What is Wrong with Home Inspector Education
The truth about traditional home inspector education is not that it’s broken. That would suggest it once worked as intended, but it never did. As a licensed home inspector, it pains me to say that home inspector education is terrible.
My Journey Through Home Inspector Education
Before becoming a home inspector, I taught engineering at a Texas public school. Teaching requires enduring endless tasks, impossible to complete. Administrators overload teachers with work, while students stay glued to their phones, often displaying disrespect and entitlement. Parents, meanwhile, blame teachers for any issues with their children. Despite holding a master’s degree in education, I decided to pursue a home inspector’s license.
A well-known real estate education school in Texas came highly recommended. Based on that, I called the school to learn what was needed to start. I intended to take their self-paced courses, assuming they were online. However, I was wrong. I learned I had to travel across Houston, into its infamous Galleria traffic, just to pick up textbooks. When I asked for an online version, they said none existed.
The Galleria’s traffic is notorious, so I contacted every other approved school in Texas. At the time, only six schools were approved in Texas, and three were located out of state. They couldn’t offer the required practicum, so they were out. One local school had a passing rate below 50%, eliminating them. I can’t recall the issue with another school, but it must have been worse than the recommended one.
Home Inspection Education Options
With no better options, I drove to the Galleria, paid my fee, and collected a hefty stack of books. The books must have weighed over fifty pounds. I noticed the books were self-published by the school. That is when I realized that I faced all the hassle because they hadn’t digitized their books.
Back home, I opened their syllabus—a basic flowchart printed on an 8.5×11 sheet. Mind you, this was 2018, not 1984. The chart outlined which books to read and in what order. After completing a book, I had to log in to a third-party proctor website for finals. That was 90% of the self-paced course.
Classroom Home Inspector Training
Besides the practicum, students needed to attend a 24-hour class in person. This broke down into three 8-hour sessions, typically over a weekend. At the end, we had to pass an instructor-proctored exam.
On the first day, I entered a large classroom with 15 to 20 students. The instructor came in early, quizzing random students, seeming to enjoy his knowledge over ours. He acted a bit like Alex Trebek.
When the hour struck, he immediately started questioning us on Texas rules. The rules have numerical codes like 535.208 or 535.231. He called out numbers, waiting for someone to answer, but no one did. Eventually, I raised my hand, having prepared in advance.
During the break, students flocked to me, asking how I knew the rules. I explained my teaching background and study techniques. They seemed disappointed there wasn’t a simple trick.
Later, I noticed another student answering often. During the final break, I asked him about his recall skills. He laughed and said, “This is the fifth time I’ve taken this course.” He added, “I still haven’t passed the test.”
I felt sorry for him.
What I didn’t realize then, but know now, is how flawed home inspector education is. Nearly half of the students fail their first exam. Many students get discouraged and never try again. I know two people who did exactly that. Others buy more study aids, sample tests, or reread the books and attempt it again.
I remember driving home and thinking, “I wish I could start a home inspection school.”
Texas Practicum
In Texas, students must complete the practicum to earn the title of professional home inspector. This component, often called “ride-alongs,” is essential for the certification process.
Previously, the practicum allowed a maximum of ten students per instructor. However, around 2018, this changed to a limit of four students per instructor.
When I completed my practicum, I was with three other students. The ride-alongs were only available on weekends, and spots filled up months in advance. Consequently, I had to travel to Austin on two separate weekends to fulfill the requirement.
Initially, we met in a classroom before heading out to the properties. All the houses were uninhabited, and two were new builds. Honestly, they weren’t real inspections. We had about an hour in each house to identify any defects. Afterward, we returned to the classroom to write our reports. At the end of the day, we completed handwritten inspection reports, which the instructor then reviewed with us.
The experience, although enjoyable, didn’t meet my learning expectations. While I did meet great people and fulfill Texas’s requirements for the license exam, it felt like the school just met the minimum standards.
Improving Home Inspector Education
The day we decided to start a new home inspection school, we knew students needed something better. Having earned a master’s degree in education gave me a unique perspective while going through the traditional home inspection education process.
I realized that nearly half the population struggled to retain all the information necessary to pass their exams. Whether they attended in-person classes or took self-paced courses, retaining the information was too difficult. They couldn’t develop a system to help them remember everything, and the schools didn’t provide that either.
Qualifying home inspector education programs focus on delivering required information. They prioritize meeting Texas’s minimum state requirements, not on how many students pass the exams. Otherwise, students would not be failing as often as they are. Essentially, traditional schools function more as information delivery systems than true educational institutions.
Consider self-paced courses. Students read about every system and component in a residential property on their own. They take occasional short quizzes, then continue reading. At the end, they take finals that meet the state’s minimum requirements. But how much information do they recall from the first text after six finals?
Classroom courses offer little improvement. In these courses, someone essentially reads to you for eight hours a day. While you may remember the main points, recalling all the small details is impossible. Yet, the inspector exam focuses on those details. Moreover, students face about 15 to 20 days of these eight-hour classes. Then, they must figure out how to retain all the details for the exam on their own.
At the end of my journey through home inspection education, I passed the licensing exam on my first try. However, I knew how to design a system to help me retain all of the information. In the end, I did not feel like I got what I paid for. I was disappointed. Once more, I did not feel adequately prepared when I went out in the field.
