In the United States and Canada, a contract to purchase a house will often include a contingency that the contract is not valid until a central inspector has inspected the property (and the bond will most often provide for how problems found in inspection are to be remedied). In crowded states and provinces, address inspectors are needed to be licensed, but in myriad states the profession is not regulated at all. Archetypal requirements for obtaining a license are to complete Cleveland Home Inspection an approved training furtherance and/or to gorge an examination selected by the state's licensing board. Individual states and provinces also require inspectors to periodically obtain continuing finish credits in harmony to renew their licenses.

Many local governments within the United States and Canada beseech that new-home builders provide a national warranty for a particular period, and this practically results in homely builders conducting a pre-delivery inspection with the buyer.