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More Notes On Becoming a Professional Home Inspector Prior construction experience is a great asset - either in renovation, construction, or trade-related experience such as electrician, plumber etc. - or as a quantity surveyor, construction estimator, trades coordinator, or as a professional architect or engineer. An architect or an engineer is not automatically a good home inspector. These are disciplines that deal with very specialized and specific areas of buildings, whereas professional home inspectors are generalists, observing and understanding all the components in a building - and the relationships between different components and component systems. The general categories are:
With or without prior experience, the prospective home inspector usually starts by reading about, and getting involved with the parts of the house he or she is not already familiar with. There have been until recently, only a few private (and very expensive) schools of home inspection, and the content is frequently lacking. One way to start preliminary evaluation of a career in home inspection might be with a correspondence course. Larger inspection companies will generally teach prospective inspectors how to inspect a house, but they won’t teach you "about" the house; you'll have to learn that yourself. Community Colleges offer a wide range of evening classes in trade-related topics, and recently some colleges have started to offer courses in the field of home inspection. The Ontario Association of Home Inspectors (OAHI) has developed some training programs, primarily in the area of defect recognition, and groups such as Wood Energy Technology Transfer (WETT Inc.) offer wood energy technical training. The Ministry of Housing in Ontario delivers Ontario Building Code Courses. Most associations provide prior learning assessments, to help applicants determine which courses of study may be required, prior to attaining applicant or candidate status. In addition to any courses of study and possibly company training and/or apprenticeship, a number of fee-paid inspections, a review of the inspector's reporting methods and formal examinations, generally must be completed before applying for full membership in a professional association. Some knowledge of the following will also be beneficial:
Home inspectors, whether working independently or dispatched by another company, require some form of telephone service, record keeping and follow-up service in conjuction with performing inspections. Inspectors usually have their own vehicles, and purchase their own tools, test equipment, cell phones, pagers etc. Personal and professional liability insurances, as well as disability or loss-of-income security are usually the responsibilty of the individual - and there may be a requirement to perform a set number of fee-paid inspections as well as a substantial waiting period, before a new home inspector is eligible. IMPORTANT: 1. A conscientious effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of
this material. Electrospec Home Inspections will not assume liability for its use.
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