Hello,
I am looking to get started in a home inspection business and was curious about training. Although it appears Michigan doesn’t require any, I was interested in online training recommendations. I have a background in home maintenance and remodeling but wanted to know the best way to prepare myself for doing inspections. I have begun by forming an LLC.
Thanks,
Kevin
You’re good to go. You don’t need no stinking training, just get certified and start doing home inspections. You’ll be making $150,000 a year in no time. Everybody here does.
Kevin,
Online training is nice but it can never take the place of actual hands on experience of those who have worked in the industry they inspect…thats just plain common sense. I have seen inspectors who are very sharp and others who I wouldnt let inspect my dog house.
The more construction experience you have and knowledge that you tack onto that in as many facets of the industry not only makes you a better inspector but one that doesn’t have to constantly recommend that "further evaluation is warranted by (fill in the blank).
A good inspector will continually educate himself on the latest building techniques and be aware of components that have had recalls and or are safety hazards.
Yet with all that said, if you have a strong advertising background in conjunction with your knowledge, you just might make it… although it will be tough.
You will probably start off being a low baller which will piss of your competition…eventually as you get your name out there you will or should raise your prices.
Right now inspectors are falling like contractors… probably even at a greater rate I suspect. I would recommend that before you go spending quite a bit of $$$$ on the latest gadgets that everyone will be pushing toward you, that you fork out $$$$ for E&O insurance…especially since you are a novice and I can guarantee you will miss something… its just whether that something will be caught or come back to bite you in the ***** for tens of thousands of dollars.
I would suggest you take time and read over in the legal forum for a while…and then decide if this is what you truly want to do. I have been inspecting and building homes for a long time…even in the down economy I am making more money on the construction side of my business than on the HI side… although I have done rather well doing consultant work for both the public and private sector.
If you do decide to go into the business than consider getting up with an inspector in your area and work out a deal where he can mentor you with clients that YOU bring to the table…I am sure he will want a cut of the fee which is only fair.
I see that they are showing those same stupid advertising commercials in your neck of the wood as they are mine… become a home inspector, set your own hours, make lots of money… be your own boss…blah, blah, blah, blah…
How about learn to be a BS commercial advertiser on television… get suckers to invest all sorts of money to likely loose their *****… 
Kevin tell us about your back ground, Then people will gladly give advice. what you need to do.Like how many years you have been remodeling weakness and strong points . Electric, foundation. and so on.
PSST i moved to IL near Linas
Resist the bogus idea that, as a newby, you have to charge less for your services.
What has this to do with training? I’ll tell you.
A home inspector can examine a home and all of its systems and, comparing it to whatever standards apply, he describes the material defects in terms that his client can understand.
Until you can do this, you have no business inspecting a house. You continue to train in every area in which you do not have 100% proficiency, until you can. When you reach the level of skill where you can provide a complete and accurate analysis of the entire building and everything in contact with it, you provide your services at their full cost.
Do not inspect for a fee until you are at 100% proficiency and if your state requires licensing, understand that the ability to obtain a license and the ability to perform a quality home inspection are two separate and totally different things.
Thanks for all of the quick responses!
With regard to my background, I currently work as a Commercial Pilot and want to do home inspections as a second job. Although it would be a second job, my thought is that it doesn’t mean that I can’t do a first class job. I have a lot of free time with my current work schedule and with 40% pay cuts a second job is needed.
My background in this field would be working as a maintenance supervisor for 18 months for a property management company. We maintained 300+ units with a crew of 8 guys, doing everything from plumbing (most of our problems) to electrical, to remodeling kitchens and baths. Basically anything that could go wrong with an apartment building or home we fixed, except for major jobs beyond our ability.
Also I have flipped a few houses with a friend of mine, doing all the work ourselves. The first house we did included roof, windows, siding, removal of septic and convert to city sewer (contracted that out), 60+ sheets of drywall, etc. Pretty much everything in the house we did except for the sewer tap and carpet install.
