How to start a home inspection business, from the state license to the first agent who sends you a client

A home inspection company sells a few hours of careful looking and a report someone will use to make a large decision. The buyer reads it to decide whether to renegotiate or walk away. The agent reads it to keep a deal on track. If something goes wrong after closing, a lawyer may read it too. That is why this trade starts with paperwork: a license where your state requires one, a standard of practice you follow on every job, an agreement your client signs before you arrive, and insurance that answers for your mistakes. The sections below walk through what the job involves, how licensing and certification generally work, the conflict-of-interest rules that limit how you can grow, insurance, equipment, pricing, first clients without rented leads, and how the year moves.

Treat this guide as general background from owners of service companies; nothing here is legal, insurance or tax advice. Inspector licensing, where it exists, is set by each state and gets amended over time, so check every point below against your own state's rules and the office that administers them.

What does a home inspection business actually do?

Most of the work is the pre-purchase inspection: a visual check of a house's major systems for a buyer who has an accepted offer and a contract deadline. The Federal Housing Administration's buyer form For Your Protection: Get a Home Inspection makes the case for you. It says FHA does not perform home inspections, that an appraisal does not replace one, and that a buyer who books an inspection early may be able to make the purchase contract contingent on the results. The same form suggests buyers request a standard of practice or a sample report from each inspector, so have both ready before your first call.

A standard of practice defines the job. Under the ASHI Standard of Practice for Home Inspections, the inspector looks at readily accessible, visually observable, installed systems and components and writes a report naming the ones that, in the inspector's judgment, are not functioning properly, significantly deficient, unsafe or near the end of their service lives, with recommendations to correct or monitor them. The report also has to name any system or component the standard covers that was present but not inspected, and say why. That standard covers buildings with four or fewer dwelling units, and it does not require the inspector to determine repair costs or the presence of mold, wood-destroying organisms or environmental hazards such as radioactive substances. Those exclusions are where most add-on work comes from.

That 2014 standard is due to be replaced. ASHI members voted in January 2026 to approve a revised version, and ASHI's standard of practice page says the 2014 text stays in effect until an implementation date is announced. No date was posted when we checked in October 2026. Whichever standard you adopt, confirm the current version before you print it into your agreement, and recheck it each year.

Around the core inspection, companies build other lines of work:

• Add-on tests. Radon, sewer line camera scopes, mold sampling, termite and other wood-destroying insect reports, private well water, septic systems and pools. HUD's form tells buyers to ask their inspector whether extra tests such as mold, air or water quality, asbestos, lead paint or pests apply to their home.
• Pre-listing inspections for sellers who want to find problems before a buyer's inspector does.
• New construction inspections at stages of a build, and a last look before the builder's warranty period ends.
• Re-inspections that confirm the repairs a buyer negotiated were made.
• Insurance inspections in places where insurers require them. In Florida, Citizens Property Insurance says it needs a four-point inspection, covering the electrical system, plumbing, HVAC and roof, when someone applies for a policy on a home more than 20 years old. Florida Statutes section 627.711 lets a licensed home inspector sign the uniform mitigation verification form after finishing 3 or more hours of hurricane mitigation training approved by the Construction Industry Licensing Board and passing a proficiency exam.

Decide early which of these you will offer. Each add-on changes the equipment you buy, the credentials you need and how long a visit runs. Apartment buildings and commercial property fall outside a residential standard like ASHI's, and many new companies leave them for later.

Do you need a license to work as a home inspector?

That depends on your state. The SBA's guide to licenses and permits says the licenses a business needs from its state, county or city depend on what it does and where it is, and that industry requirements often vary by state. Two states show how different inspector licensing can look:

• Texas licenses inspectors through the Texas Real Estate Commission in three levels. An apprentice inspector trains under the direct supervision of a professional inspector. A real estate inspector, the middle level, works under indirect supervision and needs more education, experience and an exam. The professional inspector license calls for more education and experience, a national exam and a state exam, and proof of professional liability or other qualifying insurance of $100,000 per occurrence before the license issues.
• Florida licenses individual home inspectors. The home inspector FAQ from the state's licensing department lists a department-approved 120-hour course, a department-approved exam, a criminal background check and a commercial general liability policy of $300,000, with 14 hours of continuing education to renew. It also says the department licenses individuals, not home inspection businesses.

Your state may resemble one of these or neither. Start at our state startup pages, find the agency that regulates inspectors, and read its rules on education, exams, supervised inspections, insurance and the report before you advertise. If you plan to inspect across a state line, check that state on its own.

