Becoming a Home Inspector in BC

Starting a career as a licensed home inspector

Becoming a licensed home inspector takes a great deal of studying, determination, and planning. In BC, getting licensed is as long and as difficult a process as anywhere else in North America. There are several reasons for this, including the attractiveness and importance of our province’s real estate industry, and the provincial government’s stringent regulations around property inspections.

This comprehensive guide to starting a home inspection career is inspired by our head inspector and his experience navigating the process of getting licensed in Vancouver and Kelowna.

Learn the steps to get licensed.

How to become a licensed home inspector

 

The licensing body for the home inspection industry in BC is Consumer Protection BC, so reading their How to Get Licensed page is definitely where you should head after you’re done reading our guide. Our guide will effectively summarize the process and shed some daylight on a few areas that may not be totally clear.

On average, it takes about 14-20 months to become a licensed home inspector in BC. If receiving your training exclusively through an association, it may take a few months longer, especially if you live in a more rural or remote area of the province. If you're organized, driven, have a few mentors to guide you, and can dedicate some extra time, you should be able to shave a few months off the 14-20 months average. It’s not uncommon for home-inspectors-in-training to take 2 or 3 years (or longer) to get fully licensed, especially if they have significant work and family obligations that get in the way of their education or training. Some students take a break from their classes, which schools generally allow, but a break may also set them back 10 months as they wait for their next module to come back around in the school’s monthly course rotation.

Timeline for Becoming a Home Inspector

  • Month 0: Register for your education

  • Month 1: Begin your schooling; Begin researching & organizing exam(s)

  • Month 2: Write your first exam (if choosing the “multiple exams” route)

  • Month 5-6: Begin researching & organizing field training

  • Month 6-8: Begin field training

  • Month 7-10: Start working on your business: (choose a name, purchase a domain, begin collecting supplies and purchasing tools, consider sole proprietorship vs incorporation, determine company structure, create a business plan, create a marketing strategy, research and select your report writing software)

  • Month 11: Complete your education

  • Month 12-13: Write and pass the required exam(s); Review and understand your obligations

  • Month 14-16: Meet the training requirement; Continue working on your report writing software and technical skills; Review application checklist; Obtain proof of registration or incorporation; Obtain a municipal business licence

  • Month 16-18: Obtain your peer recommendation letter (by completing a peer-reviewed-inspection from certified evaluator), Complete a criminal record check; Get some insurance quotes

  • Month 19: Purchase home inspector’s insurance; *many applicants forget to complete the required Insurance Declaration Form; Complete Licence Application Form; Submit your application and all supporting documents, Purchase any remaining tools and equipment; Receive licence

  • Month 20: Start networking & marketing yourself as a licensed inspector; Continue studying, training, learning

Home Inspector School in BC

There are two types of delivery for the home inspector education: in-person/classroom study, and, online study. Recently, online eduction is becoming the more popular of the two.

 

The most popular school for home inspectors is Carson Dunlop’s Home Inspector Course. It’s taught across North America and is very well-known. While it takes about 4-5 months for dedicated full-time students to complete the 10-module course, students in British Columbia must learn the material part-time over at least 11-12 months. (At this time there’s no option for an accelerated or condensed, full-time option in BC). This is a live online setting, with 8 x three-hour sessions per month for a total of over 150 hours. Some students find it difficult to get through the program without taking a break, and in the process, may skip or miss a module. Other students find the pace of the course sluggish.

Ashton College is a local, live online program that follows the Carson Dunlop curriculum. The instructors are knowledgeable, kind and unbiased. A sample classroom video is available to watch on the website so prospective students can get to know the program’s instructors before they sign up.

BCIT is a great school that’s been offering its House Inspection program and teaching home inspection students for several years. It offers a more hands-on feel than some of the other classes. The BCIT program consists of 6 courses, 2 of which are delivered online, and 4 of which are delivered in-person at the BCIT Burnaby campus. It is affiliated with ASTTBC and has been around longer than any other program in BC. The school recommends taking these courses over three consecutive semesters. The cost of this program adds up to over $4,000 in fees.

The Canadian Institute of Home Inspectors is a new school based out of Alberta that seems to be offering a good program. Their curriculum includes some newer tools and methods that some of other programs do not cover.

