Why do draw inspection prices vary by vendor?

Six things that move the price.

• Geography and travel. An inspector in a metro area can do several visits a day. A rural site two hours from the nearest qualified inspector costs more because the day does. That is why the typical U.S. market range for a standard residential draw inspection, $100 to $300 per site visit, is a range.
• Scope of capture. A milestone check with a handful of photos is cheaper than a line-item report with required photos per line, stored-materials verification and a site-condition narrative.
• Quality review. Some vendors send the inspector's raw report. Others put every report through a review step before delivery. The second costs more and produces fewer reports that bounce back.
• Turnaround. Scheduled visits are cheaper than rush visits. A vendor committing to a short window either pays inspectors more or builds in slack, and both show up in the price.
• Inspector qualification. Lenders that require construction experience, licensing or a background check narrow the pool, which raises the rate.
• Coordination. Someone has to take the order, find the inspector, chase the visit, check the report and send the invoice. Done by email and phone, that is expensive labor. Done through a workflow, it is cheaper and more consistent.

Two vendors can quote the same number and deliver very different evidence, or quote different numbers for the same evidence. The fee only means something next to the scope.

How to compare quotes.

Write the scope first, then ask for a price against it. The scope should name the required photos and line items, the stored-materials rule, the turnaround target and how it is measured, who performs the inspection and what qualifies them, and what the report looks like. Ask for a sample report. A quote that cannot be mapped to that scope is not a quote; it is an opening offer.

Why it matters for lenders.

Supervisors expect construction disbursements to be supported by inspection and budget controls the lender can stand behind. The OCC's Commercial Real Estate Lending booklet and the Federal Reserve's Commercial Bank Examination Manual, in its section on real estate construction loans, both treat site inspection as part of sound construction loan administration. A low fee that buys thin evidence does not satisfy that expectation; a high fee that buys inconsistent evidence does not either. What examiners and auditors look for is the same report, to the same standard, on every draw. Price the standard, not the visit.

How RAZE handles it.

RAZE removes the variables that make quotes hard to compare. The residential rate is published on the RAZE Rate Card: $125 per single-family inspection at any U.S. address, including Alaska and Hawaii, with no travel or geographic surcharge, when RAZE sends the inspector, and $25 per request with your own. The scope is configured once in the Ordering Engine and applies whether the visit is made by the lender's own staff, a preferred vendor or RAZE Marketplace coverage, and every report is delivered in one format. That is what makes the price comparable across the whole portfolio.