Who must register, getting registered, the examination 24
A company employs four home inspectors. What must be true before it may provide home inspection services?Wis. Stat. 440.9712 (1m)
A remodeling contractor looks over houses only as part of the repair business. When is registration not required?Wis. Stat. 440.9715 (2)
A Wisconsin home inspection report concerns residential real property with no more than how many dwelling units?Wis. Stat. 440.97 (5) (a)
Before registration, a Wisconsin applicant shows evidence of how much department-approved instruction?Wis. Stat. 440.972 (1) (bg)
Besides the Statutes and Rules Examination, which examination does the department require of applicants?DSPS, Home Inspector: Licensure by Examination
By whose standard is a "material adverse fact" recognized under SPS 131.02?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.02 (17)
For Part II of the examination, whose passing grade recommendation may the department accept?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.22 (1)
How long before the examination date must an applicant have filed the application and paid the fee?Wis. Stat. 440.973 (3)
How many parts does the Wisconsin examination for home inspector registration have?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.21 (2)
How many times may a failing applicant review the examination?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.23 (5)
Show all 62 questions (52 more)
Who must register, getting registered, the examination, continued
How much of the pre-registration instruction must be hands-on training in inspecting and drafting reports?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.405 (2)
How often must the department conduct examinations for home inspector registration?Wis. Stat. 440.973 (2)
On what does a Wisconsin home inspector base the determination that a condition is a "defect"?Wis. Stat. 440.97 (2m)
One Wisconsin continuing education credit hour equals how many minutes of actual instruction?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.02 (4m)
Under the Wisconsin definition, when does "compensation" exist?Wis. Stat. 440.97 (2)
What credential does Wisconsin law require of a person who acts as a home inspector?Wis. Stat. 440.9712 (1)
What does Part I of the Wisconsin home inspector examination cover?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.21 (2)
What must be true of another state's requirements before its home inspector can be registered in Wisconsin by reciprocity?Wis. Stat. 440.972 (1m)
What score does the department require on the Home Inspector Statutes and Rules Examination?DSPS, Home Inspector: Licensure by Examination
Where the examination provider permits a review, how soon after results are mailed must a failing applicant ask for one?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.23 (1)
Which condition meets the Wisconsin statutory definition of "defect"?Wis. Stat. 440.97 (2m)
Which conviction can keep an applicant from being registered as a Wisconsin home inspector?Wis. Stat. 440.972 (1) (c)
Which of these people may conduct home inspections in Wisconsin without registering?Wis. Stat. 440.9715 (3)
Who is not "acting as a home inspector" under SPS 131.03?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.03
Renewal and continuing education 11
A registrant short on hours takes courses after December 15 of an even-numbered year. How are those hours applied?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.41 (3) (a)
A registrant teaches the same continuing education program three times in a biennium. How much credit is earned?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.41 (4) (b)
A registration may be renewed late, with the late fee, if the application comes how soon after it expired?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.13
By what date must a biennium's continuing education be complete?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.41 (3) (b)
For how long must a registrant keep each continuing education certificate of completion?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.44
How often may a renewal applicant receive a hardship waiver of continuing education?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.45 (3)
What is the continuing education minimum, in credit hours, for one Wisconsin biennium?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.41 (1)
What may the department require of someone restoring a registration that expired five or more years ago?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.14
When is a new Wisconsin registrant first required to complete continuing education?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.41 (2)
When the department asks in writing for evidence of continuing education, how soon must the registrant submit it?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.43 (3)
Which activity earns a Wisconsin registrant no continuing education credit?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.41 (6)
The inspection and the written report 13
Besides the conditions labeled as defects, what must the summary page of a Wisconsin report list?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (3) (cr) 1.
The contract of sale defines "defect" to include conditions that hurt the property's value. May the report label such a condition a defect?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (3) (cr) 3.
For which device does s. 440.974 expressly require the department's rules to include inspection standards?Wis. Stat. 440.974 (1) (b)
How must the summary page tie back to the rest of the report?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (3) (cr) 2.
In s. 440.975, what does a "reasonably competent and diligent inspection" mean?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (1)
May the department's rules require home inspectors to use a specified form for the report?Wis. Stat. 440.974 (1) (b)
Must the home inspector hire other inspectors or investigators to follow up on a material adverse fact?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.33 (4)
What must a report do with a material adverse fact the inspector knows of but did not observe during the inspection?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.33 (1) (e)
What must the inspector observe and describe about smoke detectors under SPS 131.32 (7)?Wis. Admin. Code SPS 131.32 (7) (a) 9.