The Holmes Academy program is delivered either by combination in-person and zoom ($2999), or, strictly via zoom ($3990). Its training is accredited by CanNACHI. There isn't an explicit timeline associated with this program (depends slightly on the location and time of year), but this definitely seems to be the fastest and most efficient choice—students can complete 225 hours of instruction in about 5 weeks or less. The intensive 10-hour days seems challenging but this may be a good choice for students wishing to complete their studies quickly. The program is currently being offered in Vancouver as 7 days in-class, followed by 8 days online delivery. The final exam can be taken remotely.

Inspect4U is a program that is delivered online and offers in-person classes in Alberta only at the moment. Its training is accredited by CanNACHI. It’s not known if or when they will be providing educational services in BC again. The remote course is done over zoom, and aside from some quizzes, there’s one final exam, done remotely. There isn't an explicit timeline associated with this program.

Choosing which of the four Home Inspection Exams to write.

Home Inspector Exams in BC

There are two approaches to writing the required (provincial) licensing exams, and within each of these two approaches you’ll have a choice of two different exams—so four exams to choose from.

Note: Don’t confuse the provincial licensing exams with your school’s “final exams”, which correspond to individual educational courses.

The first approach is to write a series of 8 proctored and timed exams as you progress through your schooling. Each of these exams is on a different subject module and allows you 1 hour to answer 50 questions. You will generally write these exams sequentially as you progress through the modules. For example, after you study Air Conditioners & Heat Pumps in your school in October, you schedule and write the corresponding A/C & Heat Pumps licensing exam sometime in November. Then, in November, you learn about Plumbing in your school courses, and schedule and write your Plumbing licensing exam after you’ve learned all that material, in December. You don’t need to write the exam within a certain amount of time, but most people recommend to write them as you go, and this way allows you to get into a rhythm with your exam writing. This approach is available through CanNACHI or HIABC and costs approximately $625 +tax.

The second approach is to write one (bigger) exam that covers all the sections and systems that you learned about in your schooling, at the conclusion of your education. This type of exam is offered by NHICC and ASTTBC. It tends to be a 3 hour exam and costs between $150-$250 +tax, depending on the institution.

The benefit to the “8 separate exams” approach is that you can write your required licensing exams soon after you learned the corresponding subject matter in school, while it’s fresh in your mind. You don’t need to write any exams within a certain amount of time, but most people recommend writing them as you go, which allows you to get into a rhythm with your exam writing. The negative aspects to this approach are a) you end up spending more total time studying for, and actually writing exams (approximately 400 questions over 8 hours), and b) it’s more costly ($625 +tax vs $150-$175 +tax).

The benefits to writing one single exam are that a) you can focus on your schooling until you’re done, b) one exam only is less expensive to write (you’ll save about $450). Conversely, you may spend more time cramming for the single exam, and the additional lapsed time from when you started your education will mean that you’ll need to spend additional time reviewing the older material during your preparations.

Most likely, if you do your schooling through BCIT, you’ll write your exams through ASTTBC, and likely end up a member of that association. If you do your schooling through Carson Dunlop, the instructors will strongly encourage you to write your exams through HIABC and end up a member of that association. If you complete your schooling through Holmes Academy, you’ll probably write your exam(s) through CanNACHI.

The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) has a great curriculum and is a prominent player in the industry, but its training does not apply for students in British Columbia at this time. InterNACHI is currently working on obtaining approval for its program. The education that InterNACHI delivers is very broad and of a high quality. Many home inspectors in BC become members of InterNACHI after becoming licensed, as they offer business support as well as educational/training support.

 

Obtaining Professional Liability Insurance for Home Inspectors.

Home Inspector’s Insurance in BC

Professional Liability Insurance, also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance (E&O) is required for all home inspectors in BC, in order to be licensed. You’ll also get your General Liability Insurance / Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL), which is a general business insurance, through the same entity. Property Insurance (coverage for your tools, computers etc.), and additional coverages for companies that provide Mold Testing, Asbestos Testing and other services are also available. Finally, you may also want to consider Cyber Insurance, which covers you for cyber attacks, hacking, and other digital threats. Insurance for home inspectors is expensive: in 2024, insurance typically costs about $4,000-$8,000 per year.

