SillplateNational Home Inspector Examination
Study for the NHIE
without fooling yourself
1,500 practice questions with a written explanation on every one, 70 study lessons covering all 11 exam domains, and full-length timed simulations. Rebuilt so the right answer never looks different from the wrong ones — which is why your score here actually predicts exam day.
Why most practice apps flatter you
The longest answer is almost always the right one
You have seen it in every quiz app you have tried. The correct choice is the detailed one, the one with the comma, the one that reads like it was written by someone who knew the answer. You score 85%, you feel ready — and none of that skill transfers, because the real exam does not hand you that clue.
A typical practice app
Spot the answer without reading the question.
- Normal shrinkage
- Lateral soil pressure exceeding the wall's capacity, typically from hydrostatic or frost loading against the foundation
- Thermal expansion
- Footing settlement
Sillplate
Same question. Now you have to know it.
- Normal shrinkage of the mortar joints
- Lateral soil pressure exceeding the wall
- Thermal expansion of the framing above
- Settlement of the footing at one corner
Matched by measurement
In the original bank the correct answer was the longest option in 96.8% of items. All 1,500 are written so every option in a question sits within 12 characters of the others, shares one grammatical frame, and carries no absolute — then measured again to confirm it.
Distractors that earn their place
Every wrong answer is a real field mistake: the wrong clearance, the adjacent component, the call that is not the inspector's to make. Nothing obvious, nothing to eliminate on sight.
A score you can act on
When guessing stops working, your readiness percentage stops lying. That is the number you use to decide whether to book the exam or study another two weeks.
Study material, not just a quiz
70 lessons behind the 1,500 questions
Most exam apps test you on material they expect you to have learned somewhere else. Sillplate carries the material itself — around 100,000 words written for a candidate who knows the trade but has never sat a licensing exam.
- 222 reference tables. Clearances, spans, wire gauges, ventilation ratios, temperatures — every number worth memorizing, in a table you can revise at a glance.
- Field callouts. What the inspector sees, what it implies, and what goes in the report — the three-part shape the exam actually tests.
- The traps, named. Collar tie versus rafter tie. GFCI versus AFCI. Grounding versus bonding. Where candidates habitually confuse two things, the lesson says so.
- 24 technical diagrams. Home inspection is a visual trade. 123 questions carry a sectional drawing — trap and vent, chimney flashing, joist notching, service drop clearances — read the way you would read a detail on site.
- Printable revision sheets. Export any domain, or the whole course, as a PDF of every reference table and key fact. Generated on your device, offline.
- 5 to 8 minutes each. Written for someone studying around a job, on a phone, in the gaps.
Every question, explained
Learn from the ones you get wrong
An answer key tells you that you were wrong. An explanation tells you why, and why the option you picked was tempting. All 1,500 questions carry the reasoning a working inspector would give — the mechanism, the threshold, and where the inspector's scope ends and a specialist begins.
- Adaptive practice. Sessions weight themselves toward your weakest domains instead of the ones you enjoy.
- Spaced repetition. Missed questions come back on a schedule, before you forget them rather than after.
- Answer order reshuffles. Every session, so you learn the material and not the position of the button.
Exam simulation
Sit the exam before you sit the exam
A full-length timed simulation drawn in the same domain proportions as the published NHIE content outline, plus a shorter mini exam when you want a quick read. You find out what the clock does to your judgement while it still costs nothing.
- Weighted selection. Electrical carries more items than fireplaces, exactly as the real outline does.
- Flag and review. Mark items to revisit, then walk the whole paper again at the end.
- Readiness score. One number combining accuracy, coverage, exam results and how much of the course you have read.
Complete coverage
All 11 NHIE content domains
Questions and lessons are distributed to match the weight each area carries on the published content outline, so your study time lands where the marks are.
Analysis & Reporting is the heaviest single area on the exam and the one candidates most often underestimate, because it tests judgement and report language rather than components. Sillplate gives it six lessons and the largest share of the question bank.
Everything in the app
Built for studying around a job
Daily sessions
A goal you set, a session picked for you, and a streak that survives a busy week. Ten focused questions beats an hour you never start.
Progress by domain
Accuracy, coverage and mastery per area, so the weak domain is a fact on a chart rather than a feeling.
Review queue
Questions you missed return on a spaced schedule and leave the queue only once you have answered them right more than once.
State licensing notes
Whether your state regulates home inspection, and what that means for your path, for every US state and several Canadian provinces.
