DOES A HOME INSPECTOR HAVE TO BE LICENSED?
Does a home inspector have to be licensed? A simple enough question that surprisingly has no simple answer. The most accurate answer is very scary and would have to be: no, yes, and soon. Home inspectors are totally unregulated. The street sweeper, door-to-door salesman or car washer of last year may be a home inspector today. The field is wide open and anybody with a clipboard can be a home inspector. Although there are very competent and qualified home inspectors, the industry has become a haven for failed builders or other contractors and quick-buck artists assisted by bogus “certifying” organizations. You can usually – but not always – spot them by their prices. If an inspector discusses or reports on wood destroying organisms (wdo’s) or the conditions that could attract such critters, some, including the Wa State Department of Agriculture, say that an inspector is required to have a State Pest Inspector (SPI) license – but there are many inspectors who successfully skirt the rule.
