Loan Draw Inspections: How I Earn $2k+/mo Taking Pictures of Houses

Do you know there’s a side hustle where you can get paid to drive around, take a few photos of houses being built, and turn it into a steady side income?

That is the little-known real estate side hustle Lou Shaver from drawinspectortraining.com picked up in retirement.

Lou is a construction loan draw inspector. It has almost no startup costs, no special license, and not much selling.

He started it as a retirement gig, made about $2,000 a month last year, and is now averaging about $4,100 a month.

Lou spent a career as an inspector, first in the Army and then for the Navy, and now he is getting ready to teach others how to do this work through his own training program.

Tune in to Episode 748 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:

what a construction loan draw inspector actually does
how to find your first jobs through inspection marketplaces
the simple tools and low costs that make this work

Table of Contents show

What Is a Construction Loan Draw Inspector?

When a bank lends money to build a home, it does not hand over the full amount at once. It pays the builder in pieces called draws, released as each phase is finished.

Before the bank sends the next draw, someone has to confirm the work is really done. That is the draw inspector. Lou drives out, takes pictures, and verifies what the builder says has been completed. As he puts it, he is the eyes and ears of the bank.

It is an internal control that protects the bank, so money goes out step by step instead of in one big chunk. Lou charges about $65 per inspection.

How Lou Got Into the Business

Lou retired from the Army in 2012, then worked for the Navy as an inspector investigator. When he was ready to fully retire around 2022, he was looking for something to do and could not find a way in.

Then he built a house himself. The inspector who came out became his mentor, showed him the ropes, and Lou took off from there. He already had inspection experience and a basic feel for how a house goes together, which helped, but he says the work is easy to learn.

To prove the point, Lou coached his daughter, a stay-at-home mom with a side photography business. Over six weeks (two of them on vacation), she made about $1,200.

How the Work Actually Flows

Each bank sends a draw sheet, a checklist of items to look for. It might have as few as five line items or as many as 20 to 40, covering steps like:

permits
foundation
framing
final finish.

Lou just follows the list and marks how complete each item is.

Speed matters. Inspection companies usually want the report back within 24 to 48 hours, so the bank can approve and release funds. Lou keeps his schedule flexible because new requests pop up all day.

The night before, he maps his route in Google Maps and lines up stops in an efficient order. If a nearby job comes in, he swings by and knocks it out too.

Where the Jobs Come From

Lou does almost no cold sales. Instead, he signs up with marketplace and connector services that match banks with local inspectors. He sets his own price and stays competitive so he gets picked.

The four that keep him busy are

Nationwide Loan Inspections
Built
RAZE
and Inspection Pros, a North Carolina company run by his mentor Steve.

He has also worked with Land Gorilla.

Some, like Built, let lenders pick an inspector from a drop-down list, so good work leads to repeat jobs.

Others, like Land Gorilla, put a job out for bid, starting around $45 and nudging up to $55 if no one takes it.

The Money: What Lou Actually Earns

Lou tracks everything in what he calls his profitability matrix. In an average month, he brings in about $4,150 and spends about $972.

Most of that expense is gas, about $780. The rest is small: roughly $30 for software, $35 for insurance, $50 for his cell phone, and $75 for internet. Mileage is also deductible on top of that.

Lou works about 91 hours a month, often one full day and two half days a week. He spends more time behind the windshield than on site, driving 115 to 200 miles a day through the mountains he likes to cover.

Tools and Tech

Lou keeps his toolkit simple. Most reports upload through each company’s own app or website, and a few tools make his days easier:

Regrid – pulls up the parcel, address, and owner so he knows he is at the right lot; the screenshot becomes his first photo.
iPhone with location on – embeds the latitude, longitude, and time stamp into each photo to prove he was there.
Google Maps – to plan and order his route the night before.
Starlink – mounted on his truck so he can submit reports on site instead of at home at night.
A drone – used now and then for photos of steep mountain lots.
Tap Inspect — the platform he uses for his short-term rental check-ins (below).

A Spin-Off: Short-Term Rental Check-Ins

Lou branched into a second, related service: monthly check-ins on short-term rental homes for out-of-town owners. He walks the property, changes filters, checks locks, looks for damage, and sends a report.

The job pays about $150 for roughly an hour and a half of work, a higher rate than a quick draw inspection.

Lou found the work through local Facebook groups and a property manager. He underpriced his first job, a seven-bedroom lake house, so it pays to scope the size first.

Who This Side Hustle Is Best For

Lou thinks the best fits are detail-oriented people with flexible or odd-hour schedules. Firefighters and EMS workers on 24-on, 48-off shifts come to mind, along with veterans looking for a retirement gig.

Photographers are another good match, since the job is really about telling a clear story with simple phone photos, not professional-grade shots. Home inspectors and appraisers can weave draw inspections between their bigger jobs.

One caution: the work is localized and tied to how much building is happening nearby. In a slow market or a spot with little construction, there may not be enough jobs to go around.

A Day in the Life

Lou works about two to three days a week, usually one full day and a couple of shorter ones. On a big day, he has done as many as 16 inspections.

He also sees a natural fit for home inspectors and home appraisers, who can slot quick draw inspections between their longer, higher-priced jobs.

Mistakes and Surprises

Lou is careful about his role: he measures compliance and documents what he sees, and he stays out of disputes between owners and builders. The rule he repeats is simple.

As he puts it, “We cannot give credit for anything that’s not installed.” A stack of windows on the ground does not count until they are set in place.

What’s Next for Lou?

At 62, Lou figures he has a few more years of climbing around job sites, so he is shifting toward teaching. He is building a training program at DrawInspectorTraining.com, to pass on what his own mentors taught him.

He has eight modules nearly finished, covering:

the basics of draws
banks and professional standards
ethics
construction fundamentals
the different platforms and software
self-employment tips
and business setup

Lou is a 1099 sole proprietor and recommends anyone starting out find a good accountant.

Lou’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation

“Don’t delay because inspiration has an expiration. (From Episode 732)”

Episode Links

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