Do you want to know how to become a certified home inspector? Is it even possible with your current qualifications? As I am sure you are aware, the real estate industry is booming and the opportunities for new home inspectors is expanding.
Find out more about home inspection training, home inspections, home inspection certification, home inspection certification course, how to get certified, home inspector certification programs, how to become a certified home inspector on careerkeg.com.
Becoming a certified home inspector is a career path that provides you with the opportunity to help people make informed decisions about their homes. This is an exciting, relatively low-cost career with a wide range of options for employment and advancement.
Home inspectors are known by many names: home inspectors, property inspectors, building inspectors, and property appraisers. They are all certified by the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) or state licensing boards.
To become a certified home inspector, you must first complete a training course approved by ASHI or your state’s licensing board. The course will teach you the basics of building construction and how to inspect homes for defects. After passing the exam, you will be able to use the designation “Certified Home Inspector” after your name.
In addition to passing an exam and completing an approved training course, home inspectors must meet certain continuing education requirements every year in order to renew their certification with ASHI or their state’s licensing board.
How to become a certified home inspector
Complete a Home Inspection Training Program
The next step is to complete a home inspection training program. Some states require you to complete training to be licensed, but most states will accept a certificate from a nationally recognized home inspection training program.
Certification programs can vary widely in length, content and quality. The best programs are offered by independent schools that don’t also sell materials or equipment and offer continuing education credits as well as certification. If you’re interested in pursuing certification, look for an accredited school with at least one year of experience offering high-quality courses that cover all aspects of home inspections—from safety issues to infrared thermal imaging. Courses usually take several weeks or months depending on the amount of time spent studying each week and the number of classes available per week (some providers have five-day courses).
Pass a Home Inspection Exam
You can take the test in person or online. If you’re interested in taking the test in person, there are several different testing centers that offer it:
- The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)
- The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)
- The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI)
You will also need to pass an exam for each state for which you want to be certified.
Open Your Own Business
As a home inspector, your business is the most important aspect of your new profession. If you want to be successful in this industry, you need to take the time and effort to create a solid foundation before starting out. In order to be able to build that foundation and get started on your new career, there are a few things you’ll need:
- Business license
- Registered business name (this may be handled through your state’s department of licensing)
- Liability insurance (this will protect both yourself and clients in case something goes wrong while inspecting a property)
- Marketing plan (you’ll want one so that people know how they can reach you if they need an inspection done)
Becoming a home inspector is easy, but becoming a good and trustworthy home inspector takes work.
Becoming a home inspector is easy, but becoming a good and trustworthy home inspector takes work.
There are several ways to become a certified home inspector: through classroom education, hands-on training, and apprenticeships. These programs can take anywhere from six months to two years to complete.
Home inspection exams are administered by state and local governments (for example the New York State Department of State) as well as private organizations like the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). Exams cover topics such as basic construction techniques, building materials and their characteristics, proper use of tools and equipment used in the field of inspections, safety regulations for inspectors working in potentially dangerous situations with electrical wires or gas leaks etc., procedures for reporting findings from an inspection report back to clients (including confidentiality issues), how long before repairs should be made etc., what kind of questions you should ask potential customers about their needs before accepting them into your client base etc..
