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

Tennessee licenses home inspectors statewide under the Tennessee Home Inspector License Act of 2005, T.C.A. sections 62-6-301 and following. The licensing body is not a board but the Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance, working through the Home Inspector Licensing Program in the department's Division of Regulatory Boards, and it is a different body from the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, so a contractor license is neither a substitute for this license nor a step toward it. It is unlawful to engage in, conduct, advertise or claim to be conducting the business of a home inspector in Tennessee without the license. There is only one grade: Tennessee has no apprentice, associate, trainee or in-training tier, nobody works under a sponsor, and the only other status is inactive, which bars all inspection work. A licensed inspector gives a professional opinion on the condition of a residential building and its accessible installed components after a visual analysis of the heating, cooling, electrical and plumbing systems, structural components, foundations, roof coverings, exterior and interior components and other site aspects affecting the dwelling. The Act deliberately stops short of code compliance inspections and of anything within the scope of architecture, engineering or landscape architecture. Every active licensee carries two insurance policies at once: general liability of at least $500,000 and errors and omissions cover for all home inspection activities, with the State of Tennessee named as certificate holder. Licenses run two years from the date of issue and renew on 32 hours of approved continuing education.