Alberta Home Inspector Licensing/Regulation meeting in Edmonton on May 25, 2009.

[Nick Gromicko]

W. Paul: InterNACHI is already the most accredited provider of education in the history of home inspections. See right column of www.nachi.org/education.htm You will note something though. None of our accreditations and/or approvals are for Intro 101 (pre-licensing) courses. Some states give us core approvals on their own, but we didn't apply for them and won't.

We simply don't seek to be a provider or Intro 101 (pre-licensing) courses in any state or province (including BC). Never have. Never will. Let the lower tier associations cater to the newbies. We focus on the advanced inspector (be it in education, marketing, etc.).

Our Code of Ethics 1.10 http://www.nachi.org/code_of_ethics.htm already requires inspectors to be legal. Then when their all legal, and the government says they posses minimum competency, and their all licensed up, proctored, checked, registered, signed, stamped, and sealed.... they can then come to InterNACHI to get the other 99% of the pie that will make them great and get them to the top of the ladder.

[James H. Bushart]

I've been studying the posts referencing these licensing attempts in Canada, Nick, and it is difficult for me to fathom why these guys are so intent in arguing that their advanced certifications are nothing more than (and should be adopted by the provinces as) entry level requirements.

It seems that they are too impatient to allow the government to dumb down the profession and they have taken that agenda into their own hands.

Someone with some common sense needs to step back, evaluate the direction that this argument has taken, and regain control.

Why would InterNACHI (or anyone, really) strive to become a mere entry level minimum?

[Nick Gromicko]

Jim. Good question. Answer: Personal insecurity about their own competency. They want some government bureaucrat to stamp them on the forehead "HAS DEMONSTRATED MINIMUM COMPETENCE"

Let them do their thing. I think we'll stay up here.

[wblakey]

It doesn't matter what you say about INACHI, the truth of the matter is, in BC you cannot practice as a home inspector if all you have is an INACHI membership.

I didn't make the rules, but I have to abide by them. If you truly believe in what you say then why don't you become a part of the process like the other organizations in providing authentication of your requirements to the BC government so that INACHI members don't have to jump through multiple hoops to be able to earn a living.

One of the TV stations used the online exam to discredit INACHI, which was one of the reasons why the provincial government sped forward with the whole licensing fiasco.

It's too late in BC to argue that INACHI qualifications are above and beyond the licensing standards. They have assessed INACHI and found it not credible.

You should be stating your case to the authorities, to help INACHI members by backing up your beliefs with facts and statistics.

[Nick Gromicko]

the truth of the matter is, in BC you cannot practice as a home inspector if all you have is an INACHI membership.

???? What point are you making? You cannot practice as a home inspector in any licensed state in the U.S. either if all you have is an InterNACHI membership... and we are HUGE in licensed states.

Again, InterNACHI is not a minimum-competency association that caters to newbies. It is the government's duty to set and administer minimum requirements (perhaps with the help of bottom dwelling associations).

Our requirements are ABOVE AND BEYOND (on top of) whatever you local government requires.

[Nick Gromicko]

BTW: Being a REALTOR (member of the private association the National Association of REALTORs) alone doesn't get you a real estate license anywhere in the U.S. or Canada either.

Being a licensed real estate agent (being legal) is a requirement of being a member of NAR... not the reverse.

Less than 1/2 of all licensed agents are members of NAR. Less than 1/4th of all home inspectors are members of InterNACHI.

[wblakey]

The point is, BC licensing trumps INACHI qualifications, not because it is necessarily "better" but because it is backed by the weight of law. It may be a stupid idea, it may in fact be as you say, a mere minimum.

If INACHI qualifications are so good then why was INACHI not listed as one of the group of associations that were granted licensing by the BC government for their members?

[Nick Gromicko]

For the same reason InterNACHI is not listed as an association that provides minimum-standard licensing by any State in the U.S.

We've never provided anything that would directly cause a newbie to instantly acquire a government license... and we never will.

Again, InterNACHI's requirements www.nachi.org/blind.htm are ABOVE AND BEYOND (on top of) whatever your particular local government makes you do to prove minimum competency.

