fully understand? We sit down with Philip Listel from Eight Point Home Inspections to get blunt about what “thorough” really means, how a great home inspection report should read, and why the goal isn’t to scare you, it’s to help you make a clear decision with confidence.

Philip is a retired Navy veteran turned home inspector, and he breaks down the mental shift from military structure to small business reality: setting up an LLC, sorting tax basics, finding the right CPA and bookkeeper, and pushing through the first-year uncertainty when referrals and leads feel unpredictable. We also talk about what freedom looks like for an entrepreneur, including the schedule flexibility that makes family commitments possible without sacrificing professional standards.

We go deep on buyer education and communication. Philip shares the framework he uses to make reports more useful: observation, implication, and recommendation. That structure helps first-time home buyers, experienced buyers, and even investors quickly understand what’s urgent, what can wait, and what to do next. We also touch the real estate side of the industry: building healthy relationships with realtors while reminding buyers they can choose their own home inspector and do their own research, including resources like InterNACHI.

We close with a realistic take on AI in home inspection, where technology can help inspectors learn new systems faster without replacing hands-on judgment in the field. If you like honest talk about trust, referrals, and building a service business that puts customers first, subscribe, share this with a friend buying a home, and leave a quick review so more people can find us.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Website: https://8pointhomeinspectionllc.com/
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/8PointHomeInspections/
https://www.nachi.org/certified-inspectors/phillip-nistal-202352
https://app.spectora.com/home-inspectors/my-inspection-company-f02f5c21ad/sample_reports
https://www.yelp.com/biz/8-point-home-inspections-chesapeake

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review,  and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McFray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth. Today I'm excited to be joined by Philip Listel with Eight Point Home Inspections. Philip, thanks for being here. How are you doing today, sir? I'm doing great. How are you? Yeah, I'm doing wonderful. We're really, really excited to have you here. So if you don't mind, let's go ahead and jump right into things. Yeah, let's go ahead. Let's knock it out. All right, perfect. So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, what is 8-point home inspections and what do you provide for our community?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

So

Welcome And What 8-Point Does

SPEAKER_01 0:58

uh 8-point home inspection is not just your average home inspection company. What we like to do is we like to influence and we like to teach our home buyers, you know, the importance of, you know, maintaining a home. You know, a home is a huge investment that a lot of people, you know, spend a lot of time achieving to get, you know, to buy a home. So if it's their first-time home buyer or maybe somebody that's a veteran and buying homes and it's their fifth home or sixth, and now it's their forever home, you know, as a home inspector, I want to make sure that they are making the right decision. I want to make sure that, you know, the home that they're buying is gonna be suitable for what they need at that time in their life.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Who are you as a person who is Philip Nistel?

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Oh. Philip Nistel is a a funny guy, you know. He's a guy that's very witty, a retired veteran of the Navy of 23 years. And, you know, I have a big heart and I want to, you know, help people out. That's that's my biggest thing as a as a person. I like to help people. And my wife always tells me that I always give more information when I need to. But you know what? That's who I am. I'm a giver, I'm not a taker, and I want to see people succeed, and that's what makes me who I am, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, yeah. No, I get it. I get it. So, you know, Philip, let's get right into the business side of things, kind of what people came in to listen to. What what is something about running your business that people think is amazing, but is actually complex?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Running my business has been very uh challenging, you know, going from a military mindset to a business mindset has been somewhat of a struggle for me, but I'm learning due to, you know, being around a bunch of other business owners and a group that I'm part of. I'm part of a uh B and I group. And that has helped me with my transition of military

