Utah to North Dakota: home inspector license reciprocity
North Dakota gives no credit for a Utah home inspector license. You qualify from scratch.
Reference only, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the licensing board before you apply. Full disclaimer.
Register with the Secretary of State (no out-of-state route; every applicant files the same form)
Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.
North Dakota gives an out-of-state home inspector license no standing of its own. Chapter 43-54 contains no reciprocity section, no endorsement section and no mention of a credential issued by another state, the Secretary of State publishes no partner list and no equivalence review, and the one-page registration form does not even ask whether you are registered anywhere else. An inspector moving in from another state files exactly what a first-time North Dakota applicant files. The good news is how little that is, and that the one substantive test is a national one rather than a state one: the examination North Dakota accepts is an examination offered by the American Society of Home Inspectors, the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors or the International Code Council, so an experienced inspector who already sat one of those to qualify elsewhere has met the requirement and need only produce the certificate. Beyond that it is proof of $100,000 errors and omissions cover, the $200 fee, a signed declaration that you are eighteen or over, and the wait for the office to file it.
There is no North Dakota law and rules paper and no state technical paper, so nothing is layered on top of the national examination. Nor is there anything to transfer: because the chapter requires no experience, no education hours and no supervised inspections, an inbound inspector's years of work neither help nor need to. Two practical points. First, the registration expires on 30 June whatever month it was issued in, so a registration taken out in the spring buys only a few months before the first $50 renewal, and a renewal filed after 30 June is canceled without notice or a hearing, after which you reapply as a new applicant and pay the $200 again. Second, the printed form's reference list of examining organizations is wider than the statute's and uses older names; the four in section 43-54-03(2) are the ones to rely on, and the Secretary of State's office is the place to ask if your certificate came from a body the form names but the statute does not. The Secretary of State does not publish a processing time for this filing.
At a glance
- Trade exam
- Required
- Law / code exam
- Not required
- Out-of-state hours
- Do not count
What you must already have
- You must have passed a licensing exam in Utah that the destination considers comparable.This is the whole of North Dakota's competence test and it is origin-independent: the state administers no examination, adopts no passing score of its own and sets no time limit on how old the passing result may be. An inspector who took one of these examinations to qualify in another state simply files a copy of the certificate. There is no separate North Dakota law and rules examination. The registration form's page 2 prints a longer list of organizations than the statute does, including the National Association of Home Inspectors; where the form and section 43-54-03(2) differ, work from the statute and ask the Secretary of State's office before paying the fee.
- You must be at least eighteen years of age, and you sign the application declaring that under penalty of perjury along with a declaration that the documents submitted with it are true and correct. This is the only personal eligibility test in the chapter: North Dakota sets no education requirement, no experience requirement, no residency requirement and no character or criminal history question on the form.
- Holding a home inspector license or registration in another state gives no advantage here and is not asked about; the statute recognizes no out-of-state credential. Chapter 43-54 separately exempts from registration a code enforcement official employed by the state or a political subdivision acting within that employment, an insurance adjuster acting within that engagement, and an individual already licensed, certified or registered under title 43 who acts within the scope of that occupation.
What you'll do to get licensed in North Dakota
- 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($200). The $200 registration fee fixed by N.D.C.C. section 43-54-03(4), filed with form SFN 54381 and payable by check or by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express on the Secretary of State's credit card authorization form. It is the only fee on the way in; North Dakota charges no separate examination fee because it administers no examination, and no issuance fee on top of the registration fee. Renewal is $50 a year on form SFN 58339 with a current certificate of insurance. An applicant whose registration lapses and has to start again pays the $200 initial fee a second time rather than the renewal fee..
- 2Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. A home inspection examination offered by the American Society of Home Inspectors, the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors or the International Code Council, evidenced by a copy of the proof of satisfactory completion filed with the application. The Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors administers the National Home Inspector Examination, so that national paper is one of the four North Dakota accepts. The state neither writes nor administers an examination of its own, and there is no North Dakota law and rules paper on top of whichever of the four you take, so an inspector arriving with one of these certificates already in hand has nothing further to sit..
