What if your home inspection could provide far more value than just an inspection report, and create an additional revenue opportunity for your business at the same time?

In this episode of the Inspector Empire Builder Podcast, Matt Williams sits down with Celeste Starchild to talk about the evolution of HomeBinder into Haven and what that change means for home inspectors, real estate agents, and homeowners. Haven has expanded from a digital home-management platform into a homeowner concierge service designed to help buyers through one of the most stressful parts of homeownership: actually getting moved in.

The conversation covers how Haven can help homeowners connect utilities, shop insurance, find internet providers, coordinate movers, set up security services, manage home information, and continue receiving support after closing.

Matt and Celeste also tackle one of the biggest concerns inspection companies have when partnering with technology companies: client data. They discuss consumer permission, trust, customer experience, value exchange, and why Celeste believes inspection companies should share in the value created when their clients choose additional services.

If you own a home inspection company and are looking for ways to increase customer value, grow ancillary revenue, protect your client relationships, and differentiate your business, this episode offers a very different way to think about what happens after the inspection.

What You’ll Learn:

→ You’ll learn why HomeBinder was rebranded as Haven and how the company evolved from a simple digital home binder into a broader moving and homeownership concierge designed to reduce stress during the home-buying process.

→ You’ll hear how Haven approaches homeowner data, consent, and communication, including its client-care follow-up process and why Celeste says homeowners who do not want additional assistance are not continually contacted.

→ You’ll discover how Haven makes money through service providers such as internet, security, insurance, energy, and other vendors—and why inspection companies can share in some of the value generated when their clients select those services.

→ You’ll also hear Matt and Celeste discuss the future of the inspection industry, why market share matters more than simply riding a strong housing market, and why some of the most successful inspection companies are expanding their value through ancillary and adjacent services.

After 20 years of being bald, I finally have hair! If you've noticed my new look on the Inspection Empire Builder Podcast, you're probably wondering what happened.

Today, I'm sharing my personal hair transformation journey, why I made the change in 2026, and what's been happening behind the scenes.

I started losing my hair in my early 20s and spent two decades shaving my head.

After years of being comfortable bald, I decided to explore my options, speak with hair specialists, and try something different.

Have questions about my hair journey? Call or text me at 505-301-5784.

Subscribe to the Inspection Empire Builder Podcast for more conversations, business insights, and personal stories!

#InspectionEmpireBuilder #HairTransformation #HairLossJourney #BaldToHair #PersonalGrowth

AI is already changing home inspection report writing, but does that mean AI will eventually replace the home inspector?

In this episode of the Inspector Empire Builder Podcast, Matt Williams sits down with Dylan Chalk of Scribeware to break down how artificial intelligence, inspection software, commercial inspection reporting, and smarter templates are changing the way inspectors work. Dylan explains what Scribeware 7 brings to the table, including built-in scheduling, payments, automated messaging, commercial inspection workflows, Smart Tags, and an MCP AI integration that allows tools like Claude to work directly with Scribeware.

More importantly, they tackle the question every inspection business owner should be asking: where does AI actually improve an inspection business, and where can it create unnecessary risk?

They discuss why fully AI-generated inspection reports may still have serious limitations, how experienced inspectors rely on templates as checks and balances, why human judgment remains critical on-site, and how AI can be used more safely to build templates, organize inspection knowledge, and draft unusual comments.

If you own a home inspection company, manage multiple inspectors, perform commercial inspections, or want to understand how AI could affect the inspection industry, this conversation gives you a practical look at what is working today, and what may still be years away.

What You’ll Learn:

→ You’ll learn why Dylan believes your inspection template may be one of the most valuable assets in your company and how AI can help build, organize, proofread, and improve that template without replacing your expertise.

→ You’ll hear how Scribeware’s Smart Tags and commercial inspection workflows help organize large amounts of building data by unit, system, contractor, urgency, and cost, making complex commercial inspection reports easier for owners, brokers, contractors, and inspectors to use.

→ You’ll discover why letting AI interpret every photo and automatically write an entire inspection report could introduce accuracy, cost, proofreading, and liability concerns, and why structured mobile workflows still provide important checks and balances.

→ You’ll also learn the practical AI applications Dylan considers the lowest-risk opportunities today, including template construction, template management, proofreading, and creating rough drafts for unusual inspection conditions that aren’t already covered in your comment library.