How to Become a Good Home Inspector

First and foremost I want to stress that I think Home Inspection is not an appropriate part time career. 
Homes are expensive and home buyers deserve a dedicated professional to perform their home inspection. 

Now that I have told you not to be a part time Home Inspector let me give you two exceptions. 
Exception One is if you have been a Home Inspector for 30 years and decide to retire by going from full time to part time for a couple of years. For this exception you likely have earned that right. A five year Home Inspector retiring, on the other hand, likely should just go ahead and stop performing home inspections altogether. 

Exception Two is you may not have enough work initially to have full time income so may have to work a second job to cover expenses when you first start your home inspection business. With this exception you actually should be working full time to become a full time Home Inspector and part time at your part time other job to help pay your bills.


Rookie Home Inspectors will need a few years to establish a creditable business.
As a Rookie Home Inspector you should count on spending your first few years getting your name out to prospective buyers, Realtors, Mortgage Loan Officers and other outlets that may have a need for home inspection services from time to time. Home inspection is no longer a fledgling unknown industry. Most potential clients have a basic understanding of what a home inspection is and many clients have unrealistic expectations of what a home inspection should include. It is just as important to know what a home inspector should not be doing during a home inspection as it is to know what a home inspector is supposed be doing during a home inspection. 

As a Rookie Home Inspector you will want to have a solid home inspection foundation to build on rather than trying to learn how to perform home inspections after you have already arrived at your first fee paid home inspection appointment. Although it is critical that you have a strong foundation before charging for your services, it is also helpful to retain a child's curiosity about the process. Never allow yourself to think that you know everything about anything unless you want to deny yourself an opportunity to learn. 


Home Inspector First Year Earnings may be less than you expected.
Most new businesses take time to return a profit and home inspection is no different. After paying your start up costs, your two largest expenditures outside of day to day operational costs, should be marketing and continuing education. An equal effort should be put into both categories. Market yourself too much without knowing what you are looking at and you will be out of business soon. Know everything about home inspections without having enough customers and you cannot afford to stay in business. 


A Home Inspection Career is time consuming if done correctly.
As a Home Inspector you should figure on working more than 40 hours a week. Many prospective Home Inspectors have the misconception that, as a Home Inspector, they will be working fewer hours than their current standard 40 hour work week. 

​
Good traits for a home inspector 
1)      Thorough
2)      Knowledgeable
3)      Experienced
4)      Integrity
5)      Prepared
6)      Reliable
7)      Available for questions after the inspection!

Each State has there own requirements for the mechanics of becoming a Home Inspector for States that have Licensing.
ASHI's website is generally kept up to date and is a good starting point to determine State requirements. www.ashi.org/inspectors/state.asp 
You should also do a web search for 'Home Inspection' and the name of any States where you want to be a Home Inspector to locate the .gov site for your State.