Vermont to Wisconsin: home inspector license reciprocity

1. 1License fee. Pay the license or certificate fee ($55). Credential fee of $55.00, paid with the application through the LicensE portal. It is the reciprocal credential fee under Wis. Stat. 440.05(2) on this route and is the same amount an ordinary applicant pays. Renewal is $51.00, due by 14 December of each even-numbered year whatever month the credential was first issued in, or $76.00 with the late fee. A credential that has lapsed more than five years is reinstated rather than renewed, and the department may then ask for a demonstration of competence..
2. 2Exam fee. Pay the exam fee ($75). State Law Exam Fee of $75.00, paid with the credential fee through the LicensE portal and charged on the reciprocal route exactly as on the ordinary one. It covers the Wisconsin Home Inspector Statutes and Rules examination. The fee for the National Home Inspector Examination is set and collected by the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, not by DSPS, and is not included here..
3. 3Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. The National Home Inspector Examination, administered by the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors and scheduled through PSI Services on (800) 733-9267. Wisconsin requires it of every applicant, including one arriving with an out-of-state license, and Wis. Stat. 440.973(1) tells the department to consider an examination similar to the one required for membership in the American Society of Home Inspectors when it approves an examination. An inspector who already passed the national examination for another state's credential files proof of that score instead of sitting it again. The two papers may be taken in either order, and no applicant is eligible for examination until the application and fees have been with the department for 30 days..
4. 4Law / code exam. Pass a law, rules, or code exam. The Wisconsin Home Inspector Statutes and Rules examination, Part I of the examination under SPS 131.21(2). It is taken online after the application and fees reach DSPS, which then emails the access instructions and an application ID. The material comes from chapter 440 and the related code chapters, the paper is not timed, the candidate has three months to finish it and may leave and return, and a score of 85% or better passes. It may be retaken as many times as needed. This paper is not waived for an applicant coming in on an out-of-state license: the reciprocal checklist requires it before a credential can be issued in Wisconsin..
5. 5Background check. Complete a background check. Wisconsin does not fingerprint home inspectors. Instead the applicant satisfies the department, subject to the fair-employment provisions in Wis. Stat. 111.321, 111.322 and 111.335, that there is no pending criminal charge and no conviction whose circumstances substantially relate to the practice of home inspection. Convictions and pending charges are declared on Form #2252. An application may be denied for that reason, for fraud or misrepresentation in the application, or on any ground for which the department could discipline a registrant..
6. 6Continuing education. Complete continuing education. 40 continuing education credit hours in each biennial registration period, one credit hour being 50 minutes of actual instruction. The biennium runs from 15 December of an even-numbered year to 14 December of the next even-numbered year, and an inspector who has not completed the hours by that date may not practice until the registration is renewed. No continuing education is required for the first and second renewals after initial registration. DSPS does not pre-approve courses or providers, but the program must contribute to professional competency and relate significantly to home inspection. Teaching counts, as do webinars and correspondence courses, while your own regular duties as an inspector do not. Keep the certificates of completion for five years..
7. 7Insurance. Carry the required insurance (if applicable). Wisconsin requires no insurance of a home inspector. Neither subchapter XI of chapter 440 nor chapter SPS 131 contains an errors and omissions, general liability, bond or net worth requirement, and DSPS asks for no certificate of insurance on the application. Two statutes make that worth thinking about anyway: Wis. Stat. 440.976 makes any contract term that disclaims your liability, or caps the damages recoverable from you, void where the claim is a failure to meet the statutory standards of practice, and Wis. Stat. 440.977 gives a client two years from the completed inspection to bring an action, a period that cannot be shortened by agreement. Cover is therefore a commercial decision rather than a licensing condition..
8. 8Other. 40 hours of pre-registration instruction approved by DSPS, including at least 20 hours of hands-on training in performing home inspections and drafting inspection reports, attested on Form 2466Attest. This is the requirement the reciprocal route saves: Wis. Stat. 440.972(1m) cross-refers to the application, the fee, the criminal-history showing and the examination, and leaves this paragraph out. An applicant whose out-of-state credential is not accepted as meeting or exceeding Wisconsin's requirements takes the ordinary route and completes the 40 hours. (if applicable).

Published fees on this path total $130, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.