well folks, by now you have probably heard that Kevin O’Malley and Mike Casey have come back into the industry, for those of us who have been around a long time, it’s good news. They are opening schools all over the country, and I believe their reputations speak for themselves. Yes they have co-joined with ASHI, I believe they will do an excellent job of training new inspectors. Kevin started me on my path years ago! We are working on a school for NY as we speak. I will be sure to give equal time to all associations, as I have been a member of all of them at one time or another, and I will be sure to let them know about the fantastic resources here, just as I have done in the past. Here is the ASHI school locations and schedules.
All Classes start at 8:30am
California (Northern) September13th-24th September25th-27thMold ClassNovember1st-12th January '1110th-21st
Berkeley, CA Building Education Center
812 Page Street
Berkeley, CA 94710-1427
(510) 525-7610
8:30 - 5:30 Monday thru Friday
Good luck charging more than $3,000 plus traveling expenses in a down economy and very slow real estate market in most sections of the country.
Also I do not think they’ll be very many veteran inspectors happy with your 10 day classes kicking out more home inspectors in an already heavily saturated field.
And I notice you have a 120 hr. class in Illinois and the state only requires 60 hrs. of pre-license education, good luck with that.
I see a lot of flaws here. I hope the classes are better than the advertising.
I had to go to a school to get 128 hours of so called pre-licensing/in-field training/modules to get my license. They set up components and go over hands on in a class room environment and at the end of the day let you go run around a pos hud home about to fall down and say go add it. You got 10 to 15 other people running around with ya. Complete mess. Then when its all over, they pump you up and say go inspect. I knew coming out I needed more and joined NACHI. Did over 30 more mocks before I felt good enough within myself to start getting paid.
I know there will be some people say you get what you pay for, but noway can MOST people be ready after a 2 week course…period.
I don’t blame them for getting in on the **action **of unemployment lot’s of people are out of work… and we have it easy…right?
As I’ve said before. I’ve received more calls this year “Hi, I’m a new inspector in your area and just spent every last dime I have to get in on the Home Inspection money” “Can you help me? The instructor said it’s a courtesy to drive me around and train me”
I’ll usually ask "What’s your background? Where was your last job? And after I’m told they had an unrelated job in the past, and definitely lacking general construction backgrounds, I’ll generally just be polite and brush them off. But sometimes I’ve said honestly, you have little or no chance of making big money in your first year in this business, let alone surviving the next 5, keep your expectations realistic and you’ll do OK.
Honestly, most people getting into this profession should “ease” into it. And do LOTS of mock inspections. The funny one is when they call me and tell me they are taking their test for a License (we don’t have licensing in CA).
This is NOT “earn while you learn out there”… people are giving you their money and trust. That should be respected!
The reason I am somewhat “passionate” is that there is such a large differentiation between a quality service and that of an inexperienced/new inspector. This difference is generally unknown to a client/buyer and a poor service ends up making those of us who provide a quality service look bad.
When a client calls do you say “My fee is $300 for your inspection, but by the way I have less than a year of inspection experience and was in Sales (or some other Non-construction related business) prior to this”??? Doubt it!
It’s not too hard to imagine someone saying “A Home Inspection… save your money, I hired someone and they didn’t tell us about XXXXX and it cost me a lot of money” Nothing is farther from the truth, but bad news spreads faster than good news.
If you want a classroom-style course instead of internet, CoA is a great school. InterNACHI will be at their convention in Vegas in October: http://inspectionconference.com/index.php
We have worked with Mr. Casey and Mr. O’Malley for years and with ITA (before Kaplan) and they have always had the best schools out there. Pricing will be all determined on supply and demand…but they do a very good job of having high quality instructors and there is a lot of hands-on. My recommendation is to talk to past graduates and see if they thought they got their moneys worth…just my 2 cents. We will also be at their show in Vegas…(who doesn’t want to play Minute to Win It ?)
If you are looking for a classroom inspection course, you can’t do much better than one taught by Mike Nelson. He is a very good instructor. I recommend that you hold your nose with regard to the courses CaO is holding under the banner of a known diploma mill and get yourself a seat in the front row of any class that Mike is teaching.
Similar to what AHIT does. I’m seeing emails every 2 weeks sent to contractors, builders, and other groups telling them how great the potential is in home inspection; talking about the shortage of good well trained home inspectors; and offering 4-7 day training classes in 20-25 states.
PLUS with only $xxx down we can finance the rest for $65 p/mnth; sell you software, tool kits, brochures, a web page, business cards, et, etc.
