Home Inspector Licensing in British Columbia

[James H. Bushart]

Home inspectors to be certified
Nelson BennettRichmond News
Friday, March 20, 2009

With interest rates so low and the price of homes dropping, now is a good time to buy.


If you do, you will likely hire a home inspector to make sure what you are getting is sound.


But is your home inspector licensed? You may be surprised to know that, in B.C., no certification is needed -- yet -- for someone to hang out a shingle as a home inspector, says Chris Stockdale, owner of Home Sweet Home Inspections in Richmond.
"Do you own a flashlight? You're qualified to be a home inspector right now," said Stockdale, vice-president of the B.C. Chapter of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI).


But that is about to change. New legislation announced at the end of January by Solicitor-General John Van Dongen will require all home inspectors in B.C. to be certified, starting in April.


Under the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority, home inspectors will become regulated. To get a licence, they will need to be certified by
one of three national home inspector associations: CAHPI, the National Certification Standards and the BC Institute of Property Inspectors (BCIPI).


Sean Wiens, secretary-treasurer for BCIPI, welcomes the new legislation, although he doesn't feel it goes far enough.


"This is definitely a good first step," he said.


In addition to classroom training, inspectors with BCIPI also have to go through a program in which senior inspectors supervise them in a series of inspections before giving them full accreditation. Not all home inspection associations have the mentoring requirements BCIPI has, Wiens said.


Wiens fears the new requirements may lull buyers into a false sense of security. Just because someone has a home inspector's licence, it will not necessarily mean he or she has the buyer's best interest in mind.

Wiens said his organization has serious concerns about realtors referring potential buyers to home inspectors, who may not do as thorough a job as they should.
"The main problem we have, as an industry, is that the majority of the public gets their inspectors through their realtors," he said. "And we see that as a conflict of interest."


Wiens said a proper home inspection should cost $500 to $700 and take up to a full day. He said realtors often try to limit the time inspectors spend in a house. A home inspection that takes only two or three hours may not be adequate, he said.
"Every single job I've done, the realtor has tried to limit my time in a house," Wiens said.


If a home inspector does not do a proper job, and the homeowner later discovers a serious problem with the house, he or she will have to go to court, which can be prohibitively expensive.


Home inspectors look for everything from cracked foundations to carpenter ants.
Problems resulting from marijuana grow operations have become a big concern for home inspectors lately, but Wiens said not all inspectors know what to look for.
"Grow-ops are missed, I would say, more often than they're caught," Wiens said. "We hear all the time of inspectors missing these things."


Even if the house wasn't used for a grow-op, some homes can have inadequate wiring for the home's electrical load, Stockdale said. In Richmond, a common problem is plumbing.


In the 1980s, some boiler systems had tubing installed that did not meet building standards, Stockdale said.


"Richmond has lots of the PolyB piping on boiler systems," Stockdale said. "If you don't know what you're looking for you'll miss it."


PolyB piping became popular in the 1970s and 1980s because it was cheaper than copper piping. The piping breaks down and has caused millions of dollars worth of damages in Canadian homes, and has triggered a massive class-action lawsuit that started in Vancouver.


For more information on home inspection in B.C., visit www.cahpi.bc.ca, www.bcipi.com, or www.nca-anc.com.

© Richmond News 2009

......and here we go, again.

Licensing solves nothing, according to those who "fear" that licensing might actually lead the public into a false sense of security and mistakenly believe that it means something.

[James H. Bushart]

I think that there should be a special place in Hell...where the room is four feet deep in fecal matter, and all those in it spend eternity standing on their heads....for home inspectors who try to instill fear of other home inspectors in the minds of the public, as a means of selling their ideas.

It sucks.

[senwiinspection]

Originally Posted by jbushart

I think that there should be a special place in Hell...where the room is four feet deep in fecal matter, and all those in it spend eternity standing on their heads....for home inspectors who try to instill fear of other home inspectors in the minds of the public, as a means of selling their ideas.

It sucks.

I am sorry you feel that way James, but we are not going to apologize for our efforts to raise the bar for inspectors in BC. Every single professional trade out there has some form of mentor or apprenticeship style program. Why should Home Inspection be different. I think that anyone who fights such a program should analyze where their true motivations lie.

Sean

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

Originally Posted by senwiinspection

I am sorry you feel that way James, but we are not going to apologize for our efforts to raise the bar for inspectors in BC. Every single professional trade out there has some form of mentor or apprenticeship style program. Why should Home Inspection be different. I think that anyone who fights such a program should analyze where their true motivations lie.

Sean

Sean,

You have it backwards; you should be asking what the motives are for the people that lobbied for licensing!

[George A. H. Luck]

You have that right Mario. In an effort to advance their agenda they have thrown a pall over the entire industry. No facts. Old statistics. Misinformation. Scare tactics. It is a shameful exercise in exerting influence over others.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by senwiinspection

I am sorry you feel that way James, but we are not going to apologize for our efforts to raise the bar for inspectors in BC. Every single professional trade out there has some form of mentor or apprenticeship style program. Why should Home Inspection be different. I think that anyone who fights such a program should analyze where their true motivations lie.

