Originally Posted By: bbennett
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Okay, now I do not have a background in any of the areas above, I do have a strong understanding of the structure and other components involved in the inspection, my dad was disabled in his 30s and taught me enough to be dangerous, but I found an inspector that was retiring and willing to teach and guide me, but I am still going to attend a formal 40 hr plus training, reading anything I can get my hand on related to the field. I can say by recent experience that if you can find someone to let you tag along on an inspection, that will give you a good idea if you want to pursue it further, after sliding under a house with a crawl space 3 ft tall and a friendly copperhead saying hi
, you will know if it is something you want to do. I believe it is up to the individuals if they are going to be a good inspector or not, the people you serve will know, you need to be open minded, willing to learn AND listen, and never assume! I have already passed the NACHI exam and I am very happy I found this site so early on. Again, it is up to the individual to want to learn, and this is coming from a guy that was a chopper mechanic in the Army and a self taught techno geek, but you must want to learn and be willing to get down and dirty. It is not all about handing over the report and collecting the check, and most of the Hoohaw on ebay to make you an expert is a waste of time. You can read all you want, but without proper training and hands on experience, you are asking for trouble. Just as a final note, I just purchased a house and had it inspected by a gentleman that had over 30 years construction experience and 11 doing home inspections, it cost me 300.00 just to see what I might have missed on my own inspection, and I found everything he found and a dozen or so more items than the inspector missed that needed attention. I am starting part time and learning everything I can from anyone willing to teach me. By no means am I knocking anybody on this board, just wanted to put out another view point. Thanks to everyone that has posted and all of the great information you have provided us newbies. Have a great day.