Thread: Survey on New Inspectors

What per cent of new inspectors start out working for another company to learn the ropes, rather than going to school and start working independently. thanks

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To become licensed in North Carolina at the time I became an inspector you had to apprentice under a fully licensed home inspector for 100 inspections OR be a licensed architect, engineer or general contractor.

I began an apprenticeship under a licensed inspector while at the same time I took classes to become a licensed general contractor. Completed about a dozen inspections as an apprentice by the time I became a licensed general contractor.

Never worked for another company. I formed my own company and basically hired the mentor as a consultant.
We split the inspection fee 50/50. His role was to teach me how to inspect, write a report, and evaluate my building systems knowledge. My mentor was the past executive director of the licensing board so I felt comfortable he would have a good understanding of what the licensing board was looking for in an inspector.

Originally Posted by daniel nantell

What per cent of new inspectors start out working for another company to learn the ropes, rather than going to school and start working independently. thanks

I'm not sure. I do remember the instructor in my HI class mentioning that 80% of new inspectors don't last longer than a year in business.

Originally Posted by John Dirks Jr

I'm not sure. I do remember the instructor in my HI class mentioning that 80% of new inspectors don't last longer than a year in business.

That would be nice. If they stop turning out home inspectors that means 80% will disappear rather quickly.

The fact of the matter is that anyone can inspect a home. The other fact of the matter is only some do it pretty well if not darn good. My point being is that anyone CAN inspect a home. That is the reason this line of work is constantly flooded with new inspectors. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of other lines of work in the construction/real estate business that one can not just sit in a class for a week or 2 and come out a "Professional Home Inspector" and just start doing work on their own. Electricians, plumber, in most states builders etc have to have x amount of time in and quite a bit of training/class work before becoming a licensed individual and do work on there own with no supervision.

Home inspectors are actually suppose to have the knowledge of all these trades and God forbid he does not know a good bit of it. It takes years for most electricians to grasp all that is necessary to be let loose to perform their trade, plumbers the same thing.

That is why I get a kick out of (not picking on any individuals here) the electricians, just to pick a trade, sounding so literate about their trade and getting the one upsman on a home inspector. Damn man....You better be able to. That is the only one trade you are responsible for, for years. Sure you know other thrades but that is you expertise that you work for years on perfecting and understanding.

We have to know it all to the sick point of never missing anything or we are heald liable. How many trades are we responcible for? How much knowledge to we actually have to retain. Do folks need to work under someone else before going out on their own as a home inspector ? I would say that almost all need to unless their background in the field covered every aspect of the building trades. On top of that some excellent class room training.

Yes, It seems getting started is very competitive. Due to the slow time at hand does not make any of my full time availability any easier. My full time job laid off 1 year ago. Now its sink or swim. I'm being mentored currently but it took about 15 months to get someone who wanted to help out. Its happening now but had to be patient. All my thanks to the ASHI Chapter for making it happen. By the way I'm looking for a used CO detector that somebody might want to sell. Drop me a line if anybody out there has one?