Here are the facts –
The best authority for home inspectors in California is the California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA). Here is what they say about inspectors doing repairs- They refer to the California Business Professions Code 7195-7199.
And here is a page from ca.gov on the same code
And here is our page on that code
Below is what ASHI says about California-
Has a page for California – https://www.homeinspector.org/StateLicensingRequirements/State/California
HERE IS THE CONCLUSION FROM ALL THE ABOVE
A search for the question “can a home inspector in CA make repairs?” returns this –
“While California has no licensing requirements for a home inspector, there is the California Trade Practice Act, which prohibits home inspectors from performing repairs on a home they have inspected within the past 12 months. It prohibits “unethical” inspections.”
NOW- THE REASON WHY I CAN
My legal advisor tells me that if I do a home inspection for you and I find a problem and I fix the problem at no cost then there is no unethical activity. You can see that I limit my repairs to simple actions having to do with loose items. These repairs take me less time than it takes to snap a picture of the issue and insert it into the report and write a caption about the issue. I prefer to simply repair it – not report it.