How to Become a Draw Inspector: Requirements and Pay

A draw inspector visits a construction site after the builder asks the lender for money, records how far each budget line has come and sends the lender the photos that prove it. The work is independent, paid per inspection and done mostly from a smartphone.

This guide covers who does the work, what RAZE screens for, what a standard inspection pays and how the first assignment reaches your phone, plainly, with no claim beyond what RAZE publishes.

Most draw inspectors come from construction, home inspection, property inspection, engineering or project management. What those backgrounds share is the ability to read a site: to tell framing that is complete from framing that is started, and to put a percentage on it that a reviewer can defend. The rest is documentation: following the lender's instructions for each order, photographing the site thoroughly and filing on time.

Lou Shaver, the guest on The Side Hustle Show's draw inspector episode, came to the work after a career in inspection with the Army and then the Navy and has completed more than 700 inspections.

A draw inspection documents percent complete by budget line, with time- and location-stamped photos of the work in place. The inspector records what is there on the day of the visit, foundation poured, framing up, roof dried in, against the lines on the draw sheet the lender sends. The lender's reviewer reads that record beside the builder's request and decides what to fund; the inspector does not approve the draw or set the amount. The draw inspector jobs FAQs cover how long a visit takes.

Every inspector and inspection firm on RAZE passes the same published screening before any assignment is visible. The full list is on the Vendor Application page.

RAZE asks for at least three years of residential draw inspection experience per company or contractor, or a referral or recommendation for an inspector with less. The insurance RAZE requires of its inspectors is $250K in general liability, $250K in professional liability, $300K in automobile coverage per occurrence and statutory workers' compensation. The standards hold for as long as you are on the network; an inspector who falls out of compliance is removed.

There is no single nationwide draw-inspector license. What a state or a lender asks for varies with the assignment and its scope, and some lenders and inspection companies set requirements of their own. RAZE screens to the standards above and does not describe its inspectors as licensed or certified as a group. Read whether draw inspectors need a license and check your own state's rules before you apply.

RAZE pays $60 to $85 per standard single-family draw inspection. Duplexes to quadplexes pay more, and rare jobs have paid up to $250. The RAZE Draw Inspection Support team sets each fee from drive time, the number of jobs in the trip, access to the site, the draw sheet and the type of job, and the RAZE Mobile App sends a price alert when a fee is updated.

Inspections submitted Sunday through Saturday are direct deposited the following Friday morning, with nothing to invoice; Paid every Friday walks through the cycle. This page gives no monthly figure and no promise of volume: assignments depend on lender demand near you. How much draw inspectors get paid is the short version.

The kit is short. A smartphone running the RAZE Mobile App on iOS or Android is the inspection: the camera stamps each photo with its time and location, the draw sheet and questionnaire are completed in the app and the report is submitted from the site. Add reliable transportation, since fees are set partly on drive time, and the personal protective equipment an active site expects. The /tools guides show the work screen by screen, from locking an inspection in the Marketplace to capturing the photos, and what equipment a draw inspector needs has the list.

Once RAZE approves your account, work arrives in two ways. Marketplace inspections are orders a lender has sent to the RAZE network: open jobs appear in the Mobile App with their due date, draw number and fee, and the inspector who locks one takes it and coordinates site access. Direct Request work comes from a lender who already works with you and sends its orders to you by name, through the same app. How draw inspection assignments are offered explains the two paths.

1. Open the Vendor Application and choose Register Your Firm or Apply as an Independent.
2. Complete identity verification, the competency questionnaire and the watchlist and AML screening.
3. Put proof of insurance on file at the minimums above.
4. Wait for RAZE to verify and approve the account.
5. Install the RAZE Mobile App and lock your first Marketplace inspection.

How to become a draw inspector is the short version of this page.