News and information about home inspection training
Stucco has taken a lot of hits over the past decade or so, but it’s still in the running as a preferred home cladding. Applied the right way using proper materials and with skilled hands, it can protect a home from the elements for many years. The problems started to emerge with exterior insulation and…
Probably, most of the homes you inspect will be sound, secure and healthy within reason. But every once in a while, you’ll inspect a house with lurking hazards. Home buyers and other customers will hire you to tell it to them straight. If there’s a problem, they’ll want to know about it. While you look…
Online home inspection training is both convenient and challenging. Retention rates are lower for online courses than for brick-and-mortar classrooms but that doesn’t have to be your story. The problem isn’t necessarily with the digital space but in a lack of realistic preparation. Some new students think online study is easier. That’s not the case.…
Is there treasure in the attic? Cutting-edge wiring in an unassuming older home? What about a hidden room that’s tucked under a staircase? A certified home inspector sometimes finds the most unusual things on the job. Here are 3 surprises, both good and bad, that you might miss on the initial walk-through but your inspector…
Depending on whom you ask, home inspection training should only happen in the field, in the classroom, or online. Naysayers exist in nearly every direction to steer you away from one education model and toward another. There’s no single best path that leads to becoming a certified home inspector, but there is one that’s best…
PVC or polyvinyl chloride plumbing pipe has essentially eliminated corrosion in plumbing supply and drain lines, but plenty of homes still have old galvanized pipe. Copper isn’t immune from corrosion, either, but it’s sometimes easier to spot than corrosion on galvanized metal. When inspecting the plumbing in older homes or new ones that use copper,…
California is one of a few states that doesn’t license home inspectors. But that doesn’t mean inspectors are free to do whatever they please. The California Trade Practice Act, which was enacted in 1996, sets forth regulations that inspectors must abide by. If an inspector belongs to the California Real Estate Inspector Association (CREIA), one…
Wouldn’t it be great if an inspector could do a home inspection and then help the client by doing some of the repairs on the side? In theory, a service like that sounds like a win-win situation. It would attract a lot of business for inspectors, and customers could kill two birds with one stone…
Plenty of new home inspectors open a new business every year, but not all of them succeed. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the earliest years are the most precarious. But that doesn’t have to spell doom for your home inspection business. What separates those who thrive from those who hang on for…
Whether you call it a water heater or use the colloquialism, “hot water heater,” these appliances need serious attention to match the serious work they do every day. Like many other workhorses in and around the home, most of them go unnoticed unless there’s a problem. Water heaters run on electricity or a combustible fuel,…