Add-on services carry their own rules:

• Radon. EPA's radon guide for home buyers and sellers notes that in many states, radon professionals need a state license, certification or registration, and it tells consumers in states without such rules to ask the tester about a proficiency credential. EPA's radon professional page names two national programs, the National Radon Proficiency Program and the National Radon Safety Board, and sends people to each state's radon program for its list of credentialed providers.
• Lead-based paint. EPA requires certification for individuals and firms that perform lead-based paint inspections and risk assessments in pre-1978 target housing and child-occupied facilities, and most states run that program themselves with EPA's authorization. Under the federal disclosure rule, buyers of older homes get a period to arrange that kind of inspection, so the request will come. Sell it only once you and your firm hold the certification.
• Wood-destroying insect reports, septic and wells. Ask your state whether these fall under pest control, environmental health or another license before you list them on your site.
• Drones. The FAA's page for commercial operators says a drone under 55 pounds can be flown for work or business under its Part 107 rules, which involve passing a knowledge test for a remote pilot certificate and registering the drone. 14 CFR 107.12 bars anyone from acting as remote pilot in command without that certificate.

How is certification different from a license?

A license is a government agency's permission, and in a state that requires one, inspecting for pay without it breaks the law. A certification is a private association's stamp that tells clients you cleared its bar. ASHI's requirements for its ASHI Certified Inspector designation, for example, include a passing result on the National Home Inspector Examination, at least 250 fee-paid inspections done to ASHI's standards, reports submitted for review, and 20 ASHI continuing education credits every year. No certificate can stand in for a state license.

Where your state sets its own standards, those govern the inspection. Texas, for instance, says its standards of practice, rules 535.227 to 535.233, set the minimum every licensed inspector must follow. Before paying for any course, check which schools, exams and credit hours your state accepts. Then choose the standard you will work to, keep it on your website, and attach it to every agreement.

Which conflict-of-interest rules shape the business?

Clients pay an inspector for independence, and the profession and some states write that into rules that limit how you can grow. The ASHI Code of Ethics tells members not to:

• repair, replace or upgrade, for pay, systems or components its standard covers, for one year after the inspection;
• inspect under arrangements where pay or future referrals hinge on what the report finds or on whether the property sells;
• compensate real estate agents, directly or indirectly, for sending clients or for putting the inspector on a recommended list;
• accept compensation for recommending contractors, services or products to clients.

Some states put similar limits in statute. Florida's section 468.8319 bars an inspector from performing or offering repairs on a home the inspector or the inspector's company has reported on (with a carve-out for home warranty companies handling warranty claims), from inspecting property the company has a financial interest in, from rewarding a broker or agent for a referral, and from taking an engagement where the fee depends on the report's conclusions or the close of escrow. Federal rules add another layer. Under the CFPB's Regulation X, an inspection that the purchase contract or the loan documents call for before the title passes to the buyer is a settlement service. Separately, 12 CFR 1024.14 bars anyone from giving or taking a fee, kickback or anything else of value in exchange for referrals of settlement service work tied to a federally related mortgage loan.

Two business decisions follow. A repair or handyman sideline can't take work from your own inspection reports where these rules apply, so keep it out of the plan or run it far apart from your inspection clients after checking your state's law. And you can't buy a spot on an agent's list, so your marketing has to make you the easiest inspector to recommend.

What insurance and bonds does a home inspector need?

• Errors and omissions. The NAIC's small business insurance guide lists professional liability, also called errors and omissions, as the policy for claims of wrongful practices against people who sell professional services. For an inspector, the claim to plan for is a defect the buyer says you missed. The same guide notes that a business owner's policy typically excludes professional liability, so a package policy alone leaves that gap.
• General liability for bodily injury and damage to other people's property, such as a foot through an attic ceiling or a valve that leaks after you test it.
• Workers' compensation once you have employees. The NAIC notes that almost every state requires employers to buy a policy for their workers.
• Commercial auto for the vehicle that takes you to every job.

Some states make coverage a condition of the license, like the Texas and Florida minimums above. Ask your licensing agency whether it also requires a bond. Our contractor insurance guide and surety bond explainer go further. Have a local attorney review your inspection agreement as well. It sets the scope, names the standard you follow, records who may see the report and explains how disputes are handled, and what it may say depends on your state.

What tools and vehicle does a home inspector need?

