Glitch Bill is in! 3 ways to get a Florida Home Inspectors License.

[John M. Acaron]

NICK: So for grandfathering there are three paths. One of them is: that if you have been in business for more than 3 years as a home inspector and have completed 14 hours of home inspection education by a certified home inspection association (InterNACHI) and submit 120 home inspection reports you are grandfathered.???? Yes???


How will you submit the 120 inspection reports?? ADOBE files???

[Nick Gromicko]

How will you submit the 120 inspection reports?? ADOBE files???

I don't know, because they aren't taking applications yet, but I'm going to assume that you will NOT have to send in the entire report, just the client's name and address of the property inspected. I get this impression because of the line immediately following:

The department may conduct investigations regarding
the validity of home inspection reports submitted pursuant to
731
this section and take disciplinary action pursuant to s. 468.832
732
for the filing of false reports; and733

[Nick Gromicko]

It is also interesting to note the the 3-year experience requirement is NOT 3 calendar years but rather defined as 120 inspections:

Applicants must provide 120 home
inspection reports based on home inspections, as defined by this
728
part, to establish the 3 years of experience required by this
729
subsection.730

This means that an inspector who went into business 5 years ago would not qualify if he only performed 100 inspections... but an inspector who goes into business next week would qualify for grandfathering if he performs 120 inspections by March 1, 2011.

This seems logical as ones' experience should be based on inspecting time, not calendar time in business.

[Ed Bancroft]

Nick,
What about the concerns of SB 0648.
If this bill gets thru rather than SB 1330 the " repair work after closing" will stay in the bill.!!
Screw grandfathering for now............Every legislator in the state should be made aware that SB 0648 will do harm to the consumers of Florida by creating a law with an obvious monetary conflict of interest.
An inspector will be licensed by the state to inspect a home and more defects he finds the more he will be able to add to his repair after closing.
The temptation is there day in and day out even for the most honest of contractors.

[Nick Gromicko]

I attended all 4 Stakeholder meetings (the only person besides state employees that attended all 4).

We explained at each meeting that inspectors should not be permitted to do repair work. The legislators are well aware of the issue.

[Nick Gromicko]

Although we have some concern that unscrupulous inspectors will find defects that don't exist in order to drum up unnecessary repair work, .... our real concern is that honest contractors will simply begin to offer free legitimate inspections as lead generators for their contracting/repair firms. This would apply downward pressure on the fees our profession will be able to command.

[Blaine Wiley]

Let me take the other side for a moment, for those who get many Realtor referrals.

Since Realtors are so bad and only recommend soft inspectors, who in their right mind would recommend a contractor that is going to find defects to drum up business?

I'm just sayin....

[Robert Sole]

Nick,

SB1330 has a grandfather clause for mold assessor that requires a proctored exam.
468.8423 Grandfather clause.-863 (1) A person who performs mold assessment or mold 864remediation as defined in this part may qualify for licensure to 865be licensed by the department as a mold assessor or mold 866remediator if the person submits his or her application to the 867department by March 1, 2011, whether postmarked or delivered by 868that date, and if the person: meets the licensure requirements 869of this part by July 1, 2010.870 (a) Is certified as a mold assessor or mold remediator by 871a state or national association that requires, for such 872certification, successful completion of a proctored examination 873on mold assessment or mold remediation, as applicable, and 874completes at least 60 hours of education on mold assessment or 875at least 30 hours of education on mold remediation, as 876applicable; or
Any chance IAC2 could meet this requirement by establishing the proctored exam?

[John M. Acaron]

NICK: Good point from Robert. You are known for making miracles

[Nick Gromicko]

PRO-LAB and InterNACHI already have a joint program in place for the mold exam. We have it covered.

[Douglas Wall]

I wonder if just having a proctored test will be sufficient or will the “certification for mold assessment” need to meet the national standard.
I have yet to meet a home inspector / IAC2 member that has the soon to be required $1 million liability with E&O for mold assessment. Just something else to consider.

870 (a) Is certified as a mold assessor or mold remediator by 871a state or national association that requires, for such 872certification, successful completion of a proctored examination

“a) Is qualified to take the examination as set forth in s. 468.8413 and has passed a certification examination offered by a nationally recognized organization that certifies persons in the specialty of mold assessment or mold remediation”

Last year ANSI approved NOCA standard 1100 for IAQ certifications. Getting ANSI approval generally takes a couple years.
The new standard confirms and codifies three groups that have policies that qualify them as certification programs under the national Standard 1100.

1. The American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) which offers the Certified Industrial Hygienist, CIH designation.
2. The American Council for Accredited Certification, (ACAC) www.acac.org which offers several designations including:

3. The Board of Certified Safety Professionals which offers the Certified Safety Professional, CSP designation.

If only a couple certifications meet the ANSI approved national standard, seems logical to use their certifications. Guess the question becomes when is a certification a certification.
Will the state ignore the lengths groups like ACAC went to improve their certification process?
ACAC programs are accredited by the Council for Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB).
ACAC is a candidate for ANSI accreditation under ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024.
ACAC examinations are compliant with standards published by AERA, APA and NCME.
ACAC is a member of the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA).

It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

[Robert Sole]

Just for information, I sent an email to Senator Bennett this morning with the concern about the issue of making repairs on homes after closing. I suggested that they should follow our COE and make it so that you could not make repairs for 1 year after the inspection. This is the response I received from his office:

Mr. Sole,
Senator Bennett agrees with your concerns and the issue will be addressed next week in Committee. There will be an amendment to fix that.
Thanks.
Cheryl

Cheryl Ennis
Chief Legislative Aide
Cell: 941-504-5359
TLH: 850-487-5080
Dist: 941-727-6349
Senator Michael "Mike" Bennett
District 21

Sometimes they do pay attention. Everyone needs to contact their senators and congressmen as soon as possible.

[Nick Gromicko]

Senator Bennett agrees with your concerns and the issue will be addressed next week in Committee. There will be an amendment to fix that.

Nice!

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Although we have some concern that unscrupulous inspectors will find defects that don't exist in order to drum up unnecessary repair work, .... our real concern is that honest contractors will simply begin to offer free legitimate inspections as lead generators for their contracting/repair firms. This would apply downward pressure on the fees our profession will be able to command.

This is good because that is already happening. Some contractors are not calling it a home inspection but offering a free "analysis" and then presenting the buyer with a list of needed repairs thus skipping the home inspection altogether. At the same time they are selling the wind mitgation inspections on a home that is not even yet owned by the buyer for incredibly small fees. Again, the vast majority of the homes are not ready for a wind mitigation inspection as very few have any kind of hardening systems in place for the openings. Realtors are getting in on this as well, asking that wind mit inspections be done at the same time as the home inspection. All they know is if you get a wind inspection the insurance company will reduce the premiums. Those who do them know this is not true but the agents are fixated and ill informed as to what a wind mit inspection is, or does or what the entire process entails. FL created this cluster then bailed out when they got threatened with lawsuits.

[Nick Gromicko]

It is a regular practice in the WDO treatment industry.