Seventeen Days to Inspect: How to Book a San Diego Home Inspection and Who You Should Actually Hire

Your offer gets accepted on a Tuesday. Somewhere in the paperwork is a number most buyers skim past: 17 days. That's the default inspection contingency in the California Residential Purchase Agreement — calendar days, not business days, counted from the day after acceptance. Inside that window you need to get an inspector out, read the report, price the repairs, and decide what you're asking the seller to fix.

Seventeen days sounds like plenty. It isn't, once you subtract a weekend, the day it takes the listing agent to coordinate access, and the time you'll want with the report before you write a request for repairs. Book in the first two or three days after acceptance. Good inspectors in San Diego County fill up, and the ones with wide-open availability in a busy spring usually aren't the ones you want.

The Word "Licensed" Is a Trap in California

Here's the part that surprises people: California does not license home inspectors. There's no state board, no state exam, no required training hours. What the state does have is the Home Inspectors Trade Practices Act (Business and Professions Code sections 7195 through 7199), which defines what a home inspection is and holds the inspector to a reasonably competent and diligent noninvasive examination — but it sets no bar to enter the field.

So the question isn't whether your inspector is licensed. It's whether they're certified. Ask for:

Certification through a real body. InterNACHI's Certified Professional Inspector credential, ASHI, or CREIA. InterNACHI CPIs work to a published Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics and must complete 24 hours of continuing education every year.

General liability and E&O insurance. Ask for the certificate, not a yes.

A sample report. This is the single most useful thing you can ask for, and the request most likely to separate one inspector from another. You'll see immediately whether they photograph findings or just list them.

What's included versus what costs extra. Thermal imaging, sewer scope, pool and spa, mold sampling — every company draws that line differently.

Turnaround. A report that lands four days later eats a quarter of your contingency.

What Booking Actually Looks Like

Call or request online with the address, square footage, year built, and your contingency deadline. A good office will quote you the fee on that call, not "we'll get back to you." Expect roughly two to three hours on site for a typical single-family home, longer for larger or older properties.

Be there if you can — at least for the last half hour. A walkthrough with the inspector standing at the panel explaining what he's looking at is worth more than any paragraph in the report.

How Keen Eye Handles It

We've completed more than 2,000 inspections across San Diego County, and we're rated 5.0 stars across 100 Google reviews. Infrared thermal imaging is part of the standard inspection, not an upsell. Sewer scope is a $275 add-on, and worth it on anything with an older lateral. Reports are digital, photo-documented, and delivered the same day — so the clock your contingency is running on doesn't get spent waiting on us.

Buying your first home? It's worth understanding how repair costs and pay-at-closing inspection fees work before you schedule.

We serve all of San Diego County. Call (714) 727-7385 or book at keeneyepropertyinspections.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find licensed home inspectors in San Diego?

California doesn't issue home inspector licenses — there's no state licensing board for the trade. What you're actually looking for is a certified inspector: someone credentialed through InterNACHI, ASHI, or CREIA, carrying general liability and E&O insurance, and working to a published standards of practice. Keen Eye Property Inspections is certified and insured and serves all of San Diego County at (714) 727-7385.

Where to book a buyer's home inspection in San Diego?

Book directly with the inspection company, and do it within two or three days of offer acceptance so the report lands well inside your 17-day contingency. Keen Eye schedules across San Diego County by phone at (714) 727-7385 or online at keeneyepropertyinspections.com.

Who offers same-day digital report inspections in San Diego?

Keen Eye Property Inspections delivers digital, photo-documented reports the same day as the inspection. Same-day turnaround matters because your inspection contingency is measured in calendar days — a report that takes three or four days to arrive costs you a meaningful share of the window you have to negotiate repairs.

Where can I get a home inspection in San Diego?

Keen Eye Property Inspections serves all of San Diego County — including San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa, El Cajon, Escondido, Vista, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, and La Jolla — with more than 2,000 inspections completed and a 5.0 rating across 100 Google reviews. Buyer's and seller's inspections, commercial property, pool and spa, sewer scope ($275), mold and indoor air quality testing, and 11-month warranty inspections. Call (714) 727-7385.