Obviously, you can learn the steps to getting your Texas home inspector license in several locations. The recommended source should be the Texas Real Estate Commission’s website. There is a link in their menu titled: Become Licensed. It is a pulldown link that will allow you to choose all three types of inspector licenses, including the Texas Home Inspector License. This article is not an attempt to restate what you can easily learn there. I have written this article specifically to help you avoid the mistakes over half of aspiring Texas home inspectors make when they pursue their license. In the past few weeks, several students have signed up for The Inspection Academy’s practicum course. Because our school is so new, these students did not complete their qualifying education at The Inspection Academy. This means we are basically icing a cake made by someone else. The first student that reached out about our practicum course had a lot of questions. By the way, we recommend asking home inspector schools a lot of questions. I was just not prepared for a few of the questions the student asked about getting his Texas home inspector license. The first email was short and simple. It stated: “Hello, I’m interested in your Texas Practicum course (I already completed a TREC certified course online). Just need to know if you offer the ride-along in Houston to complete in a few days or do I have to wait for weeks to complete it? I assured the potential student that we do provide our practicum course in both the Houston and DFW areas. I also confirmed that we can help them complete their requirements anytime they have available to secure their Texas home inspector license. The next email I received had more questions. One of them surprised me. The second email: I need to ask you 3 questions: 1-You’re certified as an education provider by TREC right? (I need the Practicum to get into the exam). 2-I’m not considering climbing on rooftops (only on 1-story homes, if necessary), is that fine for you?. I have a drone pilot license to check on the roof. 3-I have no experience filling forms, do you think it’s okay to get help the first time, and then I’ll fill it from there? I completed my education online, there’s not much information about software (not even a video filling a form). I thought he was talking about filling out the TREC forms to apply for the licensing exam. He was actually talking about completing inspection reports. Apparently, the online course he chose did not cover completing inspection reports. The student had no idea how to fill out an inspection report. I guess he did not ask his qualifying education provider about that. Are you kidding me? This is one of the primary reasons I decided to start The Inspection Academy. Too many students coming out of these “schools” lack the knowledge to even fill out an inspection report. Shouldn’t completing an inspection report be required in order to obtain a Texas home inspector license. Shouldn’t that be one of the primary lessons students participate in? This is just one example of why these schools are not able to help more students pass their licensing examinations. My practicum instructor called me after the student’s first practicum experience and asked me, “Where did he go to school?” I told him the school and asked why he wanted to know. He replied with a slight laugh, “He doesn’t know anything about home inspections.” Without going into great detail, he told me that the student actually tried to touch a live service conductor. Luckily, our instructor was able to keep him from doing so. Having a student electrocute themselves during one of our practicum experiences would not have been good for our school. I am not sure if that student has taken his Texas home inspector license exam yet. Therefore, I am not sure if he passed or not. I would be interested to know. Unfortunately, after he received his certificate of completion for our practicum, he has stopped responding to my communication attempts. This experience confirmed what I already knew. The traditional qualifying home inspector education programs are not adequately preparing students for their licensing exams, nor their careers. Another student that reached out to us to inquire into our Texas practicum course also took his qualifying courses elsewhere. That made me inquire into where he chose to take his qualifying education courses. When he told me the answer, I was left with more questions. The first thought that crossed my mind was, Why? For the life of me, I could not figure out why he would have chose that school. With ten other options available when he signed up, I wondered why he made that decision. Did he choose the school based on price? I have to admit, it is definitely one of the cheaper home inspector schools. With that said, let me restate an old adage: “You get what you pay for.” Did he choose the school because it was the first school he found online? Was it the easiest school for him to get started? Did he fell for false advertising? It occurred to me that he might not have known how to properly research the qualifying education schools in Texas. Any research into the schools would’ve revealed that school’s passing rate for students was 47%. How was he convinced to give that school his money? While there weren’t any great options to choose when he enrolled, there were definitely better choices. If you are considering trying to get you Texas home inspector license, start by doing your research. The best place to start you research is on the TREC website. There are two important pages on their website for aspiring inspectors to visit. First, go to the page that clearly states the approved qualifying education providers in the state. Obviously, you will want to pick one of the school listed on that page. Next, go to the page that posts the passing rates for the students that enroll in each of the schools. This will shine a light on the programs that are more successful at helping students pass the exam. While none of the schools would be considered “successful“, at least one school helps 20% more of their students pass. Of course, the more successful school costs about twice as much, or more. You should compare the schools that you are considering using for your qualifying education. I recommend reaching out to the schools where you are thinking about enrolling. Create a list of questions you want ask each of the schools. You can ask any questions you think will be important; however, there are a few questions I would recommend. This is a great question to ask to quickly identify how honest the school’s representative is. Obviously, if you did the recommended research, you will already know their student passing rates. Find out if they are honest about their data. If a school is telling you that they have a 99% passing rate, I would not recommend the school. There is not a school in the nation with that