What word must the report use for a condition the inspector believes meets the definition in s. 440.97 (2m)?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (3) (cm)
Which of these may a Wisconsin home inspector not report on, in writing or verbally?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (5)
Which of these must a Wisconsin home inspection report state?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (3) (bm)
Which panel must a Wisconsin home inspector remove under s. 440.975 (2)?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (2)
Prohibited acts, liability and discipline 14
Acting as a home inspector in a transaction is a ground for discipline when the inspector also fills which role in it?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (2) (h)
For how long after an inspection is paid repair work on the property a ground for discipline, absent the required consent?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (2) (i)
How long after an inspection is completed may an action for damages over the inspector's act or omission be commenced?Wis. Stat. 440.977 (1)
If the inspector and the client agreed on no delivery date, when must the report reach the client?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (2) (k)
The inspector's spouse is the seller of the house. What does the inspector need before inspecting it for the buyer?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (7) (c)
May a Wisconsin inspection agreement cap the inspector's damages for failing to follow the standards of practice?Wis. Stat. 440.976
May an inspector stop a client from giving a copy of the report to another party to the transaction?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (2) (j)
May the inspector and the client agree to a shorter period for bringing an action for damages?Wis. Stat. 440.977 (1)
To whom is a home inspector not liable for damages under s. 440.977 (2)?Wis. Stat. 440.977 (2)
To whom may a Wisconsin home inspector deliver the report without the client's consent?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (7) (b)
What is the largest forfeiture the department may assess for each separate offense under s. 440.978?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (3)
What may the department require as a condition of reinstating a suspended or revoked registration?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (5)
Whose written consent, given before the inspection, lets an inspector later do paid repairs on the inspected property?Wis. Stat. 440.978 (2) (i)
With whom may a Wisconsin home inspector exchange a referral or finder's fee for a home inspection?Wis. Stat. 440.975 (7) (e)
How this list was compiled: Wisconsin Statutes, chapter 440, subchapter XI, Home Inspectors, sections 440.97 to 440.979 (the Legislative Reference Bureau's published chapter, updated through 2025 Wisconsin Act 247 and published October 1, 2026, https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/440/xi), and Wisconsin Administrative Code chapter SPS 131, Home Inspectors (Register November 2024 No. 827, https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/sps/professional_services/131/131), both read on October 16, 2026. The examinations and the 85% pass mark are from the Department of Safety and Professional Services' page Home Inspector: Licensure by Examination (https://dsps.wi.gov/a-z-professions-list/home-inspector/licensure-by-examination/), read the same day. Each question names its section and links to it. Licence: Own work. Every question, wrong choice and explanation was written for this site from the text of the statutes, the rules and the department's page. Nothing comes from an examination, a course provider, a prep course or a question pool.
How it works
This unofficial Wisconsin home inspector license practice test covers the subject of the state's Statutes and Rules Examination: 62 questions on Wis. Stat. 440.97 to 440.979 and SPS 131. Not affiliated with the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services.
Read the full guide
What the questions cover
Subchapter XI of chapter 440 and chapter SPS 131: who must register, the two-part examination, renewal, what a report and its summary page must say, the word defect, prohibited acts, liability and discipline.
What is left out
How building systems work and fail, which the national examination asks. Most of the component-by-component list in SPS 131.32 is left out too.
A report must use the word defect for a condition that meets the definition in section 440.97 (2m).
An agreement may not disclaim or cap liability for failing to follow the standards of practice (section 440.976).
An action for damages must begin within 2 years after the inspection is completed, and no agreement may shorten that (section 440.977).
Questions and answers
What exams does Wisconsin require for a home inspector license?
Two, by the department's Licensure by Examination page: the National Home Inspector Examination and the Home Inspector Statutes and Rules Examination, passed at 85% or higher. Rule SPS 131.21 describes an examination in two parts.
What is on the Wisconsin home inspector statutes and rules exam?
Wisconsin laws and administrative rules that regulate home inspection; the department says it covers Wisconsin Statute Chapter 440. It publishes no question count, so the 50-question length used here is this site's choice.
How do you become a home inspector in Wisconsin?
Complete at least 40 hours of approved instruction, 20 of them hands-on, pass both examinations, apply to the Department of Safety and Professional Services with the fee, and show no conviction substantially related to home inspection (section 440.972 and SPS 131.11).
Is it a license or a registration in Wisconsin?
A registration. Section 440.9712 lets no one act as a home inspector or use the title without being registered, though the department's pages also call the credential a license.
How much continuing education does a Wisconsin home inspector need?
Forty credit hours each biennium, due by December 14 of even-numbered years. None is required until after the second renewal period following initial registration (SPS 131.41).