There is no licensing in Colorado for inspectors?

It's hard to believe, but it's true.  Colorado is one of the few states left that does not license home inspectors! You read that right, there is zero regulation in the state of Colorado, which means that anyone can call themselves a home inspector. 
 
 I have over 30 years in the building trades; I've been a custom homebuilder, installed electrical commercial and residential systems, worked as a lineman/tower builder. I've worked on all systems in commercial buildings and residential. I was a finish carpenter and on the facilities team at Naropa university, and I still have Legacy clients I work for doing everything from boiler installs, to whole house generator systems. 
 If you're moving to a  farm estate, or a large mountain property with multiple systems and buildings I have experience there too: when I was younger I lived on an organic farm and currently I live on 20 acres in the mountains. I have a tractor for dealing with everything from logging to our mini farm. 
 As a Former volunteer fire fighter, part of our walk-through and discussion, if you're moving to a wildland urban interface zone,  will be about mitigation and preparation's you can do.
 Whether you're moving to the city, the plains, or the mountains I have the background, experience and most importantly the desire to share my knowledge and experience with you so that you walk away from our inspection together fully informed. 
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 ​Home inspection as a business seems pretty lucrative, and with InterNACHI (International Association of certified home inspectors ) being based here in Boulder, there are a lot of people that take a few online classes and then hang out their shingle and call themselves home inspectors. 
 InterNACHI is a great program and they have a lot of great courses but nothing beats actual experience. I myself am a member of InterNACHI as I believe they have a lot of great educational resources that are valuable. I also believe that you should constantly be learning. Unfortunately as the real estate market in Colorado, and across the nation, booms there are a lot of unscrupulous people taking advantage of homebuyers. Franchises that will offer to build a website and set you up as a home inspector are popping up like crazy. If you're not careful you may have someone inspecting your home that has literally never held a hammer.
 I have seen many reports from some of these extremely inexperienced inspectors miss important deficiencies. Many companies will tell that they have X number of years experience and they offer many many services at what seems to be a great deal with lots of flashy thermal imaging pictures and other super cool technology. The problem is many of these companies have an owner that has lots of experience but that has moved into the office and is now hiring people that have taken a few classes or may be transitioning to what seems to be an easier career. They use technology as a crutch; thermal imaging is a great tool but they oversell it. They push 'additional services' as part of their upsell. A few examples include:

Water testing; many counties and the state will provide water testing for free. A lot of inspection companies charge an extremely high mark up to do a very basic water quality test. They boast that they use "EPA certified equipment" most people interpret that to mean that they are EPA certified. The only people that should be testing your water or a local municipality or a state certified lab or well inspector. 

Another common upsell is 'thermal imaging' or 'infrared scans': are use thermal imaging as an included tool in order to more clearly understand your home. Companies that charge you for thermal imaging and insinuated it can somehow magically detect water leaks or misleading you. All thermal imaging does what is your temperature differentials it does not show moisture. I don't believe there's any reason to charge you for using a tool that helps me do my inspection better. It's sort of like a carpenter coming out and telling you he can install a door but that you'll have to pay extra to rent his hammer.

 Call a few of these companies and ask them how long they spend on site? You'll find that most of them spend about two hours on site going through the Home and giving you a report that's about 30 pages long filled with a lot of fluff.

 I typically spend one and a half to two hours on site before you get there and the average time with my clients is 3 to 4 hours going through the home together. My inspections are very participatory I want you to be a part of the inspection walk-through with me, I don't want to just give you a report and walk away.

Last, but certainly not least, my report is so detailed and I give you so much information that a lot of times people six months down the road will have some questions based on our walk-through together; see how many of these companies will spend 20 to 30 minutes on the phone with you while after your inspection offering you advice or going back over stuff. You might be lucky if they're even still in business or whoever wrote your report still works there. 

My roots are set in this community and ,even if I retire someday well into the future, every client I have ever worked with is welcome to call me and ask for advice. 

​Your home is an investment, I am not the least expensive home inspection you will find it will be the most thorough and the most personable. Experience and quality information is an investment that will reap rewards long after you have closed on your home.