How To Become A Home Inspector

ICA’s 120 hour online Home Inspection Training is self-paced. There’s no time limit for completing the program. It depends upon each individual student’s situation and the amount of time he or she can dedicate to the training. It also depends upon the home inspector educational and licensing requirements in your state.

Most of our students complete the Home Inspector Training Course in three to four weeks, although there are some who have finished in as little as ten days. Some students may take longer due to their current job or other commitments. Since all training materials are available online 24/7, students can complete their training using a smartphone tablet, laptop or other digital device anytime that’s convenient and anywhere there’s an Internet connection. There’s no need to take time away from your present job or missing a class or classes due to unforeseen events such as illness or a scheduling conflict.

Absolutely! Many of our graduates conduct home inspections on a part time basis. Some are semi-retired and others become part-time house inspectors to supplement the income from their full-time jobs by inspecting homes during evenings and weekends. According to online placement agency ZipRecruiter, the salary range for part-time home inspectors is from $12,500 to slightly more than $100,000 annually. The majority of these part-time home inspectors bring in between $26,500 and $56,000 annually, with the average being around $46,000 per year. Work as little or as often as you like. If you need to earn more money, schedule more inspections. Your earnings and success as a part-time home inspector will be in proportion to to the amount of time and effort you’re willing to dedicate to your home inspection business.

It depends where you live. With a few exceptions,  each state has its own set of requirements for becoming a home inspector. Some states, such as California, Colorado and Wyoming don’t require home inspectors to be licensed. Chances are, however, that clients in these and other states without licensing requirements will want to know the inspector they select has been properly trained and certified.

There are also states that require classroom training. An example is New York, where home inspectors are required to complete 100 hours of classroom training plus 40 hours of supervised fieldwork before receiving their licenses. In several regions of the country, Inspection Certification Associates offers both classroom and field training. Whether you take ICA’s Home Inspector training online or in a classroom , you’ll be fully prepared to take and pass both the National Home Inspector Examination (NHIE) and your state’s licensing exam when you complete our program.

ICA’s Online home Inspector Training and Certification Course costs just $695, including all training modules and materials. You’ll also receive Report Form Nitro home inspection reporting software that allows inspectors to input their findings while conducting inspections. Once the inspection is completed, the inspectors can issue a report of their findings on the spot using a smartphone, tablet of other digital device. Itsells for $399, but it’s included in your ICA tuition. Unlike most other home  inspection training schools, ICA provides access to Radon and Mold Detection Training and Certification Courses, which are a $200 value if purchased separately. Also unlike most other schools, ICA graduates are entitled to receive free home inspection refresher training for life.

Once you see everything that’s included in ICA’s Home Inspector Training and Certification program when compared to other inspection trainers, you’ll understand why so many certified home inspectors throughout the country choose ICA for their online and classroom training.

That’s easy—it’s just a good business decision. Given the number of topics our training covers and the quality of our instructors and training programs, we could easily charge more for our classes, but that would probably reduce the number of students that enroll in our classes. Not everyone who is considering becoming a home inspector is able or willing to spend a thousand dollars or more for home inspection training, so by offering tuition that’s affordable, we end up enrolling considerably more students. Since our students receive a quality home inspection education at a price that’s reasonable, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Of course! There is an approximately eight minute online video that will give you a good idea of how our home inspection training classes are taught. You can view the demo video or access it by clicking on the “Watch Demo” tab at the top of this page.

Absolutely! Our head instructor is Steve Preins, who is also ICA’s Director of Education. Steve has more than 20 years’ experience training both new and veteran home inspectors, and is the recipient of numerous home inspection industry awards. Under his leadership, ICA has grown to become North America’s foremost provider of home inspection training and certification.

Our online Home Inspection Course, which is updated annually, contains 120 hours of class training. Students complete the course working at their own pace.

It varies among individual students. Most of them finish in three to four weeks. Since the course is self-paced, it depends upon the amount of time available that can be dedicated to completing the training. Some may take longer than the three to four week average, and others have finished in as little as a week to ten days.

We use the term “Real Estate Inspection Certification” because our students are trained and certified to perform both residential and commercial property inspections. The course title is intended to show that ICA’s inspection and certification training is all-encompassing. Our residential inspection training conforms to the American Society of Home Inspector (ASHI) standards, while commercial inspection construction is taught to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) international standards.

Yes. Home inspection exams in every state, as well as the National Home Inspectors’ 200 question exam, are based in large part on the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics. These are also the basis for ICA’s home inspector training. Our course comes with an online study guide that contains more than 700 practice questions. When you complete ICA’s pre-licensing training, you’ll be fully prepared to take and pass both the NHIE exam and the exam in your home state.

Yes. Our home inspector training includes a special four module Mold Inspection Certification Course. If purchased separately, the mold certification course would cost $100, but unlike most other home inspector trainers, we include it in your ICA course tuition.

We do. Continuing education for home inspectors is available through our affiliate company Quality Education Group.

Absolutely. Inspection Certification Associates ICA is a Gold Level Affiliate Member with ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) and we work very closely with ASHI.  ICA trains all students to the ASHI standards of practice.

We also work very closely with InterNACHI and all graduates of the ICA home inspection training course are eligible for a free one month membership with InterNACHI.

ICA is also an affiliate member of the Florida Association of Building Inspectors (FABI) and the California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA), along with several other professional organizations. Membership in these and similar organizations isn’t mandatory, but something you might consider to enhance your professional image. Regardless of your decision, you’ll have free access to the standards of practice for each of these organizations through our extensive online reference library.

