Ohio is one of 20 States in the United States of America that does not have any licensing requirements to become a Home Inspectors. This means anyone can become a home inspector as easily as they could lets say become a professional painter. Your home inspection is a lot more important than that. Please make sure before you hire someone that they have these 3 key items available to you at a moments notice to ensure you will have a successful transition into your new home.
Number 1 is please make sure at least in Ohio that your home inspector is certified or licensed thru a home inspection certification school. Usually upon completion that person will get a certification number that you can call the school and verify. If that school is out of business then they might not have done a good job teaching that home inspector.
Number 2 is, if you can call and verify your home inspector with one of the few main Inspection organizations listed out there. The two main ones you will most commonly find will be Internachi and ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors. they definitely give out membership numbers that you can call and verify. This is very important if they don't belong to one of the two main groups of home inspectors, then you might want to steer clear. These groups have Standards of Practice that each member must adhere to in order to maintain membership.
Number 3 is the most important of all. 90+% of home inspectors have what I have told you about above. But what truly separates the average run of the mill inspectors from the great inspectors are HOME WARRANTIES. There are professional home inspectors out there like myself who have teamed up with Insurance Warranty companies to give to you FREE WARRANTIES with every inspection. These can range from 90-100 day warranties, 5 year leak protection warranty for your roof, New Mold Warranties, Termite warranties, Radon warranties, and Sewer warranties. While you would hope you never need any of these warranties it sure would be nice to have them in case a problem should arise. Trust me the items on these warranties happen all the time whether it is old OR NEW homes doesn't matter issues happen, its not a perfect world. Wouldn't you rather have a home inspector who doesn't just say he stands behind the good job he has done BUT in case he somehow should miss something than there is a warranty to help you pay the bill instead of being left to pay the full amount yourself out of pocket? I know I would and that's why I offer free warranties to all my customers because I am not perfect and either is your home whether it is new or old.
