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 
• central air conditioning
• roofing systems
• exteriors, including landscaping
• interiors, including insulation and ventilation
• environmental concerns
• occupant health and safety issues

Some home inspectors offer extra services such as:

• inspection of fireplaces, wood stoves & chimneys
• mould, radon and asbestos sampling
• energy efficiency audits
• inspection of pools, spas and hot tubs
• inspecting wells and septic systems
• outbuildings, including barns and other structures
• multi-unit dwellings and commercial properties

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 an online or correspondence course. 

Larger inspection companies will generally teach prospective inspectors how to inspect a house, but they won’t teach you "about" the house;  you'll have to learn that yourself. 

Community Colleges offer a wide range of evening classes in trade-related topics, and more recently some colleges have begun to offer courses in the field of home inspection.  

Home inspection associations have developed some training programs, primarily in the area of defect recognition, and groups such as Wood Energy Technology Transfer (WETT Inc.) offer wood energy technical training.  The Ministry of Housing in Ontario delivers Ontario Building Code Courses.

Most associations provide prior learning assessments, to help applicants determine which courses of study may be required, prior to attaining applicant or candidate status.   In addition to any courses of study and possibly company training and/or apprenticeship, a number of fee-paid inspections, a review of the inspector's reporting methods and formal examinations, generally must be completed before applying for full membership in a professional association. 

Some prior knowledge of the following will also be beneficial:

• real estate and real estate law as is pertains to the transaction
• water and sewer systems, general infrastructure, typical municipal bylaws
• inter-personal communications, correspondence and report writing
• computerized applications, basic telecommunications