From Navy To Business Ownership

SPEAKER_01 3:05

mindset to a business mindset. So that has given me confidence, it's given me better my speaking of towards business. And overall, it's just helped me grow as a as a person. And, you know, people say you never stop growing. Well, that's the truth. I have not stopped growing. I continue to grow every single day. You know, as being a home inspector, you know, you come across different houses every day. And that's what I love about being a home inspector. You never go see the same house. It's always something different. And you, you know, just do your best to make sure that you get the the same coffee report every time. And that's the person who I am. I I'm very methodical, I'm very thorough, and I want my customers to understand that the report they're getting for their home is going to be comprehensible. Everybody talks about, you know, oh, it's clean, you know, clear communication. No, I can communicate all day, but does the person comprehend what I'm trying to say about their home? That's what puts me different. I like to make sure that it's a friendly report, that it's not going to scare them, that it gives them that peace of mind when they know that they're buying a good home.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yeah, no, I get it, I get it. Now, Philip, what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this business could either really work or it could completely blow up in your face, you could lose everything. Have you ever had that moment?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Be honest, yeah, I did. I had that back in August of 25. That's when I uh went from active duty to, I guess, your retirement. You know, you went on your terminal leave and stuff like that. And, you know, when you first start off as a business owner and you don't get the calls coming or the leads or referrals, you start doubting yourself. And so I was doubting myself, like, did I make the right decision? Was retiring at this age in my career, you know, 23 years to me was long enough. So yeah, there was times where I doubted myself. I didn't think I was gonna make it. But, you know, it was talking to other people, you know, friends and family. It helped me get over that hump. And, you know, you hear a lot of people saying, well, your first year is the hardest. You never you don't know if you're gonna make it. A lot of businesses failed the first year. Well, I took that as a as a challenge. I took that on as, you know what, I'm gonna make this work. I'm gonna get my name out there to the the community, and you know, it's catching on. And that's what it drives me every single day to wake up, lace up my shoes, and go out and do my job as, you know, helping homeowners buy a quality home.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Now, what would you say was the most stressful moment you've ever had as a business owner? Like a, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment?

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Oh, the setup of the business, just trying to navigate, you know, setting up the LLC, making sure I'm, you know, doing everything by the book, tax codes, yeah, just trying to figure everything out. You know, you see so many different things that people talk about. It doesn't matter if it's on Instagram, TikTok, or just people talking in general. It's just like trying to find the right avenue to take, but also find a great CPA, a good book a bookkeeper to help you, you know, make sure you're doing the right thing. That's that was the one that stressed me out because it was uncharted territory for me. Um, you know, with being a military mindset, you're used to set things that this is the instruction to read, this is what you do, this is what you do. And the business life, there's not a set in May know that tells you that you have to do this, you have to do that. It tells you you can do this or you can do that. So there was this, you know, a lot of reading, a lot of research, and and that kind of stressed me out to the point like, man, being a business owner does really have its, you know, downfalls, but it also has a lot of, you know, good things about, you know, I can make my own schedule, I can, you know, do what I want to do, and it sort of gives me a lot of family time.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Now, have you ever thought about quitting your business and going back to like a nine to five, for example, or maybe starting something else? Oh, no, no, no, no, not at all.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

The reason I got into being a home inspector was because of the flexibility of the schedule. I have my son 50% of the time because of court custody and everything like that. So I have week on, week off. So if I'd had a retired from the Navy and I had a regular nine to five job, I would not be able to pick him up and take him to school like I do right now. So choosing to be a home inspector or start my own business gave me that flexibility, gave me that freedom to be able to continue with my custody agreement.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Never thought. I love that. I love that. Now, and and this is kind of a hypothetical question, but let's say if you could, you know, you could pick up and wave a magic wand and instantly fix one part of your business tomorrow, what would you fix?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

The relationship was realtors. And what I mean what I mean by that is, you know, as a home inspector, you you want to have solid, you know, realtors in your um in your corner. You want to have a good working relationship. And I got a few, but there's a lot out there that, you know, their companies are like, oh, we have to use this guy, we have to use this guy. You know, I wish, you know, more people in the community when they're buying a home understand that they don't have to use a realtor's home inspector. They can use however they want. And, you know, I hope people that are listening to

Winning Realtor Relationships And Referrals

SPEAKER_01 9:14

this podcast know that you can research any home inspector. There's plenty of sites out there, especially if you're part of the Internachi, the program that I'm part of, that has a list of Internachi inspectors throughout the whole Hampton Road area. So I challenge new homeowners or old veteran homeowners to do the research on a home inspector. Make sure that they're getting a good home inspector and not just referring to what realtor wants.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Now, have you seen that? I'm sure you've got a lot of stories you could probably tell about that. But have you an example you could share, you think of something like that happening?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I've gone around as a new business owner, as a home inspector, and I've gone around two realtors companies, and you know, I walk in to introduce myself, and there's been a couple of them that are like, oh man, I need I was looking for a home inspector, you know, was wanting somebody. And then I've had some that are like, we have people already. Thank you for coming by. So, you know, it I don't get mad at it. I just look at, okay, well, that's probably not somebody I want to work with. But, you know, it is what it is. It's it's the business is how it is. There's a lot of realtors, there's a you know, out there in the area, and there's a lot of home inspectors out in the area. And everybody has their way of thinking and how they want to do things. So, you know, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

So relationship with realtors. So what do you think? Or let's say if if you were able to mend or or or have a better relationship with the realtors, you know, what do you think would what do you think that would solve ultimately for your business?

