HouseMaster, a pioneer in the home inspection industry, is celebrating its 40th anniversary by taking a retrospective look at the industry. The company had its beginnings in the early 1970s, when founder Ken Austin met a builder who was trying to get the concept of home inspections off the ground.

Austin thought the concept had merit, and the two became partners and launched their home inspection franchise and mainstreamed the concept in 1979. Forty years later, HouseMaster has over 322 locations in the U.S. and Canada, led by president and CEO Kathleen Kuhn, Austin’s daughter.

Noting that April is National Home Inspection Month, Kuhn said that home inspectors work hand-in-hand with real estate professionals to help consumers make informed decisions.

Kuhn said that when her father launched the company, only about 2 percent of all home purchases received an inspection prior to sale. In general, the information provided to consumers was limited. Today, inspection reports, such as those prepared by HouseMaster, are considered an essential part of home buying. Post-inspection reports provide highly detailed information, and often include instant repair estimates.

Today, inspection reports are often delivered in a digital format. In the case of HouseMaster, reports go into a special HouseMaster Cloud Account. This allows customers to simply view their inspection reports in the cloud and create a list of repairs to ask the seller to fix. With the click of a button, this information goes to the seller or their advisors.