Training Options

[CNewhouse]

1 hour ago, Les said:

they know nothing nothing nothing about electrical circuits and or systems.  The school taught them to refer/defer to a real tradesperson

This person paid to be trained as a home inspector and received no training on electrical systems?

[TAH]

54 minutes ago, CNewhouse said:

This person paid to be trained as a home inspector and received no training on electrical systems?

Yeah, that takes NHIT off my list.

I have an electronics background (USAF Avionics, 38 week school), not the same as residential electrical but a good start.

I've got a bit to learn about home electrical.

[Les]

1 hour ago, CNewhouse said:

This person paid to be trained as a home inspector and received no training on electrical systems?

They received the "training" to defer to electrician.

I have long been on a rant about the skill set of 99.9% of all inspection school instructors.  Most know nothing about teaching and lots about inspecting.  

Experience does NOT qualify you to be a teacher - in this business or alchemy!  If that were the case, then every veteran inspector would qualify.  See the recent electrical piece in the ASHI reporter. 

I know William Kibble.  He teaches a good class.  I know Jim Katen.  He teaches a good class.  Both have intellectual skills as well as practical skills. 

Unfortunately, I also know most of the ASHI school instructors as well as dozens of other instructors at other schools.  They are the folks I speak of. (credit Bonnie Trenga for that last sentence)

 

[TAH]

Well, I found out that Virginia requires half of your 70 hour requirement to NOT be online.

Not sure how I'm going to fulfill this part of their requirements.

Maybe if I offer compensation to an Inspector just outside my proposed service area?

[Bill Kibbel]

Check with Kenny Hart for some options. 

https://www.vahomeinspectortraining.com/

[TAH]

Thanks, I'll reach out!

[John Dirks Jr]

In Maryland, the local community colleges also give the home inspector courses.   It's a longer process since its spread across a semester.  Longer than the cram courses you would get from places like AHIT or AHSI.   One would think the education value might be better with a course that spreads over a longer period of time.  Sadly this does not look like its true.  I know personally,  two ASHI inspectors who are also on the licensing board for the MD DLLR, the government entity that handles the licensing processes.  The licensing board has been handling complaints of home inspection clients who say their inspector did a poor job.  It seems the community college courses are teaching the students to refer, refer, refer...  So this has inspectors not taking responsibility to do what they were hired to do, and it makes for a poor product.

My point is in concurrence with the other members here.  The actual training is more of a formality to allow you to get a license.   The task of performing a good inspection and writing a good report is a whole other ball game.  One thing for sure is this forum is a good place to get advice about getting into the home inspection business.

I went through my initial training courses and it was pretty easy.  I went out cold turkey and started doing inspections on my own.  I had zero ride alongs, but I got tons of advice from the members on this forum and that helped tremendously.  I'm not afraid to admit I was scared sh*tless on my first inspection and that feeling continued for about a year before I started settling down.

I like that you inquired for advice about what schools are good.  It shows you want something good out of your training.  

Thanks for serving our country

[Marc]

1 hour ago, John Dirks Jr said:

...

I went through my initial training courses and it was pretty easy.  I went out cold turkey and started doing inspections on my own.  I had zero ride alongs, but I got tons of advice from the members on this forum and that helped tremendously.  I'm not afraid to admit I was scared sh*tless on my first inspection and that feeling continued for about a year before I started settling down.

I remember my first one, also done cold turkey.  I was there all day and had to come back the next day to finish it.  Something like 12 hours of inspecting time.  Today, that house would've been no more than 3 hours.

[TAH]

Virginia requires 25 inspections under supervision by a licensed inspector.

So I don’t have the option of starting “cold”.

I’m hoping to find someone in Charlottesville, Fredericksburg or Williamsburg that I can shadow after training.

I’ll have my training done before Thanksgiving.

Edited November 11, 2019 by TAH

[Mycakers]

21 hours ago, John Dirks Jr said:

In Maryland, the local community colleges also give the home inspector courses.   It's a longer process since its spread across a semester.  Longer than the cram courses you would get from places like AHIT or AHSI.   One would think the education value might be better with a course that spreads over a longer period of time.  Sadly this does not look like its true.  I know personally,  two ASHI inspectors who are also on the licensing board for the MD DLLR, the government entity that handles the licensing processes.  The licensing board has been handling complaints of home inspection clients who say their inspector did a poor job.  It seems the community college courses are teaching the students to refer, refer, refer...  So this has inspectors not taking responsibility to do what they were hired to do, and it makes for a poor product.

My point is in concurrence with the other members here.  The actual training is more of a formality to allow you to get a license.   The task of performing a good inspection and writing a good report is a whole other ball game.  One thing for sure is this forum is a good place to get advice about getting into the home inspection business.

I went through my initial training courses and it was pretty easy.  I went out cold turkey and started doing inspections on my own.  I had zero ride alongs, but I got tons of advice from the members on this forum and that helped tremendously.  I'm not afraid to admit I was scared sh*tless on my first inspection and that feeling continued for about a year before I started settling down.

I like that you inquired for advice about what schools are good.  It shows you want something good out of your training.  

Thanks for serving our country

Please don't get me wrong, I don't argue with people who have 100% more experience than I do.  If the benefits of a college course can be seen in the time duration, and only prepares you to get your license, why are there so many members here bashing on programs like AHIT?  I immediately regretted my choice in school with my first few posts on this forum due to the replies I received.  I no longer feel that way after taking 60% of the class and spending a week with very thorough inspectors for onsite inspection training.   I'm taking the course online and have 6 months to a year to complete the course work.  It is an at your own pace program.  It is quite obvious that nothing beats onsite practice but my community college offers the same amount of onsite inspections that AHIT does... the bare minimum.   I am utilizing the course buy taking my time and reading as much info from many different sources as I can.  This site is a gold mine and has answered many questions I have had.  I hope to go on as many ride alongs as possible when I have the time to do so. 

