7 Ways to Verify Home Inspectors

Finding the best home inspector for the job doesn’t have to be difficult. We’ve provided seven sure-fire ways to verify home inspectors. We recommend stacking several home inspection companies against each other before choosing the company that will empower you best during your real estate inspection.

1. Always Verify the Inspector’s License

All Oklahoma home inspectors are required to pass a national home inspection exam. Home inspectors are governed by the Construction Industries Board of Oklahoma, and you can conduct a search directly from their website to find out if the home inspector you are considering to use holds a current license.

One additional note, home inspectors are required to carry insurance, specifically professional liability + errors and ommisions insurance. Most insurance companies require proof of active license to carry a policy. Be sure to ask the inspector if he/she is both licensed AND insured!

2. Find Out Where They Were Educated

Oklahoma inspectors are required to obtain 90 hours of pre-license training, which can be completed through an online curriculum, or in a classroom setting. Not all training is the same, quality of education can vary greatly, just as it does across colleges. It’s important that the education platform is accredited and approved by the CIB. Don’t hesitate to ask the inspector where he completed his training, especially if he/she is new to the industry.

There is no standard for Iowa home inspectors at this time. So we put the same qualifying factors on our Iowa inspectors that OK does on our Oklahoma home inspectors. In addition to pre-qualification courses, we also require that our contractors obtain over and above the continuing education courses required by the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board.

3. Ask a Realtor About the Inspector’s Reputation

Asking a realtor, or most any real estate professional, about their personal experience with a home inspector is a great idea. Whether their experience was positive, or negative, ask additional probing questions about the experience they had. And inquire with more than one source.

Additionally, dig a little deeper to find out why they hold that perspective of their industry colleague. We all make mistakes. We always tell our inspectors, it’s not a matter of IF you will “miss something,” but rather a matter of WHEN. Our advice is to be perceptive when a source is providing a review of a professional’s services, distinguish between bad blood and bad service.

Home inspectors can sometimes be labeled as a “deal buster.” Don’t be frightened if you hear this regarding a home inspector as it can just mean they are doing a great job at finding defects. However, knowing which defects to include in a home inspection report can be a delicate skill to master for an inspector, especially one who is young in his(er) career.

Some inspectors feel like they just can’t win! When deciding not to report on a defect the inspector can gain a reputation of “missing things,” while over reporting on defects can earn him(her) the label of “busting the deal.”

This leads us to our next bit of advice - ask for sample home inspection reports! This way you can determine for yourself if the inspector is over reporting, under reporting, or balancing defects just right.

4. Request a Sample Report

If an inspector has a sample report ready at a moment’s notice, likely they are on top of their game. These days, technology for home inspectors is pretty good, so you should be given a link to an online home inspection report upon request.

The best home inspection reports are online, intuitive, and interactive. Spectora is probably the best home inspection report writing software there is. It’s what we use!

One thing Realtors™ and homebuyers might not know is that home inspection reports are generated in a variety of ways. Some home inspectors take the time to painstakingly write every defect him(her)self. While other inspectors purchase templates and use the work of another inspector within their own report. Neither is wrong.

Also, take note of how inspection reports can vary in style, formatting, reporting, etc…, even when the inspectors are using the same report writing software.

We’ve done a combination of the two. We purchased a database of defects and have combed through every defect for accuracy. Our inspection database has somewhere around 500 defects! We count it a fail if a defect has grammatical errors and especially if a defect miscommunicates anything at all. Accuracy is very important to us and should be a top priority of every home inspection company.

5. Check Out Their Website

These days it’s common for small businesses to build their own websites. If you want to get an idea of how polished the home inspection experience will be then take into consideration their website user experience. This strategy might be hit or miss, however, oral and written communication, coupled with organizational skills are two extremely important qualities to look for in a home inspection company.

A great home inspection experience is more than just discovering defects within a house, it’s also about the scheduling experience, the on-site inspection experience, and the communicating of defects after the inspection has concluded.

While you’re on the website don’t forget to read all the fine print. What is their cancellation policy, do they have one at all? What is their payment policy, is it clearly communicated online? How do they handle disputes? All these questions should be clearly answered on the home inspector’s website.

6. Check Google Reviews

Customer reviews are one of the best ways to predetermine what your experience will be like. Go beyond the stars, read the most recent reviews to find out if a home inspector is performing up to YOUR standards. If not, don’t hire him/her…even if your real estate agent swears by that home inspection company.

Look at whether the company is responding to the reviews, if at all. This is a good indication of how tuned in the company is to their customers. You can also gauge how the inspection company responds to conflict by how they respond to those not so great reviews.

More reviews doesn’t always translate to better service, it might just be an indicator of the companies ability to hire a marketing person, or the company’s marketing savviness. Home inspections can be an antiquated industry, so be aware that some inspection companies are doing a lot of business based purely on word of mouth referrals.

7. Interview the Inspector Yourself

Simply talking with the inspector or their admin team for a few minutes on the phone will give insight into their quality of communication and overall attitude toward clients. Like we said before, inspections are just as much about communicating defects as it is about finding those defects.

Remember those items you looked for on their website? Ask those same questions on the phone. Is there a contradiction anywhere? If so, get clarification!

Remember how you asked other sources about the inspection company? Ask the inspection company about any and all details that arose from those sources. Are they humble about their mistakes, or walled off and offended?