English and French
Interface and all 70 lessons in English and French. The French course keeps the trade vocabulary in English — rim joist, kick-out flashing, T&P valve — because that is the wording on the exam paper.
Chip
A beaver in a hard hat who evolves through 25 stages and builds his lodge as you study. Silly on purpose: the days you do not feel like studying are the ones that decide the outcome.
Offline and private
Works in a crawlspace with no signal
Every question, lesson, table and font ships inside the app. There is no server to call, so there is nothing to lose when the connection does. Install it once and it works on a plane, in a basement, on a job site with one bar.
- No account. Open it and start. No email, no password, no verification step between you and the first question.
- No tracking. No analytics, no advertising SDK, no third-party code. Your progress is stored on your device and nowhere else.
- Yours to export. Take your progress to another device with a file, or erase it entirely from Settings.
Pricing
Choose your path to the license
Start free — the free tier is a real sample, not a demo screen. Upgrade once and it is yours for good: no subscription, no renewal, future updates included.
Starter
Freeno account, no card
- 25 practice questions across every domain
- One mini exam simulation
- The full Structural Systems course — 6 lessons
- Progress tracking and streaks
Pro — Lifetime
$79.99one-time purchase · lifetime access
- All 1,500 questions, every domain and difficulty
- All 70 lessons and 222 reference tables
- Unlimited full-length exam simulations
- Adaptive practice and spaced-repetition review
- Licensing notes for your jurisdiction
- All future question updates included
Schools & Teams
$39per seat / year · 5 seats minimum
- Everything in Pro — Lifetime, for every student
- Instructor dashboard with cohort analytics
- See which domains a whole class is weakest in
- Priority support
The exam fee alone costs more than the one-time upgrade — and a retake means paying that fee twice.
The iPhone and iPad app is out
Sillplate is on the App Store — free to download, with the whole question bank and every lesson available before you decide whether to upgrade. It works the same offline. The Android build is still in preparation; leave your email and you will hear the day it lands, once, with no list to unsubscribe from afterwards.
One email, when the Android build ships. No newsletter, no sharing your address with anyone.
Questions
Before you start
What is the NHIE?
The National Home Inspector Examination is the standardized exam used by most US states that license home inspectors, administered by the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors. It tests inspection of the systems of a house, the analysis and reporting of findings, and professional responsibilities. Requirements, fees and whether the exam is required at all vary by state — confirm yours with your licensing board.
Do I need an internet connection?
No. Every question, lesson, table and font is contained in the app. Open it once and it works with the network off — on a plane, in a basement, on a job site with no signal. The web version installs to your home screen and behaves the same way.
How is this different from a $5 quiz app?
Two things. First, the question bank was rebuilt so the correct answer carries no visual giveaway — in the original version it was the longest option 96.8% of the time, which means a candidate could score well while knowing nothing. Cheap quiz apps almost all have this flaw, and it is why their scores do not predict exam results.
Second, Sillplate carries the study material itself: 70 lessons and 222 reference tables, not just a bank of questions that assumes you learned the content elsewhere.
Are these the real exam questions?
No, and any product claiming otherwise should worry you. Real NHIE items are confidential and reproducing them is illegal. Sillplate's 1,500 questions are original, written against the published content outline in the same format and at the same difficulty range as the exam.
Will this guarantee I pass?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise — nobody can guarantee an exam result. What Sillplate can do is give you a readiness number you can trust, because the practice questions cannot be gamed by pattern-spotting, and carry the material behind them so studying and testing happen in the same place.
How long should I study before booking the exam?
Most candidates who pass work at 20 to 30 questions a day over six to eight weeks, alongside a job. Consistency matters more than session length, which is why lessons run five to eight minutes and practice sets are ten questions. Set your exam date in the app and it paces the plan around it.
Is my data collected?
Nothing leaves your device. There is no account, no analytics, no advertising SDK and no third-party code. Your progress lives in your browser or app storage, you can export it to a file, and you can erase it from Settings. See the privacy policy.
What does it cost, and is it a subscription?
Pro — Lifetime is a one-time purchase of $79.99, not a subscription. You keep it for good and future updates are included. Schools and training providers can buy seats at $39 per seat per year, minimum five seats, which adds an instructor dashboard with cohort analytics.
The free Starter tier gives you 25 questions, one mini exam and the complete Structural Systems course, so you can judge the material before paying anything.
Find out what you don't know
while there is still time
Open the web app and answer ten questions. That is enough to know whether this is the study tool you have been looking for.