Residential and high-value surveys
Residential surveys record a home for personal lines underwriting, inside and outside when the order asks. The matching LCA course is Personal Lines.
Residential loss control supports homeowners and dwelling underwriting. USA tags include Loss Control - Residential and specialties such as interior/exterior, exterior only, seasonal, and high-value. Some listings mix residential and commercial in one contractor role.
The carrier wants a file on the house, not a buyer’s inspection. You record the dwelling so an underwriter can price or keep the account.
Who hires
Inspection firms buy this work from personal lines carriers and managing general agents, then hire contractors to run the stops. The public Underwriter Services Association feed is full of residential contractor cards. Some firms mix homes and small commercial in one territory. Read the survey types on the listing.
Pay is usually per completed report. Exterior-only stops, interior/exterior visits, seasonal homes, and high-value orders are different products. This site does not publish fee tables. A high-value interior with a long photo list is not the same afternoon as a driveway elevation shot.
You supply the vehicle, camera or tablet, computer, and insurance on most contractor listings. Confirm the equipment line. Some firms want interior access on every stop. Some want exterior only unless the order says otherwise.
What you look at
You confirm the address, the construction, the roof, nearby brush or attachments, and the photos the order wants. Interior orders add kitchens, utilities, and housekeeping. High-value and seasonal homes can add more photographs, valuations, or vacant-home conditions. Follow the firm’s form. Do not invent a checklist.
Construction and roof condition sit at the center of most residential forms. So do updates, nearby brush, outbuildings, pools, and anything attached to the house. Exterior-only orders stop at what you can see from the lot and from a safe view of the roof. Interior orders go through rooms and systems the scope named.
High-value orders ask for more because the limit is higher. More photos, more detail on finishes and systems, and sometimes a valuation worksheet. Seasonal and vacant homes add questions about whether anyone is there, how the water and heat are set, and what sits unattended. The form will say. The vaulted ceiling will not.
This is still an insurance survey. You are not writing a buyer’s home inspection. You are not pricing the kitchen for a realtor. You are not the claims adjuster on last year’s leak.
What a visit looks like
The order names the insured, the address, the product, and the due date. You set the appointment. On exterior-only work you may not need anyone home, if the firm allows it and you can see what the scope requires. On interior work you do.
Start at the street. Confirm you are at the right house. Photograph the elevations the scope wants. Walk the lot for brush, attachments, outbuildings, and neighboring exposures. Look at the roof from a place you can do it safely. If the listing wants a ladder and you cannot get a safe view, follow the firm’s rule. Do not invent a roof age from the sidewalk.
If the order is interior, ask the contact to walk with you. Photograph the rooms and systems the form listed. Note housekeeping, utilities, and updates. Ask about year built and work you cannot date from a glance. Write what you saw and what they told you.
High-value stops take longer. The photo list is longer. The contact may have a caretaker, a second home, or a property manager instead of an owner at the kitchen table. Seasonal homes may be closed. Document access problems instead of filling gaps from memory.
If the site is unsafe or locked, follow the refusal and reschedule rules. A dog, a locked gate, or a refusal is a closed visit, not a reason to guess the interior.
What gets reported
The residential report is a short underwriting file. Photos, construction, roof, hazards the form named, and interior conditions when the order asked for them. High-value files add the extra photos and valuation fields the firm issued.
Submit in the app before the due date. Match pictures to notes. If you did not go inside, do not write the kitchen. If you could not see the roof, say so.
Late or thin residential work dries up a territory fast because the firms run these stops at volume. The underwriter, not you, decides whether the house is acceptable.
Pay and schedule
Contractor residential work is often a day of several stops and a night of write-ups. Density matters. A cluster of homes in one zip code will treat you better than a fifty-mile daisy chain. You set the appointments on most contractor cards. You still owe the due date.
Mixed residential and commercial roles split your week between two products and two report styles. That can keep a territory busy. It also means you need both courses.
Employee residential inspector jobs exist. They are less common on the public USA feed than contractor cards. Read the position type.
How to get ready
Take Personal Lines at Loss Control Academy. Mixed residential and commercial listings also point at Commercial Risk Control . High-value work still sits on the Personal Lines path unless the hiring firm names a different credential on the posting. Read that posting. Do not treat a course name as a license.
A certificate does not guarantee orders. It gives the firm something to review. After you can finish a survey, join the inspector talent pool .
Browse residential openings when that occupation has live jobs. See What a field inspector does on a survey for the order-to-report loop, and How to become an insurance field inspector for the entry path.