Hot PICs: NACHI's Joe Farsetta speaks at NY State HI Advisory Council meeting.

[Nick Gromicko]

http://www.nachi.org/nystatehi2007.htm

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

This has been an ongoing issue for New York home inspectors with that states PE's for well over 10 years.

As an example - If nobody but a PE can state something is defective, are their A/C contractors PE's. If not how can they state the compressor is grounded and defective OR do they use wording like - "the wall of the A/C unit is blown out, there is foul smelling rancid oil on the ground, my test meter indicates the unit is grounded AND I'm of the opinion IT MAY BE DEFECTIVE".

This is too humorous.

Point of ettiquette. I'm not a doctor, but I saw an 18 wheeler hit a deer. The head was on the left side of the highway, the body on the right side. I was totally comfortable saying "the deer is dead". Gosh I hope they don't charge me with practicing medicine without a license.

By the way, there are at least 45 engineering degrees I'm aware of and over half don't have anything to do with a house or building, etc. Yet they have earned the right to be PE's because their degree in Computer Software Design, etc says so. I've either acted as a PE's expert witness OR attacked a PE's credibility 23 times in 6 years. To date we've not lost.

Did I know more engineering than they did - no! Bottom line they didn't do an engineering analysis or study - they did a visual home inspection AND I knew more about that, and was better at it than they were.

[jrivera]

Custodial Engineer
Domestic "
Pharmacutical "
Railroad " (LOL)

[Joe Farsetta]

"A truck stuck the dwelling. Inertia allowed the truck to inflict some damage, resulted in an opening through the siding, framing elements, and interior finish material. The Inspector was able to watch television from the side yard through the 14' wide opening. "

"The house APPEARED to have a material defect. Inspector recommends contacting a licensed professional engineer to confirm that the opening in question is, in fact, a defect."


Mongo like cigars....

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by jfarsetta

"A truck stuck the dwelling. Inertia allowed the truck to inflict some damage, resulted in an opening through the siding, framing elements, and interior finish material. The Inspector was able to watch television from the side yard through the 14' wide opening. "

"The house APPEARED to have a material defect. Inspector recommends contacting a licensed professional engineer to confirm that the opening in question is, in fact, a defect."


Mongo like cigars....

Based on the above events... it seems the Engineers will loose a lot of money
if people stop calling them to come out and confirm that every damage spot in
the house can now be declared as "defective". No wonder they don't want to be
cut out of the pie, although their position is a perfect illustration of how
bureaucracy can create redundant chaos. It is strange that the law makers
cannot see through the Engineers extreme position of trying to hold on to a such
a silly posture.

[William J. Decker]

Pardon my ignorance of specific, regional terminology.

In New York, is a "PE":

a) A professional engineer, (like with a college degree and state license and went to engineering school at college and all that)

or

b) A cool name for a building janitor, who went to technical school (or maybe not) and who is a member of a union. Around here, we call them "operating engineers", but they are still just janitors.

I have seen a couple of state licensed architects, around here, who are doing home inspections. According to our state law, this is illegal. Likewise, structural engineers (except to inspect and comment on structural items).

In Illinois, if inspection 2 or more systems, as part of a Real Estate transaction, they have to have a state HI license.

[James H. Bushart]

As if often the case, New York home inspectors who advocated licensing thought they had a good law. They even helped the state draft it. Then came the implementation/interpetation stage...where the special interests closest to the source of power get to take control and suddenly...the law that was once embraced...is now poison to the entire industry.

This is why home inspection laws need to be opposed instead of "compromised".

[bchew]

"A webcast video of the meeting is planned to be posted in a few days. Stay tuned."

Thank you for the timely update. Please post the link to this video when it is available. It will be very helpful to those of us who could not attend the meeting. NY inspectors need to work together on this issue, regardless of association membership or their affiliation.

[Bill C. Merrell, CMI]

CONGRATS TO JOE FOR ALL HIS HARD WORK

PE, ARE PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS, WHO GRADUATED FROM A ENGINEERING DEGREE PROGRAM, MET PAID EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS AND SAT FOR STATE BOARDS.

THE LINK FOR THE WEB CAST IS:
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/webcasts.htm

WAS TOLD IT WILL BE AVAILABLE SOMETIME NEXT WEEK

HOPE THIS HELPS...

[Bill C. Merrell, CMI]

The web cast is up and running! Saw it- was slightly choppy- I recommend you use Real Player which works better.

Much luck and success!

[bchew]

Thank you Bill. After viewing the board in action I feel a lot better about how things are going. A lot of the half-baked ideas in the original drafts are being vetted and worked on based upon the public comments that were received before and during the meeting. Overall, it looks to me like the board is trying to be responsive to the concerns of the HIs and is moving in the right direction. Constant vigilance and input by HIs is needed to keep them on the right track. We should have opportunities to review and comment on future versions of these documents before they are final.