Three of the biggest names in home inspection software — Spectora, HomeGauge, and ISN — are now owned by private equity firms or large corporations. That's not a rumour or speculation. It's public record. And it changes the relationship between the software and the people who use it.
Expert Check exists because of that shift. It was built by a home inspector with a background in web development who got fed up with the options available — platforms that were either too expensive, too complicated, or increasingly focused on monetizing inspectors rather than serving them.
This article breaks down why ownership structure matters, what it means for your day-to-day experience as an inspector, and how to think about your software choices going forward.
The PE playbook
When private equity acquires a software company, the playbook is predictable. It looks like this:
- Acquire — buy a platform with a loyal, established user base
- Grow — expand the user base through marketing and sales
- Monetize — increase revenue through price hikes, paid add-ons, and third-party partnerships
- Exit — sell the company at a higher valuation within 3–7 years
This isn't inherently evil. It's just business. But the incentives are clear: the goal is to extract maximum revenue from the user base before the next sale. Features that generate revenue get prioritized. Features that just make inspectors' lives easier — but don't directly increase revenue — get deprioritized.
Spectora's client portal ads are a textbook example. Inspectors pay for the software, then their clients see third-party advertisements inside the report portal. The inspector becomes the product, not just the customer. That's the PE playbook in action.
What inspector-built software actually means
When we say Expert Check is "inspector-built," we mean something specific: the person building it does inspections. They know what it's like to be on a roof in the rain trying to log a finding on a phone. They know the frustration of software that looks great in a demo but falls apart in the field.
That difference shows up in how features get built:
- Corporate software: Features are prioritized by revenue impact, investor expectations, and market positioning. A feature that improves quarterly metrics gets built. A feature that saves an inspector 30 seconds per finding might not.
- Inspector-built software: Features get built because they solve real field problems. The person writing the code is also the person standing in a crawl space thinking "I wish this worked differently."
This doesn't mean inspector-built software is automatically better at everything. Corporate platforms have more resources, bigger teams, and deeper pockets. But it does mean the priorities are fundamentally different — and those priorities compound over years of development decisions.
The switching cost trap
Corporate platforms count on one thing above all else: inertia. They know that once you've built templates, stored years of reports, trained your workflow around their system, and linked your client communications to their platform — switching becomes painful.
That inertia is a business asset. It's what allows platforms to raise prices, add monetization layers, and introduce features you didn't ask for (like client portal ads) without losing a meaningful number of users. Most inspectors will grumble, but they won't leave. The switching cost is too high.
This is by design, not by accident. The more deeply integrated you are, the more pricing power the platform has over you. Your templates, your report history, your client database — they all become anchors that keep you paying whatever the next price increase demands.
The best time to evaluate your options is before you're locked in. The second-best time is now, before the next price increase.
Expert Check was built because Spectora was too complicated and too expensive for a new inspector just starting out. That problem hasn't gone away.
What this means for new inspectors
If you're entering the home inspection field now, you have a significant advantage that established inspectors don't: zero switching costs. You have no templates to migrate, no report history to preserve, no workflows to rebuild.
That means you can make a clear-eyed decision about which platform to start on, based on what the software actually does for you today — not based on sunk costs or inertia.
Here's what to consider:
- Who owns the platform? Is it independently owned, or backed by private equity? This tells you where the incentives point.
- How has pricing changed over time? Platforms that have been acquired tend to raise prices after acquisition. Look at the trajectory, not just the current price.
- What monetization exists beyond your subscription? Are there ads in your client portal? Are third parties paying for access to your client data? Are add-ons being carved out of features that used to be included?
- Who is the software built for? Is it built for inspectors doing inspections, or for investors seeking returns?
Starting on a platform that was built for you — not for investors — means your interests and the platform's interests are aligned from day one. That alignment matters more and more as your business grows and your dependency on the software deepens.
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Start Free Trial →Frequently asked questions
Who built Expert Check?
Expert Check was built by a Canadian home inspector with a background in web development. It was created to solve the problem of expensive, overcomplicated inspection software — especially for inspectors starting out in Canada.
Is Expert Check independently owned?
Yes. Expert Check is independently owned and operated. It is not backed by private equity, venture capital, or any corporate parent company. Development decisions are driven by inspector needs, not investor returns.