• A dependable car, SUV or small truck with a ladder rack, kept clean, since it parks in front of a client's future home.
• A multi-position ladder and a telescoping ladder for roofs and attic hatches, plus a step stool for panels and ceilings.
• Bright flashlights, a headlamp and spare batteries.
• Outlet and GFCI testers, a non-contact voltage tester and insulated screwdrivers for removing panel covers.
• A moisture meter, plus an infrared thermometer or thermal camera to check suspect spots behind finished surfaces.
• A combustible gas detector and a carbon monoxide meter.
• Coveralls, knee pads, gloves and a respirator for crawlspaces and attics.
• A phone or tablet with inspection report software, and a camera that handles dark attics.
• For add-ons: continuous radon monitors, a sewer scope camera with enough cable for long lateral lines, water sampling kits, and a drone if you hold the certificate.

Buy the core kit first and add equipment when a service is ready to sell. Radon monitors deserve planning. EPA's radon guide sets a 48-hour minimum for every radon test, which means each monitor stays in a house for days and can't go to the next job. Count how many you need from the number of radon tests you expect to run at once, and keep each monitor on whatever calibration schedule your state or credentialing program requires.

How should you price home inspections?

Price from time and present a flat fee. Every job carries four blocks of hours: on site, writing the report, driving, and office work such as booking, arranging access and answering questions after delivery. House size, age, foundation type and add-ons move those blocks, so build your size bands and add-on lines from hours you have actually logged rather than from a competitor's price sheet.

Three policies belong in writing before the first booking. Set a minimum fee, because a small condo still takes a full trip and a full report. Price re-inspections as visits of their own. And collect the full fee whether the deal closes or not, since ASHI's code rules out pay tied to the sale and Florida's statute bars fees contingent on the close of escrow. Our guide to pricing home inspection jobs works through a full example with radon and a sewer scope, and the overhead and margin math beneath it sits in how to price service jobs.

Where do your first inspection clients come from?

Lead marketplaces will sell you inspection requests. On Thumbtack, the help center explains, a matching request from a customer who found you in search results triggers an automatic charge for that lead. In its 10-K for 2025, Angi books the consumer-match fees pros pay as revenue even on jobs those pros never end up doing. A bought lead in this trade is usually one inspection for a buyer who may not need you again until they sell. The agent who could send a client every month isn't available on any marketplace.

The channels you own build on each other:

• A website that quotes and books. An instant price from square footage, age, foundation and add-ons, then open times, the agreement and payment, with your sample report one tap away. We build websites around that flow, and our online booking guide covers the setup.
• A phone that answers in the evening. A buyer whose offer was accepted after dinner may call every name on the list before bed. Our AI receptionist can pick up under your business name, take down the size, age and foundation details your quote needs, suggest your add-ons and book a time inside the deadline.
• Agents, earned with service. Book fast, arrive on time, deliver a readable report on the day you promised, and answer the agent's questions once your client approves. Read partnerships with agents and property managers for how to build those relationships inside the referral rules.
• Google Business Profile. List the inspection and every add-on as separate services, set the towns you cover, and link straight to booking. Our home inspection SEO guide covers categories, add-on pages and tracking.
• Past clients. A buyer you inspected for will someday want a pre-listing inspection, a radon retest or a name to give a friend. Keep them on a list you own.
• Insurance agents and builders' buyers, if you offer insurance or new construction inspections.

Our home inspector marketing ideas take each of these further. Each inspection also leaves a record worth keeping: the address, the house's age, the add-ons, the referring agent, the contract deadline and the items the report said to watch. A CRM built around those fields shows which agents send you work and when a past client is due a check-in. Our home inspection industry page shows how we set up a website, phone answering and a CRM for inspectors.

How seasonal is home inspection work?

Volume follows accepted offers, so your busy months are your local housing market's busy months. Log bookings by week from the first month, and ask the agents you work with when their offices get busiest, so you know when to add a second inspector or more radon monitors.

• Snow country. Winter can bring fewer jobs and more limits, with roofs and grading under snow. Expect requests to come back and look at a roof after the melt, and decide before the first snowfall what that return visit costs.
• Coastal states. Where insurers ask for wind mitigation reports, requests can build ahead of renewals and the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
• Everywhere. January is EPA's National Radon Action Month, a natural time to offer past clients a radon test. New construction warranty checks follow closing dates, not the weather.

Use the quiet weeks for continuing education, monitor calibration, agent office visits and tightening your report templates.

The rest of the startup steps, from forming the company to setting up payroll, are on the start a company hub. Once your license, insurance and agreement are in place, request a free launch plan, and we'll map out the site, the phone setup and the CRM before your first booking.

Frequently asked questions