How Contractors and Homeowners Can Prepare for Remote Inspections Under AB 1738

California has signed AB 1738, and it changes how routine home inspections work. By July 1, 2027, every city and county must offer homeowners and contractors the option to request a remote inspection for a defined list of residential projects, at no greater cost and with no greater delay than an in-person visit.

For anyone who has waited half a day for a 15-minute inspection, that is welcome news. The bill’s author described routine inspections that take minutes but can eat up hours and force homeowners to take a day off work. The bill’s sponsors, Permit Power and SPUR, say contractors lose $600 to $1,000 per inspection in standby and administrative costs while they wait.

But a remote inspection is not a casual video call. The inspector can only approve what they can see, and they decide whether live video or recorded photos are good enough. Contractors and homeowners who arrive unprepared risk a failed inspection, a delay, and in the worst case the loss of the remote option altogether.

This guide explains what AB 1738 requires, which projects qualify, and how to prepare so your first remote inspection passes.

What AB 1738 requires

AB 1738 applies to work on single-family and two-family homes. According to the Assembly Local Government Committee analysis, eligible projects fall into two groups. Final details may differ slightly from the version analyzed, so confirm specifics with your local building department.

Remote option must be offered:

• Residential water heaters
• Residential HVAC systems
• Residential reroofs
• Minor electrical work, including panels, rewires, fans and new circuits
• Minor plumbing work, including sewer repair, repiping and fixture replacement
• Solar and energy storage systems
• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
• Accessory dwelling units (ADUs and JADUs) under 800 square feet, except foundation and framing inspections
• Home hardening and defensible space work

Remote option at the inspector’s discretion:

• Drywall, exterior siding, insulation and window replacements
• Light foundations and footings, fireplace inserts, patios and decks
• Temporary power poles, demolition and gas line removal
• Additions and storage sheds under 800 square feet

The first list is the one to watch. If your work is on it, you can ask for a remote inspection and the jurisdiction has to offer one. If your work is on the second list, the inspector decides case by case.

How a remote inspection works

The inspection is conducted offsite. The homeowner or contractor uses videoconferencing or submits recorded photos and videos, and the local inspector decides which method applies. In a live session, someone at the jobsite follows the inspector’s directions and points the camera where asked. In a recorded session, you capture the required media and send it in for review.

A few rules shape the process:

• Remote inspections must cost no more and take no longer than in-person inspections.
• Cities and counties may keep a digital record of each remote inspection for later review, training or compliance.
• A remote inspection does not change the standard. It is the same code, checked by a different method.

The California Building Officials opposed the mandate, warning that a camera cannot always reveal what sits outside the frame, such as a loose gas fitting, undersized wiring or a compromised fire-rated assembly. That concern is the heart of the matter. Inspectors will be looking for proof that the work is complete and correct, and the burden of showing it clearly falls on the person holding the camera.

How contractors can prepare

Contractors stand to gain the most from AB 1738, because standby time is where the money disappears. The gain only arrives if your crews can run a clean remote inspection.

1. Match your jobs to the lists. Review the permits you pull most often, such as water heater swaps, reroofs, panel upgrades and solar installs, and see which fall into the must-offer category. Then ask your local building department how it will run remote inspections and what platform it will use.
2. Build a standard remote inspection kit. Use a phone or tablet on a stable mount or gimbal, a backup battery, a bright work light, a tape measure that can be seen on camera, and a second device in case the first fails. Test connectivity at the site before the appointment. If the signal is weak, ask whether recorded photos and video are acceptable instead of a live call.
3. Do a dry run before the inspector joins. Walk the site and confirm that every item on the inspection checklist is visible and accessible. Panel covers should be off, equipment labels and data plates legible, and the work area clean and lit. Never cover work before it has been inspected.
4. Capture as you build. Take timestamped photos and short videos at each stage, especially before anything is concealed, such as wiring, flashing, venting and pipe connections. If an inspector asks to see something that is now behind a wall, your records may be the only way to show it.
5. Assign a camera operator who knows the work. The person holding the phone becomes the inspector’s eyes. They should be able to narrate what they are showing, follow instructions quickly, and move the camera slowly enough for details to be seen.
6. Keep paperwork in frame. Have the permit card, approved plans and manufacturer specifications on hand, and show the address and permit number at the start of each session.
7. Never stage or substitute. Do not reuse old footage, show a similar installation from another job, or angle the camera to hide a problem. The bill allows penalties for willful misrepresentation, covered below.

How homeowners can prepare

Homeowners can request a remote inspection for qualifying projects, which means they need to be ready too, especially when a contractor is not on site at the moment of inspection.

