Training and getting started

[Tom Pavlak]

Hello all, and thank you for answering a few questions im sure have been asked already.

i reciently found out my job has been eliminated. so, i thought it might be a good time to do something else.

i find Home inspections to be an interesting field. in MO there are no licensing requirements, and i think that could be bad...lots of folks doing it.

with that said, can a person make a living doing this? or do you have to be a part of the good ol boys club getting references from realtors (which is wrong).

with all the schools out there offering training, what is the Best School? i really woudl like to make this work, woking for myself is something ive done before, and would like to get back to.

Any advice you all can share would help.

thank you

Tom

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Hi Tom,

Well lets just say making a living at anything depends on how much time and effort you want to put into something. Just hanging a slate outside and saying you are in business usually means you WONT be very long.

Their are many formal training schools around like ITA and AHIT to name a few but i am sure their are quite a few more as well.

Being a good inspector takes YEARS of doing inspections, you will NOT be good when you do your first inspection....trust me......It will take you time to gather the " Sixth Sense " like many of the great inspectors here have....and yes they DO make a living at it and some do QUITE well...

Understanding that catering to the Real Estates Agents will probably have you eating beans and grits for a long time.....they are a weird lot....( but they surly say the same about Home Inspectors )...I do not do alot of inspections...probably 2-3 a week at the most because I am so wrapped up in my electrical contracting business and local apprentice training schedule....BUT their are many here who do this 7 days a week who can ve a HUGE asset to you if you choose to join NACHI

" as nick says...Resistance is Futile"...something like that....

Look around at the schooling options you have, look into the scope of each course and pour yourself 100% into it....understand you will leave the school not knowing everything you will run into...thats a GIVEN.....but if you are of the RECEPTAVE nature you will get rolling on it.

Again catering to RE Agents is not the proper plan in my opinion.....doing the marketing things needed, doing local home shows, yellowpage ads, flyers and a nice brochure.....and I am 100 % sure you will get alot of suggestions here on the NACHI boards as well so decide to venture down that path.