Cody Turner, a local first responder and Purple Heart recipient, started a home inspection business to keep busy on his days off, but he hopes to use it to help other former soldiers who are having trouble adapting to civilian life.
Turner, who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, recently lost a squad mate to suicide due to some traumatic events that took place overseas, and he’s committed to showing other veterans they can make civilian life work when they come home.
“He was young. He still had a fighting chance to do something with his life,” Turner said of his friend. “In the military, they train you up real good to go and fight but not very much for transitioning out of the military. I struggled quite a bit when I got out in 2009, but I want to show other veterans that it’s not impossible. I want them to hear a good success story.”
His goal in 2022 is to grow the business, Home Inspection 911, to a place where it can support hiring other veterans to join his team.
“I want to develop the business enough to find other veterans that are struggling and pay to get the home inspection training for them and help them have their own free will and be able to work,” Turner said.
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Turner’s work as a firefighter gave him a background in home inspection, and he took a course to be certified to start the business about two years ago.
“Being a firefighter, you have to have pretty extensive knowledge on building construction,” Turner said. “The business wasn’t too difficult to start, and I collected a lot of articles and videos about it before taking the 120-hour course.”
Turner is already partnered with one other veteran and firefighter with an electrician background. The man has become a father figure and close friend to the point where Turner’s kids call him “Papa.” He’s caught things that inspectors with less electrician experience would’ve missed, Turner said.
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The main struggle so far for Turner has been breaking into a business with a lot of established names.
He said more household names have a near-monopoly on online search results, and it can be hard for a new business to break into the market.
An advantage, though, has been the flexibility that his small business brings. The larger companies often have more commitments and longer wait times in a booming housing market compared to what Turner can provide.
Turner offers a flat rate that’s below market-rate, and he’s just looking for more homebuyers to give Home Inspection 911 a chance in 2022. To learn more, visit Turner’s website at https://homeinspection911.com/
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