• Ask early. When you pull a permit, ask your building department whether a remote inspection is available, whether it will be live or recorded, and who needs to be present.
• Make sure someone is on site. A remote inspection still needs a person at the property to follow the inspector’s directions or record the required media. If your contractor will handle it, confirm that in advance.
• Test your connection. Check Wi-Fi or cellular signal in the places that matter, such as the garage, attic access, crawl space and electrical panel. Dead zones are common in exactly those spots.
• Clear access. Move boxes, vehicles and furniture away from the work area, turn on the lights, and make sure the equipment is reachable.
• Prepare your phone. Charge it, free up storage, silence notifications and hold it steady in landscape mode.
• Keep your own copy. Save the video, photos, permit documents and the inspection result. Cities may keep their own record, but yours is useful for insurance claims, resale and any later dispute.
• Put safety first. Do not open live electrical panels, climb onto a roof or enter a tight crawl space just to get a better camera angle. Leave that to licensed professionals.

Documentation, audits and the cost of misrepresenting work

AB 1738 gives cities and counties the option to run onsite audits that confirm the work matches what was shown remotely. A homeowner or contractor found to have willfully misrepresented the work can be temporarily banned from using remote inspections, and neighboring jurisdictions may agree to enforce each other’s bans. That makes one bad incident a regional problem for a contractor who works across city lines.

Local governments will also report on their programs to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, beginning with the report due April 1, 2028. Those reports must include the number of remote and in-person inspections, failure rates for each, and the number of audits conducted. Your results become part of the data that decides whether the program expands or gets scaled back.

In practice, a few habits are worth building now:

• Treat remote footage as evidence. Keep the original, unedited files.
• Use a consistent naming system that includes the address, permit number, date and scope of work.
• Ask your building department whether it records live sessions and how you can get a copy.
• Track your own remote pass and fail rates so you can spot weak points in your crew’s process.

What stays in person and what happens after a failed inspection

Remote inspection is not universal. The bill excludes foundation and framing inspections for small ADUs, and inspectors keep discretion over the second list of projects. An inspector can also end a remote inspection and require an in-person visit whenever compliance cannot be verified on camera. Structural work, hidden conditions and anything that requires testing equipment or precise measurement will often still need a visit.

If a remote inspection fails, the inspector may conduct later inspections for that permit remotely or in person. Plan for that possibility. Build some buffer into your schedule, fix the issue, and re-photograph the corrected work from the angles the inspector asked about. A clear, honest record of the fix helps rebuild confidence and keeps the remote option available for the rest of the project.

Run remote inspections with Blitzz Remote Video Inspection

A remote inspection works best when the inspector can guide the camera in real time. Blitzz Remote Video Inspection is built for that. The inspector sends a link, and the person on site joins from a phone or tablet browser with no app download, which removes a common barrier for homeowners and crews who only need to connect once.

Once connected, the inspector can direct the session the way they would on a walkthrough:

• Guide the view. Ask the person on site to move closer, change the angle or show a specific component, and use remote zoom and flashlight control to see into dark or hard-to-reach areas.
• Mark what matters. AR markup tools let the inspector draw on the live video so there is no confusion about which fitting, wire or connection they mean.
• Capture proof. Freeze the feed to take high-resolution still images stamped with the time and GPS location.
• Keep working with weak signal. Photos and documentation can be captured even when connectivity is limited.
• Finish faster. AI-generated session summaries and automatic inspection reports in Word cut the paperwork that usually follows a visit.

For building departments, Blitzz also offers an Accela integration that launches a remote inspection directly from a permit record or inspection task and syncs the documentation back automatically. That matters for AB 1738, because every remote inspection needs to be scheduled, completed and recorded inside the permit workflow.

Document every stage with BlitzzCam

Remote inspections are only as strong as the evidence behind them. Under AB 1738, a contractor may need to show work that is about to be covered, prove what was installed, or respond to an audit weeks later. A photo with no verified date or location is just a picture.

BlitzzCam is the Blitzz tool for field photo documentation. Crews shoot photos the way they already do, and BlitzzCam handles the rest:

• Verified by default. Every photo is stamped with a GPS location and timestamp, so context is never lost.
• Filed automatically. Each photo is organized under the right job and phase, so rough-in, pre-cover and final images are ready when the inspector asks.
• Searchable. Find any project photo in seconds instead of scrolling through a camera roll.
• Hands-off upload. Photos upload and store in the background, with unlimited capture.

Used together, the two tools cover the full inspection cycle. BlitzzCam builds the record while the work is happening. Blitzz Remote Video Inspection lets the inspector see and guide the final check. When an inspector, homeowner or auditor asks what was installed and when, the answer is already on file.

Get ready before July 1, 2027

AB 1738 gives California contractors and homeowners a faster, cheaper path through routine inspections, but only for those who can show their work clearly. The deadline for local programs is about nine months away, which is enough time to build good habits, test your equipment and learn how your local building department will run the process.

The core preparation is simple: know which projects qualify, set up a reliable camera and connection, document the work at every stage, and never misrepresent what you show. Teams that master those basics will spend less time waiting and more time working.

Tools built for guided video inspection can make that easier. Blitzz Inspect helps teams run remote video inspections and keep a clear record of what was reviewed. To see how remote inspection can fit your workflow, get in touch with the Blitzz team.