Credentials and training Licensed, insured, and allowed on an active site.
Three things have to be true before anyone can inspect a house that is still being built: a state license, a standard to inspect against, and insurance the builder will accept. Here is what we hold and what each one actually does for you.
License HI17732.
Home inspection is a licensed profession in Florida. The license number is public, it is tied to a named individual rather than to a company, and you can look it up with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation before you hire anyone. Ours is HI17732.
What that means for you is narrow but real. A licensed inspector has met the state's education and examination requirements, carries at least the insurance the state requires, and can be the subject of a complaint to a regulator who has authority over the license. An unlicensed person doing the same work has none of that behind them. Ask any inspector for the number, and check it.
InterNACHI Certified Professional Inspector.
InterNACHI is the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. Certified Professional Inspector is its credentialed level, which requires passing its examination, completing its coursework and continuing to complete education each year to stay in good standing. It also commits the inspector to InterNACHI's Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics. What those mean for your inspection.
The practical value is that the standards define a floor. They describe what an inspection is expected to cover and how findings should be reported, so the scope of the work is not simply whatever the inspector felt like doing that day. On new construction we inspect well beyond that floor, but the floor is written down and you can read it.
Training and continuing education.
Jay's qualifications are built on a combination of formal construction training, professional inspection education, specialized coursework, and continuing education focused on the systems and conditions encountered in new-home construction.
His construction foundation began with the U.S. Navy Seabees, where he received formal Builder (BU) training through the Naval Construction Force. That training provided practical education in building construction, structural components, construction materials and methods, tools, job site safety, and the coordination of work required to turn plans into completed structures. His military background was followed by additional experience in construction operations, quality control, and safety.
As a Florida-licensed home inspector, Jay has continued to expand that foundation through inspection-specific education and specialized training. His professional credentials include NAHB Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS), InterNACHI Certified Professional Inspector, and InterNACHI Aging-in-Place Professional, along with OSHA 30-Hour Construction Safety training.
His continuing professional education includes specialized coursework in Pre-Drywall Inspection, Structural Issues for Home Inspectors, and Residential Electrical Inspections, strengthening his knowledge in areas particularly relevant to homes while they are still under construction.
For Jay, continuing education is more than maintaining a license or certification. It is part of the responsibility that comes with inspecting a home while critical components are still visible. Building practices, materials, installation requirements, and industry standards continue to evolve, and so does the education behind every Home IQ inspection.
Construction training established the foundation. Inspection education continues to build on it.
NAHB Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist.
CAPS is a designation from the National Association of Home Builders for professionals trained in how a home's layout and details serve its owners as they age: door widths, thresholds, reach ranges, bathroom and kitchen layouts, and the blocking and clearances that make later changes possible. On a new build, that knowledge is most useful while the plan is still being chosen, when the right option costs little and the wrong one is permanent.
Veteran-owned, family-run.
Home IQ Inspections is veteran-owned and family-run, led by a former Navy Seabee. Seabees are the Navy's construction force, which is relevant here in a direct way: the background is building things to a standard and having that work inspected, not reading about construction from the outside.
Insurance, and why a builder asks for it.
General liability
General liability covers damage or injury caused during the inspection itself. On an active site that is not a theoretical risk. An inspector is walking scaffolding, climbing into attics, operating equipment and moving around other trades who are working at the same time. If something gets damaged or someone gets hurt, the coverage is what stands between that event and you, the person who hired the inspector.
This is the policy builders care about most, and it is the reason they ask for a certificate of insurance before granting access. A general contractor is responsible for everyone on their site. Letting an uninsured person walk an unfinished house exposes the builder directly, so most will simply decline. Carrying the coverage, and being able to produce proof of it on request, is what builders ask to see before an inspector is allowed on an active site.
Errors and omissions
Errors and omissions insurance, sometimes called professional liability, covers the other kind of risk: the inspection itself being wrong. If something within the scope of the inspection was missed, or reported incorrectly, and you suffer a financial loss as a result, E&O is what the claim is made against.
That is worth being plain about. Inspections are performed by a person, and a person can miss something. The question a buyer should ask is not whether an inspector guarantees perfection, because none can, but whether there is anything behind the report if it turns out to have been wrong. Without E&O coverage the answer is usually nothing. Carrying it is the difference between an apology and a remedy.
What we inspect against.
First, what this is not. A home inspection is not a code inspection, and a home inspector is not a code official. We hold no enforcement authority, we do not issue citations, we do not report to a building department, and nothing in our report determines whether your house complies with the Florida Building Code. That determination belongs to the municipal inspector, and only to them.
What an inspection does need is a standard, or it is just someone's taste. Ours are four things: the Florida Standards of Practice, Rule 61-30 of the Florida Administrative Code, which every licensed Florida inspector works under; the InterNACHI Standards of Practice, which define what an inspection covers and how findings are reported; the manufacturer's installation instructions for the products actually used on your house; and your builder's approved plans for your specific lot.
The plans are the part a municipal inspection is not doing on your behalf. They carry the engineering for your trusses, the specified connectors, the selections you paid for and the layout you signed. A house can pass every municipal inspection and still not be the house on the drawings. Comparing the two is a large part of the work, and it is a document comparison rather than a compliance ruling.
Continuing education.
Both the Florida license and the InterNACHI certification require continuing education on a fixed cycle. Neither is a one-time achievement you can hang on a wall and forget. The license has to be renewed with documented coursework, and the certification lapses without annual education and adherence to the association's standards.
That requirement exists because the ground moves. The Florida Building Code is revised on a multi-year cycle, and revisions after major storm seasons tend to land hardest on exactly the things new-construction inspections look at: wind load paths, connectors, roof attachment, window and door assemblies, and water management in the wall. Materials and methods change too. Staying current is not optional in this line of work.
Recent coursework
- Pre-Drywall Inspection
- Structural Issues for Home Inspectors
- Residential Electrical Inspections
- OSHA 30-Hour Construction Safety
The Florida license and the InterNACHI certification are both current and renewed on their required cycles.
Because even a new home deserves a second set of eyes.
Certifications and badges
Read further.
Our Approach
Why we inspect new construction only, who pays for the report, and what the documentation looks like.
Read more › AboutService Area
The cities we cover from The Villages to Lakeland, and how drive time sets the edge of the map.
Read more › ServicesNew Construction Inspections
The four stages, what each one covers, and when in the build each needs to happen.
Read more ›Questions first? Ask them.
Happy to send proof of license and insurance before you book, and to send the certificate directly to your builder if they need it on file.