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Becoming a home inspector can be a lucrative career choice. Highly motivated individuals can be licensed and working within their profession and just a few short months. It’s the only career I know of where you can make a comfortable living with just two weeks of classroom training.

Here is how to get a license for home inspection in Washington State.

Overview

Suzanne doing field training
  1. Get educated & receive training
  2. Submit an exam application, online or by mail
  3. Take the Home Inspectors exam
  4. Apply for your Home Inspectors license, online or by mail

First get certified by a Washington State licensed Home Inspection education program. Be sure any program you choose is listed in the Washington State Department of Licensing catalog. There are schools out there selling education in this state that may not qualify.

Rainy days make for great training opportunities.

Second, get your field training completed.  You are required to Mentor with a state-licensed home inspector for 40 hours minimum and you must also complete 5 Home Inspection reports. Any licensed home inspector in Washington State can mentor licensee candidates.

Third Contact the Department of Licensing with proof of certificate of education, and your mentorship hours, and then you can schedule to take the state exam.  You will need the following documents:

Your certificate of completion from a Washington State Home Inspectors Board approved Fundamentals of Home Inspection course

Training log showing 40 hours of field training and 5 actual inspections

The examination fees are $300
The exam consists of two parts on National and a state portion when taking both portions the questions on the two will be intermixed and will not appear as separate sections The full examination has 200 multiple choice items, the total time allotted for the examination is 4 hours. 

Download the Candidate Handbook Here

Fourth, Upon successfully completing the examination, you may apply for your license by mail or you can submit your information electronically directly to the Department of Licensing. The cost for your first license is $680.

Questions? Need help from DOL?
Email; dolinthomeinspectors@dol.wa.gov
Call: 360.664.6487

The total expense for most of our students is less then $5000 to have license in hand, making this a very attractive career. Especially when compared to other similar paying careers considering the time and money invested vs salaries earned.

Be sure to see the Candidate handbook for Home Inspection Examination, that’s a great Guide to Becoming a home inspector and Washington.

Call us we love to talk about home inspection careers.