All over the world, property owners and developers are gradually making the move towards entirely green properties. Not only is it better for the environment to cut down on a building’s carbon footprint: many places now offer significant tax incentives to reduce a property’s effect on the environment. While going green doesn’t affect the usual wear and tear on a lived-in property, it does mean that you have new types of technology, building materials and construction patterns to consider when you inspect an environmentally friendly property. Staying up to date with the latest developments in green development can put you in very high demand as a property inspector, especially in cities that are working hard to cut their environmental impact and give back to the planet.
Get educated on green technology
If you don’t know a solar panel from a ski slope, it isn’t the end of your business: plenty of courses are available for property inspectors and property developers alike to learn about the latest green technology being implemented in homes. From home solar, wind and geothermal power to advanced window and insulation design, you can learn to recognize and inspect the new technologies that people are using to keep their properties environmentally friendly. Especially if a property is built in such a way that the green technology is structurally integrated into the building – as opposed to, say, solar panels retrofitted to an existing roof – understanding the way the technology works can be crucial to a successful property inspection for a green property.
Learn to recognize common modifications
Often an existing property will be modified by a resident to meet green standards, and how this affects your property inspection report depends a lot on the resident’s DIY skills. Residents can replace anything from kitchen fixtures to windows and doors, and learning to tell the difference between an environmentally friendly modification and one that just looks odd can help you build a more thorough inspection report. Knowing the usual environmentally friendly modifications can also help you recognize whether the modifications have been done well. A poor solar panel installation usually only causes superficial damage to a property’s roof, but in rare cases it can actually cause significant structural damage. Being able to tell a good solar panel installation from a bad one makes it much easier to tell whether inexpert modifications have actually caused damage to a property.
Add space for green technology in your workflow
Aside from supporting the green cause yourself by switching from paper to a property inspection app, you can also make your workflow friendlier to green properties by adding a section to your forms specifically for environmentally friendly technology and modifications. Doing this allows you to clearly mark out modifications to a property that help it remain environmentally friendly; it also provides a good overview of how much a property has reduced its environmental impact overall. If you are using a property inspection app, your forms can be easily customized to accommodate extra sections like this.
