Updated home inspector training advice

Many years ago I wrote a blog post giving home inspector training advice to future Minnesota home inspectors. The purpose of that post was to give a thought-out response to people who emailed or called asking for advice on how to become a home inspector. At that time, I'd receive two to three inquiries per month. Now, almost five years later, I receive about two to three inquiries a week. To write that blog post I interviewed several other home inspectors here in Minnesota, asking about how they got started in this profession and what home inspector training advice they would give to someone just getting started in this business. Some of the same advice applies today, but a lot of it has changed. There are also many other questions that I regularly receive that weren't addressed in that blog post, so I'll cover them today.

To write this post, I went over my emails from the past several years to see what other advice I had given to people looking to get into this profession, and I've added a few more pieces of info.

Q: What's the best training school for home inspectors?

A: I don't know. I've only been to one home inspector training school, and it was over twelve years ago. I took a weeklong course and I wasn't at all impressed, so I won't share the name of the school. I've heard good things about The ASHI School from home inspectors who have gone through that training, but I have no firsthand experience with that school. Back in 2004 and 2005 I took several Building Inspection Technology classes through North Hennepin Community College, but the BIT program has been stripped down to only four classes now, three of which have very little to do with inspecting single family homes. Because of this change, I no longer recommend the BIT program to people looking to get into the home inspection profession. Time and money would probably be better spent going through a school dedicated to teaching the home inspection profession.

Just be aware that a home inspection school is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amount of knowledge that one should obtain before getting into this profession. Anyone doing home inspections on their own should do a lot of studying on their own and get as much hands-on training as possible.

Q: How can I get hands-on home inspection training?

A: Home inspection schools often include some hands-on training, but that's only the beginning of the amount of training needed for this profession. To get real-life home inspection experience, one must attend home inspections with experienced home inspectors. The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) allows home inspectors who are willing to take other home inspectors along on inspections, for the purpose of training, to register as a Parallel Inspection Guide. This is a publicly available list, which can be viewed here: http://www.homeinspector.org/MembershipDirectory/ParallelInspectionGuides. My name is on that list, but nearly every home inspection that I do is also done with a new inspector from my company, so I do very little training for home inspectors outside of my company. Some home inspectors charge a fee for this training, some don't.

Another way to get hands-on home inspection training is to get to know other home inspectors in your area through local chapter meetings. The ASHI Heartland Chapter meets once per month, and we all get to know each other through these meetings.

Q: Do you hire and train people without home inspection experience?

A: Yes, and I think that I speak for most owners of multi-inspector companies when I say that the ideal job candidate will be an experienced home inspector with excellent communication and writing skills who is willing to learn new ways of doing things. A less attractive candidate would be someone with no home inspection experience, but someone who has experience in one or more trades, has attended a home inspection school and has excellent communication and writing skills. A less attractive candidate would be someone who has only attended a home inspection school and has excellent communication and writing skills. An even less attractive candidate would be someone with no trade experience and no formal training, but still has excellent communication and writing skills. Take away the communication and writing skills and they wouldn't even be a candidate.

Q: How long does it take to train a new home inspector?

A: It depends on experience. I've found that the shortest training period I'm comfortable with for new inspectors is about four months, and that's assuming the person is already knowledgeable in all areas of homes.

A: Less than most trades, more than most desk jobs. My humble opinion is that one must be comfortable walking roofs with at least a 6/12 pitch, be able to carry a 28' extension ladder, be comfortable climbing around in attics, into and out of window wells, under sinks, and crawling around in crawlspaces. Those aren't requirements to enter this profession, and home inspectors are not required to walk roofs or climb through attics, but I think that anyone who is unable or unwilling to perform those tasks would have a very hard time establishing themselves in this profession, partly because there are plenty of other people in this profession who are willing and able to do those things.

Q: What are the licensing requirements in Minnesota?

A: There is no such thing as licensing here in Minnesota. Most states have it, we don't.

Q: What study materials do you recommend?

For future home inspectors in Minnesota, get familiar with the Minnesota codes.

There is nothing that is Minnesota-specific related to electrical; we adopt the entire electrical code.

As ongoing reading materials for all home inspectors, experienced or not, here is some of my favorite reading material for ongoing education:

Author: Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections