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

New Jersey licenses home inspectors statewide under the Home Inspection Professional Licensing Act. The Home Inspection Advisory Committee, which sits under the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors in the Division of Consumer Affairs, issues the license, and no one may perform a home inspection for compensation or call themselves a home inspector without it. There is one tier today. New Jersey did once issue a subordinate Associate Home Inspector license, but the Legislature abolished it in 2005: the statute that created it was repealed, the last associate licenses were converted to full ones during a 180-day window that closed in 2006, and the two rule sections that carried it are now marked reserved. Supervised work survived as a way in rather than as a license of its own, so a candidate qualifies either through a 180-hour approved course that includes 40 hours of unpaid field inspections alongside a licensee, or by completing 250 fee-paid inspections under a licensee's direct supervision; the rules call that person a trainee and exempt them from licensure only while they are working in the supervising inspector's presence. Every licensee carries errors and omissions insurance of $500,000 per occurrence filed with the Committee, and the license renews every two years on 40 continuing education units.