About A+
Meet the people behind A+ Reliable Home Inspections and learn a little about how we approach the work.
A Family Business Built on Experience
A+ Reliable Home Inspections is a small, family-owned home inspection company serving Knoxville and communities throughout East Tennessee. And when you schedule an inspection with us, there’s a very good chance I’m the person who will show up at your door.
I’m Nicholas Cudd, the primary inspector at A+. I’ve been inspecting homes in East Tennessee since 2012, but home inspection wasn’t something I grew up planning to do. It was a career I found somewhat unexpectedly—and one that I’ve grown to genuinely love.
Real estate has been around me for most of my life. My mom has worked as a Realtor for more than 30 years, and around the time I moved to Knoxville in 2012, my dad, Steve, was getting started in home inspection. I began joining him on inspections, initially as an assistant—carrying equipment, handling basic tasks, crawling through the occasional unpleasant corner of a house, and, most importantly, learning.
Over time, I became certified to perform inspections myself and gradually built a career of my own. The formal training gave me a foundation, but I’ve found that experience is the greatest teacher in this profession. After thousands of inspections, I’ve learned that houses have an almost endless capacity to surprise you.
That’s one of the things I still enjoy about the work. Every house is a little different, every inspection presents a new puzzle, and there’s always something else to learn.
More Than Checking Boxes
My educational background is actually in philosophy, with a focus on ethics and logic. That might seem like an unusual path into home inspection, but I’ve found that both apply surprisingly well to what I do every day.
A house is a collection of interconnected systems. When I find a problem, I’m interested not only in what is happening, but why.
A crack in a foundation, for example, doesn’t exist in isolation. Is water collecting beside the house? Is a downspout dumping against the foundation? Is the soil moving? Is there evidence of structural movement elsewhere? Understanding those relationships helps turn an observation into useful information.
The ethics side matters just as much.
“We’re on a fact-finding mission.”
A home inspector occupies an unusual position in a real-estate transaction. My job isn’t to sell you the house, talk you out of the house, protect the deal, or kill the deal. My responsibility is to inspect the property objectively, explain what I find, and give you enough context to make your own informed decisions.
Thorough Doesn't Have to Mean Alarmist
I tend to inspect with a fine-toothed comb. You’ll find the little things in my reports alongside the big ones—from a loose doorstop or a faucet that isn’t working quite right to damaged framing, electrical hazards, moisture problems, or structural concerns.
But finding everything doesn’t mean treating everything as an emergency.
One of the most important parts of my job happens after I’ve found a problem: explaining what it actually means.
Before becoming a full-time inspector, I spent many years working in hospitality, from casual restaurants to fine dining. I didn’t know it at the time, but that experience taught me something I now use constantly—how to talk with people, listen to their concerns, and explain complicated information in a way that makes sense.
Sometimes a client is worried about something that looks frightening but is relatively straightforward to repair. Other times, something that doesn’t look particularly dramatic may deserve serious attention. I try to bring the same approach to both conversations: explain the condition, why it matters, what can happen if it’s left unaddressed, and what the next step should be.
Our reports help reinforce that by separating findings according to their level of concern. You’ll get the details, but you’ll also get context.
The goal isn’t to make a house sound better or worse than it is. The goal is for you to understand it.
Your House, Your Decision
Clients sometimes ask me, “Would you buy this house?”
I understand why they ask, but that’s a question I generally try not to answer—and there’s a reason.
After inspecting thousands of homes, I’ve learned that people have wildly different expectations about what they’re comfortable owning, repairing, maintaining, or improving. A project that would make one buyer walk away might be exactly what another buyer is looking for.
“One person's nightmare home is another person's dream castle.”
A newly constructed house and a home built in 1930 shouldn’t be approached with identical expectations. Neither should two buyers with completely different budgets, skills, plans, or tolerance for repairs.
That’s why I don’t see my role as deciding whether a house is “good” or “bad.” My job is to give you the clearest picture I can of the home in front of us—what’s working, what isn’t, what deserves attention, and what you may need to plan for in the future.
Then you, your family, and your Realtor can decide what that information means for you.
A Small Company on Purpose
One of the things I value about A+ is that we’ve remained a small, independent business.
When you schedule an inspection, you aren’t hiring a large company and waiting to find out which inspector gets assigned to you. In most cases, you’re hiring me.
My dad, Steve, remains an important part of A+ and brings years of inspection experience of his own. He’s been part of this business from the beginning and continues to help both in the field and behind the scenes.
Keeping the company small also means our relationship doesn’t have to end when I send your report.
If something in the report doesn’t make sense, call me. If you’re thinking through a repair, call me. If you’ve owned the house for six months and something strange starts happening and you want another perspective, you can still call me.
I’ve had former clients reach out months after closing with questions that had nothing to do with their original inspection, and I’m happy to help when I can. Houses are complicated. Having someone you already know and trust to bounce a question off of can be useful.
That’s the kind of relationship I want to have with the people I work with.
Outside the Inspection
Knoxville has been home since 2012, and when I’m not inspecting houses, there’s a pretty good chance I’m making music somewhere.
I’ve been a musician for much of my life and perform around Knoxville and the surrounding region as a drummer, DJ, and electronic musician. I’m also involved with local community events, and when time allows, I love traveling and getting underwater for a scuba trip.
Home inspection may not have been the career I originally imagined for myself, but over the years I’ve realized how unusually well it fits me. It combines hands-on work, problem solving, communication, independence, and the opportunity to directly help another person with one of the largest purchases they’ll ever make.
Thousands of inspections later, I still find that work interesting—and I still take the responsibility seriously.
Ready to Schedule Your Inspection?
Whether you’re buying your first home or your tenth, I’m here to help you understand exactly what you’re buying.
Have a question first? Call or text 865-306-2332.