Matthew,

As an independent home/building inspector consultant for over the past twenty-two years, I have to heartily agree with Steven Meyer's post. We have licensing in the state of Illinois and all it has accomplished to date is to draw attention to the profession where everyone wants to make a fast buck, or so they think, by becoming a home inspector. RE agents love it because now they can add a plethora of mediocre home inspectors to their list. In fact, they're the ones responsible for enacting the legislation here in the state of Illinois. If you think you have competition now, just wait. You haven't seen nothing until state licensing takes effect. Don't take my word for it. Just take some time to do the research to find out what's transpired in other states that have licensed home inspectors. Bottom line is, it's just another source of revenue for the state, nothing more or less. Moreover, the state requirements for conducting a home inspection are abysmal and pathetic at best! When you consider that the ASHI Standards of Practice are minimal, our state requirements in Illinois to conduct a home inspection pale in comparison. As such, I kind of saw this coming years ago and decided to devote my time and energy to performing commercial property condition assessments (PCA's), an area that most home inspectors wouldn't know where to begin. Just my 2-cents worth but, if and when your state decides to license home inspectors, prepare for the worst to come!