HERS Rater Certification: The RESNET Path for Inspectors

Short answer: HERS raters are certified through RESNET's system. You train with a RESNET Accredited Rater Training Provider, pass three tests (the National Rater Exam, a combustion appliance simulation and a rater simulation practical), complete five probationary ratings under a Quality Assurance Provider, and finish everything within 15 months. Certification is renewed every 3 years with 18 hours of RESNET-approved professional development.

A HERS rating and a home inspection both put a trained person in a house with a clipboard. That is about where the similarity ends. One reports on condition; the other measures and models energy performance and produces a score. For a home inspector, the rater credential is a way to sell a different kind of work, often to a different client.

This guide covers what the credential involves, what RESNET publishes about the path, and how inspectors think about adding it.

What a HERS rater does

A HERS rater produces a HERS Index Score for a home. RESNET's consumer site explains the scale: a typical home built to 2006 energy efficiency standards scores 100, and the lower the number, the more efficient the home. A home scoring 70 is 30% more energy efficient than a standard new home; a home scoring 130 is 30% less efficient.

The score is always relative to a "reference home" of the same size and shape, so it compares the house against a modeled version of itself rather than against the neighbors.

To get there, RESNET describes a rater carrying out:

• Diagnostic testing. A blower door test for air leakage in the building envelope, a duct leakage test for the HVAC distribution system, and infrared cameras where useful.
• Inspection of the components that drive energy use. Insulation, attics, foundations, windows, doors and water heating.
• Modeling. A computerized simulation in RESNET Accredited Rating Software, which calculates the score.
• Recommendations. For existing homes, a cost and benefit analysis of suggested improvements.

HERS rating vs home inspection

The two jobs overlap in the attic and the crawlspace and almost nowhere else. RESNET's own consumer site describes a home inspection as "a full-scale visual examination of a house" and an energy audit as "an in-depth analysis of a home's energy performance" using diagnostic testing.

The table's last row is the one to take seriously. A rating is modeled to a published standard and reviewed by a third party. Your home inspection judgment does not carry over; your building knowledge does.

The RESNET path, step by step

As of September 2026, RESNET publishes this sequence:

1. Find a RESNET Accredited Rater Training Provider. RESNET lists them on its training provider page. Some offer part of the training online.
2. Complete the training course.
3. Complete three mentored rating models from different plans, observed by the training provider, per RESNET Standards 206.2.3.2.
4. Pass the three national core competency tests (details below).
5. Sign a rater agreement with an Accredited Rating Quality Assurance Provider. RESNET calls it a Rating Provider on its consumer pages. This provider oversees your probationary work and certifies you.
6. Complete five probationary ratings after passing the tests. At least three must be mentored ratings with field verification of every rated feature, observed in person.
7. Complete two hours of combustion safety field training during the probationary period.

When the probationary ratings and tests are done, the provider issues a document confirming you have passed, and you can apply for a Rating Test Identification Number (RTIN).

RESNET Standards section 206 require these tasks to be completed within a 15-month period, and RESNET's rater page says all the exams and probationary ratings must be done within 15 months. If you miss the window, 206.2.3.6 says you retake the tests and redo the five probationary ratings. Only an Accredited Rating Quality Assurance Provider can certify a rater.

The three RESNET tests

The National Rater Exam is open book, which tells you what it is testing: whether you can find and apply the Standards, not whether you have memorized them. The two simulation tests are closer to the field work. The combustion test in particular has the highest pass mark, and it reflects the fact that tightening a house changes how its fuel-burning appliances vent.

Probationary ratings and the 15-month clock

The five probationary ratings are where training meets real houses. Your Quality Assurance Provider oversees them, and at least three are mentored ratings with in-person field verification. Duct leakage testing must be part of at least two of those three, and combustion (CAZ, spillage and CO) testing part of at least one.

Two practical points:

• You need houses to rate. Line up access to homes, often new construction through a builder or an existing rater, before your clock starts.
• Fifteen months is the window for everything. Tests and probationary ratings must all be complete within it. If you pass the exams and then stall on field ratings, the clock keeps running.

Rating Field Inspector: a shorter step in

RESNET also certifies Rating Field Inspectors (RFIs). An RFI is certified by a Rating Quality Assurance Provider to conduct field inspections for home energy ratings, working under the direct supervision of a certified rater. RFIs may perform inspections and basic performance tests, including air tightness and duct leakage testing.

For a home inspector, the RFI role can be a way to learn the field side of rating while working with an established rater, without taking on the modeling and sign-off. Check RESNET's RFI page and a Quality Assurance Provider for the current requirements.

What it costs to become a HERS rater

RESNET publishes one fee directly. Most of the rest is set by the providers you work with, so ask each for a current quote.

We could not find an individual rater's annual RESNET fee on a public RESNET page, so we have not quoted one. Your Quality Assurance Provider will tell you what you owe and to whom.

Keeping your certification

Under RESNET Standards section 207, raters recertify every 3 years with 18 hours of RESNET-approved professional development, from a RESNET-approved conference or an accredited training provider. A rater who completed no confirmed, sampled or threshold ratings in the three years must also pass a graded field evaluation.

Oversight also continues after certification. RESNET says its Standards require the Rating Provider to perform file quality assurance reviews on at least 10% of all energy ratings and field quality assurance reviews on at least 1% of each rater's ratings. In other words, some of your work will be checked, every year, by someone else.

If you also hold a home inspector license, check whether your state board accepts any of the RESNET hours toward your inspector CE. See home inspector continuing education for the state rules.

How a home inspector might add energy ratings

Energy rating is not a bolt-on to a buyer's inspection in the way a radon test is. The work, the client and the timeline are different. A few patterns:

1. Start with the equipment you already use. If you own a thermal camera and understand building science, you have part of the toolkit. Thermography certification covers the infrared side.
2. Look at builders, not only buyers. Ratings are done on new homes as well as existing ones. If you already do new construction inspections or phase inspections, you know builders. Ask local raters who orders their work before you assume the demand is there.
3. Consider the RFI step first. Working under a rater teaches the testing and the paperwork before you take on sign-off.
4. Budget the time, not just the fees. The 15-month window and five probationary ratings mean you are building a second practice alongside the first.
5. Keep the reports separate. A rating is its own deliverable with its own standard. Do not blend its results into a visual inspection report.
6. Price it on its own costs. Equipment, QA fees and modeling time all belong in the price. See pricing ancillary services.

On the reporting side, if you offer an energy walk-through alongside an inspection, Binsr lets one inspection produce multiple reports, each with its own template, so the energy findings stay in their own document. The HERS rating itself is produced in RESNET Accredited Rating Software, which is a separate tool.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• How to become a home inspector
• Thermography certification for inspectors
• Indoor air quality certification
• How to become a building inspector
• Home inspector certification explained

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