Citizen's Property Insurance officially approves NACHI's Universal 4-Point form.

[Nick Gromicko]

Good post Greg.

[bavila]

Hey Nachi Family,

Im new to the inspection business im based out of Miami, FL. I need some help or advice if you should on the issue with the 4 point inspections/Mitigations and Citizens. Can we customize our own or do we use Nachi's 4 point form. Are we able to sign off on the electrician part, also are we able to sign off on mitigation forms as well?

Thanks in advance

[Doug Edwards]

Use the Nachi form, otherwise Citizens will not recognize your form. It has had prior approval by Citizens. I have my own that I use for other insurance companies. You will need to complete the iNachi electrical course as well before meeting the letter of the law as far as they are concerned. Just being a iNachi member is not enough. They want to know you have had the required electrical training before siging. That was one of the major sticking point prior to getting the approval of Citizens insurance.

[wsiegel]

You cannot sign mitigations with just a Nachi Number

[Brian C. Hoagland]

Originally Posted by dzevetchin

The reason why your inspection could have been revoked might be from one of several reasons. The first and most obvious is the terminology or information you provide. Understanding the ISO language and keeping your answers catered to their particular format helps allot. Additionally, I have seen many home inspectors not reporting accurately which leads to the second factor in this equation. Mis-information and Dis-information, whether unknowing or deliberate can be a reason why they will not except your report. The four point inspection was implemented for the most part to assess the overall risk in insuring the home so the company can make an informed decision on whether to write it. This was very successful for some time to aid in the reduction of claims homeowners had as the inspection shed light on underlying issues i.e. solid strand aluminum, Sylvania defects, present leaks, system compromises, damaged roof covers etc. however, the overall accuracy of the inspection has declined dramatically in the last two years. Companies such as Universal, Citizens, Florida Peninsula and Gulf Stream are all issuing random and full re-inspects on homes solely for reasons of false reports and unexpected claims from the insured. I have seen and have logged over a dozen firms doing these shady practices in my area. I have had to re-inspect homes for at least half of them on numerous occasions. Gulf Stream and Florida Peninsula are two companies that are re-inspecting virtually every home that was inspected by us and other associations for these very reasons. Florida Peninsula is implementing a record of all the inspections being "poorly" conducted and the inspectors signing off on them. They as well as Gulf Stream etc.. I would assume, are doing this to weed out all the bad apples and at the least put a shorter leash on those hell-bent on mis-informing for personal gain.
Some companies may try to deny inspections by individual inspectors for these reasons.
I use my own customized form entailing 4 pages of detail and have for the last ten years. NOT ONCE have we had a rejected inspection by ANY company and never on the grounds of poor reporting etc.
That is mostly because our report is action packed with all the fixings’ the companies look for that are needed to assess risk.
Why the egocentric-ish Gloating, to enlighten those inspectors that believe that half *****ing an inspection while undercutting the bare minimum pricing can be done without recourse and also to inform those who are thinking of doing such.
These inspections were for the sole purpose of providing the INSURANCE COMPANY grounds to eliminate risk while maximizing profit. By extension, it helps the insured by informing them of underlying issues unbeknownst to them thereby helping in preventing hazardous conditions that may lead to possibly fatal hazard in the future especially pertaining to the electrical system.
I understand many home inspectors came from a lavish work load with hefty net profits. But compensation for that money loss should not come by brushing through these 4 points to collect a check, using kids to do your dirty work, cutting prices to obscenely low prices that credible inspectors cannot compete with and mainly, at the expense to human health and life.
Companies are finally seeing the validity to all this simply because they are losing too much money by all the claims.
I see this simply as a moral and logical issue.
If you want to weather the storm of the incredibly depressed home inspection influx, then DO YOUR JOBS. Report the facts, protect the homeowner. If you sway toward pleasing every agent to gain more business by blurring the lines so there commissions aren't affected, then claims escalate. If and when they do (and they are) the fingers start pointing. Thus the insured is at risk financially and physically because of your poor practices and you may be liable to have to recover the losses in the event of a claim or tragedy of the like.
Companies and the OIR issued this form of inspection for these reasons and if you fail to perform to this basic extent then you, and by extension all of us loose our viability in this market. The 4-point in many areas of Florida is being performed much like the appraisals of 2006-2008 and believe me if you didn’t want more regulation, this is not helping.
The insurance companies with their delegations will be meeting with the OIR to come forth with new legislation to reform this broken industry in the beginning of next year.
I can only assume they will be pushing to ensure the Licensing requirements for Home inspectors in the state of Florida be issued regardless of previous funding issues(law is in effect as of January). Understand it is also the insurance companies that heavily influence state codes.
Another issue to ponder is the Wind Mitigation Crisis. The falsifying of these documents has brought down hell on some of these contractors that think they are allowed to have individual inspectors that are not state certified contractors/engineers with the required licenses, sign off on them or use their license and signature. That is designated as insurance fraud; it is a felony and has a minimum fine of 5,000 and one year in prison. I have had 3 agents just recently inquiring with us if the licensing matched up. Surprise that it did not. I have seen just this morning an ASHI inspector that sent a wind mit to one of the agents we work with, with a license mm-128******** which is a MSFH number. You cannot perform anything under that number. It is fraud. The licensing expired 06-30-2009. There is 3 inspectors sites that I know of that shows they can perform these because they have these "credentials". Also, you could only use it under a WCE when you were allowed anyway.
Another issue I was informed on by an investigator at universal is the Agents being in Coercion with the inspector. I know of an agency performing wind mits with a NACHI inspector conducting the inspection, the contractor signing them and best of all, the agency owns the wind mit firm!
Bottom line there is a plethora of issues that are brewing and anyone assuming they are invincible, think again. Some of us inspectors actually succeed by trying and we don't go down lightly. -Dan Z.

Actually it is up to the insurance C. to decide who they will accept a wind mit from. That is the statement in the OIR's ruling. There is no fraud if the insurance company accepts the findings from the inspector on the form. I hope the whole mess gets ironed out with the liscensing going into effect.

[Nick Gromicko]

Actually it is up to the insurance C. to decide who they will accept a wind mit from. That is the statement in the OIR's ruling. There is no fraud if the insurance company accepts the findings from the inspector on the form. I hope the whole mess gets ironed out with the liscensing going into effect.

Wind mit won't get ironed-out with licensing. InterNACHI has it ironed out directly with the insurance companies, just like we did with www.nachi.org/4point.htm Online wind mit course done. Will be released soon.

[Stephen F. Myers]

Are we no longer required to submit photos?

[Bruce M. Graham]

photos are pretty much required

[Humberto Carvajal]

Stephen, I have always submitted no less than 3 photos. Front, Side and Back of Property. This is what was asked of me by an agent long ago. I ocassionally submitt a forth photo (roof) as well.

Bert