Home Inspection Exam

I just took the National Home Inspection Exam for the first time. Didn’t expect it to be as easy as it was. Do many people pass it on the first try?

Yes. You must have studied properly. Congrats!

P.S. Keep studying. Still lots to learn!

I believe I heard from a past national officer it had a 47% - 51% pass rate for inspectors taking it the 1st time

I passed on the first try. Found much of the test irrelevant. Some test takers are very good inspectors but poor test takers.
The real learning is always done on the job…

Paul …

Maybe so BUT you’re a whiz kid

There was one inspector on Facebook that claimed there was 12 questions about sprinkler systems on the National Exam. Not understanding why they want inspectors to know something that the inspector does not inspect.

InterNACHI is about to sue the EBPHI and their board members as we believe they all knew that about sprinkler systems and did nothing as inspectors failed the exam because of those questions.

We should have the suits filed next month, hang in there.

James … I agree with you, BUT

When the NHIE was set up, the ASHI and EBPHI Boards decided that:

  1. there were many things that our SoP said we don’t do that inspectors in certain areas run into a lot OR in some states may be part of the typical home inspection and can get inspectors hammered for if not addressed;

  2. they also felt that an inspector could say take their test in Arizona or Washington state … Pass it, THEN 2 yrs later relocate to Boston or Florida AND have quite a few things to address in his inspection he didn’t have to before. So they threw in questions about WDI, sprinklers, radon, lead paint, asbestos, mold, etc that our SoP say we don’t do …

An example is when I lived in Florida or Texas 35-40 yrs ago, every other house on the block in a 1200sf neighborhood of $69,000 houses had sprinklers and a pool. Inspectors there mostly inspected them and had to know a bit about them

In KC, I can run thru house in a 3000 - 5000sf neighborhood of $750,000 houses and only see 1 pool or sprinkler in 25-30 houses … So most of these inspectors farm them out and don’t do them NOR do they know much about them.

Hence, most states that use the NHIE have a 40% PLUS fail rate the 1st time an inspector takes the test THEN realizes he has to study stuff he was told is NOT part of what he inspects … Go Figure

THEN you have the fact the NHIE has slightly different versions of it DEPENDING on what state you’re in.

For example in Texas, their SoP is heavily weighted to code issues. The NHIE is not a code test BUT with just a very few ASHI members in a state with almost 4,000 licensed inspectors TREC was enticed to switch from their own state test to the NHIE (amazing but we hear the Texas Advisory Committee that year may have had several ASHI members on it…??)

The concern is, when an inspector gets sued, a smart attorney on the other side will go for the claim of negligence. It is easier for the inspector to win if he does not know anything about a system that is his SOP, if the buyer is mad at him for not reporting a nonhome inspection item.
The NAR lawyers have videos telling their members that knowing more then needed can put them in harms way in a real estate transaction gone bad. My girlfriend is probably one of the smartest brokers in my area when it comes to the legal end of real estate, and she always preaches about being due diligent to her agents, but she warns them that due diligence can be double edged sword.