Our Mission

IS to provide a level of competency & value so high, that it just doesn't make sense to do business with anyone else. 

Steve Mays, Founder

Our Beginning…

Before founding Underwriters Choice Home & Property Inspection, I worked for three of the largest home inspection / termite inspection companies in Northern California.  I paid close attention to what they did, both right and wrong, from customer service to logistics to ethics, while always asking myself,  “Is this absolute excellence, or is there a better way ?”.

The first inspection company I worked for was hyper-focused on making money.  Their policies and procedures were like a well rehearsed orchestra, creating a cash extraction symphony.  They were adept at eliciting the absolute maximum effort from each of their inspectors in a strict 8 hours, while providing their customers a fast, almost cursory inspection, but at the highest price in the Bay Area.  They were, and are, a revenue generating machine. 

This company’s employees were always stressed and rarely proud of or confident in their work.  Customers paid top dollar for a poor inspection.  However, this company did do some things right.  Especially when it came to tools, resources and data tracking.  I took note of those things.

The next company I worked for was a large and well established termite inspection and pest control company that seemingly had added home inspection as an afterthought.  While these guys were the most sincere and ethical of the three companies I worked for, when it came to home inspection, they were unconsciously incompetent.  They were actually making incorrect calls, company wide, because of poor training and an absence of certification standards. Too, they were timid.  Unwilling, for example, to allow high up roof inspections by drone because, “Why add the liability risk of flying a drone when you can just say on the report it was inaccessible?” 

“So that we can inform our clients as to the condition of the roof”, was my reply.   

This company though was very good to their employees and ethical to their clients.  Of course, I took note of their practices, right and wrong.

The last company I worked for was supposed to be the best, with the highest inspection standards.  They were not all that I had hoped, but it was true they had higher standards for thoroughness than either of the other two companies I’d worked for.  They were almost a complete opposite of the first company.  Inspectors were admonished to take their time and miss nothing.  This was excellence for the customer!  Finally. 

But they were a backwards lot. Using software from the 1990’s made report writing unnecessarily time consuming.  Their reports were confusing with pictures following their captions, often on different pages.  Allegedly, no idea for improvement from an inspector had ever been implemented.  Not ever.  Better ways to do things were rejected.  Employees were told not to claim their overtime.  Management wasn’t always honest with customers.  Thorough inspections yes, but in the end, a disappointment.

Strike three.  Three very successful companies.  None of them focused on both excellence and integrity across the board.

Is it really so difficult to do an extremely thorough inspection, with the best technology available, document it well, always treat everyone right, and be completely honest in word and deed ?

Today I can answer that question.  No.  It is not so difficult.  In fact, it’s incredibly fulfilling to bring ones very best to each home inspection and to always treat people right. 

This is why we’re here.  To provide an exceptional home inspection experience, every time, for everyone involved.