[Nick Gromicko]

From a business model standpoint... being licensed only provides a distinction (and therefore a competitive advantage) during the short spell of time when licensing is being adopted (when some have the government minimum standard credential and some don't yet).

This spell of time is no place InterNACHI wants to be. Because when it's all over, when everyone is licensed, the party is over.

You'll see. I've seen it over 20 time in the states. Once everyone is licensed (legal), the government credential becomes a wash. Meaningless, because everyone waves one.

I'm sure there are fine organizations, government agencies, intro trade schools or whatever that are cut out to cater to and help newbies become minimally competent and get their stamp of approval or whatever they get issued. InterNACHI doesn't have any of those "Caution, Student Driver" signs on it's vehicles. Let them do their thing down there. We'll continue to do ours up here.

[James H. Bushart]

....and when everyone has a license, those who are pushing for licensing, today, will be using the same media to show how insufficient the licensing laws are...and how the public is being duped by them.

You will see.....as we do, here in the states....where a TV camera is hidden in a house and five LICENSED inspectors are called in and only one of the five found the defect that the TV Producer (and his CAHPI associate) planted and determined that every inspector should find.

Then....you will see as we have learned.....that the drive for licensing as a tool to "thin the herd" and reduce your competition....fails every time. Usually, the effect is the exact opposite.

Licensing solves nothing.

Those who will reduce their current level of skill to an entry level requirement will be the most harmed.

[Nick Gromicko]

JB writes:

Those who will reduce their current level of skill to an entry level requirement will be the most harmed.

Yep.

Especially if they are marketing. Marketing is an accelerator. It simply gets you where you were going, quicker. If you are an entry-level inspector, marketing will push you right out of the market.

[wblakey]

What good is marketing if you do not have the legal right to work as a home inspector?

At the moment in BC, if you only have INACHI "qualifications" you cannot work.

You seem to think that I am lobbying for licensing. This is not the case. I am lobbying INACHI to support its members by helping to validate its criteria to a neutral source (the BPCPA - Business Practice and Consumer Protection Authority.)

If you think your standards are so high, why don't you defend them?

[Nick Gromicko]

Once licensing passes, it is assumed that all inspectors in that jurisdiction are licensed (demonstrated minimum competency to the government).

Once all inspectors are licensed, being licensed does not distinguish you from any other newly licensed inspector. You both wave the same government credential.

At that point... it becomes an all out marketing race. Best at marketing wins.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by wblakey

What good is marketing if you do not have the legal right to work as a home inspector?

At the moment in BC, if you only have INACHI "qualifications" you cannot work.

You seem to think that I am lobbying for licensing. This is not the case. I am lobbying INACHI to support its members by helping to validate its criteria to a neutral source (the BPCPA - Business Practice and Consumer Protection Authority.)

If you think your standards are so high, why don't you defend them?

It must just be a Canadian thing.

The minimum basic criteria to be an entry level inspector in Canada is no honor. The association that represents what a home inspector should be on his first inspection....is not what an association would typically strive to be.

What InterNACHI offers its members in Canada...once they qualify for their licenses, is the opportunity to overcome the burden that licensing represents.

When you all become the same.....licensed inspectors who have all equally met the minimum basic entry level standard....you will need something to set you apart.

It won't be a credential. That credential will be equally shared among all licensed inspectors.

It will have to be something other than a credential. It will have to be the ability and the means to market yourself to the public....something that InterNACHI has done for its members longer and more successfully than any other association or society.

[Nick Gromicko]

It must just be a Canadian thing.

The minimum basic criteria to be an entry level inspector in Canada is no honor. The association that represents what a home inspector should be on his first inspection....is not what an association would typically strive to be.

What InterNACHI offers its members in Canada...once they qualify for their licenses, is the opportunity to overcome the burden that licensing represents.

When you all become the same.....licensed inspectors who have all equally met the minimum basic entry level standard....you will need something to set you apart.

It won't be a credential. That credential will be equally shared among all licensed inspectors.

It will have to be something other than a credential. It will have to be the ability and the means to market yourself to the public....something that InterNACHI has done for its members longer and more successfully than any other association or society.

On Monday I shall make Jim's post into an actual poster that I will hang up for staff to read.