Honest questions about CMI

[lcapaul]

Not slamming or bashing, just questions that members and non-members who compete with those who use the CMI designation should be wondering about and asking.


If you are a Home Inspector with say 2 to 4 years under your belt, a few hundred inspections maybe, or even an Inspector with only a year and 50 or so inspections. Does anyone believe it is fair or honest for other inspectors who have the same or less number of inspections and education as you, and that you compete with for business, to display the CMI Logo that according to the CMI web site says that they have completed 1,000 inspections (or a combination of inspections and undefined education) which would be false as it pertains to the inspector in question.

As InterNachi members you are required to meet constantly changing requirements, which in my opinion is good, but why aren't those who are using the CMI as a tool to compete against you required to do the same?

If the CMI designation is so successful, then as business men why aren't you pointing out the fact that the CMI designation is "misleading" at best, or fraud in my opinion, to your clients and the Realtors you deal with?

There are many CMI's who meet today's standards, why aren't they asking the board why those who don't aren't required too? Are they afraid that someday the standards might increase, and in fact actually turn into something meaningful, which again in my opinion would be a good thing?

A question for Roy C. I just spent Thanksgiving week up in beautiful B.C. Roy, I spend quite bit of time up there throughout the year. This time I noticed on Canadian TV government ads about Canadian Truth in Advertising Regulations. My question is, do you believe that the present wording of the CMI website regarding qualifications would meet the Standards of the Canadian Regulation, or would they be considered at least misleading?

These are fair questions aren't they? Most of you know my opinion of the present day CMI, so I promise not to reply, these are just questions I believe should be considered by any Home Inspector in competition with others.

[Nick Gromicko]

Ask one clearly worded question and I will answer it.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Lewis you keep talking and upsetting every one .
Now can you tell me why I should believe what you say .
In my opinion you have cried wolf so many times .
It will be very hard for any one to believe you are trying to help the NACHI members or the CMI members .
You have convinced me that I should be very guarded with every thing you say.
Some day you might realize what you have done to your self with those who you enjoy communicating with .
Many times I do not even read you any more and when I do, I take most of what you say with a grain of salt .

25 days til Charistmas ......... Cookie

[Blaine Wiley]

S S D T

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Ask one clearly worded question...

Yeah & I want a pony for Christmas too.

[rwand1]

Okay,

Ask one clearly worded question and I will answer it.

What do you want for Christmas?

Is that clear?

[Nick Gromicko]

InterNACHI and CMI are apples and oranges.

InterNACHI is trade association. CMI is not a trade association, it is a professional designation administered by the MICB.

InterNACHI has a million free member benefits. MICB has few.

InterNACHI charges annual dues. MICB does not, there are no annual dues.

InterNACHI is association biased. MICB is not.

InterNACHI doesn't offer use of a Federal Certification Mark. Certified Master Inspector is a Federal Certification Mark.

InterNACHI's membership requirements are based mostly on ongoing education and agreeing to operate ethically and to an SOP in the future. MICB's requirements are based mostly on past experience, past education and past criminal record.

1/2 of all inspectors can join InterNACHI. Less than 5% of all inspectors can become CMIs.

There is little direct marketing benefit to touting membership in any association. There is insane marketing benefit to touting that you are a Certified Master Inspector.

Once you are a lawyer, you don't have to retake the bar again, once you are a doctor you don't have to intern again, and once you are a Certified Maser Inspector you don't have to do another 1,000 inspections/CEs again.

[Tracy Schoop]

I have a few questions about CMI. They are simple, to the point and should be fairly easy to answer.

Does the CMI Board meet any recognized national or international certification standards as set by certification organizations like ANSI or NOCCA?

If not then why?

Who sits on the CMI board?

What are their terms on the board?

What are the requirements to be a board member?

What is the value of CMI outside of marketing?

[Nick Gromicko]

Answered in order asked.

I don't know if MICB does or not. You'll have to ask those organaizations if MICB does. We certainly didn't apply to other organizations for their approval and probably never will.

I don't know if MICB meets any other organizations standards or not and so wouldn't know why MICB would or would not meet any other org's standards. I personally don't care what they think.

http://www.certifiedmasterinspector.org/cmi/contact.htm

Till they get tired (normally).

You have to volunteer, offer to be helpful, and assuming the other members don't have some strong objection, we welcome all the help we can get.

I'm assuming you mean the value to the consumer. The value to the consumer is that unlike trade association membership which most inspectors can attain, and unlike licensing which ALL inspectors (except for maybe 2 or 3 ding dongs in the whole world) can obtain, Certified Master Inspectors represent less than the top 5% of all inspectors in terms of being able to fulfill MICB's requirements.

[Randy D. Stufflebeem]

Tracy & Lewis, are you starting to play nice with the rest of the class? If so its a good day indeed
Randy

[Tracy Schoop]

I'm always nice, it's just some don't like my topics or questions. You will find that I can be helpful or insightful it all depends on your viewpoint!

[Tracy Schoop]

Originally Posted by gromicko

I'm assuming you mean the value to the consumer. The value to the consumer is that unlike trade association membership which most inspectors can attain, and unlike licensing which ALL inspectors (except for maybe 2 or 3 ding dongs in the whole world) can obtain, Certified Master Inspectors represent less than the top 5% of all inspectors in terms of being able to fulfill MICB's requirements.

Thank you for answering the questions.

One more question if you don't mind and it was sparked by your above response.

Have all CMI members met the same qualification requirements for being a CMI?

The reason I ask this is that I recall seeing the requirements morph over a period of several months to what they are now.

[klott]

Lewis the only competition I truly have is myself, I do not let what everybody else does rule me. Whether or not it is Kosher does not mean anything to me if I am not involved with it, in other words Imind my own business. If you would take care of Lewis, you would be better off and would not have time for anything else. Are you being paid by Nachi's competition to harass us? You are building quite a reputation for yourself, every time someone here's the name Lewis Capaul, they wiull respond with comments like;"yeah I've heard of him, that guy has some serious problems". Is that what you wanty to happen?

[Nick Gromicko]

Good question. What "morphed" over years of discussion was what the actual first membership requirements should be (proposed, not actual). We had all sorts of complicated formulas proposed and we argued and hashed it out over thousands of posts. We finally ended up deciding to launch (under the separate MICB) with actual requirements based on a flat combination of experience and education (the two criteria we thought most important). Applications came in and were processed. We then raised the requirements once, to what they are now.

Now here is where the butcher knife comes in...

Of all those who are CMIs today, only a small percentage of those applied under the original requirements. And of those few who applied under the orignial requirements which were changed, only a small percentage of those didn't already meet today's requirements at time of application. And of those who applied under the original requirements who already didn't meet today's requirements, all or nearly all (I'm unsure) have met them since they've applied (it's been a couple of years and they've been doing CE and inspections since applying).

[klott]

Tracy I have a several nice questions for you, will you answer them honestly? 1st, What gives you the right to question Nachi or CMI members any questions at all? 2nd Are planning on becoming a CMI? 3rd Or are you just trying to make Nachi and CMI look bad? 4th Don't you have anything better to do? 5th If you want to be hgonest, then why don't you use your real name? I don't relly expect an honest answer, but you could surprise me!