Regarding apprentice

[kluce]

Even after this slow down, I have found that I can still hire someone to help me do home inspections. The only problem is that the person has to be licensed before he can do anything. I would like to change that in the state of Indiana. I strongly feel that anyone who wants to become a home inspector should be able to take a basic test so the state knows that the person knows the basic information about home inspections. Then be able to work under someone until that person is able to pass the current test offered and I feel he is ready to work on his own.

I was wondering if there was a state out there already doing what I would like to see done here in Indiana?

[James H. Bushart]

"Mentoring" has been used as a stumbling block...to keep newbies out of the marketplace....by requiring them to have so many hours of "mentored" inspections. They are required to find a licensed person willing to teach them and they must pay the going rate (usually several hundred dollars per inspection) to be able to tag along.

Many "mentors" will take two apprentices (at $200 a piece) along for the ride and, while doing so, is able to lower his own fees in order to get more inspections. At $200 per inspection, he is still making $600....while having someone else carry the tools and crawl under the house with a camera.

In a licensing law, it is a sham.

If mentoring is a good idea and you are willing to do it for free, then do it. You should have plenty of folks looking for free training and should not have to have your state mandate it to make it work.

Only if it is a bad idea will it take a law to make it work. Good ideas have a way of taking off on their own.

[kluce]

I agree with what you wrote but I'm looking at it more as an apprentice/employee status. There are some people out there that can be good home inspectors but just need some experience to pass the test.

I was just wondering if there was information from some other licensed state that did something similar so I would have something to start off with.

[Steven C. Meyer]

I do not put mentoring and a apprenticeship on the same level. Mentoring in many of the licensed states is a "pay for experience" for the home inspection business.

An apprenticeship, it allows the new person to learn a trade, while getting a minimum wage. Much like the electrical and plumbing trades. After all, if he is "assisting" you in your trade, and learning the trade, it's a win, win for both parties. He learns, you have "cheap" labor.

As a contractor, many of my employees learned from me (and my mistakes) and ultimately went out on their own. I benfifted from their labor, they benifited from the experience.

In either case, you are training your future competition!! If you are good at what you do, have a good reputation, the competition shouldn't bother you.
There is an old saying "one learns at the expense of the employer". This holds true in any new job one takes.

An apprenticeship is the best option for states considering HI licensing.

Doubt, however if that will ever occur, to many out there trying to protect their "turf". Kinda sad.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Kevin, this may be of some help.

Apprentice in a Licensed State; http://www.nachi.org/texaslicensing.htm

Marcel

[James E. Braun, CMI]

So you are asking for a fair licensing law for home inspectors?
I like inspectors who are trying to keep the dream alive.

[Gary Farnsworth]

No such thing as a fair licensing law.

[kluce]

Originally Posted by mcyr

Kevin, this may be of some help.

Apprentice in a Licensed State; http://www.nachi.org/texaslicensing.htm

Marcel

That's a nice start.

Thanks

[kluce]

Originally Posted by jbraun

So you are asking for a fair licensing law for home inspectors?
I like inspectors who are trying to keep the dream alive.

Again, I think it can happen if it produces more money for the state. For me, while I can make a nice living doing home inspection in this area, I feel like Indiana licensing is holding my business back.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Licensing will do that for sure.

[Chuck Evans]

Originally Posted by mcyr

Kevin, this may be of some help.

Apprentice in a Licensed State; http://www.nachi.org/texaslicensing.htm

Marcel

What they don't say is that the apprentice has to have his/her own E&O insurance in order to get their apprentice license.

I tried to get my youngest son to work with me last summer and that became an insurmountable stumbling block. The apprentice must work under "direct" supervision of a professional inspector. I don't get the rational for requiring them to have their own E&O. Who's going to sue the apprentice for an oversight when the professional inspector is already on the hook? How many apprentice types can afford E&O and will the carriers even consider the insurable?

So the reality is that the Texas version is still just stooopid legislation.

[James H. Bushart]

Mandatory E&O is an often used trick to keep the HI population low, as well.

How likely are you to be a part-timer if you had to pay E&O premiums just to do 75 to 100 inspections per year?

When you combine the E&O requirement with the mentoring requirement, you have done even more to keep the newby population to a minimum.

[Steven C. Meyer]

Originally Posted by jbushart

mandatory e&o is an often used trick to keep the hi population low, as well.

How likely are you to be a part-timer if you had to pay e&o premiums just to do 75 to 100 inspections per year?

When you combine the e&o requirement with the mentoring requirement, you have done even more to keep the newby population to a minimum.

that's the entire point of licensing, isn't it??????