More on Home Inspector Licensing

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Ask John Cahill for an opposing point of view on the Texas home inspection law. His vast years of experience...both, before and after the law was passed, is much more credible and considerably less affectionate.

I do not think Mr Cahill wants to abandon all qualifications like you do.
He helped write many of the laws himself.

He may have his complaints and but he does not endorse the idea
of "no qualifications produce quality" like you do.

Mr Cahill says...

http://www.nachi.org/forum/f11/james...tml#post484260

Post # 81

"I would endorse a 2 year associate degree with 1 year paid apprenticeship. That comes close to a plumber and electrician.

I posted this link last year. It compared trades and some professions. Home inspection does not compare."

http://www.prismrca.com/training.htm

[James H. Bushart]

Wow....

You speak for Nick Gromicko and John Cahill. It's amazing how these gentlemen manage to do without you when you take a lunch break.

Home inspection laws are driven by special interests...never by the consumer. They reflect that in their bias, most recently demonstrated by the need for the Kansas Attorney General to step in and take a law signed by the Governor and return it to the legislature for its many unconstitutional and otherwise errant provisions.

The bills, as written, are then deformed by modifications and compromises that usually have them being passed and signed into law in a form recognized and appreciated by neither the opponents or proponents.

Everyone loses from home inspection licensing bills...especially the consumer who, ironically, is oblivious to the entire affair.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Wow....

You speak for Nick Gromicko and John Cahill. It's amazing how these gentlemen manage to do without you when you take a lunch break.

You were the one who spoke about Mr Cahill's views first.
I just corrected your ideas with an exact quote.

Home inspection laws are driven by special interests...never by the consumer. They reflect that in their bias, most recently demonstrated by the need for the Kansas Attorney General to step in and take a law signed by the Governor and return it to the legislature for its many unconstitutional and otherwise errant provisions.

No doubt, many laws have good and bad motives behind them.

The bills, as written, are then deformed by modifications and compromises that usually have them being passed and signed into law in a form recognized and appreciated by neither the opponents or proponents.

Some laws are good and some are bad.

Everyone loses from home inspection licensing bills...especially the consumer who, ironically, is oblivious to the entire affair.

The consumers in Texas, who have prosecuted and have been
compensated for damages, done by negligent inspectors,
would disagree with you.

Weak laws produce weak results. Stronger laws and higher
qualifications produce better results.

My son wants to be an inspector NOW.
Texas says he has to be trained, educated and tested first.
This is a good thing.

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

Wasn't John Cahill a NACHI member at one time?

[James H. Bushart]

Yes.

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

I thought so! Thanks.

[George A. H. Luck]

Anyone who doubts Mr. Busharts claims about the value ( or lack there of) of licensing should have listened to the home repair programme on WHAM out of Rochester today. The three home inspectors on the show spent a lot of time trying to justify the existence of ASHI. In particular they seemed to be having a very hard time explaining why a consumer should pay a premium for an ASHI member when all inspectors are licensed to a state mandated level. It became obvious that the public views holding a license as 'good enough' and was unwilling to pay more for any other qualification or membership.

Which, I believe was James' point.

[James H. Bushart]

I've mentioned this before in other threads, but there was a local television station that illustrated this point much better than anything we could possibly do.

Arizona was licensed...and ASHI was needing to make a point to the consumer that a license, by itself, simply meant that the holder of the license satisfied the minimum requirements of the state but still remained less skilled than those belonging to their association.

Their illustration was weak. An ASHI inspector went through a house and noted the defects. Five licensed inspectors were selected by the television producer, at random, and hired to inspect the house. Four of the five failed to find all of the defects noted by the ASHI "expert" and were portrayed as having less skill and competency while having the same license.

Interesting to note was, in closing, one of the inspectors praised licensing in his state and told the camera that licensing is one of the primary reasons that consumers in Arizona are able to pay some of the "lowest inspection fees in the country".

The link has gone dead after these many years, but don't despair. March is "sweeps month" and there will be plenty of horror stories to draw viewers.

[cwillick1]

I have a hard time coming up with some sort of activity or occupation that does not require a license in BC. I sure hope none of you come to BC to play golf; you'll need a temporary license. I’m sure most of you don’t know of the BC drivers licensing that everyone shakes their head at. First you pay for an L = learners, then you pay for an N = novice, then you pay for your full lierne. Get ready to shake your head with an N you can drive emergency vehicles. I personally see cops with an N on the back of your cop car. Oh there’s a high speed accident.

I’m not against what BC is trying to do; they could have come up with a better way to do it. My suggestion would be mandatory testing every couple years. Fire fighters do it and they save lives.

I can’t speak for the rest of BC but Chapi is a massive joke in my area, these people get an automatic BC license. A Chapi member did a 20 min inspection on a house the purchaser asked me to do a redo inspection on the house because he had a bad feeling about the paint cans filled with concrete as a foundation, not even a mention of this on the Chapi report. Oh but he gets an automatic BC license. It took me 3 hours to do a complete inspection on that house. I also sent a sample of well water into the lab for him. It turn out the drinking water is 200 ppm ecoli. This is only an example of what is seen regularly. Have you had the experience of looking at an inspectors report flipping through the pictures and later trying to find the crawlspace that’s in those pictures? Hey that guy gets an automatic licensing too. It’s recently come to my attention that the real-estate board here insists the agents recommends these Chapi inspectors. I now know why the agents pretty much shut me down when they heard Nachi.

