What should be our new membership requirement?

[John Bowman]

Originally Posted by jfarsetta

#2 is the only meaningful, enforceable, and non-subjective policy enhancement possible.

It will be meaningful, easily obtainable, and not cause any hardship for inspectors. it also allows individuals to choose subjec the matter they want to enhance their own personal knowledge of, or allows them to choose ancillary service knowledge based on their individual markets.

Go for # 2. Defenseable. Non-arbitrary. Meaningful.

Joe,

How is #1 not all of these? Please expand...

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Ahh...I resent that remark...lol....not all 101 renderings are basic....just a name used to convey the message of the instruction......some class are FAR from basic just because they say 101 behind them..

[John Bowman]

Originally Posted by gromicko

#2 helps support the more advanced than Inspection 101 offerings as well.

True....But, advanced is limited at this point. In addition any prudent inspector that has accomplished all of the basics would automatically strive for the advanced in completion of #1. #1 would be inclusive of both basic and advanced training which is beneficial to all the membership.

[Nick Gromicko]

http://www.home-inspect.com/courses/advancedce.asp

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

[Mike R. Byrd]

I personally like the idea of the community volunteer project - 1 per year. It benefits everyone involved, the inspector AND NACHI, and the community. Plus, it's something meaningful.....instead of 1 more class.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by gromicko

John Bowman and I and others have been trying to increase the membership requirements at NACHI for 2007.

We've boiled it down to two options (but we don't want to adopt both):

1. Increase the number of continuing education hours per year from 24 to 30 (this probably isn't as much of a burden as it seems since there are so many more classroom, hands-on, online, and home study courses available these days).

or

2. Require that members take at least one advanced course or inspection-related course outside the SOP (such as mold, radon, code, engineering, architechture, advanced electrical, thermal imaging, etc).

Which one shall it be?

#2 Is a given for me.

#1 Has been amplified enough for the one's that have been Certified for any amount of time.
Time, is money, and to raise the continued education hours to 30 would translate to about $1000.
One hour a week might not seem like much to some, but we do have a life and sometimes this 1 hour CE which turns in to two hours of interupted time is difficult.

Since Moisture in new and old homes is persisting to be a big issue today, I think that this category should be mandated, because it affects how buildings are being designed and built to eliminate or control it.

Architectural;

Should also be mandated so one would know exactly what the components are, how they combine with each other, using the education of Products to conclude the basis of compatibility of compents, and education of all of the AIA Divisions 1 thru 16 which would cover all aspects of Building Categories.
Could still and can be held to a Residential Level with the proper educational tools that might be provided on the Internet.

With this opinion on the back ground, how would one re-write the SOP to indicate that you are now capable to inspect in categories above and beyond.?

If the objectivity is to make it harder for prospective new membership requirements, that is easy.

Five years of in field experience building residential or similar work required along with all of the required mandates of the National Associations of Certified Home Inspectors enrollment requirements.
Would that not make it harder and establish the point as to how elite the Professional Home Inspectors of NACHI are?

Marcel









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[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by mbyrd

I personally like the idea of the community volunteer project - 1 per year. It benefits everyone involved, the inspector AND NACHI, and the community. Plus, it's something meaningful.....instead of 1 more class.

I do not think it will make any difference what we do .
I understand there is no enforcement of the requirements we have now.
Many have not completed their CE or paid there dues and they just go along doing inspections.

Roy Cooke

[gbeaumont]

Originally Posted by mbyrd

I personally like the idea of the community volunteer project - 1 per year. It benefits everyone involved, the inspector AND NACHI, and the community. Plus, it's something meaningful.....instead of 1 more class.

Mike, NACHI's CE policy already allows up to 8 hours credit per year for volunteer/comunity projects if they are housing related.

I am personaly in favor of mandating advanced courses rather than just more courses, we should be promoting excellance here.

I would also like to see an increase in the amount of auditing of CE prior to member renewals

Regards

Gerry

[cbuell]

If you really want to think "outside the box"-----how about making passing the NHIE (or equivalent) a requirement?

[Jason A. Sieg, CMI]

I totally disagree with #2!

