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

Massachusetts licenses home inspectors statewide through the Board of Registration of Home Inspectors, part of the Division of Occupational Licensure, under Sections 221 to 226 of Chapter 112 of the General Laws and the board's regulations at 266 CMR. It runs two genuine tiers. An Associate Home Inspector is employed by a licensed home inspector and may inspect only under that inspector's supervision; reaching it takes 75 hours of in-person board-approved pre-licensure training, 25 home inspections performed in the presence of a licensed home inspector, and a pass in the National Home Inspector Examination, and an associate may not advertise as a home inspector or run an inspection business. A full Home Inspector is the tier that may practice unsupervised, and getting there takes at least one year holding the associate license plus a further 100 home inspections under direct or indirect supervision. The full license is therefore what an experienced inspector moving to Massachusetts applies for, and Section 224 lets the board issue it straight to someone already licensed in another jurisdiction whose standards it finds equivalent to or exceeding the Commonwealth's. Every home inspector and associate must carry errors and omissions insurance of at least $250,000 in the aggregate, no inspection may be performed or supervised without that cover, and Massachusetts asks for no surety bond and no general liability figure.