Hello to everyone,

I'm interested ( extremely ), in learning home inspection. I checked some
web info ( carson) , I also looked into community college courses and
on-line courses.

The question is, What would be the most accepted form of training to get
started in this new career?

I'm going a little nuts with all the difference of opinions , would like to
hear from someone who's been there.

Thanks

Gino

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:09:37 -0400, "GINO" wrote:

Hello to everyone,

I'm interested ( extremely ), in learning home inspection. I checked some
web info ( carson) , I also looked into community college courses and
on-line courses.

The question is, What would be the most accepted form of training to get
started in this new career?

I'm going a little nuts with all the difference of opinions , would like to
hear from someone who's been there.

Thanks

Gino



With any career, I would talk to those who would hire you. Get
incontact with home inspector companies, and ask what they are looking
for to hire home inspectors.

later,

tom @ www.Donate-Car-2-Charity.com

"Tom The Great" wrote in message
...

With any career, I would talk to those who would hire you. Get
incontact with home inspector companies, and ask what they are looking
for to hire home inspectors.

Many of these "companies" are simply individuals, and won't be hiring you.
In my state (NC), if you don't have certain experience and qualifications,
then passing the state exam will only get you an "associate" license, which
amounts to being essentially an apprentice home inspector. You would need
to work with a home inspector to do inspections during this time. I'm not
sure, but presumably the motivation for full home inspectors to take on an
"apprentice" is to give you little pay to do some of their dirty work or
administrative work.

Tom The Great wrote in
:

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:09:37 -0400, "GINO" wrote:

Hello to everyone,

I'm interested ( extremely ), in learning home inspection. I checked
some web info ( carson) , I also looked into community college courses
and on-line courses.

The question is, What would be the most accepted form of training to
get started in this new career?

I'm going a little nuts with all the difference of opinions , would
like to hear from someone who's been there.

Thanks

Gino



With any career, I would talk to those who would hire you. Get
incontact with home inspector companies, and ask what they are looking
for to hire home inspectors.

later,

tom @ www.Donate-Car-2-Charity.com





I would talk to those who would hire you.

Precisely why I posted the comment as to what my groundrule would be
hiring one. Ya gotta know the market they say.

Gino,

Requirements for home inspectors vary greatly by state, with some having no
requirements at all and many now requiring state certification. Check
first with your state to see what their requirements for home inspectors
are.

The American Home Inspector Training Institute web site has an interactive
map that can direct you to the requirements for your state
(www.ahit.com/training/stateregs/stateregs.htm). It will tell you what is
required and also the governing board (if any) for home inspectors in your
state. I would also recommend that you follow up with that board to
confirm that those requirements are the current ones.

Many states, such as Arizona require a minimum of 80 hours of education
(either classroom or self study--though I would strongly suggest
classroom); some number of parallel inspections (where you actually do an
inspection in parallel with a certified inspector, prepare your report,
then have it reviewed and approved by the inspector); passing of an exam;
and review and approval of some number of inspection reports by the
regulating board.

I would also recommend you attend some of the meetings of one of the
national associations in your area (ASHI (American Society of Home
Inspectors) - www.ASHI.com) or NACHI (National Association of Home
Inspectors - www.nachi.org) are two well respected ones. Talk to the
members--they are an invaluable source of information and usually LOVE to
talk about their work. And they are most familiar with the intricacies of
your particular market.

I would also suggest you check out www.InspectionNews.com -- it is a
wonderful BB for home inspectors and an invaluable source of information.
Most of your questions have probably been asked a hundred times before, so
I would use the search feature before asking general questions like, "How
do I get started?" or "How long does it take to break even?" Two of the
threads (Advertising, Legal, Marketing etc. and Chit Chat) are the two
that generally have the answers to a lot of general business related
questions.

Lastly, I cannot emphasize enough that you thoroughly investigate what it
takes to become a home inspector; what it takes to run a business (most
inspectors are single person companies); and how much you might make.
Many of the schools might suggest that you can do 4 or 5 inspections a day
and make $400-$500 per inspection. In reality, you can usually do 2
inspections a day (IF you have the business coming in), at an average of
$300 per inspection--however, your business cost will be about 50%, so
your Net Profit Before Tax would be about $300 a day for those days that
you work. In Arizona the Real Estate market is very down right now and
most established inspectors are lucky to be doing 3 home inspections a
week ($450 PBT per week) and many have dropped out.

That being said, we have leveraged our home inspection business into other
related ares (mold inspections, construction inspections, commercial
inspections, draw inspections) and are slightly ahead of what we made last
year at this time in a boon residential market.

