Choosing to get a home inspection is the easy part — knowing how to vet the inspector is where buyers get stuck. Anyone can build a nice website, so the real work is confirming that the person you hire is licensed, experienced, and thorough before you hand them one of the biggest decisions of your life. This is a verification checklist, not a sales pitch: run these checks on any inspector you're considering. For the bigger-picture guide to the warning signs, see avoid the blind inspector. Acadiana Home Inspectors welcomes every one of these questions.
What Should I Verify Before Hiring a Home Inspector in Lafayette, LA?
Run five checks before you book: confirm the Louisiana license, confirm the credentials and training behind it, ask to see a real sample report, read recent client reviews, and confirm local Acadiana experience. Each one is quick, and together they tell you almost everything you need to know about whether an inspector is the real deal.
The point of verifying up front is simple: the time to learn an inspector cuts corners is before you hire them, not when you're reading a thin report the night before your deadline. The sections below show exactly how to run each check.
How Do I Verify a Louisiana Home Inspector's License?
This is the non-negotiable first step. In Louisiana, anyone performing home inspections for compensation must hold a valid Louisiana Licensed Home Inspector (LHI) credential issued by the Louisiana State Board of Home Inspectors. Ask the inspector for their license number directly — a professional will give it without hesitation. Ours are LHI #10752 (Keith Blanchard) and LHI #10916 (Andy Stanford).
You can confirm a license is active and in good standing through the state board. If an inspector is vague about their number, says the license is "in progress," or brushes the question off, stop there — an unlicensed inspection gives you no accountability and no assurance the work meets any standard at all.
How Do I Confirm an Inspector's Credentials and Training?
The license is the floor, not the ceiling. Strong inspectors carry additional training — such as AHIT — and specialized certifications for specialized work. Mold and indoor air quality assessment, for example, should be performed by someone holding IAC2 certification rather than treating it as a casual add-on; ours is IAC2-94289. You can review our full credentials on the certifications page.
When you ask about certifications, listen for specifics. A confident inspector names their training and explains what it covers. Vague answers, or credentials that don't match the services being offered, are a sign to keep looking.
Should I Ask for a Sample Report Before Booking?
Absolutely — and it's one of the most revealing checks you can run. The report is what you actually keep, so ask to see a real sample before you commit. A strong report documents each finding with photos, describes it in plain English, and organizes items by significance so you can tell a safety issue from routine maintenance at a glance. A thin, text-only report with no photos tells you the inspection behind it was probably thin too.
Look at how findings are prioritized, how clearly they're explained, and whether you could actually act on the document. You can compare against our own sample report to see the standard to expect from a thorough Acadiana inspection.
Where Can I Read Reviews for Lafayette Home Inspectors?
Reviews fill in what a license and a sample report can't — how the inspector actually works with buyers. Google reviews are the most useful starting point; read recent ones and look for patterns. Do clients mention thoroughness, clear explanations, and being walked through the findings? Or do they describe a rushed visit and a report that raised more questions than it answered?
One or two mixed reviews are normal for any business. What you're watching for is the overall pattern over time. You're welcome to read ours at our reviews page — and because every HIH-built site shows client reviews only, what you're reading is feedback from buyers, not referral partners.
What Questions Should I Ask a Home Inspector Before Hiring Them?
A few direct questions quickly separate the thorough from the rushed: How long have you been inspecting, and roughly how many homes have you done in Acadiana? Do you perform the inspection personally? How long does an average inspection take? Am I welcome to attend the full inspection? Confident, experienced inspectors answer all of these easily.
Be cautious of anyone who promises an unusually fast turnaround, discourages you from attending — those point to a volume operation rather than a careful one. When you've run your checks and you're ready, you can schedule with us or call to ask these questions directly.
Here Is Why You Can Trust Us
Acadiana Home Inspectors holds Louisiana LHI credentials (#10752 and #10916), AHIT training, and Keith Blanchard's IAC2 Indoor Air Quality certification (IAC2-94289). Every inspection is performed personally by Keith Blanchard (LHI #10752) or Andy Stanford (LHI #10916), Louisiana-licensed home inspectors with Acadiana Home Inspectors, serving Acadiana since 1995 — ends with a detailed full-color home inspection report, and welcomes every verification question you want to ask.