Meet Paul Drayton

Paul was born and raised in South Africa and bought his first property while studying for a physics degree at the University of Cape Town. He spent several years living and working in England and Europe as an IT contractor, then continued that work in the United States at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

A break from the corporate world followed. He earned a tennis professional teaching certification, taught tennis and mental toughness, built websites on the side and helped develop a sports psychology course for athletes.

Then came construction and insurance restoration. Paul and his wife ran a water damage and mold restoration franchise, and he worked on mold and water damage jobs from small houses to multistory buildings, through every stage of drying and repair. With that background, home inspection was the natural next step: he has been licensed in Florida since 2015, and all told he has spent more than 20 years in construction, restoration and inspection.

He has lived in Fernandina Beach since 2003. What he enjoys most is walking into a house he has never seen, working out its story, and showing buyers things about their new home they would never have known. When he is not inspecting, you will probably find him on a tennis court or out on the Intracoastal after redfish and trout.