Is anybody gettng into the testing side of things for bed bugs. Becoming a hot item in this market…
You mean buying and training a dog???
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Hello Charles,
I have consider added it to my company services here in Minneapolis due to a large number of phone calls from local property management companies who are currently having bed bug issues.
Most evidence says that Bed Bugs were showing signs of resistance to DDT in the 1940’s. 
Nick,
I’ve got a problem with a large part of the very last paragraph in the article. I think it may put the average inspector at risk…
WDO as well as bed bugs are beyond the SOP. While WDO is a legitimate ancillary service, and bed bugs could be as well, they are both outside the scope of an inspection. By stating that “inspectors should recognize” in this article it could cause a liability issue for someone doing a stand alone home inspection without any ancillaries…
Respectfully
Mark
Agreed, Mark.
Here’s the new paragraph:
*In summary, bed bugs are a growing, serious threat. Along with wood-destroying organisms, inspectors may want to enhance their knowledge by learning to recognize and become familiar with the problems posed by bed bugs because of their potential to infest homes and damage property. *
Thanks for the catch!
Huh? What SOP?
Oh, I see what you are saying. Yes, inspecting for bed bugs is outside the scope of a general “home” inspection. Kate, just keep the phrases “home inspection” and “home inspector” out of these articles and we’ll be fine. Use “inspection” and “inspector” instead.
[FONT=Verdana]Damm Those pictures are quite disturbing…:([/FONT]
Nick,
Is there a form template, or checklist we can use to attach to our software if we were to offer a bed bug inspection?
I had an income property that cost me $20,000 because of bed bugs. 2 demo’d bathrooms and a demo’d bedroom with 4 heat treatments (the entire building of 3000sqft was heated to 145 degrees) 2 chemical treatments and a CO2 treatment (bed bugs sense co2 so that drove them out of the walls to seek food aka people).
Trust me when I say unless you spend thousands on training a CERTAIN breed of dog to sniff out bed bugs you’re wasting you’re time and you’re providing a disservice and dishonest service to your clients.
I could write an encyclopedia on bed bugs.
I hope for anyone’s sake that they don’t “add” this “ancillary service” to their business. The lawsuit tips and direction that I could help your clients out with if anyone performed this without a properly trained dog is alarming.
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Just a few pictures before we started to demo. This was just trim around the closet door. Literally hundreds of thousands of these suckers.
Sorry for your misfortune Jacob. I realize they can be a true nightmare.
I own a licensed pest control company so… …
bed bugs have been very very good to me. 
You my friend are not who I am referring to than and don’t fall into the category of “adding it for an ancillary service” since you OWN a pest control company.
An inspector who simply reads some stuff and takes a few tests would fall into that category.
Think of it as someone who takes the NACHI Infrared course and goes out and starts offering it as a service. Sure, they know some stuff but do they REALLY know about building science and IR?
That’s how I was making my point.
Btw, I’ll win the QOTW again before the end of the year 
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Just a thought, Besides being a Licensed Home Inspector, I am also a Professional Firefighter. Like home inspectors we are exposed to bedbugs wether or not you know it. I feel like all home inspectors should recieve training to recognize bedbugs. Not just for reporting it on your inspection report but so you can identify it and know to spray yourself with a white vinegar solution or other treatments so you don’t take any of the bedbugs with you into your vehicle and bring them to your house. Even knowing that besides treating yourself you also need to treat any tool bags that you carried into the house. That is my biggest fear of as a firefighter with the areas that we go to is that I go to places on a weekly basis that are known for bedbugs. Same goes for the homes that we inspect.
Correction I said I use a white vinegar it is actually rubbing alcohol. Big difference.
Thank you James. I know it’s becoming a dated post. Twenty years ago having to deal with the madness of bed bugs in my home I never want to experience this again. But as a home inspector, I can’t see how this can be avoided. And also to prevent passing these along to clients if I were to do multi-inspections in a day.
Nope. I don’t want to risk an infestation of my home by testing or inspecting others.