News and information about home inspection training
Stucco is one of the most common home cladding materials in the state of Florida. Its uniform appearance covers certain architectural elements, single walls or the bulk of the exterior, and gives a home the classic look that stucco is so famous for. But in Florida, there’s a stucco disaster that’s just now starting to…
The primary reason contracts exist is to set forth in clear terms the scope of an agreement. That helps every party involved understand exactly what they’re getting into. No surprises equal a happier inspector and customer, and those are always good things. Your home inspection contract helps avoid the possibility of crossed wires, misinterpretations, and…
As a home inspector, you don’t issue a rating or measurement for a customer’s indoor air quality. However, some of the systems that you inspect have a direct effect on it. There was a time when air quality concerns were limited to keeping down dust and other allergens and airing out paint fumes during home…
You’ve finished your ICA School training, or you’re about to. In no time at all, you’ll be ready to take on your first client. Not so fast. You’ve got a lot of work to do before you set out to perform home inspections, and all of it can help determine the success of your fledgling…
Self-paced, online study sounds awesome! But then the reality of late nights and finding the time and peace to focus on learning sets in. Many people who enroll in online study programs drop out, but that doesn’t have to be you. Here are 5 habits that can help you be among the ones who don’t…
What have you done for yourself lately? That’s the subject of ICA School director of education, Steve Preins’, latest podcast. And it’s a timely one. Spring is here, and the real estate market has done well for the past few years. That’s the ideal scenario for doing something genuinely beneficial for yourself by making the…
Building code changes with the times, but that doesn’t mean older homes have to comply. With a new addition or home renovation, the contractor abides by the most recent set of regulations. But when a home is original, or mostly so, you might encounter some interesting “grandfathered-in” hazards. Whether or not to report a hazard…
For whatever reason, some homeowners make accessing the attic more difficult than it ought to be. The most common method, which probably isn’t deliberate, is covering it with the same ceiling texture that many other homeowners can’t wait to get rid of. But whether or not the attic is sealed, you still need to access…
For the most part, the home inspection industry stays relatively the same. You learn the process of inspecting real estate, and if a system changes later, you learn how to inspect that and add it to your repertoire. The Standards of Practice that govern the industry for association members follows the same guidelines as it…
There are national and state home inspection associations, and at both levels there are plenty of members. Then there are state-level chapters of larger associations, too. There’s no shortage of opportunities to belong to one of the many home inspection organizations, but what’s in it for you? The short answer is that there’s plenty of…
