I am currently a stay-at-home dad with 3 daughters. I also have a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and my PE license. As the kids get older and start going to school, I will need something to do and home inspection seems like a logical choice without committing to a full-blown 9-5.

Anyone give any advice for this idea? I am looking for something I can do to apply technical skills and help people at the same time.

maybe get hired by a company that does this so you can learn the job and get the skills needed ?
my inspector was a off duty fire fighter.

Seems easy enough... all a home inspector really needs to know is proper structural issues to watch for, utility issues to watch for, and know the codes and violations of such. It's not rocket science and you're probably over-qualified, but you will need to study up...

Disclaimer: I'm not an inspector and have no idea what it really takes. I'm just looking in from the outside and the guy that inspected my house when I bought wasn't that thorough...