Prior construction experience is a great asset - either in renovation, construction, or trade-related experience such as electrician, plumber etc. - or as a quantity surveyor, construction estimator, trades coordinator, or as a professional architect or engineer.

An architect or an engineer is not automatically a good home inspector. These are disciplines that deal with very specialized and specific areas of buildings, whereas professional home inspectors are generalists, observing and understanding all the components in a building - and the relationships between different components and component systems.

The general categories are:

* electrical

* plumbing

* foundations, basements and structures

* insects, vermin and decay

* central heating systems, including heat loss/gain

* space heating, including fireplaces, wood stoves & chimneys

* central air conditioning

* roofing systems

* exteriors, including landscaping

* interiors, including insulation and ventilation

* environmental and safety issues

With or without prior experience, the prospective home inspector usually starts by reading about, and getting involved with the parts of the house he or she is not already familiar with.

There have been until recently, only a few private (and very expensive) schools of home inspection, and the content is frequently lacking. One way to start preliminary evaluation of a career in home inspection might be with a correspondence course.

Larger inspection companies will generally teach prospective inspectors how to inspect a house, but they won