It’s a Great Time to Consider Becoming A Home Inspector
A devastating effect of Covid is that it has left many people unemployed or underemployed. Financial hardship is wreaking havoc on so many families and stealing their sense of financial security. One strategy these folks are taking is to forge a path of self-employment, whether it be 1099 gigs or full on entrepreneurial endeavors.
The home inspection industry is experiencing major growth as individuals are jumping into its career path. And what’s interesting is that these individuals are coming from fields entirely unrelated. That’s right, they are willing to start completely from scratch to have a sense of control and peace about their employment status.
While real estate does have its ups and downs, residential home inspections is a great career if one does it the right way from the start.
Oklahoma Is Really Clear About How to Become a Home Inspector
Gathering information from the right sources.
Make sure you research Oklahoma laws for licensing requirements for home inspectors and be sure to seek that information from trusted sources. While real estate in OK is governed by the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission, inspectors in OK are governed by the Construction Industries Board. These two governing bodies are completely separate.
#1 Get Your 90 Hours of Home Inspection Training
The Construction Industries Board requires 90 hours of pre-license training, which can be completed through an online curriculum, or in a classroom setting. CIB provides a list of approved and accredited organizations that can provide the 90 hours of training. Click here to view the list of home inspection educational entities OK has accredited.
We highly recommend InterNachi for the initial training and the ongoing membership for continuing education. Internachi is headquartered in Boulder, CO and provides state specific training for home inspectors that is formatted to the NHIE exam and to most effectively prepare the home inspector to perform the job.
A major feature setting InterNachi apart from their competitors is their pricing, rather than charging an upfront fee of hundreds, or even thousands, InterNachi has a simple monthly membership fee of $49 that allows a member to access all sorts of valuable resources and participate in their well-respected community of professional home inspectors.
Additionally, located at InterNachi’s headquarters is the House of Horrors, a house with thousands of defects all under a single roof allowing inspectors to gain hands-on-experience with just about every defect conceivable. It’s quite a fun way to know that your training was a success if you are able to identify most, or all defects hidden about the house. We’ve been there and we give it two thumbs up!
#2 Apply for A Home Inspector’s License with CIB
Submit the application for a home inspector’s license to the CIB. The initial home inspector application has a required fee of $280.00 ($250 initial license fee + $30 application fee). Essentially, the application process with CIB begins your state licencing process, you’ll be provided an inactive license number. CIB verifies that you have satisfied the required 90 hours of pre-licensing education, allowing you to sit for the National Home Inspector Exam.
#3 Take the National Home Inspector Exam (NHIE)
Once your application to CIB has been approved you are free to schedule via PSI Exams the National Home Inspector Exam required by the state of OK. The exam is 240 minutes long, and requires a fee of $200 per exam attempt. This fee is in addition to the application fee mentioned in step 2.
Should you not pass the exam on the first attempt, there is a 30 day waiting period before you can sit for the exam again. Once you pass the exam Oklahoma will provide you with an active Oklahoma home inspector’s license and will list you their online database of home inspectors serving OK. You can access the CIB Licensee Search here. Here’s some additional and useful information to know beforehand:
You can take this test on Computer.
Kindly note that this is not an open book test.
Reschedule 2 days in advance before 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Cancel 2 days in advance before 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Schedule 1 day in advance before 4:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
#4 Home Inspectors Must Carry an Errors and Omissions Insurance Policy
Upon passing the home inspector exam, you’ll be able to apply for liability and insurance, which is required to be on file with CIB before your license becomes active.
This is NOT a step you want to skip. Although insurance can be expensive, protecting you and your company against a possible lawsuit can mean the difference between your business folding and recovering successfully from a major insurance claim. What we tell our team, clients, and agents is, “it’s not a matter of IF we will miss a defect, it’s a matter of WHEN.” We are humans inspecting properties that change constantly and can have an unimaginable number of defects with an unimaginable number of factors affecting visibility. Additionally, it is always tough to determine whether that defect was actually present and/or visible on the day of the inspection. So, better safe than sorry!
CIB has the following to say in regards to liability and insurance requirements:
Each licensee must maintain insurance coverage and furnish and maintain in effect a certificate of insurance therefore which indicates that the licensee has a comprehensive general liability policy. Limits of liability are to be no less than $50,000.00 combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage. —sourced from CIB
#5. Determine how you will perform home inspections - build your own business or join a team?
Lance Coffman | Lead Inspector
After becoming a licensed and insured professional home inspector, you’ll begin the work of building your business! This can be incredibly time consuming, and an overwhelming process for some.
Any entrepreneur will tell you that they work both ON and IN their company and BOTH are a full time job!
We recommend thoughtful consideration of what each path requires, and deciphering the right path for you. At the forefront of every decision we’ve made are two questions (outside those questions regarding our values and faith): 1. does this path create time-freedom and 2. does this path create financial freedom?
Speaking from experience, it is quite an uphill climb from becoming licensed to having a flourishing and successful home inspection company that earns you a salary able to support the household. On Spectora’s Podcast with Kevin Wagstaff we talk specifically about how we became a successful home inspection company with multiple inspectors and multiple locations serving Tulsa first and later branching across Oklahoma.
Owners of Forever Home Inspection, Brit Coffman and Lance Coffman discuss how they grew their Tulsa-based home inspection services to a multi-inspector team and a multi-location company in under four years.
1099 Home Inspectors versus w2 Home Inspectors
If starting a business isn’t for you, you have two options: become an employee, or become a 1099 contractor. Both options have their benefits. We recommend doing some research on the differences. Here’s an in-depth article to get you started on the pros and cons of working as a W2 versus becoming a 1099 contractor.
Is Forever Home Inspection Hiring?
YES! We are always growing and expanding our home inspection team across the state of Oklahoma. As far as we know we are among the highest paying home inspection companies in Oklahoma with the most robust options for upward mobility and growth, we invest a great deal in our team both professionally and personally. If you are considering applying with us we encourage you to call any of our team members to ask about their experience as a valued team member at both Forever Home Inspection and Focus Building Inspections.
Focus Building Inspections is our sister company serving the commercial real estate industry in Oklahoma and surrounding states. All of our inspectors qualify to work within both Forever Home Inspection and Focus Building Inspections.
Am I qualified to work as a residential inspector or even a commercial inspector?
Regardless of what step you are on we are equipped, ready, and well versed in getting a person with absolutely no construction or inspection knowledge qualified and performing as an outstanding inspector in both sectors. In fact, most of our inspectors joined us from industries entirely unrelated to real estate or construction!
Our apprenticeship program is structured in a way that empowers anyone to reach a level of success they never imagined possible. We’d love to talk to you!