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Um just more I would actually just want more of a, you know, realtors that, you know, support me and I can support them with referrals. Um that's you know, all this business is about is having good working relationships with people. And, you know, I'm not trying to cut anybody's, you know, legs out from underneath them or anything like that. You know, I look at it as, you know, yes, I'm a new home inspector to the business, but that gives me fresh eyes. That gives me, you know, that, you know, energy that I want to do the job. You know, some people that have been in the business for a long time get complacent and they get so set in their ways, you know. I look at it as, you know, a new home inspector. He has, you know, just got out of training, he knows what's going on with the newest codes, the newest things are being brought out by the builders, you know, and I'd rather go with somebody that's new, that's because they're they're energized, they're ready to go, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Now, let's say if if you were able to have a better relationship with realtors, and let's say every single time you walked in, you were able to get that, get that job every single time. And let's say your business troubled or even quadrupled, could your current, could your current staff and everything you have going on, your processes in place, could you handle that additional business that would happen?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

I could I could handle it right now. It would be very grateful to be able to achieve, you know, that homes added on. Right now I'm averaging 10 to 15 homes. My goal is to do 20 to 25 homes a month. So adding on a few more is not gonna hurt uh hurt me. I like to stay busy. I don't like downtime. That's just who I am as a person. I I'm not an idle body. I gotta stay busy. So I'm always active, always doing something within the community.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Now, and and this next question is hypothetical, but let's say if someone shadowed you or kind of followed you on around and watched you work for like a full day or let's say even a full week, what would you think would surprise them the most about how you operate your company?

SPEAKER_01 13:10

I think they would uh find uh that I'm very honest. I'm very trustworthy, and that, you know, if I a duck's a duck, I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything. I call it I'm a straight shooter, I'm gonna call it as it is. And that's the thing about me is I'm very uh methodical when it comes to doing things, you know. Even in the military, I had times where they're like, you can delegate that to somebody. Now, if I want it done right, if I'm gonna do it m myself. So I would have people shadow me and they would, you know, follow me and you know, understand why I do certain things the way I do. It's you know, it's just a thought process I have. But, you know, they would see that I am hard charger, that I am very committed to what I do. And if I have somebody that comes work with me, they gotta have the same mindset as me. We put the customers first. It's not not about me, it's not about, you know, time. And like every time people are like, oh, home inspection take two hours. Well, it should. But like me, I normally take three to four hours to do a, you know, a 14 to 1,600 square foot home. Some home inspectors will have that done within an hour and a half to two hours. I I just I look at everything, even from, you know, cosmetic features. You know, some realtors like, well, we don't care about, you know, a towel holder missing the bathroom. Well, the homeowner that's buying the house might, you know, want to know that it's not there. You know, that they might need to add it or something like that. So it, you know, I get I go the extra mile, and it's better than you know, being under bid or not under bid, but being not subsforth some information. I'd rather have more information so that they know they're making a solid purchase on home.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

No, you're right, you're right. Um, so and and then you know, I I don't know, I don't know if you've ever thought of this before, but what's one thing you're doing today that's giving you kind of an unfair advantage over your competitors, would you say? I mean, you kind of actually actually kind of talked about that there. It's really your kind of how thorough you are. Is that is that kind of what makes you different?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

