The HouseMaster home and building inspection franchise system was founded in 1979. Since then, we have grown to over 370 local offices whose inspectors have collectively performed over 2 million inspections. We are the oldest and most respected name in home and building inspections throughout North America. Our staff has been featured numerous times in national and local broadcast as well as print media and online. No one is better prepared to deliver objective, expert home and building inspections and reports. HouseMaster founder Ken Austin had a burning desire to own his own business. In the late 1960s, he began researching the idea of home inspections. Ken saw the home inspection as a valuable service for home buyers like himself who often felt they were making real estate decisions based on very limited information. As a successful marketing professional, Ken knew that with a quality technical program and the right promotion, the home inspection could become an integral part of real estate transactions across North America.