Engineer to Home Inspector Advice

Please be gentle on me as this is being my first post. I am looking for advice to get my foot in inspection industry.

I am 30 years old, currently a registered professional civil engineer (+/- 10 years of experience) in Missouri and Illinois and I would like to explore the possibilities for added income on the side, while continuing to work at my current employer, and maintain my professional reputation. I will be looking for part time position with a local inspection company to get started.

Base on my initial research on the internet, there are no formal licensing requirements for Missouri home inspectors. But I am sure many Realtors, Lenders, home buyers and other people that initiate home inspections want to make sure a home inspector has been properly trained. Any recommendation on online courses and certification will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
Stanley
stanleyleecm@hotmail.com

You might want to set up an email address and post it for confidential replies.
This is a great place to get much information there is a huge amount of info in many past posts .
All the best … Roy

Stanley - shoot me an email, I am in a similar situation and just recently got my inspection business up and running. Also and engineer (mechanical) and I should be able to tell you my experience over the least few months and give you a good idea if what to expect! Greg (at) northlandinspection.com

We have a P.E. on staff (Ron Huffman) who also runs a multi-inspection firm. He never reveals in any of his home inspection marketing that he is a P.E. for fear that a home inspection client will end up arguing that they chose Ron because he was an engineer and so naturally assumed he would be providing insured engineering services.

Yes, he carries two different business cards.

Since at times a Home Inspector will do an Inspection for an Engineer. It is best to capitalize on this. Nick is correct to keep things separate. Engineers do not learn everything about a Home and neither does a Home Inspector learn about Engineering. Respect by keeping it separate and showing your client why is the wise choice.
I will say this, Engineers do have respect for good HI’s that keep up to date in training everyday, at least for some.

I agree with Nick as well. a PE is a PE, and an HI is an HI. If you mix the two together you will likely create unreasonable expectations in your client of PE services on a home inspection and you will open yourself to liability. “Two business cards” is the best thing.

Nick is correct. Advertise that you are an engineer, you will have a tough time starting an HI business. Advertise that you are new, no initials after your name, charge $199, your phone will ring off the hook.

Forget about going in with a low inspection price not a good way to get started .
Get out and mentor with other homies and see how to do a good inspection pay them and do 25+++ inspections .
The knowledge you will gather will shorten you learning curve immensely .
You will be able to soon make a good living and you will still be here for many years to come .
Many of the real successful Inspectors started this way including me.

If your field of expertise is structural, you can use that to your advantage to gain employment with a HI company looking to hire help.

Most will not hire you & just cut you loose day one and OJT is by far the best training you can get, but it’s a good idea to have a clue going in, and this org has many educational tools you can, and should use as well.

Also, as many here have already stated, be sure to leave your PE cap at home when performing Home Inspections.

Stanley,

Call someone who knows the St. Louis market. Your more than welcome to come along with me.

http://www.stlhomeinspector.com
314 805 2137

Stanley

Have you run this by your employer? Many engineering firms will not allow their engineers to practice engineering on the side. This is usually fine print in your employment application.

Stanley,
Randy Mayo is my favorite engineer that I use, because he has some common sense and since he is also a home inspector he at least understands the basics of all the components of a home. So getting an education as a home inspection will only make you a better engineer.
As for as being a home inspector, having Billy mentor you would be a good idea, but you should get your basic home inspector training in first. Dan Bowers has a school in Kansas that you should go to. Dan is one of the best home inspectors you will ever meet, and he was the first certified inspector between the Mississippi River and the state of Colorado. Just give Dan a call some time at 816-455-8787 to ask any questions. I have mentored a lot of inspectors for NACHI and I have found, the ones who took live classes instead of online classes did greatly better.
As far as Realtors wanting somebody who knows his stuff depends on how honest a Realtor you work for or with here in Missouri. Sad but true.
Please feel to email at jbraun@mo.nachi.org if you have any questions. I stay busy so I am not on the message board much.