Originally Posted by
Scott Patterson
I have entered into the commercial draw inspection world. They pay good and are fairly easy.
I also did those for some out-of-the-area lenders. I covered all of South Florida for those lenders.
Now, I'm happy with my commercial draw inspections that I'm doing for a few local banks. Liability is near Zero and I get to see some things that most folks will never see.
Mine were mostly interior build-outs, but I did have some motels/hotels/large projects which covered from ground breaking to CO. You become knowledgeable with construction methods and techniques (from your own curiosity) with NO Liability for them - all you are doing is making sure the money paid out does not exceed the work done (material stored off-site was a problem though).
One project had a trailer (semi-trailer) full of tubs which was there (I took photos) and was included as 'materials stored on site', then the next month they were GONE ... so I deducted them back off - got to say ... that plumber was PISSED! (Guess he hated getting caught?)
To me, though, I put too much time into the inspections, but I got $300 for each one. The lender offered $50-75 for each inspection, I told them I didn't leave my office for less than $300 and said good-bye. They called back an hour later and said they could cover the $300 per inspection cost, was I interested now.
