Commercial Inspections & Thermal Imaging Services in San Mateo County

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Tell us the address and what the transaction needs, and we will do some research and send a proposal. Calls are returned within one business day.

Two Peninsulas, One Freeway Apart

Peninsula office was 23.8% vacant in the second quarter of 2026 by Kidder Mathews' count, but the average hides a very wide spread. Burlingame, Daly City and San Bruno–Millbrae sat between about 5% and 10%. Redwood City was above 37%, Redwood Shores near 36%, South San Francisco above 34%. The weak tier is Class A, at over 31% vacant, because the large bayfront campuses are where tenants left. Class C, by contrast, was under 10%.

Demand is coming back, from AI, life sciences, medtech and fintech, and first-half leasing was on pace for the best year since 2019. But tenants are choosing Caltrain-served buildings in established downtowns, and the bayfront has repriced to match: a Seaport Boulevard building in Redwood City sold at about $312 per square foot and a Twin Dolphin building in Redwood Shores at about $213.

When some buildings are in demand and others are not, condition and location decide which is which, and a buyer paying $213 a foot for a campus building needs to know whether that is a bargain or a fair price for what it needs. A commercial inspection finds the deferred maintenance, a property condition assessment gives lenders the repair and reserve numbers they expect, and a cost-to-remedy report turns findings into dollars.

What Each Part of the County Is Made Of

From the Daly City fog line to the Santa Cruz Mountains and the coast.

North County

Biotech campuses in South San Francisco, warehouses and flex near SFO, retail centers and fog-bound older buildings. Industrial vacancy in the county was about 4.7% in early 2026, concentrated in airport-adjacent logistics and flex. YouTube's 440,000 square foot headquarters in San Bruno was due for completion in the third quarter of 2026.

The big flat roofs on airport-area warehouses and flex buildings suit an infrared roof survey, and lab buildings running continuous loads are worth electrical thermography. Constant marine air makes mold testing worth scoping on older buildings, and Pacifica's coastal bluffs and salt air are hard on everything outside. Industrial land near the airport and the bay often calls for Phase 1 ESA work.

Central County

Downtown office and retail along El Camino and the Caltrain line, airport hotels on Burlingame's bayfront, and office campuses on filled land in Foster City. Burlingame's office market was among the tightest in the county, and the city was the fifth-fastest-growing in California among those over 30,000 people. Gilead is building in Foster City; Belmont and San Carlos are where lab demand has been moving.

Burlingame's airport hotels carry annual fire door inspection obligations under NFPA 80. Filled ground means settlement worth documenting in a property condition assessment.

South County

Redwood Shores office campuses, downtown Redwood City, Menlo Park's tech and venture offices, and small-scale commercial in the hill towns. Menlo Park is one of the strongest office submarkets in the county, with rents above $7 a square foot a month. Redwood City and Redwood Shores carry the county's highest vacancy, which is why bayfront pricing has reset so sharply.

At those prices, a cost-to-remedy report is often the document that decides the deal. Redwood Shores sits on reclaimed marsh behind levees, so settlement and sea-level exposure belong in the scope of a commercial inspection. Sequoia Station in Redwood City signed the metro area's two largest retail leases of the third quarter.

The Coastside

Hospitality, restaurants, marine and agricultural buildings exposed to salt air and wind, on the far side of the hills from the rest of the county. Corrosion, failing sealants and moisture are the big items, and much of the stock is older wood construction.

A commercial inspection and air quality testing go hand in hand here. Guest-facing hospitality adds accessibility exposure, and anything near the bluffs raises erosion questions for a geotechnical engineer.

Thermal Imaging in San Mateo County

Thermal imaging finds what a walk-through misses: wet insulation under a roof membrane, a connection running hot inside a panel, moisture working into a wall. A thermal camera reads surface temperature, so those conditions show up as a temperature difference before they show up as a leak or an outage. On the Peninsula every scan is performed and interpreted by our Infraspection Institute Certified Level III Thermographer, who is also a CCPIA Certified Commercial Property Inspector.

Block-walled buildings on the Peninsula call for an infrared CMU wall inspection, which checks for missing grout and trapped moisture without opening the wall. The big flat roofs on warehouse and flex buildings around SFO and along the bayfront are surveyed by drone in an infrared roof survey. Fog and marine air can wash out thermal contrast, so surveys are timed for the right conditions and impedance testing confirms what the camera flags. And lab and biotech buildings in South San Francisco and Redwood City run continuous loads that make them a good fit for electrical thermography under NFPA 70B, done with the equipment energized and running.

Constant marine air makes the building envelope worth a look as well. An infrared scan traces water intrusion and drafts around windows and wall penetrations on older Peninsula buildings. Where a heating or hot water line is suspected of leaking under a slab, the camera narrows the search before any concrete is cut. See all of our commercial infrared inspections.

Where We Work in San Mateo County

We inspect commercial buildings across San Mateo County: San Mateo, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Foster City, Belmont and San Carlos at the center of the Peninsula; Redwood City, Redwood Shores, Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley to the south; South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, Daly City and Pacifica to the north; and Half Moon Bay on the coast.

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Buying, Leasing or Repositioning on the Peninsula?

Tell us the address, what the building was last used for and when the contingency expires. We will scope the inspection and send a proposal, with no obligation.

Request a Proposal (707) 387-1936
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