Sean

Unfortunately for you and others who wish to use home inspection legislation as a means for personal financial gain...the "mentoring scheme" has been revealed as a sham for quite some time.

The "mentoring scheme" is advocated by existing home inspectors who want to supplement their incomes by taking new inspectors along with them for a fee.

If your scheme to line your own pocket with the money of newbies trying to be licensed were legitimate...it would be proposed by and lobbied for by consumers, which it never has been.

It's a sham and nothing more than a means of having the government require indentured servitude to your "would be" competitors.

Besides, it is ridiculous to believe or expect any home inspector to put forth any real legitimate effort in preparing his future competitor to be equal to him in skill.

The "mentoring scheme" is a sham.

[Claude Lawrenson]

So what's your thoughts on apprenticeship? That's right - anyone can be a home inspector; but now the BC government has imposed change to made an exception to that myth.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by clawrenson

So what's your thoughts on apprenticeship? That's right - anyone can be a home inspector; but now the BC government has imposed change to made an exception to that myth.

Apprenticeship is a business decision. If an inspector chooses that as his means of acquiring knowledge and skill, it is up to him to find a worthy and willing provider of such services and to be accountable for the end result.

If the government were able to teach...or even to prescribe the infallible method of teaching...observation and reporting skills to its own employees, there would be no such thing as an unsolved crime.

To "dumb down" the profession by prescribing one-size-fits-all preparation...and then to have the balls to proclaim that he who has thus prepared himself is the ONLY person fit to perform the task...is the folly of the pro-licensing junkie.

[James H. Bushart]

Do you know people who have a talent for something...who can do it well...and who lack what others might consider "the proper credentials" to do their job well? I think we all do. Talent and skill has more than one source and those gifted with the abilities to do things well do not always come out of the same box....as licensing proponents with "steps X, Y and then Z to be a home inspector" would lead us to think.

Many often propose in legislation for licensing a minimum requirement of a high school diploma. They feel safe in that requirement, and apply it to many jobs.

Did you know that...U.S. Presidents do not have that requirement and, if they did, we would not have had Abraham Lincoln or Andrew Jackson?

Such "licensing" requirements would have kept Peter Jennings from anchoring television news - Lucille Ball from the entertainment world - W. Clement Stone from running a successful business.

Proponents of home inspector licensing who are home inspectors will tell you....to the last man....that it is the "other guy", and not themselves, who the consumer needs protection from. He proposes to set the bar somewhere immediately beneath him...but higher than his nearest competitor...as the means of protecting the consumer (who continues to remain oblivious to the need for such protection until some home inspector takes a story to the media to help promote his licensing agenda).

[senwiinspection]

James - all I can say is Thank God you do not represent the majority of the industry or society as a whole.

Since the beginning of time it has been recognized that mentoring is the best form of education. Having a senior experienced member of a profession teaching the new kids on the block is the best way of imparting knowledge into the next generation. If everyone thought as you did and were unwilling to teach their possible competition this world would be a scary place. It would not be safe to fly in a plane, drive a car, get an operation or any of the dozens of activities we do everyday based on the assumption that well educated and trained people were responsible for making the tasks safe.

I can tell you that the BCIPI mentors take their responsibility very seriously and are committed to the process. Some of your members that have gone through the inspections can attest to this. If our mentors were only in this to make money we would not have created a bulk assessment program that allowed us to cut over $100 from the assessment fee in light of the current financial hardship new inspectors find themselves in in this market.

BCIPI lobbied for licencing as did CAHPI and NCP. I can tell you BCIPI did so because we saw in the marketplace inspectors that clearly needed to be in a different line of work. We heard complaints from the public regarding the poor service they were receiving. I can tell you we are working with real facts that are current and do not constitute any miss-information or scare tactics. I can also tell you we are looking at ways to raise the bar for our own inspectors as well. Because a professional is always striving to be better. Those that do not prescribe to this theory are not professionals and will eventually be left behind. Does licencing help: Yes. Does it solve everything: No. However those denounce it are usually found to be scared of it because they fear they will not measure up.

You mention those with a natural ability. No one has a natural ability to do a specific job. They have a natural aptitude for that type of work. They still need to take the schooling and mentoring to fine tune their natural ability. They will just have a much easier time getting through the program. How do they know they are doing a good job unless a seasoned industry inspector can observe them in action and tell them they are doing a good job. Just because you do something 150 or 250 times does not mean you are doing it right. Everyone has something to learn. Those that do not feel so are just deluding themselves and are blinded by their arrogance.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by senwiinspection

James - all I can say is Thank God you do not represent the majority of the industry or society as a whole.

