In Pa, chester county,and starting up my home inspection business any advice

[pdiarcangelo]

I just recently completed the ahit school, joined nachi, and i am in the process of starting up my home inspection business. I have 10 years in construction but no home inspection exp except for the school. I have already purchased equipment and the Inspect it report plus software. I am now working on getting insurance (e&o) and trying to get radon certified. Does anyone know how to go about this in pa or if their a course near me. I have contacted dep twice and no one has called me back. I also would like anyone in pa's advice on doing radon, water tests and if their is a certification in pa i need for that too. Also any good insurance company's to call or any other advice to a new home inspector would be greatly appreciated.

[jmichalski]

Join the discussion here if you wish:
http://www.nachi.org/forum/f11/pa-newbie-7844/

[rking4]

Watch out for poor settlement in west chester. I would say about 30% of the homes I have inspected out there had enough differential settlement out there where it had to be noted to the extent that I recommended an engineer to assess full scope of damages and one house in particular should have been condemned. The chimney was about 6 inches pulled away at the top and the whole house was sliding down hill. And the one thing almost all realtors want out there is cost to cure. Good Luck!!!

[Nick Gromicko]

Read www.nachi.org/success.htm

Also, I got complaints from the PA AHIT school attendees about the teacher, that he was association biased against NACHI and promoted a known no-entrance-requirement diploma mill instead. AHIT's President got the same complaints too and called me up to apologize. I think AHIT may have fired him over it. Was he anti-NACHI?

[rking4]

Nick,
Without naming the school I went to it has been my experience that there is more than one school, some in NJ, that are anti-NACHI. Reality is that I have noticed is everybody has a bias and it is a shame that once students attend school they are selectivly introduced to the practices of the buisness. So are there others out there? Yes, but once they are out in the world some break free of their bias. The main reason I joined NACHI was the other big organizations ran like a frat and they legally let others in, but really don't want to let them in. They also don't show much care for the furthering of education.

[Nick Gromicko]

We like to know if there are any NACHI bashing teachers out there as the schools they work for need to make money. If I catch any teacher bashing NACHI I enact what is known as a "Mr Fix It" on them and open up a school across the street and offer whatever the existing school offers, only better, for free, forever.

Schools wise up pretty fast when I do this and guess what teacher never gets a teaching job again?

By the same token, if the school hires a NACHI friendly teacher... we advertise their course offerings for free, forever. We're actually pretty good at packing a room.

[pdiarcangelo]

The majority of the students at the school were all for ashi. The instructor gave us applications to both ashi and nachi. He told us to join whatever one we wanted, b/c we had to join one to be pa compliant. I told everyone about nachi, b/c i spoke to lisa on the phone prior to attending the school for info on nachi and explained how nice she was and that nachi seemed like they would help new to the industry inspectors like me. Another student called ashi and recieved no response. My instructor wasnt bashing nachi at all, i think he was just pro ashi. Since i am new to the field i dont know the difference. I assume its like ford and chevy, some swear by one some the other.

[Nick Gromicko]

That sounds reasonable then.

[cduphily]

Originally Posted by pdiarcangelo

I also would like anyone in pa's advice on doing radon, water tests and if their is a certification in pa i need for that too. Also any good insurance company's to call or any other advice to a new home inspector would be greatly appreciated.

For Radon start here

Do not submit the application until you are "pre-qualified" by the DEP first.
DEP Phone #: 717-783-8965 contact person is Kelly Oberdick (yes that is her last name) She asked me to fax my resume noting record keeping proficiency. They will tell you what qualifications you need to be pre-approved.
Experience

• Enclose a description of at least one year of professional radon measurement and/or environmental/radiological experience. If you have any questions about your experience, please submit a detailed written explanation of that experience for approval prior to submittal of this application. All fees once submitted are nonrefundable.

once they fax/snail mail your acceptance then you need to apply

General Section

• Complete and submit form in Section 2.5.
• Include a check/money order for fees.
• Be sure application is notarized.

• Enclose two (2) 1" wide by 1¼" high photographs of the testing individual applicant.

Then you can take the course and the test

• Department-approved Exam Results
  • Enclose proof of having passed the Department-approved radon measurement exam within the past two years for the certified individual applicant. This exam is an initial requirement only. For Department-approved exams, see Section 4.1.
• DEP-approved Course Certificate
  • See Section 4.3 for the list of DEP-approved courses.

I,m looking into a continuous monitor so I also need to check with the ONLY approved company:
Primary Device Proficiency

• This is only required for electret ion chambers/continuous monitors that you read/analyze. Only the following RMP chamber is Department-approved:
  
  Bowser-Morner Radon Chamber
  4518 Taylorsville Road
  Dayton, OH 45424
  
  Phone: (937) 236-8805
  Fax: (937) 233-2034
  E-Mail: radon@Bowser-Morner.com

THen you have to detail your quality assurance plan and Client information

• Quality Assurance Plan
  • Refer to Section 5 for information on compiling this document.
• Workers, Health and Workers Safety Program
  • Specify the following:
    1. How you will maintain exposure to radon as low as reasonably achievable.
    2. How you will track employee exposures, including all equations.
    3. A statement that permanent records of employee exposure will be maintained and that the OSHA exposure limit of 4 WLM/yr will not be exceeded.
    4. A copy of your exposure tracking record. (See Section 2.7 for an example of this form.)
• Client information
  • Submit a copy of the document containing the 'Notice to Clients' you will provide to the client prior to providing a radon related service. (The text of the 'Notice to Clients' is found in Section 6, §240.302 of this guide, and online in The Pennsylvania Code, §240.302.) Also, submit a copy of the radon test result reporting form you will provide the client, containing the 'Notice to Clients'. (A suggested example of the radon test result reporting form to clients is found in Section 3.4 of this guide.) Also, submit copies of price lists, brochures and advertisements.

I sent my application in last week.
the total for everything is around $700 - $900 for the application, course and test.

Good Luck!

This is what was expressed to me by the PA DEP .... if there are any discrepancies in what I posted please feel free to post the correct info!

[jmichalski]

Good info, Chris! And very well detailed.

I am cutting and pasting for future use for PA guys (and adding the full links of course providers - I liked the Environmental Solutionos people, myself.)

[pdiarcangelo]

Thankyou both for the numbers and site, she is sending me the info packet.

[cduphily]

Your welcome .... and Good Luck!