It not just depends on, you know, there's a lot of inspectors out there that do a lot of good jobs. I mean, I know a few inspectors out there have been doing the job for a very long time and they're very methodical and and you know, they're good at what they do. I think what makes my my reports different is I do a three-step concept. I do an observation, implement, and recommendation or implication. Basically, I talk about the observation I found at the house. What's the implication of it? You know, is it something that can be fixed right then and there, or is it something that, you know, can't be put off for six months? It's not gonna, you know, deteriorate anymore. You know, it just depends on the situation. And then the recommendation is, you know, if you're a do-it-yourself person, you can think you can fix it, or you, you know, recommend a certified uh licensed contractor to you know take care of the problem. Also, you know, I like to know my customers prior to going to the home. I like to know if they're a first-time home buyer, if there's this their forever home. You know, the more I get to know about the people and what they're looking for, then I get a better understanding of what they want for a home. You know, a lot of times I would work with investors that just want to report so they know how what they need to do to fix the house to get on the market. A couple weeks ago, I had husband and wife that, you know, had the husband liked the house with a whacked in it. And so, you know, she was having a hard time with visioning the house. You know, she wanted to do it all then and there. You know, I want open wall concept in the kitchen, the living room, you know. And I told her, I said, you know, I said, right now, I said, this might not feel like the home you want. I said, You can make it into the home blonde. You know, so I've I grabbed her by the hand and I showed her around the house and I showed her, you know, things that, you know, you can expand this kitchen, you can do this, you know. I try to comfort the homeowners so they understand that, you know, yes, this might not be the dream home that you see right now, but guess what? In a few years, with the right budget, it can become the home that you want. And then, you know, as we change, as we involve as humans, our needs change, you know, family increases or decreases due to kids moving out or going off to college, or, you know, now you need a downsize, you know, the house that you have now might not be the house that you want 15 years later. So then you go look for that new house. So, you know, I want them to understand that any house can change. You know, it might not be it, but you got to have that open mind, that vision to make the home your home. And that's why I tried to bring it to my customer.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

All right. So perfect. So we're heading into what's called the quick fire round. So how this works is I'm going to give you one word, and then I just want you to give me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business, and then give me kind of a little blurb after, kind of like a couple of sentences on that.

unknown 18:47

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

First word is success.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Success.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Money. Perfect. And then get to and then kind of get yeah, give a couple sentences on why you chose that.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Uh so success is I look at it as money. You're succeeding when you see that your uh your profit is out growing your loss. And you know, and that's the way I look at it, you know, you don't want to be in the red, you want to be in the green.

Quick Fire On Success And Freedom

SPEAKER_01 19:13

So I see that my business is succeeding and successful when I'm having more income coming in.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

That's the way I look at it. Yeah, and you can go down and buy that brand new Corvette, right? Oh no. Not a Corvette. Not a Corvette guy? What kind of cars do you like? I'm a drug guy? Okay. All right. Well, hey, you know, you could have the truck too, but then you can have the the Corvette for the Sunday, Sunday, Sunday rise or weekend. Weekend. Uh if I nah, it'd be more of a uh Shelby Mustang GT500. Okay. Oh, you're Ford guy. Okay, yeah, no problem with that. He's like, that would be my must, my weekend car would be a you know, Ford. Okay. Mustangs are great too. I love those. Oh yeah. Next word is failure.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Defeat. I don't like uh feeling I I failed. I don't like that feeling. I I don't like feeling defeated. It's not something that sits well in it with me. Even if I do feel like I've been defeated, I try to find the positive to get out of it. So I'm not dwelling in that realm of feeling failure or defeat. Burnout. Burnout. Just overwhelmed and tired. Overwhelmed, I would say. Sometimes I do get overwhelmed with, you know, trying to handle the business and life and you know, I just gotta find that that middle ground, that medium right there. So I I'm balanced. If I'm not balanced, then I'll either slip up into home life or I can slip up in the business, then I can't afford to slip up in the business and home life. I gotta have an even playing ground. Scaling. Say that one more time. Scaling.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Scaling? I I don't understand. Scaling? So scaling's kind of like you know, expanding, growing your business, basically. Oh, oh, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

I don't know what to say. I don't I don't know a word for that, scaling. Party opportunity in the future. Right now I am sole parador and I kinda like it, but I need to get that get more experience behind me to where, you know, I can mo I can have that referral base from people that, you know, know I'm trustworthy that when I hire somebody on that that person would be trustworthy to do the same quality job I provide. So it it'll be in the near f it'll be in the future, but not anytime soon. Competition. Ring it on. I like I like a good competition. In this in this field, there there is plenty of jobs out there. There's plenty of homes. Um, you know, it's good to have competition. It keeps you driven, it keeps you motivated into becoming a better person, better person at your job. And uh that's why I like to to read a lot and learn. So whenever I'm not working, I'm actually just collecting extra CEs, continuous education. So I build a better tool toolbox in my mind of things to help out.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