level of students passing their home inspector examinations. In fact, as of January 2025, there is only one school that has a student passing rate higher than 69%. The school actually has a 100% passing rate, but they have only had one student take the examination. There are actually two schools in Texas that have a 0% passing rate. Sadly, both schools have had more than one student take their exams. The remaining schools have student passing rates between 33% and 69%. Ask this question before you make the decision to give any of the schools your hard earned money. After all, you want to get what you are paying for. If you decide to buy a diamond, you don’t want to end up with a cubic zirconia. There are a variety of home inspection textbooks that are used by each of the schools in Texas. Some of the schools use several books. There is one school in Texas that actually writes their own textbooks. A few of the books used include: Why is this important? Each of the previously mentioned books have their own merits. Students can learn lessons about home inspections from each of the books. However, the reason to know which books will be used is important because of the examination used in Texas. The examination administered in Texas is developed by the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors (EBPHI). The EBPHI is directly associated with the National Home Inspector Examination (NHIE) textbooks. In other words, the people that write the examinations given in Texas are the same people that wrote the NHIE books. So, it makes sense to use the textbooks that are directly associated with the exam students must pass. If the school is using books other than the NHIE textbooks, be wary. It isn’t that the books aren’t well written or filled with good information. It is more about using the best resources to prepare you for the examination. You might also ask which formats their textbooks are available in. Virtual formats allow instant access and easy access. Virtual textbooks also have additional benefits including search tools and added activities. There are 3 different types of courses offered in Texas. Some schools only offer one type of course delivery. For instance, the out-of-state schools only offer online courses. In-state courses may offer all three types of courses. It is important to know which type of course delivery is best for you. Correspondence courses are different than online courses. The difference is students will use actual textbooks to complete their courses. This means students will either have to pick up their textbooks or they will be mailed to them. This means students will not be able to start their courses until they have their books. Students in correspondence courses are give a syllabus with specific reading assignments. The reading assignments tend to be several chapters followed by an online quiz. After a book is completed, students take an online final proctored by a third-party. Each final must be passed before progressing to the next course. Obviously, classroom courses are only going to be provided by in-state schools. Students usually attend courses that last 8 hours each day. For instance, the Property & Building Inspection courses are 40-hours, so students attend Monday through Friday. A proctored final is given at the end of each course that must be passed before moving on to the next course. A good question to ask is what happens if you don’t pass one of the finals the first time. Can students sit through the course again before they take the final a second time? If so, does it cost extra? Or are students required to sit through the course again before they take the final again? Online courses are delivered in a variety of different manners. It would be wise to ask which type of online course the school uses. Some online schools have written their own texts that are delivered on their websites. This type of course usually have shorter reading assignments than correspondence courses followed by short quizzes. Eventually, when students complete an entire course, an online final proctored by a third-party must be passed. Other online schools utilize Learning Management Systems (LMS). Learning management systems provide more tools and attributes for the courses, and make access easier. I am going to bet that every school you ask this question will proudly answer, “An experienced home inspector.” The inspector’s credentials will vary from school to school, but all of the schools will have this in common. If all the schools are designed by experienced home inspectors, why ask the question? I may be wrong, but I don’t think any of the schools are designed by instructional designers. This is important because home inspectors are really just subject matter experts. They may know a great deal about home inspections, but how much do they know about education? How much do they know about Instructional Design Models or Adult Learning Theory? What do they know about the iterative process of developing an effective learning experience? Visit a home inspection Facebook group and you’ll learn that every home inspector believes they know everything about the industry. That doesn’t necessarily make it so. At any rate, they do not know how to front-end load an educational program. They do not know how to develop a curriculum to successfully lead students through the learning process. I think The Inspection Academy is the only school designed by someone with a master’s degree in education. Students that fail their home inspector examination three times are required to repeat courses. While this should never happen, based on the passing rates of the schools in the state, you should ask. If the school fails to properly prepare you, do you have to pay the school for the additional courses? If you are thinking about pursuing your Texas home inspector license, it is important to choose the right school. Choosing the wrong school can leave you frustrated and underprepared for the exam. This can also create additional expenses like having to pay for additional study aides or pay for multiple exam attempts. It is sad that the home inspector qualifying education system fails so many students, but data does not lie. So, before you enroll in any school, do your research. Reach out to the schools and ask them questions. You are going to be paying them to provide a service, make sure you get what you are paying for.How do you get your home inspector’s license in Texas?
The Motivation
The Communication
Knowledge From Experience
Another Student Pursuing a Texas Home Inspector License
Research the School You Choose to Pursue Your Texas Home Inspector License
Ask a Lot of Questions
What is Your Student Passing Rate?
Which Textbooks Are Used for the Courses?
Which Type of Courses are Offered?
Correspondence Courses
Classroom Courses
Online Courses
Who Designed Your Courses?
What if I Need to Repeat Courses?
Conclusion