Gino, I do not want to dissuade you. I think all industries need to be
replenished from time to time with talented, dedicated new blood.
However, I think it is critical that you get all the facts first and weigh
them wisely before making your decision and spending thousands of dollars
only to find out it's not what you expected.

I am in the process of developing training for new and potential new home
inspectors on the business side of home inspection, but it is still in
development and not yet ready for release. You can get a better
understanding of what we do in our home inspection business, make use of
our extensive links, etc., by visiting our web site at
www.accuproinspect.com.

Good Luck!
Jayne

"synergysmci" wrote in
news:e86a8b82c8a66859cbee57d30e466c55@homerepairli ve.com:

Gino,

Requirements for home inspectors vary greatly by state, with some
having no requirements at all and many now requiring state
certification. Check first with your state to see what their
requirements for home inspectors are.

The American Home Inspector Training Institute web site has an
interactive map that can direct you to the requirements for your state
(www.ahit.com/training/stateregs/stateregs.htm). It will tell you
what is required and also the governing board (if any) for home
inspectors in your state. I would also recommend that you follow up
with that board to confirm that those requirements are the current
ones.

Many states, such as Arizona require a minimum of 80 hours of
education (either classroom or self study--though I would strongly
suggest classroom); some number of parallel inspections (where you
actually do an inspection in parallel with a certified inspector,
prepare your report, then have it reviewed and approved by the
inspector); passing of an exam; and review and approval of some number
of inspection reports by the regulating board.

I would also recommend you attend some of the meetings of one of the
national associations in your area (ASHI (American Society of Home
Inspectors) - www.ASHI.com) or NACHI (National Association of Home
Inspectors - www.nachi.org) are two well respected ones. Talk to the
members--they are an invaluable source of information and usually LOVE
to talk about their work. And they are most familiar with the
intricacies of your particular market.

I would also suggest you check out www.InspectionNews.com -- it is a
wonderful BB for home inspectors and an invaluable source of
information. Most of your questions have probably been asked a hundred
times before, so I would use the search feature before asking general
questions like, "How do I get started?" or "How long does it take to
break even?" Two of the threads (Advertising, Legal, Marketing etc.
and Chit Chat) are the two that generally have the answers to a lot of
general business related questions.

Lastly, I cannot emphasize enough that you thoroughly investigate what
it takes to become a home inspector; what it takes to run a business
(most inspectors are single person companies); and how much you might
make. Many of the schools might suggest that you can do 4 or 5
inspections a day and make $400-$500 per inspection. In reality, you
can usually do 2 inspections a day (IF you have the business coming
in), at an average of $300 per inspection--however, your business cost
will be about 50%, so your Net Profit Before Tax would be about $300 a
day for those days that you work. In Arizona the Real Estate market
is very down right now and most established inspectors are lucky to be
doing 3 home inspections a week ($450 PBT per week) and many have
dropped out.

That being said, we have leveraged our home inspection business into
other related ares (mold inspections, construction inspections,
commercial inspections, draw inspections) and are slightly ahead of
what we made last year at this time in a boon residential market.

Gino, I do not want to dissuade you. I think all industries need to
be replenished from time to time with talented, dedicated new blood.
However, I think it is critical that you get all the facts first and
weigh them wisely before making your decision and spending thousands
of dollars only to find out it's not what you expected.

I am in the process of developing training for new and potential new
home inspectors on the business side of home inspection, but it is
still in development and not yet ready for release. You can get a
better understanding of what we do in our home inspection business,
make use of our extensive links, etc., by visiting our web site at
www.accuproinspect.com.

Good Luck!
Jayne



Good link. Thanks. At least tells you the min reqs at some point in time.

"jeffc" wrote in
:


"Tom The Great" wrote in message
...

With any career, I would talk to those who would hire you. Get
incontact with home inspector companies, and ask what they are
looking for to hire home inspectors.

Many of these "companies" are simply individuals, and won't be hiring
you. In my state (NC), if you don't have certain experience and
qualifications, then passing the state exam will only get you an
"associate" license, which amounts to being essentially an apprentice
home inspector. You would need to work with a home inspector to do
inspections during this time. I'm not sure, but presumably the
motivation for full home inspectors to take on an "apprentice" is to
give you little pay to do some of their dirty work or administrative
work.




take on an "apprentice" is to
give you little pay to do some of their dirty work

I've spent time in a NC attic in July/Aug with an AC guy. I thought this
was the most heat a human could tolerate and stay alive. Then he fired up
the mapp torch.

I get up early or wait till an overcast day now...

Al in FAY...