Arkansas to South Dakota: home inspector license reciprocity

1. 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($200). Non-refundable application fee for a home inspector license or registration, set by ARSD 20:74:02:08 and capped at $200 by SDCL 36-21C-6(3). The Commission takes it by check or money order. SDCL 36-21C-8 requires payment of a fee with the written application on the out-of-state route as well, and the Commission publishes no different figure for it..
2. 2Background check. Complete a background check ($50). Every applicant for licensure or registration submits to a state and federal criminal background investigation by fingerprint check through the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI, and pays for it: a separate $50 check payable to DCI accompanies the application, with fingerprint cards the Commission office supplies. South Dakota residents may instead pay online through the Livescan site at atg.sd.gov and be fingerprinted at a local Livescan agency. Do not submit fingerprints before the Commission has your signed application, because results that arrive early are destroyed and the payment is forfeited. Failure to submit or cooperate is a ground for denial, and SDCL 36-21C-13 lets the Commission refuse a license for a conviction or plea to a felony or to a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude..
3. 3Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam (if applicable). The South Dakota Real Estate Home Inspector examination, delivered by PSI at test centers in Madison, Rapid City and Sioux Falls. It is 190 multiple-choice questions, about 90 percent on the components of a home inspection taught in the pre-licensing course and about 10 percent on South Dakota's home inspection statutes and rules, and the passing score is 75. This is the route for an applicant not already licensed elsewhere. SDCL 36-21C-8 names no examination, so someone accepted as coming from a state with substantially equivalent standards should ask the Commission whether it is waived rather than assume it either way. South Dakota does not adopt the National Home Inspector Examination by name in its statutes, rules or guidance and publishes no credit for an NHIE score earned elsewhere, but its own study guide states that the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, which owns that national exam, sets the 30-day wait between attempts at the South Dakota exam..
4. 4Exam fee. Pay the exam fee ($133) (if applicable). Examination registration fee, payable by credit card to PSI when you schedule. Registration is through PSI's scheduling site, by phone on 855.557.0623 or by mailed form, and the candidate handbook is released once you select the South Dakota Real Estate Home Inspector exam. A candidate who does not pass waits 30 days before the next attempt..
5. 5Other. A Commission-approved pre-licensing course of at least 40 hours, covering the principles of home inspection and including the South Dakota statutes and rules on home inspectors. A classroom hour is at least 50 minutes of actual instruction and no more than eight hours may be taught in a day. It is the education condition for registration under SDCL 36-21C-5, and the application must show it was completed within the two years before filing, evidenced by the original education certification (Form 101). SDCL 36-21C-8 does not impose it on someone already licensed in another state. (if applicable).
6. 6License fee. Pay the license or certificate fee ($100). Biennial renewal fee, set by ARSD 20:74:02:09 and capped at $100 by SDCL 36-21C-6(3). A license or registration expires on 31 December of the year following issuance, and the renewal application and fee must reach the Commission by 5 p.m. on 30 November of the expiry year. Late renewal costs an extra $20 for each month or part of a month, so $20 in December rising to $140 in June, and nothing can be reinstated after 30 June of the following year. A lost certificate is replaced for $15..
7. 7Continuing education. Complete continuing education. 24 hours of Commission-approved continuing education in each two-year renewal period, completed by 31 December of the year the license or registration expires. Hours cannot be counted twice, and an inspector who has not finished them may not perform home inspections and must surrender the credential and go inactive until they are done. Approved subjects include legal issues affecting home inspectors, building codes adopted by South Dakota regulators, standards of practice, report writing, environmental issues and wood-destroying insects, ethics, building components, fair housing and antitrust, and courses the state's plumbing or electrical commission approves for plumbers and electricians count. A course must run at least three hours. The Commission may exempt a nonresident licensee who qualifies under SDCL 36-21C-8 and meets all the home inspector requirements of their home state, and may grant exceptions or extensions for health, military service or other good cause..
8. 8Insurance. Carry the required insurance (if applicable). South Dakota requires no insurance of a home inspector. Neither SDCL chapter 36-21C nor article 20:74 of the administrative rules mentions errors and omissions cover, general liability cover, a bond, net assets or a financial statement, and none is asked for on the application or at renewal. The errors and omissions policy the Real Estate Commission does enforce is imposed by SDCL 36-21A-122 on active brokers, broker associates, property managers, real estate auctioneers, residential rental agents and salespeople, and does not extend to home inspectors. Any cover you carry here is a commercial decision rather than a licensing condition, and your written inspection agreement and ordinary contract and negligence law set what you owe the client..
9. 9Business license. Obtain a business license. A South Dakota sales tax license from the Department of Revenue. South Dakota taxes services as well as goods, so a business selling home inspections in the state needs the license, whether it is a sole proprietorship or a company: a physical presence in South Dakota triggers it outright, and a business with no physical presence is drawn in once sales into the state pass $100,000 or 200 separate transactions in the previous or current calendar year. There is no fee, and you apply at sd.gov/taxapp. Operating a taxable business without the license is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The separate contractor's excise tax license covers construction, building, installation, repair or remodeling work on real property, so it becomes your concern only if the same business takes on that work as well as inspecting. Rates are 4.5 percent state sales and use tax plus 1 to 2 percent municipal, and 2 percent excise on a prime contractor's construction receipts..
10. 10Other. A firm application if you open your own home inspection business. The Commission issues the personal credential on an inactive footing and activates it when it hears either from you or from the responsible home inspector of the firm you are joining, so plan the firm paperwork alongside the personal application rather than after it. (if applicable).

Published fees on this path total $300, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.