Also I have done plenty of work on my own, friends and relatives homes. Kitchens, baths, decks, door walls, roofs, basements, etc.
I enjoy doing the work and feel that I would enjoy doing inspections. I feel comfortable with doing the work but realize there is a lot to know about doing inspections. I consider myself a very thorough person and want to do this the right way, that’s why I’m here looking for advice.
I understand that nothing can replace in the field ‘hands on’ experience. Flying in a simulator, although a good training tool doesn’t replace time in the actual cockpit. I figure that I will need a foundation to start and thought that doing online training might be the way to begin. I would consider classroom training too but am not sure if they offer that in my area.
Your thoughts?
Thanks,
Kevin
Ditto.
But a License is a much better gauge of ones skills than an internet marketing certificate by far…
You will fail as a home inspector and likely lose much of your income from being a commercial pilot to lawsuits.
Commercial pilots are required to accumulate many hours of flying before being “insurable” on the job. Constant experience and exposure to the many different things that can happen is what makes them good…and minimizes risk.
Being skilled, experienced, and competent at take offs from air strips in clear weather…and being “somewhat okay” at landing during storms…will eventually result in failure.
Same thing with home inspectors who are committed part-time and who are proficient at “many” of the systems in a home.
It’s your money.
I am still wondering why all states do not require certification and licensing for ALL home inspector. They should.
Kevin,
There is no better place on or off this planet to find out all you will ever need to know about home inspecting, join NACHI, jump in with both feet, & get after it, ya gotta start somewhere. You can ask any question you need, as often as you need. Dom has the best reporting software made & it’s specific to this industry , but you can change it fit fit anything. Believe me, I’m a nit picker, this is where it’s at if your interested in the trade. The investigative aspect of it that got me into inspecting. Everone is right, you won’t get rich in this profession, so keep that in mind.
T.J…
Well it appears that I clearly struck a nerve with some of you with my post.
When I mention this as a part time job, I realize that this is not just a weekend activity. I understand that I can’t take some online course, get their certificate and think that I’m going to go out and do inspections. I realize it will take time and experience. I just need to know where to start.
In this economy you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. After 9/11 I was laid off for 5 1/2 years from the airline so I want to pursue something else that interests me, and home inspection does.
With my current schedule I have about 24 days per month that I’m not fllying so I feel that this would allow me the time to dedicate to this. Everyone has to start somewhere and that’s what I was looking to get information about.
I want to dedicate my time and money in the right places to learn, I was just looking for someone to point me in the right direction to get started.
Thanks.
I am still wondering why states that license home inspectors have yet to repeal their laws. They should.
Licensing solves nothing.
I suggest you find a full time job. There is no money in this business if you are just starting out. Licensing states are running home inspectors out of business.
I disagree. Both are strictly marketing tools. Neither are indicators of competence.
It is difficult to argue that a state license which is typically based on passing one minimum standard exam, once… is much of an indicator of anything. It certainly isn’t an indicator of minimum competence.
Minimum competence can NOT be determined by the passing of one minimum standard exam once.
We once averaged all the material needed to acquire different home inspection state licenses. It was a 2.25 inch stack only. See third PIC down: http://www.nachi.org/requirementcomparison.htm
Not to mention the fact that…once a licensing law is passed…the majority of initial licenses are passed out to most existing inspectors for little more than a fee. In some cases, these fee based licenses were handed out to the fellows who were the objects of the “Nightly News” consumer reports that reflected their incompetency that was used to push through the licensing law in the first place. In Massachusetts, the first licensing board had on it the one inspector who had been sued more than 12 times that was the reason for the licensing law, in the first place.
It’s a trick to keep equally or more-educated competitors from getting a license. They license themselves first, then, without embarrassment, announce that future competitors must first quit their day jobs and attend one of their classroom-only schools, as if the secret information they would learn there could only be passed down via a chalkboard… and that anyone, like me, who prides himself on being nearly 100% self educated, couldn’t possibly possess the self discipline to sit down at his dining room table and learn anything online, at his own pace.