The home inspection industry is small and specialized, and as such there are a limited number of insurance brokers that are able to provide the type of professional liability coverage that’s needed. Some companies that offer E&O insurance for home inspectors are:

  1. BFL Canada

  2. HIABC*

  3. HUB International

  4. URS Insurance

  5. Zensurance

Additionally, there are smaller brokerages throughout Alberta (CMB, Rogers) and BC that offer insurance for home inspectors, but in our experience they may not be as competitive in their pricing, and some may even be reluctant to provide you with a quote. Nevertheless, it might be worth doing some further research as the home inspector insurance landscape is very dynamic, and rates and offerings are prone to shifting and changing (usually increasing) at any time.

InterNACHI is has been working on expanding its E&O insurance offerings to Canada for several years.

*HIABC is an association—not a “company”—that offers its own insurance plan.

Bookshelf with ten Carson Dunlop binders, including all sections. Multi-coloured textbooks.
 

Work for a Company or Be Independent

Start thinking about whether you want to work for a company or go out on your own before you’re fully licensed and ready to work.

Most home inspectors in BC—approximately 75% of them —are independent, either self-employed or the only employee in their corporation. But there are several small inspection companies with a handful of home inspectors working for them. There are several companies with 2-3 inspectors, while the biggest inspection companies in BC only have about 4-7 inspectors working for them (plus a few office staff). If you want to work from a home inspection company, it’s a good idea to start reaching out to them long before you finish your field training.

Best locations for inspector training:

  1. Vancouver, Fraser Valley & the Lower Mainland

  2. Kelowna & Okanagan

  3. Victoria & Southern Vancouver Island

  4. Kamloops & Interior

 

It should come as no surprise that Vancouver and the Lower Mainland is the best area in the province to find your home inspector training. The in-person schools are located in Vancouver/Burnaby, and because it’s a large population centre, there are many more certified trainers in the Lower Mainland. There are great trainers in Squamish and the North Shore all the way to Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley.

The best places for home inspector training in BC are directly ranked by population density.

We can help you arrange home inspector training!

 

More Travel.

If you’re not located in Metro Vancouver, you’ll likely need to travel to the coast at least once during your journey to get some training hours. It’s probably a good idea to expect to travel a few times over the course of a few months, so budget and prepare accordingly.

More Options.

Look at the list of licensed inspectors on CPBC sort it by approved trainers. There are way more trainers in the Lower Mainland than in the rest of the province combined. You can then research the various trainers (check out their websites & social media) and give yourself an idea of who you’d like to work with.

Last steps before you become licensed:

When everything is said and done you should be submitting approximately 9-to-11 PDF files to CPBC by email.

  1. Home Inspector Application Form (main form containing general/personal info)

  2. Education Transcript (from school)

  3. Record of Marks (from provincial exams, may be 2 documents)

  4. Peer Recommendation Letter (from PRI/evaluator)

  5. Statement of Registration

  6. Municipal Business Licence (from your municipality/city/town)

  7. Certificate of Insurance (from insurance provider)

  8. Insurance Declaration (form regarding insurance that you must fill out)

  9. Statutory Declaration (if your business address is the same as your home address).

 

Tips for submitting your application:

Don’t print anything

You will be emailing your application with attached files to operations@consumerprotectionbc.ca.

Scan your paperwork into fewer docs

If you have more than one Training Hours sheet, for example, combine your sheets into 1 PDF file.

Number and name your files

Keep your files organized in a folder as you build your application. Give the files names beginning with a number so you can clearly see your progress, ie. “01-Education-Transcript-JohnSmith.pdf”.

How to name your files for CPBC application

Your CPBC Application folder should look something like this when you’re ready to submit your completed application.

Criminal Record Check

There’s an online form you will complete and a third party company (currently Sterling Talent Solutions) will then submit your results directly to CPBC. Note: If you have a criminal record, you should proactively contact CPBC as soon as possible to discuss.

Don’t forget the CPBC insurance declaration

CPBC says many applicants forget this important step! Note: This is not the same as your proof of insurance form from your insurance provider. It’s a separate form that you’ll need fill out yourself and submit.

 

Finally… all hands on deck!

Don’t forget: this process can be completed faster than the usual 16-20 months. Because the home inspection industry is relatively small and fragmented, it’s a good idea to research and learn, and work hard at networking. If you’re going out on your own you’ll need to work hard at the marketing end of the business as well. Do your research, read construction books and industry magazines, read as much as you can, and get in touch with several different people from different backgrounds, cities, associations etc. to figure out the best route for yourself.

Do your market research to determine whether there are sufficient sales in your area to support new inspectors. Building a successful home inspection business is difficult, and so is getting hired to work for an established home inspection company. Good luck!