New to the Industry Question.

[James P. Magee]

I have alot of experience in the construction field, from roofing to framing, to electricial. I am an electrician by trade, either doing new construction commercial buildings or high end residential new construction. And from what I have seen so far in residential construction I would love to be the one inspecting the home for the owners in phases. I have not had any formal training in the home inspection areas except for what I have been taking through NACHI. I have been looking into insurance that is required for inspectors and from what I have been reading you need to have gone to a school in order to get insured. Is this true or am I not looking in the correct place. Another Area that I have been looking for is forms to use while inspecting, where to get supplies like mold and radon testing supplies. As for insurance do I need to have insurance for everything that I offer or will offer. Like mold insurance, radon insurance, pre-listing insurance so on and so forth. These are only a few of the questions that I have so far, if someone could point me into the correct location or place I would be greatful. Thanks all for your time.

James "Jay" Magee

[Richard A. Milewski]

Hi Jay, Welcome,
I'm a recently new member myself, and am in the process of getting ready to finish my 4th mock inspection. If you go to nachi.org/insurance you will find a list of nachi-friendly insurance people who, from my recent experience, are more than happy to answer email/phone questions and give you a quote. My correspondence course schooling and a resume as it pertains to remodeling stuff I've done was apparently acceptable and I was just recently able to get the required insurance.As far as what's also required to be an inspector in PA,check out PA Act 114 on the Attorney General's site as to what's currently required in PA. I say currently because there is a new Bill, Senate Bill 2009-149 which if passed, would in short require guys like us to have to take a government-given exam to be licensed. By the way, the cost of the insurance seems directly related to what kind of additional inspections you'll be doing IE: Radon, WDI etc. Rich

[James P. Magee]

Rich

I have read the bill and from what I can gather $2500 max deductable, $500,000 for E&O. That is not the issue that I am having, it is being insured for not taking any formal class on HI. at least from what I am running into. The only thing I am worried about is that i might end up paying like 4 grand a year for insurance. So I am looking into every option.

[Richard A. Milewski]

I hear ya, like I said, call/email the insurance people (especially the ones listed in PA). I would think they would be able to tell you straight up whether or not you're insurable without any "formal" HI training. I would hope your construction experience would count for something.

[James P. Magee]

Yeah I would hope so. Mainly it has been new commercial and residential construction electrician experience. I will have to check into them tomorrow after work if I am able too.