To become a new home inspector, one must complete required courses and a licensing exam. The coursework covers inspecting a home’s exterior and interior, appliances, and heating and ventilation systems. Fieldwork may also be required. After passing the exam, applying for a license is the final step.
To become a new home inspector, an applicant must complete required courses at a university or trade school and take a licensing exam. After obtaining a home inspector’s license, an inspector can help homebuyers by assessing the safety and structural soundness of newly constructed homes. These tasks can be carried out independently, by hiring new builders or real estate offices specializing in the sale of new homes. Otherwise, a new home inspector might work as an employee of municipalities that regularly send agents to investigate new homes for quality before they can be put on the market and sold.
The coursework and field training required to become a new home inspector can be taken at any certified school that has a diploma, be it a technical school or an actual college. Most local governments require between 60 and 120 hours of instruction. These classes teach students how to perform inspections on the exterior and interior of a home. Students learn to analyze roofing, plumbing, the skeletal structure of a house, and the electrical system. In addition, techniques for inspecting appliances and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system of a home are taught.
Approximately 40% to 50% of the training may include fieldwork where students go to a real new home and analyze its quality under the supervision of instructors who are also certified inspectors; some local governments, however, do not need hands-on training in the field. Additional training to become a new home inspector can include investigating drainage outside the home and propensity for mold and dampness inside the home. Most governments also require inspectors to know how to check for harmful gases that build up in the soil underneath a home, such as radon.
Within two years of completing the course, a person wishing to become a new home inspector must pay a fee to take a certification exam, which will cover all of the information taught during classes and field instruction. While many counties offer their own exams, in the US, many local governments rely on the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI) exam or the National Home Inspectors Exam, formerly known as the American Society of Home Inspectors Exam (ASHI). The NAHI test is two hours long and contains 140 questions, while the other test has 200 questions and can take up to four hours to complete.
If you pass the exam, applying for an inspector’s license to a local government agency is the final step in becoming a new home inspector. A license is normally valid for one or two years. After that, individuals must renew it. Some governments require applicants to complete a certain number of actual home inspections before obtaining a license – usually between 40 and 100.
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