Home inspector certifications compared

This table compares the home inspector certifications a new inspector runs into most, on exam, field work, and renewal:

For what a certification can and can't do next to a state license, see home inspector certification vs. license.

NIBI is the National Institute of Building Inspectors, a training program in New Jersey. HouseMaster, a home inspection franchise, says it founded NIBI in 1987 to standardize training for its franchises. The NIBI trademark belongs to HI Training, LLC, an affiliate of HouseMaster's franchisor.

To earn the NIBI title, you need the following:

• A NIBI online or classroom course, or an approved equivalent
• The NIBI Certification Exam, the NHIE, or a similar exam
• 50 home inspections with reports, which can include mentored ones
• Two reports sent in for review
• Proof of professional liability insurance

To keep the title, you pass an online re-certification course and test every year. The NIBI pages checked here show no price for the course or the title, and no details of its own exam.

The course has state approval in a few places. Maryland lists it as a 72-hour pre-licensing course and Virginia as a 70-hour one. North Carolina and New York list NIBI as an approved school. No state rule found names the NIBI certification itself as meeting a license requirement.

On October 14, 2026, NIBI's classroom page still said no 2022 class schedule had been set because of the pandemic. Ask NIBI what it offers now before you pay.

The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) gives the ASHI Certified Inspector title. It asks for the NHIE, 250 fee-paid inspections, and a $449 application fee. ASHI counted 1,758 ACIs in December 2025.

InterNACHI's Certified Professional Inspector title takes six steps, starting with its free online exam. Membership costs $49 a month or $499 a year, and the title ends when the membership does. For the two groups in detail, see ASHI vs. InterNACHI.

The Certified Master Inspector® title comes from the Master Inspector Certification Board. It needs no exam and no association membership.

The Residential Combination Inspector title comes from the International Code Council (ICC). It takes four ICC residential exams and is built for code inspectors who check work against a local building code.

NAHI, the National Association of Home Inspectors, is gone in its old form. Its web address forwards to InterNACHI. By InterNACHI's own account, NAHI dissolved in December 2016 and InterNACHI's founder now controls its name.

A school can also hand you a certificate. AHIT, for example, gives a certificate of completion when you pass its course final. That shows you finished a course. It isn't a credential from a group that checks your field work.

The NHIE is a licensing exam. EBPHI, the board that runs it, says it exists to help states decide who is competent to inspect, and that it is accepted in the majority of states. Two of the four certifications in the comparison table accept it too.

So one passing score can count twice, toward a license and toward a title. For how the exam works, see the National Home Inspector Exam guide.