Thanks for all the opinions. About what I expected. It’s not like I’m mechanically inept, or have never seen how a house is built or done lots of repairs. Certainly NOT a handyman, but not afraid to do most home project and repairs.
Here in Nevada to get your license you have to actually attend/participate in 25 inspections with a licensed inspector so you are not as ‘green’ as some other states where there isn’t any requirements. I would be VERY nervous (no matter what experience) if all I was going to do was watch several hours of video and never actually see several inspections where you can ask questions on the spot, do it yourself etc.
Still investigating and working on my business plan.
Thanks again for the feedback, this forum is invaluable in so many ways!
My business allows clients to request which inspector they want. I have over 30 yrs in construction, my primary subcontractor has zero construction experience other than some invenstment property “flipping”. I am requested 75% of the time.
Last year I followed another inspector and helped out to see how a home inspection developes, as it turned out the buyer shows up and my teacher explains that a 4’ over hang was suspect because he decided a 30’ span with a 2x10 was undersized? He thought the ceiling joists followed the home from its longest measure.
After when the buyer was elsewhere I told him the ceiling joists (flat roof) would usually go from the center wall of the home to the exterior and not the long way. Construction experience came in handy at that inspection.
All this can easily be learned, just takes a little time.
You will be much better served by having business acumen, being a self-starter, having the ability to learn quickly across a broad range of subjects and keep your knowledge current, being able to communicate effectively verbally and in writing, than having experience hanging sheetrock.
IMO: a good home inspector is a professional consultant, not a trades person.
I sure helps to be a good consultant if you have a lot of varied construction experience.
I still think if Home Inspecting is ALL you want to do try to ride along or get hired by the best in an area near you. That will be the fastest way to learn from the best.
I’m in the same boat as you and I’m currently preparing to become a HI. I was initially concerned that not having a construction background would be prohibitive, but in the end I just think it means you have a bigger learning curve than someone who does. My background is in business and management, which I think gives me a decided advantage over someone who had worked in trades all their life and has no experience running a business. Saying that someone with no construction experience can’t become a HI is the same as saying someone without a business background can’t start a business. You just have to learn the part you don’t know, and frankly it’s a lot easier to learn how something works than to change who you are as a person. I think you’ll be fine if you dedicate yourself to studying and learning everything you can. There’s some good educational information here and there are classes you can take for a more hands on experience.
As someone who has a little bit of experience with technology and programming, I agree that your skill set will help your learn this business. Being able to break something down and understand how it works makes it much easier to learn.
What the others are saying re the business and consulting skills.
Having a construction background will help you do better inspections but business and consulting skills will help you grow and stay in business.
The thing with the construction is that everything is done by specialist sub contractors, framers frame, plumbers plumb, the electricians make the electrons behave and so on, but they are all in and out, focusing only on their stuff, few are there from beginning to end.
The only people who are exposed to the big picture are the general contractors and laborers employed by the general contractors and they only manage or clean up the mess.
I was in the HVAC installing end, but being naturally curious about everything, I was always asking the other trades about what they did, and learned lots that way. If that describes you, you could beef up your construction background by hanging out on sites, (bring donuts) and ask lots of questions, or even work for a few months as a laborer for a residential contractor. I still have a few trades guys who I know well enough to call and ask when I see something I am not sure of.
Construction is divided more or less into residential, commercial and heavy industrial. There is a lot of overlap between residential and commercial but not much on heavy industrial, residential tends to rely more on code and the trades knowledge of code, whereas commercial and infdustrial tend to rely more on exact specifications and blue prints. IMO you learn way more in residential, when you are using blueprints and specs, it is like following a recipe exactly when you are cooking, but with residential it is more on using basic principles you learned to create your own recipes.
30 years experience here and hoping it is the difference for me. And do everyone a favor and don’t go out and cut throat your competition to death just to get some work. It drags everyone in the industry down with you and will only hurt you in the long run. I am going through this situation now. I’m letting older established inspectors out price me because I’m not goin to be that guy.
This I do understand. I’ve run several businesses and the ONE thing that really gets me is the ‘race to the bottom’ that competing on price generates. There are several business categories in town that ALL make $0 because they ONLY compete on price until everyone is broke. That is one thing I won’t be doing.
Thanks for all the comment. I’ve decided to move forward, so expect lots of questions (after searching) in the future.