At Omega-H Real Estate Inspection Service, I know that choosing the right home inspector can be difficult.  Minnesota currently has no licensure requirement for home inspectors, which means that anyone can call themselves a home inspector, put a sign on their vehicle, and market their services.  Legitimate Minnesota home inspectors will be associated with a nationally recognized professional organization like ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors), NACHI (National Society of Certified Home Inspectors), and NAHI (National Association of Home Inspectors) to name a few.  I am associated with both ASHI and NACHI, and provide inspections and reports that exceed the Standards Of Practice for both organizations, and unlike most Minnesota inspectors, I also hold and maintain an active State Professional Inspector License TREC6607 issue by the Texas Real Estate Commission (I spent 5 years in Texas, where I started up and ran a successful well respected home inspection business before moving back to my home state of Minnesota to be near family and our new grandson).  Legitimate Minnesota home inspectors also carry General Liability and E&O (Errors and Omissions) insurance. 

Every inspector has different qualifications, equipment, experience, reporting methods, and yes, different pricing.  One thing is for sure, a thorough home inspection requires work - a lot of work.  Ultimately, a thorough home inspection depends heavily on the individual inspectors personal effort, the ability to find and properly identify issues, and to accurately describe those issues in an understandable manner on an easy to read report.  Regardless of what inspector you choose, you should ask how much time they spend performing an inspection.  If it is less than 3 hours on average, you should be concerned that you may not be getting a thorough home inspection.    

A thorough home inspection goes beyond the minimum requirements set by industry standards and therefore requires more time.