From Vision to Reality: The Journey to Success
Brian and Kristin Lunsford, LunsPro Home Inspections
"Customer service is king. We do things the right way — and that's how we've always done it."
The name LunsPro may be new to the Florida home inspection marketplace, but the company — and their experience — have deep roots in the industry and on the First Coast.
Today, Brian Lunsford and his wife, Kristin, own and operate multi-inspector firm, LunsPro Home Inspections in Florida, which services the Jacksonville area and surrounding beaches, spanning from Fernandina Beach to the Palm Coast. They also own a local pest control company, Kingfish Pest Control, which performs LunsPro's WDO (termite) inspections at the same time as the home inspection.
LunsPro's origins can be traced back to 1984 Georgia when Marty Lunsford founded a pest control business. Eventually, that company came to be known as Inspect-All after adding home inspections to its service offerings, and it held that name until 2019. Since Marty's sons, Brian and Brandon, purchased the company in 2006, LunsPro has undergone tremendous growth and market expansion, solidifying itself as a top Florida home inspection service provider.
Rewind: From Vision to Reality
While attending the University of Georgia in the late '90s and early 2000s, Brian was also a producer at Fox. He recalls the lifestyle that he accepted as reality during that time: long commutes, late nights at the studio, and stress — a lot of it.
"I started going to the newsroom and seeing 40-somethings miserable with life. I was in my 20s, and I saw a lot of people unhappy. It's 11 at night, breaking news, holidays, and we're all exhausted. I realized I didn't want to do this at that stage of life, much less in the future with a family of my own," Brian recalls.
By 2004, it was time for a change. Brian stepped away from his television career and moved to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands with his brother, where he was able to live a quieter lifestyle for a time.
"There were a lot of people like us down there that graduated from college and got tired of the corporate world. We had a small window of opportunity to explore and live in another part of the world before marriage and kids," Brian remembers.
The pair worked at a local diner four days a week, hit happy hour almost every night, and read books. During that time, Brian was able to ask the big questions — like, "How do I want to live my life?" — outside of the confines of everyday stress. "We had a great time and mixed it up with people from all over the country and world doing the same thing," Brian explains.
Soon enough, however, the brothers' entrepreneurial spirit began to resurface. "As time went on — six months down there feels like two years. You can only read so many books," Brian laughs. The siblings formed a plan: they would head back to Georgia to see if they could take the small family business to the next level. "Down in the islands, I'd see something on TV showing the NYC skyline and I'd get the entrepreneurial itch," Brian recalls.
Building a Business
Under the leadership of Brian and his brother, Inspect-All grew from a small company with one employee in 2005 to a 100-person team in 2019. That was also the year in which they changed the name to LunsPro in order to split out the two service lines, home inspections and pest control.
Brian and Brandon modernized the company, built a website, improved customer service and communication, and marketed their services more effectively.
"We did things the right way from the beginning, but we had to learn a lot along the way," Brian says. "It wasn't easy or overnight, but before long, it started growing like crazy."
For many months, Brian and Brandon were the only two employees, and they wore many hats. They were service technicians, inspectors, salesmen, marketing directors, customer service reps — you name it.
"We started to realize that showing up on time, treating people right, and providing outstanding service led to more business. That part was easy for us because our mom and dad instilled those values in us as kids," Brian explains.
In terms of growth, the brothers found success quickly — a stunning 4,000% increase in just over a decade. Inspect-All Services, now called LunsPro, became one of the top-ranked home inspection and pest control companies in the nation on sites such as Angie's List, Yelp, and Google.
The company has been featured multiple times on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies, as well as on other distinguished lists for extraordinary growth and customer satisfaction.
"Our growth and emergence as a company people trusted would have been impossible without the efforts of our team and support from our family," Brian says. "Doing things the right way made it easy for customers and real estate partners to trust us and want to continue to do business with our company."
Those early years, and the lessons learned along the way, provided the foundation for LunsPro's current-day success.
Into the Future: Built on Family
In 2020, Brian became the sole owner of LunsPro Home Inspections in Florida. The new decade also marks the year that Brian's wife, Kristin, a Jacksonville native, officially joined the business. "She is fantastic, dedicated, and very smart," Brian beams. "I had been courting her for years to join our team here."
"At the beginning of the year, Kristin joined LunsPro, and she's been killing it. She's always been really great at building relationships." With a background as a middle school teacher and a doctorate in education, Kristin brings a fresh perspective to the home inspection arena.
"I take care of real estate agent relations," Kristin says. "I get to know you. This business is about the people we're serving, and I want to get to know you on a personal level and build trust. We meet for lunches, coffee dates. Today, it's a lot of Zoom calls."
"After working with middle schoolers," she continues, "Real estate agents are nowhere near as scary (laughs). It gave me a good background for understanding people. People just want you to take the time to get to know them and listen."
Experience Matters
"When real estate agents are in a time crunch with a nervous buyer, making a huge investment, the last thing they want to worry about is the home inspection," Brian says.
"We make the real estate transaction process headache-free for them as it relates to the inspection. We are available. We are there for you before, during, and after the inspection. We are based locally, love what we do, and our real estate partners feel like family to us."
Brian and Kristin pride themselves not only on their high level of service — over 10,000 A+ and five-star verified online customer and real estate agent reviews — but also their technology. They've put huge investments into their technology so that clients and agents are assured of the very best service. LunsPro offers online scheduling, same-day digital reports, warranty coverage, and a wide variety of inspection services.
Grounded by Faith and Family
Brian, Kristin and their two young children moved to Florida from the Atlanta area in 2016 as they expanded the business to the Sunshine State.
"We didn't have to move, but I always wanted to go back home and Brian always wanted to be near the ocean and golf courses," Kristin says.
"Just like with my move to the Caribbean years earlier, this was our family's 'fork in the road' opportunity to decide which path we wanted to take before our children began school," Brian adds. "We immediately knew we made the right decision to move here."
Kristin enjoys volunteering her time at their children's elementary school, and Brian appreciates sports. He attends Jaguars games and PGA Tour events and edits family and work videos, and the whole family loves to travel. Ten years ago, Brian showed his romantic side by proposing to Kristin at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The couple resides in Ponte Vedra Beach with their two children, Jake (7) and Abby (6).
The Lunsfords are grounded in their faith, both personally and professionally. "We are so blessed to get to live in a beautiful beach town and go to work every day with the best team, customers, and real estate partners anywhere," Kristin says.
With over 50,000 inspections and counting, LunsPro Home Inspections has proven itself to be a go-to resource for buyers, sellers, and real estate agents.
As Brian and Kristin reflect on all their struggles and successes, they feel a sense of joy that they are not only building a world-class home inspection company, but that they are building the business the right way.
For more information, call 904-249-6523 and visit www.lunspro.com and www.kingfishpest.com.