I don't have any other training programs that I can compare AHIT to.  However, I am confident that they will provide more than enough education to pass the exam and get me started down the right path.  

Edited November 11, 2019 by Mycakers

[Les]

keep us posted on your progress. 

[Mycakers]

13 minutes ago, Les said:

keep us posted on your progress. 

Progress throughout the course?  I can tell you now, that after completing the modules so far, I am in a much better place in each section than I was without.  I have a little experience with home repair (electrical, drywall, plumbing while keeping up with code) but no formal training of any kind.  I still need to go over the specifics again, relating to proper clearances, but they are there, and easy to navigate back to.  Course materials included the AHIT text book, NHIE inspection manual, code check,  state specific SOPs,  AHIT inspection software and the online resources.  So far the phone and email support has been great.  The only thing I wish they would have added would be chapter review quizes online and the Carson Dunlop ref book but that was easily found on the internet to buy.  During the week of onsite, we went to a variety of homes to inspect.  All were occupied, and in different states of despair.  A couple newer homes 10 years or so along with some 40s and 50s homes.  The instructors found homes with different foundation types, heat sources and layouts from cookie cutter, to houses with multiple add ons that made things more complex for us noobies.  We had these houses at our disposal for 5 hours each.  There were 10 students that were split between 2 teachers.  Tools and testing equipment were provided if we didn't already have them.  I have yet to start in on the report writing section, building inspection and marketing.   Upon finishing the course, there will be a final exam that (as I was told) will cover the state exam and more.  I will let you know how things go after I take the exam.  

As far as cost is concerned, I paid about $300 more than what my community college was offering.  That made up for the books and other materials that AHIT supplied.      

[Les]

thanks!  sounds like it is going pretty well!

 

[Erby]

I've done probably 30 or so ride alongs over the years.
Two of them actually made it successfully into business for a number of years.

[Mycakers]

18 minutes ago, Erby said:

I've done probably 30 or so ride alongs over the years.
Two of them actually made it successfully into business for a number of years.

Well that's reassuring.  Do you know why or how the other 28 failed to make it?  Are you saying that it's that difficult to start up or that your ride alongs didn't take it serious enough?  Your reply would be more helpful if it contained details.  There seems to be a lot more discouraging and negative information on these types of threads that are started by beginners.  I can't tell if some of the members here think that getting into the business will not be a good choice or if they are just tired of answering noobie questions.  I assume getting asked questions about starting out can be annoying to successful home inspectors.       

[Marc]

9 minutes ago, Mycakers said:

Well that's reassuring.  Do you know why or how the other 28 failed to make it?  Are you saying that it's that difficult to start up or that your ride alongs didn't take it serious enough?  Your reply would be more helpful if it contained details.  There seems to be a lot more discouraging and negative information on these types of threads that are started by beginners.  I can't tell if some of the members here think that getting into the business will not be a good choice or if they are just tired of answering noobie questions.  I assume getting asked questions about starting out can be annoying to successful home inspectors.       

It's the topic that makes this thread seem discouraging and negative, not the fact that you're a beginner.

Members here that are tired of answering noobie questions are more likely to not answer them at all.  Same goes to annoying questions.  I haven't yet found your questions annoying.

The failure rate for new inspectors is high for several reasons: local regulations or lack thereof, practitioner supply/demand, how well you know houses, how well you can write houses, agent/inspector conflicts of interest, what your values are in relation to these conflicts, and how your values compare to other practitioners in your area (both agent and inspector practitioners).

 

[Mycakers]

17 minutes ago, Marc said:

It's the topic that makes this thread seem discouraging and negative, not the fact that you're a beginner.

Members here that are tired of answering noobie questions are more likely to not answer them at all.  Same goes to annoying questions.  I haven't yet found your questions annoying.

The failure rate for new inspectors is high for several reasons: local regulations or lack thereof, practitioner supply/demand, how well you know houses, how well you can write houses, agent/inspector conflicts of interest, what your values are in relation to these conflicts, and how your values compare to other practitioners in your area (both agent and inspector practitioners).

 

Thanks Marc.  I'm not entirely sure what my conflicts are just yet.  I have a few ideas though.  Working with realtors I know, will test my values.  In my area (Lake County IL) I am constantly seeing homes sell everywhere.  It gives me hope that working with realtors would be profitable but as you have said before, I would be sacrificing quality and some moral ground.  I have seen first hand how quickly realtors want an inspection finished and that shows how much attention to detail will be given up just to maintain a good rep with them.  That was something I never would have thought of without this forum. 

I am a fairly strong writer but I do understand that HI reports need to be practiced and need to contain information and details  that I have not described in writing before.    

I will try my best not to be the annoying member.  Please feel free to tell me when I'm getting on anyone's nerves.    

[Les]

7 minutes ago, Mycakers said:

 

I will try my best not to be the annoying member.  Please feel free to tell me when I'm getting on anyone's nerves.    

You are not getting on my nerves!  I will be getting back on in a few hours. 

 

[TAH]

I, for one, want to thank those experienced inspectors who reply to these topics.

it shows that you remember starting out and what advice and help you were given and now want to “pay it back”.

So, thank you!