Yes. After you complete your home inspector training, you’ll receive a copy of your certification by mail. The certificate will include the certification number assigned to you that can be used on your business cards, marketing materials, pre-inspection agreements and home inspection reports.

Yes. A Radon Certification Course is included with our training. Although most home inspector training courses charge extra for radon training, it’s free to ICA students.

Absolutely not! Unlike some other home inspection schools, we respect our students’ privacy. We may give you a quick call or send you a short email to introduce ourselves, welcome you to the ICA training program and check to see if you have questions on home inspection regulations in your state. Rest assured, you won’t be receiving unnecessary follow-up calls or emails. ICA doesn’t use high-pressure selling tactics. At the end of the day, it’s entirely up to you as to which of our training courses you choose to enroll in, and we respect that.

Sure. All e-books and other training materials in our online reference library can be downloaded to your computer free of charge. This means you’ll always have access to them, both during and after your online home inspection training.

Of course. We provide unlimited support both for our students and graduates. Feel free to call us at 888-374-4096 with any questions or concerns, both during your training and after you graduate.

At the end of the day, the quality and content of the home inspection report establishes how you will ultimately be judged by your clients. Clients expect and are entitled to a thorough and accurate report delivered to them in a timely manner, which should be within 24 hours.

We have an arrangement with www.HomeInspectionForm.com that provides all our graduates with a free copy of their Report Form Pro Nitro inspection report software. Because it’s so easy to use, and works offline, most of our graduates prepare their reports following completion of their inspections with Report Form Pro Nitro.

Report Form Pro lets inspectors generate reports for their clients directly from iOS or Android smartphones, tablets, laptops or desktop computers. Report Form Pro includes pre-inspection agreements between the client and the inspector, which are used to establish the scope of the work, cost of the inspection and any other agreements between the parties.

The Report Form Pro Nitro app is the very best all-in-one home inspection reporting software package available for mobile devices and desktop computer. Among Report Form Pro Nitro’s many unique features is that it lets the inspector use his or her mobile phone or tablet to insert digital images directly into the report during the actual inspection. Although Report Form Pro Nitro retails for $400 if purchased separately, it’s included free of charge in your ICA training on how to become a home inspector.

Another home inspection report software program that’s used by some of our graduates is Horizon Home Inspection Software, which was developed by our colleagues at Carson Dunlop, who literally have decades of experience in the home inspection industry. As with Report Form Pro Nitro, Horizon Home Inspection Software is very user friendly, and is compatible with both iOS and Android devices.

We provide all our students with a list of the tools recommended for a home inspector to carry in his or her toolbox. It’s suggested that after reviewing the list, students do Google searches for each of the items. Home Depot and other big box retailers are also a good source of quality tools and equipment at reasonable prices. An adequate home inspector’s basic tool kit will probably cost around $200, although chances are you may already have some of the items, such as flashlights, screwdrivers and other small tools

When all is said and done, there are only a handful of items that are absolutely necessary. The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) Standards of Practice recommends that at a minimum, home inspectors carry a flashlight and a circuit tester for testing ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) devices. In theory, that’s all that’s needed to conduct home inspections, but in practicality, there’s other equipment home inspectors need in order to thoroughly and safely carry out home inspections. These additional items are included on the list of recommended tools given to ICA students.

Some home inspection schools may offer to sell you an inspection tool kit or various marketing supplies such as business cards and letterhead, but they’re usually much more expensive than the same or equivalent items you can find elsewhere.

The bottom line is that starting a new business can be expensive, which is why Inspection Certification Associates will always try to save you money whenever and wherever possible.

The short answer is no. Unlike opening a fast food franchise where you’ll be generating revenue from day one, getting started in the home inspection industry will require you to aggressively market yourself to lenders, agents and estate brokers before money starts coming in. Aggressive marketing will be required regardless of whether you spend $25,000 or more on a franchise or start out as John Smith’s Home Inspection Services. Since you’ll need to do the legwork under either scenario, you’re probably better off saving the cost of the franchise fee and avoiding those ongoing royalty fees.

Learning how to market yourself and build your business is included as a part of ICA’s home inspector training. In addition, we’ll be here to help you both during and after your training if you have questions or need assistance along the way.

Yes, ICA’s training package includes a bonus module that will teach you how to use drones to inspect rooftops without having to climb up a ladder or go through a roof hatch. Drones are especially useful when inspecting a steep-roofed home or a multi-story commercial building.

Yes. We provide all students with recommended insurance companies that offer insurance for home inspectors. Most home inspectors use OREP for their home inspection insurance needs. OREP is a mainstay in the home inspection industry and provides both E&O and General Liability policies for new inspectors at competitive rates. You can get a premium indication in less than 5 minutes on their website here.

There are some home inspector directories that are great for generating leads for home inspections. The biggest of these is HireAnInspector.com. Normally, the cost to be listed in the HireAnInspector.com directory is $200 per year. As an ICA Home Inspection Training Program graduate, however, you’ll receive a free lifetime listing in their directory.

No, there’s no time limit. Although most people finish the course in three to four weeks, each student completes the studies at his or her own pace by working whenever it’s convenient.

It’s really simple. Enroll online or call us toll-free at (888) 374-4096 to enroll over the phone. Whichever method you choose, you’ll automatically receive an email from us with your online home inspection course login information, which means you can get started immediately on your way to a new and exciting career as a certified home inspector!