What you NEED to know about Home Inspectors

Home Inspectors in New Jersey are governed by the New Jersey Administrative Code
(N.J.A.C.) 13:40-15

Office Of The Attorney General, Department Of Law and Public Safety, Division Of Consumer Affairs Home
Inspection Advisory Committee
124 Halsey Street, 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 4503
Newark NJ 07101
Phone (973) 504-6233

NJ Home Inspector Licensing
Requirement List
A3983 (enacted 8-15-05 effective 2-19-06) amended Section 8 of P.L.1997,
c.323 (C. 45:8-68)

To read as follows:

  1. Be of good moral character
  2. Have successfully completed high school or its equivalent
  3. Have successfully completed an approved course of study of 180 hours,
    as prescribed by the board, after consultation with the State Department
    of Education, which shall include not less than 40 hours of unpaid field-
    based inspections in the presence of and under the direct supervision of a
    licensed home inspector.
  4. Have passed an examination administered or approved by the
    committee. The examination may have been passed before the effective
    date of this act.
  5. Maintain an errors and omissions insurance policy in the minimum
    amount of 500,000 per occurrence as set forth in N.J.A.C. 13:40-15.23

New Jersey Home Inspection Standards of Practice

What We CANNOT do:

  1. Enter any area or perform any procedure which is, in the opinion
    of the home inspector or associate home inspector, unsafe and likely to
    be dangerous to the inspector or other persons;
  2. Enter any area or perform any procedure which will, in the
    opinion of the home inspector home likely damage the property or its
    systems or components;
  3. Enter any area which does not have at least 24 inches of
    unobstructed vertical clearance and at least 30 inches of unobstructed horizontal clearance;
  4. Identify concealed conditions and latent defects;
  5. Determine life expectancy of any system or component;
  6. Determine the cause of any condition or deficiency;
  7. Determine future conditions that may occur including the failure of
    systems and components including consequential damage;
  8. Determine the operating costs of systems or components;
  9. Determine the suitability of the property for any specialized use;
  10. Determine compliance with codes, regulations and/or ordinances;
  11. Determine market value of the property or its marketability;
  12. Determine advisability of purchase of the property;
  13. Determine the presence of any potentially hazardous plants,
    animals or diseases or the presence of any suspected
    hazardous substances or adverse conditions such as mold, fungus,
    toxins, carcinogens, noise, and contaminants in soil, water, and air;
  14. Determine the effectiveness of any system installed or method utilized to control or remove suspected hazardous substances;
  15. Operate any system or component which is shut down or otherwise inoperable;
  16. Operate any system or component which does not respond to normal operating controls;
  17. Operate shut-off valves; !17. Operate shut-off valves;
  18. Determine whether water supply and waste disposal systems are public or private;
  19. Insert any tool, probe or testing device inside electrical panels;
  20. Dismantle any electrical device or control other than to remove the covers of main and sub panels;
  21. Walk on un-floored sections of attics; and
  22. Light pilot flames or ignite or extinguish fires.

Standards of Practice

What they HAVE to do:

Inspect the following systems and components in residential buildings and other related residential housing components:

  1. Structural components
  2. Exterior components
  3. Roofing system components
  4. Plumbing system components
  5. Electrical system components
  6. Heating system; components
  7. Cooling system components
  8. Interior components
  9. Insulation components and ventilation system
  10. Fireplaces and solid fuel burning appliances

STRUCTURE

  • Foundation
  • Floors
  • Walls
  • Ceilings
  • Roof
  • Describe materials and construction type and how we inspected it

EXTERIOR

  • All surfaces
  • Doors
  • Windows
  • Decks, Balconies, Porches, Steps, Stoops Walks
  • Driveways
  • Garages and door openers

ROOF

  • Roof Surface
  • Flashing
  • Drainage (gutters & leaders)
  • Chimney (exterior)
  • Skylights
  • Describe how we inspected (walked the roof?)

PLUMBING

  • Water supply
  • All fixtures
  • Drain, Waste & Venting Systems
  • Hot Water System
  • Combustion Vents
  • Fuel Distribution Systems
  • Drainage systems

ELECTRICAL

  • Service Entrance
  • Main Disconnects
  • All Panels (main & subs)
  • Grounding
  • Wiring
  • Over Current Protection
  • Amperage & Voltage

HEAT

  • All Installed Heating systems
  • Combustion Vent & Chimney
  • Storage Tanks

COOLING

  • Central Systems
  • Through-The-Wall Systems
  • Only when LOW temps are above 48 Degrees for 3 Consecutive Nights

INTERIOR

  • Walls, Ceilings & Floors
  • Steps, Stairs & Railings
  • All Cabinets
  • Doors & Windows
  • Kitchen Appliances

INSULATION & VENTILATION

  • All Insulation in All Unfinished spaces – (Crawl Spaces and Attics in July)
  • Mechanical Ventilation Devices (fans in kitchen & bath)
  • Describe type of insulation and how ventilation is terminated (attic, exterior)

FIREPLACES

  • Inspect All Solid Fuel Burning Appliances
  • All Related Chimneys and Vents

Mandatory Tools:

  1. Ladder, minimum 11feet in length
  2. Flashlight with a minimum 15,000 candle power illumination
  3. Flame inspection mirror
  4. An electrical outlet tester with Ground Fault Circuit interrupter (GFCI)testability;
  5. Tools necessary to remove common fasteners or covers or panels which are required to be removed.
  6. A measuring tape
  7. A probe
  8. Thermometers for testing air conditioning
  9. Binoculars with a magnification between 8X42 and 10X50
  10. A moisture meter
  11. Combustible gas leak detection equipment
  12. A voltage detector