ASHI's brilliant plan to keep themselves out of bankrupcy...

[Nick Gromicko]

No blue jeans on Fridays: http://www.nachi.org/documents/ASHIdies.pdf

[John McKenna]

I thought you were joking.... but you are indeed correct.

I think they need to look at the bigger picture IMHO.

[Nick Gromicko]

We need to respond with our own plan to help members. I propose the following:

No T-shirt Mondays.
No Tennis show Tuesdays.
No Shorts Wednesdays.
No Sweatshirt Thursdays.
No Tank top Fridays.

[Patrick Bolliger]

And if everything goes to hell then it will be a NO PANTS in MAY

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

I especially like this one:

"A lack of attention to details, especially in the database and on the website. We should be continually working towards a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to errors of any kind in this organization. "

Maybe that means their message board spelling Nazis will have paid positions now.....

[John McKenna]

Friday's are getting hard.

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

Friday's are getting hard.

John
I wrote a "Brilliant" reply but ..... I decided it was too risque!

Use your imagination...... It Had something to to about this photo and "hard , wood"

[James H. Bushart]

As I read this letter I am reminded of person stopping to straighten a picture hanging on the wall as they exit a burning a building....

[Scott Gilligan, CMI]

I'm sure InterNACHI has a couple of coffee go-for positions open. You should offer them a job Nick. I could use a cup of coffee right about now.

[iniquette]

I don't know Nick. I really like wearing my tank top on Friday.

[Nick Gromicko]

In all honesty, I offered Angela a job yesterday. She has neither accepted or declined at this point.

Also, posting this memo is a bit mean, I'll admit. But as I've said before, it does our industry no good to have them go completely under.

I've been screaming at them for years now... telling them exactly what they need to do, and it ain't got nothing to do with Levis.

I'll do it again now:

• Get some membership requirements like InterNACHI www.nachi.org/rigorous2006.htm
• Get some membershp benefits like InterNACHI www.nachi.org/benefits.htm
• Get some programs to help your members like InterNACHI www.nachi.org/success.htm
• Become more active like InterNACHI www.nachi.org/whats_new.htm

Charging big bucks for little more than logo usage won't cut it in a post InterNACHI world.

[Doug Edwards]

Originally Posted by jbushart

As I read this letter I am reminded of person stopping to straighten a picture hanging on the wall as they exit a burning a building....

Man, you read my mind exactly. The one I thought of was straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic as it was sinking. Ive read the elements of the Memorandum and I was instantly reminded of times when I was in a command that couldn't seem to get anything right and they would "tighten the screws" and do exactly all the wrong things. Do away with one position only to create another one with exactly the same functions. You can't throw a new blanket on an old nag and expect it to win the next race. Those tight, strictly controlled policies and mentality of ASHI may well be the very thing that has caused its demise. No one likes their trade association to try and take control of the their businesses. Eventually the cost benefit trade off with a predictable outcome becomes apparent even to the most loyal of members and they decide they can find a better deal down the road, end up voting with their feet.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by gromicko

But as I've said before, it does our industry no good to have them go completely under.

You are listening too much to Charlie Griswald.

We need to encourage them to continue walking toward the precipice while we line it with banana peels.

It's too late for Kansas, but maybe we can save a few other states from their uncontrolled appetite to control.

[William J. Decker]

Having worked in corporate America for many years, and being in Information Services (which gives one a great "Broad View" of all the information and data in the company) and knowing the local conditions in ASHI's headquarters area, here are some of my thoughts as to why they are failing.

1) They have painted themselves into a corner, PR wise. Most of the ASHI guys, in this area and I would also say in the country, came from the trades. They still think like they are in the trades and see ASHI as their union. The union protects them, makes sure that they keep getting work and provides them with a certain "sense of professionalism" to the public. This is no longer the case.

2) With iNACHI's growth, increased publicity and visability and the easy access to the public mind that the internet provides, they can't keep up. ASHI grew based upon the perception that they put out that if one was not an ASHI member, than one was not a "real" home inspector. This is like the perception that the IBEW / NECA group around here tries to pass off, that if you are not a union electrician, then you are not really an electrician.

3) Control, and dominate, the media outlets, and therefore the public's perception, and one can steer the public any way one wants. This was the idea behind the whole "branding" program. The problem with that was that the branding was not aimed at the pubic (i.e., home buyers) but at the Real Estate agents and companies (and the NAR). Many home buyers are much more savvy, now, and don't always rely (or completely trust) their agents.

4) With the housing boom, many new agents (and home inspectors) came into the industry. These new people wanted to learn, but ASHI and the NAR kept them back, trying to keep them "in their place" as "newbies" who have to "pay their dues" first. But the new people came from many fields that were not the traditional ones that agents and HIs used to come from. These new people brought in non-traditional ideas and skills (especially computer and internet skills) and were better able to connect, directly, with the public. Add to this the whole FSBO movement, and the traditional "one stop shopping" paradigm broke down.

5) The powers that be (ASHI and the NAR) were so full of themselves and their own sense of "being above it all" and in control, that they didn't notice (nor did they WANT to notice) that everything was changing.

6) The new inspectors (independents and iNACHI guys) did such a good job of marketing, going beyond the normal services that HIs usually provided (Mold, Thermal imaging, Computer generated reports with pretty pictures, new tools, etc) that the older guys were simply outclassed.

7) When you grow up with the union / tradesman mentality, you think like some builders do. "All I have to do is meet the minimum standards, set by codes, and nothing more." But the newer inspectors, and the iNACHI inspectors didn't think this way. They inspected on a much higher level and the public (and the newer Realtors) recognized this. Most people want better and are willing to look for it and pay for it.

Almost all the "older" inspectors, who are not iNACHI, that I know seem to feel that since they have been doing inspections for so long (and because they worked in the trades for so long) that there was very little that they could learn. They felt that they knew it all and anyone who though differently was beneath their contempt. This is a typical union feeling. The newer HIs knew what they didn't know and worked hard to learn, and iNACHI has always worked to meet that need.

9) Many of the HIs in this area, when attending the required CE classes, didn't want them to be too challanging. If the classes were hard, they complained:

a) That goes beyond the (bare minimum) SOP and we don't have to know that.
b) I been working in HVAC (or electric or carpentry or roofing, etc) for years. There ain't anything that you can teach me.
c) Along with the above, You can't teach me anything new. Nothing has changed in that trade. There are no new materials or methods. I kow it just as it has always been done.
d) Continuing Education means nothing and is just some BS that the state requires.

Thus, these guys were causing their own obselecence.

10) When ASHI tried to do challanging education, the older members complained. When they did "sleep through it" courses, the newer, more hungry guys complained and saw iNACHI as a better alternative.

I hope, but do not hold my breath, that they can get with the times and get with it. They may loose some of the older guys, old dogs are very weary of new tricks, but they can still change. The main problem is that too many of the older guys are in positions of authority and seem to be unable to recognize the problems.

Just my opinion.

[Nick Gromicko]

I wore these today even though it is Friday http://www.nachi.org/mikenelson.htm