I do qualify under that option, but I don't see why we should be requiring members to spend $289.00 + $150.00-$400.00 for a training class to be a member. Then on top of that all the fees for those who are in licensing states! I thought that NACHI was all about:
http://www.nachi.org/images/logos-ba...i-468x60-1.gif
[IMG]../images/logos-banners/nachi-468x60-1.gif[/IMG]
"Members achieve financial success"


#1 on the other hand makes it so that the member would have to attend every chapter meeting & hopefully that chapter also has Training Events at least 4 times a year. That would also mean about $400.00 a year on top of the $289.00 to keep your membership up to date. Then add to that all the fees for licensing states.

Suggestion #3
Try adding somemore of the On-Line courses to be required for membership! Like the COE, SOP, Electrical, etc.

Where are the courses on "Plumbing, Foundation, Wells, Septic, Below Grade Living Spaces, Fireplaces & Chimneys, Heating & Cooling (HVAC), etc." I can go on and on. What ever happened to the Safety in the Work Place course? How about "Fire Safety"?

These should not be advanced courses. They should be introductory courses. Things that all inspectors should have some kind of knowledge on. Things that fall within the SOP's. We need to help NACHI inspectors to be more consistant in what they are reporting.

The suggestion of #2 would not apply to NACHI but would be more appropriate for CMI as a requirement!

The requirements for joining NACHI or continuing to be a member should not increase the cost to be a member!

I like the idea of promoting higher education but we as NACHI should not be requiring people to pay these other businesses in order to stay members of NACHI. That is in my opinion a conflict of interest!

It amazes me how expensive Mold classes have become. Spring of 2006 they went from around $50.00 to $75.00 to $99.00 to around $200.00 now, $400 if you want advanced mold also. Worth about 8-16 NACHI CEU.

My chapter (I hope) will have 6 Meetings this year. 6 NACHI CEU.
Hope to have 6 Training courses this year. (4 to 8 hours each) 24-48 NACHI CEU.

Chapter Membership Fee for discounts on training: $35.00
Most Chapter Training Events cost: $65.00 each
Cost for 30 NACHI CEU through my chapter: $295.00 min. + $289.00 NACHI Membership

Total cost per year to belong to NACHI: $584.00 & 6 days and 6 evenings not doing Home Inspections. (Potentially $1,800.00+ worth of inspections)

Try suggestion #3 it would help members better with: "Members achieve financial success"

[gbeaumont]

Hi to all,

Jason, completion of the NACHI online basic courses is already a membership requirement, and as courses are added they will also become a requirement.

Regards

Gerry

[John Bowman]

Originally Posted by cbuell

If you really want to think "outside the box"-----how about making passing the NHIE (or equivalent) a requirement?

Not a far fetched suggestion. NACHI has advanced exams that could be put to use, without resorting to the basic entry level NHIE.

[John Onofrey]

Someone please help me to understand how increasing currently non-enforced requirements accomplishes anything.

[John McKenna]

I like J. Sieg's idea of creating more online coarse's that
would be required for membership. It does not cost
the inspector anymore money.

I drove 7 hours, round trip, to attend my required NACHI chapter
meeting in Dallas a few months ago. It was nice, but
I have other things to do with my time and money than
just trying to stay a member of NACHI.

If NACHI requires me to spend more money to remain
a member, I will not do it. No hard feelings, but
I have other things that are more important to me.

If I choose to spend the money, that's OK... but I'm
not going to be forced to spend more money, and loose
more time.

If NACHI sends me some clients through it's search
engines, then it pays for itself. If NACHI makes me
loose money, then I will be forced to choose between
NACHI and my need to support my family and pay my bills.

Guess who is gonna win?

It's simply profit and loss. I have over 25 years in
construction... so another CE about outer space
are not going to impress me. I can live without it.

[Jason A. Sieg, CMI]

Originally Posted by gbeaumont

Hi to all,

Jason, completion of the NACHI online basic courses is already a membership requirement, and as courses are added they will also become a requirement.

Regards

Gerry

Gerry,

My point was to make a greater effort to add new courses. Not to add more NACHI CEU or to require courses that are outside the SOP that we would have to pay additional money to outside vendors to fulfill our membership requirements.

I think that it would be a good idea for the vendors to be creating these NACHI courses. They should produce good, quality courses like the ones we already have for the NACHI required courses. Basic courses like the ones we have now. We give them a lot of business. The courses must not be vendor bias but they can say that the course is presented & created by them at the beginning and have a link to their site at the end if you want additional training. If the course is to be a NACHI requirement then they must give NACHI all rites to the material in the course.