Since the beginning of time it has been recognized that mentoring is the best form of education. Having a senior experienced member of a profession teaching the new kids on the block is the best way of imparting knowledge into the next generation. If everyone thought as you did and were unwilling to teach their possible competition this world would be a scary place. It would not be safe to fly in a plane, drive a car, get an operation or any of the dozens of activities we do everyday based on the assumption that well educated and trained people were responsible for making the tasks safe.

I can tell you that the BCIPI mentors take their responsibility very seriously and are committed to the process. Some of your members that have gone through the inspections can attest to this. If our mentors were only in this to make money we would not have created a bulk assessment program that allowed us to cut over $100 from the assessment fee in light of the current financial hardship new inspectors find themselves in in this market.

BCIPI lobbied for licencing as did CAHPI and NCP. I can tell you BCIPI did so because we saw in the marketplace inspectors that clearly needed to be in a different line of work. We heard complaints from the public regarding the poor service they were receiving. I can tell you we are working with real facts that are current and do not constitute any miss-information or scare tactics. I can also tell you we are looking at ways to raise the bar for our own inspectors as well. Because a professional is always striving to be better. Those that do not prescribe to this theory are not professionals and will eventually be left behind. Does licencing help: Yes. Does it solve everything: No. However those denounce it are usually found to be scared of it because they fear they will not measure up.

You mention those with a natural ability. No one has a natural ability to do a specific job. They have a natural aptitude for that type of work. They still need to take the schooling and mentoring to fine tune their natural ability. They will just have a much easier time getting through the program. How do they know they are doing a good job unless a seasoned industry inspector can observe them in action and tell them they are doing a good job. Just because you do something 150 or 250 times does not mean you are doing it right. Everyone has something to learn. Those that do not feel so are just deluding themselves and are blinded by their arrogance.

Bulls hit.

You simply saw an opportunity to make a quick buck...and took it. There is nothing at all necessary or honorable about your mentoring sham.

[senwiinspection]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Bulls hit.

You simply saw an opportunity to make a quick buck...and took it. There is nothing at all necessary or honorable about your mentoring sham.

If this was coming from a person that actually went through our program I would be concerned and ask how we could improve. Based on the originator of this comment I echo his first comment right back.


To the members of the forum that actually went through our program and therefore not what they are talking about, any feedback positive or negative.

Thanks
Sean

[Gordon I. Kay]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Bulls hit.

You simply saw an opportunity to make a quick buck...and took it. There is nothing at all necessary or honorable about your mentoring sham.

Have you ever looked at some of the questions brought up on this and other home inspection sites? And you can tell me that mentoring is a sham. There is a great need for improvement in education within the home inspection industry whether it be by mentoring, apprenticeship or otherwise.
Sean is simply stating that we are trying to raise the bar a lot higher than a 45 minute exam and a few hundred bucks to qualify.

[Michael Larson]

The governing authorities for HIs should mandate that the experienced inspectors
take on at least one mentee a year at no charge.

Problem solved.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by gkay

Have you ever looked at some of the questions brought up on this and other home inspection sites? And you can tell me that mentoring is a sham. There is a great need for improvement in education within the home inspection industry whether it be by mentoring, apprenticeship or otherwise.
Sean is simply stating that we are trying to raise the bar a lot higher than a 45 minute exam and a few hundred bucks to qualify.

Nope. You're not doing that at all.

If you were, you would do it without a law - but you don't. People would want to be mentored for the benefit that you perceive.

Here is where you guys are missing the boat with all of your activities in Canada....and why you will ultimately fail.

I will use "teaching" as an example.

In America, a public school teacher needs a teaching certificate and a bachelor's degree from an accredited college to get the job. This is what it takes to be a good teacher and good teachers begin and retire with those qualifications.

But let's say that those with Masters Degrees didn't want the competition so they launch a public campaign demonstrating how the student is being cheated....and the solution, for the benefit of the student, would be to require a Masters Degree.

What do you now have? A higher bar? No. You now have Masters Degree graduates at the entry level....performing for entry level pay....what Bachelors Degree graduates are capable of.

Now...those with Doctorates argue that they...not the Masters Degree teachers....are the most qualified and should be what every student should have as a teacher. And so on...and so on.

Is the bar raised? No....you have Doctorates working at Bachelor degree pay doing Bachelor degree work...teaching a classroom full of second graders? The bar is lowered for the entire profession. The highest level of experience has now become "entry level".

One of your own national heroes...Mike Holmes...is proving to your country and to your government that his experience as a contractor not only is enough to qualify him to inspect homes....but is enough to qualify him to rate and criticize home inspectors who have been in the business for decades. Where is the public outcry that he be mentored? Where are the consumers shouting that he lacks the education, training and "credentials" that you want to make others have...just to do their first home inspection.

Stop!!!!

Stop dumbing down the experienced and decorated inspector and trying to convince the world that these qualifications that you have worked so hard to achieve and accumulate are nothing more than "entry level requirements".

And stop insulting the intelligence of those of us who are already here by insisting that the mentoring scheme is anything more than established inspectors looking to gain, financially, from newbies.