RBQ and compliance · 5 min read

How to verify a building inspector's RBQ licence

The check is free and takes two minutes. But what the licence proves — and what it doesn't — is less obvious than it seems.

Whether you're a buyer validating an inspector, or an inspector wanting to see what clients see, the process is the same. Here's how to do it, and more importantly how to read the result.

The official, free method

The Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) publishes a register of licence holders, open to everyone, with no account or fee.

Go to the RBQ website and find the licence holder register.
Search by licence number if you have it — that's the most reliable. Otherwise search by business name.
Check three things, not just the first.

What to look at

Licence status. A licence can be active, suspended, cancelled, or under renewal. "Exists" doesn't mean "valid today."
Categories and subcategories. This is the most misunderstood part. A licence authorizes specific work. Does the business name match exactly the one on your contract?
Name consistency. A licence under a sister company, or a former business name, deserves a question.

An important point, often missed

In Quebec, pre-purchase building inspection is not a reserved-title profession. There is no professional order of building inspectors as there is for engineers or architects.

In practice: the RBQ licence concerns the execution of construction work. Depending on the exact nature of their activity, a building inspector may or may not hold an RBQ licence. Its absence is therefore not automatically a red flag — but it changes what you should verify instead.

What the licence does not tell you

A valid licence confirms an administrative status. It says nothing about:

Professional liability insurance. That's what protects you if something is missed. Ask for a current certificate, with amounts and expiry date.
Membership in a professional association and adherence to a recognized standard of practice.
Continuing education and real experience with the building type involved.
The quality of the reports produced. Ask to see an anonymized sample — it's the best indicator.

The four documents to request

The RBQ licence number, where applicable, and its current status
A current professional liability insurance certificate
A written service contract stating the scope and limitations of the inspection
A recent, anonymized sample report

A serious professional provides all four without hesitation. Reluctance on any one of them is itself information.

For inspectors: what your clients see

If you're an inspector, reverse the exercise. Look up your own business in the register. Three problems come up often:

The registered name differs from the commercial name used on contracts and your website.
An expiry date is approaching with nobody actively tracking it.
The insurance certificate sits in last year's email, unfindable when a client asks.

All three are solved by structured tracking rather than memory. A missed expiry can interrupt your ability to work overnight.

Verification isn't a one-time step at hiring. It's a state to maintain — before every contract, and above all before every report signature.

Automating the tracking

DomiSpect is designed to enable verification and tracking of an inspector's professional information: licence number, category, validity date and insurance certificates, with re-checks before a new contract and before signing a report.

DomiSpect is an independent platform. It is not approved, certified or sponsored by the Régie du bâtiment du Québec. When automatic validation isn't available or remains uncertain, the file goes to administrative verification.

Keep your compliance current, without thinking about it

Licence and insurance tracking, plus checks before every report signature.

See how it works