Moving to Arkansas as a home inspector: every state's rule

1. 1Pre-license course. Complete the required pre-license course. Board-approved qualifying education of 80 hours: at least 64 hours of instruction and at least 16 hours of field training, all completed within the three years before you apply. Choose courses from the Board's Arkansas Approved Qualifying Education list, pass the provider's proctored, closed-book exit exam with 70 percent, and upload the completion certificate to your portal account yourself. The course fee is set by the provider..
2. 2Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. National Home Inspector Examination, developed by the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors and given at PSI test centers. You register directly with the test provider. A certified copy of your passing result is uploaded with the application, and it is valid for five years..
3. 3Exam fee. Pay the exam fee ($225). National Home Inspector Examination fee, paid when you register and charged again for each retake. The Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors lists $225 per test for most states and asks candidates to confirm the price when registering. Fees are nonrefundable, and you lose the fee if you cancel less than two business days ahead or do not test within one year of registering..
4. 4Law / code exam. Pass a law, rules, or code exam. American Society of Home Inspectors Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics examination, scheduled through Pearson VUE. Arkansas has no state law-and-rules exam of its own, but the Board has adopted the ASHI Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics as the standards Arkansas home inspectors must follow, and this exam tests them. The fee is not published by the Board and is shown when you register with Pearson VUE. A pass is valid for five years..
5. 5Application fee. Pay the application fee ($250). Initial registration fee of $250 (rule 17 CAR 200-510(a)(1)(A)), paid through the Board's online licensing portal. It is nonrefundable. The registration runs to December 31 of the year it is issued. If you receive Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, TANF or Lifeline assistance, were approved for unemployment in the last twelve months, or have income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, you can ask to have this fee waived under the Workforce Expansion Act, with documentation and a signed affidavit..
6. 6Insurance. Carry the required insurance ($100,000). Professional liability or errors and omissions insurance of at least $100,000 in your own name, not your company's. The certificate of insurance must name the State Board of Appraisers, Abstracters, and Home Inspectors, 900 W. Capitol Ave, Ste. 400, Little Rock, AR 72201 as certificate holder, and it must provide at least ten days' written notice to the Board before cancellation or nonrenewal. The carrier must be licensed or surplus lines approved in Arkansas. If your cover lapses, your registration is suspended until it is replaced..
7. 7Insurance. Carry the required insurance (if applicable). Workers' compensation insurance, if it applies to you, which Ark. Code 17-52-315(a)(2) lists alongside the liability cover. Whether you need it depends on whether you have employees. The same statute describes the liability cover as general liability, while the Board and rule 17 CAR 200-503 ask for professional liability or errors and omissions, so check with the Board before buying a policy that meets only one of those descriptions..
8. 8Background check. Complete a background check. The Board does not publish a fingerprint requirement or a background check fee for home inspectors. You are not eligible if you have pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to, or been found guilty of, an offense listed in Ark. Code 17-3-102, unless the record has been sealed, pardoned or expunged. You can ask the Board in writing, with your application, to waive the disqualification. Before applying, you can also petition the Board for a prelicensure determination of whether your record disqualifies you; that decision cannot be appealed..

Published fees on this path total $475, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.