Alberta licenses home inspectors, which narrows the field usefully. The rest of the decision is about what they will actually walk, what they exclude, and whether you can be there.
Alberta requires home inspection businesses to be licensed under provincial consumer protection legislation — one of the few provinces that does. Verify the licence before you book. Beyond that, ask about a professional designation and how many inspections they complete in a year, because volume in this city is what teaches an inspector what Calgary houses actually do.
Ask specifically about the housing stock you are buying: a 1960s bungalow, a 1980s home with poly-B, a new build, and a high-rise condo unit are four genuinely different inspections.
Ask your REALTOR® for names — but ask for more than one, and never take a name from the seller's side. An inspector who wants repeat referrals from the wrong party is the one problem no licence prevents.
It is a visual, non-invasive examination of what is accessible on the day. No walls are opened, nothing behind finished surfaces is seen, and it is not a code compliance review, a warranty, or a valuation. It tells you condition and likely remaining life — which is exactly what you need in order to decide what to do with it. What the inspection condition lets you do →