Home inspection licensing rules vary a lot by state, some states have no licensing requirement at all, others require a specific number of supervised inspections plus an exam. Check your state's real estate or professional licensing board before advertising your services, since operating without a required license can void your ability to collect payment and expose you to real liability.
Even in states without a licensing requirement, E&O insurance is close to mandatory in practice, a missed defect on a $400,000 home purchase can generate a claim well beyond what most inspectors could pay out of pocket. General liability insurance covers physical injury/property damage on-site; E&O covers claims that your report itself was negligent or incomplete. Most working inspectors carry both.
A signed pre-inspection agreement, stating scope and liability limits, is your primary defense if a client later claims you missed something. See the inspection agreement generator for a starting template, no serious inspector should be walking a property without one signed first.
ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) and InterNACHI are the two major US certification/membership bodies, both offer training, standards of practice, and errors-and-omissions insurance programs, and membership in either is a meaningful trust signal to real estate agents deciding who to refer.
Most home inspection business comes from real estate agent referrals, not direct marketing to homebuyers. A thorough, professional, on-time report, and a fee structure agents can predict, does more for repeat referrals than any advertising spend.
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