So you want to be a Kentucky Home Inspector?
I get a lot of people contacting me about how to become a Kentucky Home Inspector. Well, here's what I tell ‘em.
If you REALLY want it, it can be done. Most home inspectors are one person shops that don't have room to hire anybody, including myself. Plan on doing it all by yourself. Of course, if you have $15,000 or $20,000 you could buy a franchise and get their support in getting started. There is still a high failure rate. But, if you work hard at it, it can be done.
It is NOT as easy and simple as the "Become a Home Inspector, make $500 - $800 a day" ads from the Home Inspection Schools make it look. They are rather self serving to get new students in the door. There is a high failure rate, some estimate as high as 75 - 80%, for starting a home inspection business. The schools don't mention this because the students would not come in the door and give them bucks. A few years ago, there were over 200 home inspectors licensed in Lexington, KY. In May of 2007, there were only 45 listed on the licensing web site. Most of those are part-timers making a few extra bucks on the weekend. Lexington no longer offers licensing due to the new state law.
While the ads are accurate in that you CAN make $500 - $800 a day, what they don't tell you is that those days are few and far between. You'll be lucky to do one or two inspections a week for the first year or two, and it's kind of tough living on $500 a week. Better have some money in savings or another job.
As any detailed advice I would give you, about becoming a home inspector, could appear to be self serving, I will give very little. But I will point you to the best resources on the internet for getting the advice. It will take you some work to dig it out though. See links at bottom of this message.
Here are some quick message board links to topics about becoming a home inspector.
These are all valuable must read topics
http://www.nachi.org/forum/showthread.php?t=943
http://inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2250
http://inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2251
http://inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2252
http://inspectionnews.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000100.html
http://inspectionnews.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000003.html
You should get, if you don't already have, specific knowledge & education about proper application, installation, performance characteristics and failure causes for all the different types of:
1. The way the Lots & grounds & grading affect the structure;
2. Old and New Exterior surface materials and the various components thereof, wood lap, cement asbestos, vinyl, brick, log, masonite, etc;
3. Old and New Roofing materials, including gutter systems, downspouts, and leader extensions;
4. The complete electrical system from the Service Drop to the outlet, including the different brands & models of panels, wiring types & sizes & ampacity, required locations for the different types of switches & outlets, etc. (all systems from Knob & Tube to present day systems)
5. Structural components of the home from the roof framing to the foundation walls (including crawling thru the attics and crawl spaces);
6. Heating Systems, including flues and ductwork requirements;
7. Air Conditioning Systems;
8. Fireplaces / Wood Stoves / Chimneys; (are you familiar with Trimmer Arch Supports? It raised heck with me on the testing I took, i.e. the NHIE - National Home Inspectors Examination).
9. Plumbing Systems; (Complete DWV - (Drain, Waste, Vent) requirements)
10. Water heaters.
11. Kitchen Appliances;
12. Interior construction materials;
13. Laundry Room Applications.
14. Business Management
15. Marketing
16. Taxes & accounting
17. Insurance
18. and I'm sure there's more I'm missing off the top of my head.
Anyway the resources: (These are nationwide message boards for Home Inspectors.) Search the archives for specific questions or answers before asking questions. A LOT of good advice is contained in the archives that will probably never be repeated.
http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/index.php
NACHI message Boards
http://inspectionnews.com/
Residential Message Boards
http://inspectorsjournal.com/forum/default.asp
The Inspector's Journal Forum
First, focus on reading the message threads in the General Chit Chat, Insurance, Training, Reporting Systems, Advertising, Legal, Marketing, and Miscellaneous forums. This is where you can learn about the risks and rewards and "how to's" of starting a home inspection career. There is a lot of great advice in those messages from Inspectors who have made it, and Inspectors who have failed to make it. It will likely never be adequately repeated anywhere else.
If you truly want to become a Home Inspector, you'll have to work hard at it. Digging thru this advice in the message board archives (searching) is just the start of the hard work to become successful.
If you still want to do it after reading those threads, then read the Specific Topic threads, such as Electrical, Plumbing, Structural, Roofing, etc.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do. It can be a very rewarding career, but it is a LOT of hard work to get started, be successful, and avoid being sued for sloppy inspections.
Do a LOT of reading in the message archives, did I say a LOT of reading in the archives, before you spend any money on schools or equipment.
The government regulations, approved education providers, approved national testing, etc, can be found here:
http://www.ohbc.ky.gov/licensing/homeinspection/
Review it all with your own attorney and accountant for best advice.
Best Regards,
Erby Crofutt
B4U Close Home Inspections & Radon Testing
Serving Central, Northern, & Eastern Kentucky
Home Buyer & Home Sellers
502-570-4054
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Quote: "It is NOT as easy and simple as the "Become a Home Inspector, make $500 - $800 a day" ads from the Home Inspection Schools make it look. They are rather self serving to get new students in the door."
Erby:
There is also one large HI organization that works on the above principle. It makes it very, very easy to be "certified" online without any proctoring or monitoring. By making certification easy, the association generates a large need for training (new training, continuing education, mold, radon courses,etc), equipment, report systems such that it is supported by these same companies offering the services..........they need the association to keep their sales up!!!
This organization is flooding the market with bright eyed new HI's looking to make the $100,000 per year as promioed in training ads. This sheer numbers make it very hard for any new HI to survive. The older established HI's have already carved out their place in the market but the newbies are left to struggle and wonder why they spent up to $20,000 for such paltry returns. And what about the quality of inspections from such a large number of inexperienced HI's??