- 3Insurance. Carry the required insurance ($100,000). Errors and omissions insurance of $100,000 or more covering all home inspection activities, required by N.D.C.C. section 43-54-03(3). A copy of the certificate of liability insurance showing that errors and omissions coverage goes in with the application, and the cover must be in effect for the whole registration period. Proof of continuous coverage is filed again with each annual renewal, so a gap in the policy is a problem at renewal rather than something the state discovers later. This is the one insurance requirement in the chapter: North Dakota sets no general liability minimum for home inspectors and requires no surety bond and no financial statement..
- 4Other. Form SFN 54381, the Home Inspector Registration, completed, printed, signed and mailed or faxed to the North Dakota Office of the Secretary of State, 600 East Boulevard Avenue, Dept 108, Bismarck ND 58505-0500. It asks for name, address, email, business name, website and business telephone, a yes or no on being eighteen or over, and a signature. Registrations run to 30 June whatever date they are issued, and an individual may not work under the chapter after 30 June in any year without a valid registration. The Secretary of State mails renewal notices in mid-May and publishes a roster of currently registered inspectors..
Published fees on this path total $200, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.
What you'll need to buy or arrange
Exam preparation
Most boards contract PSI, Prov, or ICC for exams. Check which code edition the exam is written to before buying a prep course.
- Trade exam
Liability insurance
Some states require proof of general liability or workers' compensation coverage at licensing time.
- Insurance · $100,000
How North Dakota licenses home inspectors
North Dakota home inspector · “Home Inspector Registration”
Statewide license
Issued by North Dakota Secretary of State (registrar of home inspectors)
North Dakota does regulate home inspectors statewide, but as a registration rather than a license, and it is a short chapter. Under North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-54 the Secretary of State is the registrar, no individual may perform a home inspection for compensation unless registered, and doing so anyway is a class B misdemeanor. There is one grade of registration and no junior tier. The whole qualification is four lines of statute: be at least eighteen, file proof that you passed a home inspection examination offered by the American Society of Home Inspectors, the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors or the International Code Council, file proof of errors and omissions insurance of $100,000 or more covering all home inspection activities, and pay $200. North Dakota writes no examination of its own, sets no classroom hours, requires no supervised inspections or prior experience, and imposes no continuing education. It also adopts no statutory standards of practice and no code of ethics, so what an inspector owes a client comes from the written inspection agreement, ordinary contract and negligence law, and the state's consumer fraud chapter, which makes a deceptive act, misrepresentation or unconscionable practice in the sale of services unlawful and lets an injured consumer sue for up to treble damages and attorney's fees. Registrations all expire on 30 June, whenever they were issued. This is a different filing from the Secretary of State's contractor license, which is graded class A to D by the value of a single job above $4,000 and involves no examination at all; the trades that come out of an inspection report are licensed separately, electricians by the North Dakota State Electrical Board and plumbers by the North Dakota State Plumbing Board.
Common questions
- Do I have to take the North Dakota home inspector exam if I'm licensed in Utah?
- Yes. North Dakota requires the trade exam on this path.
- What does it cost to get a North Dakota home inspector license from Utah?
- Published fees on this path total $200, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
- Do my Utah work hours count in North Dakota?
- No. North Dakota does not credit out-of-state hours on this path.
Sources
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 43-54 - Home Inspectors · N.D.C.C. ch. 43-54 (secs. 43-54-01 to 43-54-05) · North Dakota Legislative Branch · Statute · verified September 17, 2026
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 51-15 - Unlawful Sales or Advertising Practices · N.D.C.C. secs. 51-15-01, 51-15-02, 51-15-09, 51-15-12 · North Dakota Legislative Branch · Statute · verified September 17, 2026
- Licensing - North Dakota State Electrical Board · North Dakota State Electrical Board · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- North Dakota State Plumbing Board · North Dakota State Plumbing Board · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Contractors - North Dakota Secretary of State · North Dakota Secretary of State · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Home Inspector Registration - North Dakota Secretary of State form SFN 54381 · SFN 54381 (05-2024) · North Dakota Secretary of State · Form · verified September 17, 2026
- Home Inspectors - North Dakota Secretary of State · North Dakota Secretary of State · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Licensing and Registration - North Dakota Secretary of State · North Dakota Secretary of State · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- National Home Inspector Examination - Exam Overview Packet · Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors · Other · verified September 17, 2026
Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.