Information Would Be Appreciated

[colby]

My name is Colby and I'm very interested in becoming a home inspector. I have many years of construction experience and a BS in Construction Engineering. I have also been an inspector on many different commercial construction projects in the Kansas City area. I think I have adequate experience, but I have some questions about home inspections. I'm certain you have covered all of these questions elsewhere in the forum, but I just need some general knowledge.

1. Can anyone tell me what is required in the Kansas City area regarding licensing and insurance?

2. I am thinking of going to AHIT for training, but was wondering if there are better home inspection schools?

3. What is the job actually like and what should I expect starting out?

4. What is the likeliness of being sued and if your report could prevent that from happening?

5. What is the income like and does anyone do this full-time?

6. What is the rate of someone becoming successful in this occupation?

[randynavarro]

Successful?

Define that.

[Jim Katen]

My name is Colby and I'm very interested in becoming a home inspector. I have many years of construction experience and a BS in Construction Engineering. I have also been an inspector on many different commercial construction projects in the Kansas City area. I think I have adequate experience, but I have some questions about home inspections. I'm certain you have covered all of these questions elsewhere in the forum, but I just need some general knowledge.

1. Can anyone tell me what is required in the Kansas City area regarding licensing and insurance?

I have no idea. There's a guy named Dan Bowers who occasionally stops by here. He's from KC and he'd know.

2. I am thinking of going to AHIT for training, but was wondering if there are better home inspection schools?

I've heard good & bad. I'd look at ITA or Carson Dunlop before AHIT but I really don't like any of them. The actual person doing the teaching is much more important than the name of the school that he teaches for. If you snag a good teacher, you'll learn something useful.

3. What is the job actually like and what should I expect starting out?

You need to have knowledge that's a mile wide and a foot or so deep. Over time, you deepen your knowledge, region by region as you go. The job is easy to get into but very difficult to master. It's one of the few professions out there where you will be routinely punished for doing the job well.

4. What is the likeliness of being sued and if your report could prevent that from happening?

I've never gathered actuarial data on lawsuits, but my understanding is that newer inspectors get sued a lot. You can certainly reduce the "likeliness" (I like it. Did you make it up?) of a suit by finding every problem in a house and telling your customer about it in clear, concise language. Many newer (and, sadly, older) inspectors think that they can avoid lawsuits by writing a "defensive" report that covers their asses six ways from Sunday. That doesn't work. My motto is, "Cover your customer's butt and yours will be covered automatically."

5. What is the income like and does anyone do this full-time?

Lots of people do this full time. If you succeed, you ought to be able to pull in a nice upper middle class income.

6. What is the rate of someone becoming successful in this occupation?

For several years, I was in a position to track that information. After two years, only 1 out of 17 inspectors was still in business. That's a high attrition rate. I'd say that most of them failed because they didn't understand that they were running a business, not doing a job.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[qhinspect]

SonOfSwamp, why do you think bad about AHIT's class? I never took their class but two other classes I took (first one before I became a home inspector the second one was required to do home inspections in IL), I considered "first small step". It's just one small step of many that needs to be taken before being a good home inspector.

[sepefrio]

I'm a AHIT grad myself, and the comment about the teachers is spot on. I still talk with one of them on occasion. I did feel that the class was more designed to sell you things (software, tools books etc) vice teach you things, but I can't say what the other companies classes do. I think the promised AHIT support after the class was, well garbage. But the class, because of the teachers, was very good. More so in teaching me what more I had to learn vice making me 100% ready and fully knowledgeable.

[John Dirks Jr]

At my HI training school they told us that 80% either fail or do not follow through for any significant length of time.

There were a dozen or so in my class. When we heard that, we started looking around the room at each other.

It's one of those things you don't forget.

[Brandon Whitmore]

It's one of the few professions out there where you will be routinely punished for doing the job well.

Well said.