And the last word is freedom. What does freedom mean to you for running your business?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Peace of mind. Freedom is a peace of mind for me. The freedom to be able to do what I need to do, make my own schedule. You can't put a price on that. You know, not having to answer to anybody besides the wife. If that's who my boss is, you know, it gives me the it's a luxury that I will not want to replace. I I don't want to go back to a normal 9-5 job or working for somebody else. Once you become like a business head and, you know, you see your goals and you see your future, and that's what I'm driving for. I don't want to change that. That's it's such a beautiful picture that I see at the uh the finish line.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Okay. Perfect. I appreciate you getting to that quick fire round here. So, you know, with all of this talk of AI and self-automation, you know, where do you think your industry is going? You know, where do you see your industry, let's say 10, 15 years from now? Do you think AI and self-automation will take over, or how do you see that going?

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Well, I see AI playing a role in helping the inspector. And it's a good thing, but it's also it's not going to take over the profession like everybody else says. And what I mean by that is, you know, like people working like computer jobs or, you know, banking or whatever, that's you know, AI has taken those positions. But as a home inspector,

How AI Helps Home Inspectors

SPEAKER_01 24:13

you know, you're walking around at home, you're looking at things, and AI plays a part when you come across a new system or a new brand that this came out that you've you know never seen. Just like now they have boilers that are crossed over water heaters. So it's uh a boiler system that's also a water heater for the house, but it's set to only turn the baseboard heaters on when it's 55 and below. So, you know, it's just different things like that are coming out where you know your phone has that feature on it where you can take a picture of it and it can give you information about the product. That helps out in our field because stuff's always changing. A lot of the times AC units, they're the freons always changing due to EPA changing the rules, you know, from R22 to 4 to R410. Now you have a R452, a 53 Bravo. It's a framework of gas that's in the houses. Well, those units have to have a leak detection so it can show up the unit in case it detects a leak. So these are things that, you know, are very helpful with AI to help us with that. And uh it does help with, you know, coming across situations that you've never seen that can give you an idea. But, you know, I always reach out to other home inspectors to uh get some information if I come across something that I've never seen or dealt with, you know, there's always people to help out. And that's why I like it's a good thing about Internacchi, there's a huge forum on there where we can upload a picture and say, hey guys, I need help with this. Have you seen this or dealt with this? And we're not even within five to ten minutes, you have replies coming back with other home inspectors throughout the whole United States saying, hey, I've dealt with, I've done this before, hey, that's normal. You know, it's AI can be good, but AI sometimes can be bad. But the way I look at it, your plumbers, your HVACs, your construction workers, home inspectors, that's not going to go anywhere anytime soon. And it's not gonna be taken over by AI.

unknown 26:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

So Phillip, what do you think your your particular business will be by 2030? Where do you see yourself going in the near future?

SPEAKER_01 26:42

By 2030, probably hiring people and just you know, managing those uh individuals, you know, as we expand, you know, into North Carolina and Virginia. Right now I'm in Virginia. I want to expand into uh North Carolina and start doing home inspections there. And just you know, a quality team that provides quality and comprehensive uh inspections to

2030 Vision And Networking Advice

SPEAKER_01 27:14

you know people that are buying homes.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Right. So, and I want you to be as candid as you can or you know as honest as you can on the qu on the answer to this next question. But Philip, let's say let's say a small business owner, a small entrepreneur is listening to the podcast episode with you today, and let's say they're feeling stuck or overwhelmed and just not having a great go of 2026. What's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear from you?

SPEAKER_01 27:37

I would say get out, go to networking events, go to social events. The more that you are out in the community, meeting other businesses, meeting people that are business mindset, you expand your knowledge, you expand how to go different avenues. Um, if you want, there's uh a great opportunity. You can join the business networking international, B and I. There's BizConnects, there's all kinds of different groups out there that you can go to their meetings on their weekly, this all kinds of opportunities out there.