I’m a part time inspection company working his butt off getting enough business coming my way to become a full time inspection company. After talking with Chapi my insurance does not meet their criteria and theirs is at such an inflated price. I’m now thinking of applying at the company that does 20 min inspections because the real-estate board insits the agents recommend them and the BC government automatically Licenses them.

[wblakey]

Forget Cahpi, go straight for National Certification. At the moment there are no insurance qualifications for National Certification, it is primarily for assessing competence by a combination education assessment plus practical test (TIPR).

I use HUB for my insurance (check on the site for information about the different insurance companies).

[wkoelmans]

Does anyone know where to get E&O insurance per use basis.The cost to license in B.C. is a lot of cash up front with the phone not ringing.

[wblakey]

HUB will let you pay monthly.

Contact Kim Smith

http://www.hubinternational.com

[mnicholet]

Originally Posted by cwillick1

I have a hard time coming up with some sort of activity or occupation that does not require a license in BC. I sure hope none of you come to BC to play golf; you'll need a temporary license. I’m sure most of you don’t know of the BC drivers licensing that everyone shakes their head at. First you pay for an L = learners, then you pay for an N = novice, then you pay for your full lierne. Get ready to shake your head with an N you can drive emergency vehicles. I personally see cops with an N on the back of your cop car. Oh there’s a high speed accident.

I’m not against what BC is trying to do; they could have come up with a better way to do it. My suggestion would be mandatory testing every couple years. Fire fighters do it and they save lives.

I can’t speak for the rest of BC but Chapi is a massive joke in my area, these people get an automatic BC license. A Chapi member did a 20 min inspection on a house the purchaser asked me to do a redo inspection on the house because he had a bad feeling about the paint cans filled with concrete as a foundation, not even a mention of this on the Chapi report. Oh but he gets an automatic BC license. It took me 3 hours to do a complete inspection on that house. I also sent a sample of well water into the lab for him. It turn out the drinking water is 200 ppm ecoli. This is only an example of what is seen regularly. Have you had the experience of looking at an inspectors report flipping through the pictures and later trying to find the crawlspace that’s in those pictures? Hey that guy gets an automatic licensing too. It’s recently come to my attention that the real-estate board here insists the agents recommends these Chapi inspectors. I now know why the agents pretty much shut me down when they heard Nachi.

I’m a part time inspection company working his butt off getting enough business coming my way to become a full time inspection company. After talking with Chapi my insurance does not meet their criteria and theirs is at such an inflated price. I’m now thinking of applying at the company that does 20 min inspections because the real-estate board insits the agents recommend them and the BC government automatically Licenses them.

I am in Kelowna writing the exams right now. CAHPI has told me that quite a few people have failed the proctored exams. As we all know, it is the inspector that conducts a good or bad inspection not the association. The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board is suppose to recommend that the Realtors refer clients to the CAHPI website, NCP website, ASTTBC website or the BPCBA website. Although, this is not currently happening.

Besides the few unqualified people conducting inspections in this Province the real problem exists with the Realtors recommending specific Inspectors. It always has been a significant opportunity for conflict of interest and is unfair to the good independent Inspectors.

How can an Inspector make the majority of Realtors happy on a regular basis? It takes me about 1 inspection to make any of them upset. Sometimes the truth hurts.

CAHPI is being rewarded for the years of lobbying the Provincial Government. Something that NACHI hasnt done probably due to its distance and out of country location. Furthermore, CAHPI is based on the industry standard for home inspector training, Carson & Dunlop. Alot of post secondary institutes in Canada offer the Carson Dunlop certificate.

Unfortunately, NACHI was hit hard when Global BC TV broadcasted the NACHI online exam and made a mockery of it. Although, unfairly reported it raised some valid points. I believe that NACHI is and always will be a valuable resource to the home inspection industry. NACHI pioneers innovative and proactive opportunities for all of us.

It is a historical time for the industry in Canada as I believe it will quickly repeat itself in the other Provinces. I am excited to be part of it.

[wblakey]

Mark,

If you have done the Carson Dunlop course you could easily apply for National Certification without having to write the exam again (which is what the CAHPI exam is based on).

As long as you get your application into the NCA soon, you could potentially be accepted as a candidate which would give you the two year period of grace for BC licensing.

[mnicholet]

Originally Posted by wblakey

Mark,

If you have done the Carson Dunlop course you could easily apply for National Certification without having to write the exam again (which is what the CAHPI exam is based on).

As long as you get your application into the NCA soon, you could potentially be accepted as a candidate which would give you the two year period of grace for BC licensing.

Thanks, I appreciate the recommendation. All my testing is complete, I am pretty much a CAHPI associate member once my reports are verified. I haveto admit that the Interior/Ventilation/Insulation exam challenged me. Lots of debatable answers on that test. It was a good process, although, very expensive.