Frequently asked questions

No. California does not license or certify home inspectors, and there is no state licensing board for the profession. What the state does have is Chapter 9.3 of the Business & Professions Code, sections 7195 through 7199, which defines what a home inspection is, sets the standard of care, and prohibits an inspector from performing repairs on a property they inspected. Because the state sets no entry bar, the credential that matters is professional certification — ours are held through nationally recognized inspection bodies, and we carry errors & omissions and general liability coverage. Ask any inspector you are considering for proof of both.

Budget two to three hours for a typical single-family home, longer for larger or older properties. Yes, please come — ideally for the last 45 minutes. Reading about a corroded shutoff valve is one thing; standing in front of it while your inspector explains what it means and what it costs to fix is far more useful. If you cannot attend, we walk you through the findings by phone or video instead.

You get a verbal summary of anything significant before we leave the property, and the full photo-documented report within 24 hours of the walkthrough. If you are up against a tight contingency deadline, tell us when you book and we will work to your timeline.

It is a non-invasive visual examination, so we do not open walls, lift carpet, dismantle equipment or move heavy stored items. We do not inspect anything we cannot safely access. And a home inspection is not a code-compliance inspection, an appraisal, a pest certification, or a warranty on anything we examine. Where we find something outside our scope, we say so plainly and tell you which specialist to bring in.

Yes, and California has a specific rule about how. Termite and wood-destroying organism (WDO) inspections may only be performed by a Field Representative or Operator holding an active Branch 3 licence under the Structural Pest Control Board, and the findings must be issued on the state's official WDO report, form 43M-41, and filed with the Board under Business & Professions Code section 8516. We arrange that inspection through our Branch 3 licensed partner on the same visit as your home inspection, so you get both reports on one timeline instead of booking two appointments against a contingency deadline. The WDO report separates Section 1 items — active infestation or infection — from Section 2 items, the conditions likely to lead to it, which is the distinction lenders and buyers actually negotiate over.

Never — and no ethical inspector does. California Business & Professions Code section 7197 makes it unlawful for an inspector to repair, or to refer repair work for compensation, on a property they inspected within the prior twelve months. An inspector who also sells you the fix has a direct financial interest in finding expensive problems. We sell exactly one thing: an honest assessment.

Yes. We schedule across all 58 California counties, with regional booking windows for Southern, Central and Northern California. Travel outside our core metro areas may affect scheduling lead time — never the quality or scope of the inspection.

Yes. We inspect everything inside your unit boundary plus the accessible systems that serve it, and we are explicit in the report about where your responsibility ends and the association's begins. That boundary is the single most common source of confusion in condo purchases, so we address it directly.

That is the inspection doing its job. Findings are ranked by severity so you can tell a worn washer from a failing foundation, and every significant item includes photos and a plain-English explanation of what it means. Your agent can use the report to negotiate repairs, a credit or a price reduction — and occasionally the right answer is walking away, which is a far better outcome than discovering it after closing.