So as most of my Virginia brothers know, as of July 1st, VA went to a license required law from the voluntary certification. But along with that, they created an NRS (New Residential Structure) designation unless you carry the NRS designation you are not allowed to inspect new construction but can inspect all the existing structures you want.
So I completed a required 8 hours NRS course from contractors Institute. This was an online (or in person) course with 16 lessons each with a video of an instructor reading the slide to you (OUCH) and each lesson ranged from 2 mins - 20 minutes. Probably 2 - 3 hours for the whole course with no test.
The whole course was about Virginia Law and Virginia specific requirements. It started off with the Virginia Code and went into the different types of business structures and which they recommend and what you need to do to incorporate or start an LLC. They did cover the difference between a home inspector and code official and were very clear that home inspectors are not allowed to inspect code but could point out an “exception” as they called it. Then they dove into what Virginia requires for a contract, report, and standards of practice (ASHI). Not a complete waste of time but certainly not what I expected for “New Residential Structure” course.
I know many of you are wondering about the NRS so I just wanted to give an update. Also, they did say Virginia is moving to requiring 70 hours of CE per year.