It might be worth testing the waters, as they say. It may take a while, but it is definitely something more and more people will be thinking about in the future. A lot will depend on your local market. I'm curious, what are some of the items on this 450 list? That seems like a lot of inspecting.

In addition to green features actually inspected for, it contains a number of things for which a seller would have to provide documentation. I'm actually well along with this project and the scope is wide. In a couple of weeks I'll be able to talk more freely about it.

My question is designed to test the waters.

I'm a first time buyer (but fairly knowledgeable for a first time buyer) currently looking in Boulder and the mountains nearby.  I have used two different inspectors on two different potential homes.  Both were useful and professional but some things were missing.  Here's what I would ideally want from an inspector:

- Your basic assessment of what is broken and how to fix it (pretty typical)

- A list of things that while not broken could lead to money/energy savings if replaced.  This represents one category of green inspecting in my mind: energy efficiency.  Neither inspector I used gave me much info on this.  I would love to get info in the inspection such as "this aluminum framed window on the north side of the house can be replaced for $400 installed and may save you as much as $150 a year in heating bills at the house's elevation of 7500'".  I realize that is truly modelling energy savings is not reasonable but good guesstimates would be valuable.  Especially valuable would be assessment such as where to spend the energy saving dollars?  Solar, new windows, new appliances, new boiler, landscaping on a wind exposed side of the house, more insulation etc.?  What will save me the most and also add the most to the home's value?

- a real eye for environmental risks: everything from contamination from household or automotive chemicals to mold to combustion devices to radon in the interior space to allergen collecting materials etc.  Even things like whether the nature of the construction could contribute to insect problems and a need to use more chemicals.  Critical to an environmental safety report would be an ability to assess the cost of fixing the problem.  This is the other side of the green inspection in my book.  One inspector I used failed to see active mold colonies on the underside of the roof sheathing.  Sure, the roof isn't leaking now but the sellers obviously didn't fix the after effect of the leaks.

I absolutely think there is a market for this in Boulder and would be interested in being one of your guinea pigs.  If you are interested, email me at (insert the name field from this post)@sbcglobal.net