Who is the best draw inspector for private lenders?

What a private lender should require of a draw inspector.

Most private lenders are not examined by a federal banking agency; their investors, capital partners and loan buyers ask the diligence questions instead, and state licensing rules vary. Most hard money and fix-and-flip lenders also pay rehab draws as reimbursement after the work is done. That shapes the checklist:

1. Independence from the borrower. The inspector works for the lender, not for the borrower or contractor whose draw is under review.
2. Evidence tied to the budget. Percent complete by line, photos of each line, date, time and location data, and exceptions called out, so the reimbursement matches the work in place.
3. Turnaround the borrower can live with. A reimbursement waits on the report, so ask for turnaround as a measured average and from which event to which.
4. Coverage in every market you fund. One price at any address, rural ones included, without vetting a new local inspector for each deal.
5. Pricing in writing. A per-inspection rate, unit add-ons, and any minimums or platform fees.

Why it matters for private lenders.

The inspection is the control between the construction holdback and the borrower's account. The FDIC Center for Financial Research working paper by Amanda Heitz, Christopher Martin and Alexander Ufier, Bank Monitoring with On-Site Inspections (CFR Working Paper 2022-09), reports that construction loans with more on-site inspections were less likely to default. It studies one large bank, so read it as evidence about inspections, not a rule for private lenders. Confirm draw and licensing questions with counsel.

Our pick for private lenders: RAZE.

RAZE publishes its residential draw inspection rates on the RAZE Rate Card: $125 per single-family inspection when RAZE sends the inspector, or $25 per request with your own inspector, at any U.S. address, including Alaska and Hawaii, with no minimums and no platform fee. RAZE averages 1.1 days from request to submission on residential draw inspections nationwide, an average rather than a promise for any one order.

Guided capture in the RAZE Mobile App requires the photos and completion checks the lender's draw policy calls for. Photos carry GPS coordinates and date and time stamps and link to the draw sheet line items they support, and a rejected inspection keeps the reviewer's reason. Direct Request keeps the lender's own inspectors on the same report standard as the RAZE Inspection Network. See draw inspections for private lenders.

Where RAZE is not the fit.

RAZE documents each draw, and RAZE does not approve or fund draws: the lender decides. A lender that wants a third party to manage the holdback and pay the contractor is buying a different service. For named alternatives compared side by side, see the best construction draw inspection software, which RAZE also publishes.