Hi all,
Please post thoughts of the pros and cons of home inspector
licensing. It will be interesting to read comments from states
currently with and without licensing.
thanks for participating
CJ
No problem here Carla.
Follow the AZ ASHI SOP for a minimum inspection, exceed it if you want, exclude items at the customers request, do any type of inspections you want.
At least if someone chooses not to abide by the law, penalties exist from the state.
I don’t see where it really makes any difference in my type of business though, I do for the most part, types of inspections most folks never dreamed of. So licensing is basically a $310.00 business expense each year to renew with the state.
"Re: legislation pros and cons"
Here in Ohio we seem to have very few “pros” in the legislature, and with several of our Congersmen having “resigned” in recent years…at least one of them is still in jail (Trafficant) I’d say we have our share of “cons”…
Even our governor has had his day in court this year…:roll: :roll: :roll:
I have read both pro and con opinions on the subject, but the majority always seem to favour licencing.
For the record I’m in favour of licening in Ontario. Self regulation has not worked in Ontario in over 20 years! At least 3 provinces are currently looking into it and two more may also be considering it in the near future. I suppose the writing is on the wall. And thats a good thing! 
I think that home inspectors in all states should be licensed.
Consumers of home inspections are fools and cannot be trusted to make a decision on their own as to what attributes a good home inspector should have. The free enterprise system is a joke as proven by the very successful and long standing USSR. It is the government, not the consumer, who should define what good business practices are.
Just my thoughts…
I agree and it works in many trades here in Canada.
Membership control of the Home Inspection industry has been a complete failure here in Ontario.
Now we have a self appointed group who feel they should have control of the Canadian Home inspectors .
This is s secret self appointed group who give very little information .
They had their big meeting recently in Calgary and the only information I have heard was a lot of back clapping and self congratulations.
I and many others have asked many question both direct to some of the directors and via various BBs. This has not been given.
The Ontario association has not been following their own bylaws and the government of Canada laws
** These are the people who feel they have the knowledge and experience to run the Canadian Home Inspectors certification.**
They refuse to give information and most certainly should not be given any part of future certification or licensing of Canadian Home Inspectors.
Roy Cooke CMI… RHI… CHI…A proud NACHI Member
I’m with you, Roy.
When it comes to common sense and good judgment, only the government can be trusted to come through 100% of the time. Consumers know nothing and, left up to them, they would not choose an inspector who passed a multiple choice test or paid money to the state for the right to work. They would search by referral or personal experiences or stupid things like that.
And God knows, we need to be regulated. Like you said, left on our own, we are aimless sheep. Only the government can tell us what we need to do and how to do it in such a way to keep the consumer’s interests at heart.
Another good aspect of licensing is the ability it gives us to screw with our competitors. Man, let me find a guy in my area that did not go by the state SOP and I can have his butt before the board…four times a month…
James,
I think you and Roy are on to something here.
Licensing is the only way that we can assure equality of outcomes. Home inspectors could only be the beginning.
I would recommend that farmers be next. I’m certain the recent e-coli outbreaks would not have happened if only Big Government had licensed farmers. How else can the consumer be protected if the government doesn’t do it. It obvious that the independent trade groups and co-ops have been a total failure in protecting the public. People are just not intelligent enough to to be trusted to look out for their own well being. We must have more government involvement. I’m sure you agree James.
As always this is JMHO
I like Michael but I think he has overlooked what the difficulty we have In Canada.
The Ontario association has been running the Ont Home inspection industry for over 15 years and it is a closed door group controlled by a select few who do as the please.
There is No way I want them to have more control of our Industry and if it takes government control to do it fine .
If they where fair and honerable and listened to those doing Home inspections Great .
From what I have seen they are only into it for the money .
They constantly have more students every year who most never stand a chance to succeed.
Roy Cooke
Roy,
I’m not a Canadian and know very little about your system of government, so my question may sound a bit silly to you, but I am sincere in asking it.
Is the only choice you have, in order not to be controlled by this one particular group you disapprove of, to be controlled by your government? Is freedom to exercise your own control over your own business not an option?
How is the government going to control your business, it doesn’t control your business it controls you. Licencing ensure you “all” meet a set criteria. The reason people are calling for licencing are likely because of the image the industry has, and the fidicuary responsibilities they hold. In most instances I think everyone involved in realestate are licenced, such as lawyer, mortgage brokers, insurance, realtors, surveyors while home inspectors are not (at least in Ontario). As to marketing I also know that licencing (at least in Ontario) of the trades has not influenced their marketing venues, fwiw.
We as a group could not be managed any worse than we have been with self regulation. Self regulation is not open to public scrutiny in Ontario, but is should be, licencing would ensure accoutability within the corporate structure. Favourtism, conflicts would be a thing of the past, equality; the benefits, just ensure your voices are heard that affect your livelihood.
James, glad to see that you’ve finally warmed up to state licensing! 
Carla,
I like living in a state that licenses h.i.'s. Oregon’s h.i.'s are certified by the state’s Construction Contractor’s Board (CCB). Then each h.i. has to be licensed with the CCB as a business, or be an employee of a business that is licensed with the CCB before they start offering home inspection services. All h.i.'s are required to give the Oregon SOP to their clients during the inspection. Part 1 of our SOP informs the public how the CCB can help them if they think their home inspector was negligent. The CCB offers Oregon citizens free mediation services to those who’ve hired certified and licensed h.i.'s.
All of this to state… that the CCB is the first place consumers are directed to go when filing a complaint about their home inspector. All records of complaints, and how they were resolved, that are filed with the CCB are available for public viewing on-line. In fact, the CCB encourages consumers to check out any claims history before hiring either h.i.'s or construction services. Having registered 1200+ certified home inspectors I thought the CCB would get a fair number of complaints. I wanted to find out how many complaints they get each week so I called the CCB office and asked the woman who has the oversight of the home inspection program if she received more than 1 or 2 complaints per week. She told me that she would be surprised if there was more than 1 complaint every 3 or 4 months! That says a lot for the overall success of the program.
The attorney who reviewed my contract stated the same thing. He said there are very few h.i. lawsuits in my state. This attorney is a part of one of Oregon’s h.i. associations, reviews contracts, and is a popular speaker at CE seminars, giving us great advice on how to stay out of harms way.
Wow! I would think that would keep inspectors on their toes! What is even more interesting is the low rate of complaints. Something maybe working eh?
Yes, I have. Doctor said that the scars from my frontal lobotomy should be gone just in time for next legislative session.
So you’re the kind of inspector my friend was refering to. When he was taking me out on the ride-alongs he used to say, “In order to have any competition we’d have to gain 50 pounds and have a full frontal lobotomy!”
I’m just kidding around James (though he actually did say that when I asked how difficult it was to break into inspecting!). I appreciate the good natured sparring over the issue.
To my Canadian Friends, surely you know that James is at his sarcastic best.
Government control of everything is socialistic, and the good old US is not a socialistic society. Take medicine, for example. Socialistic medicine exists in several countries around the world, and everyone knows how f- upped the US health care system is. Yet, sick people still flock to the US for treatments and services. Go figure.
Now to home inspections orgs. You really think that licensing HIs in Canada is going to end one association’s influence? You’ve got to be kidding. For you, the answer is to cut the balls off of those associations perverting their influence in order to control an industry. Their motovation is one of money and power. The consumer is secondary.
As to HI licensing in the US, I’d like to see the data where, even in a single instance, the consumer has benefitted from it. I’d like to see the preliminary data where licensing was actually needed. Where are the piles of complaints of HIs fleecing their clients? Where are the records of how many HIs are operatng in an area? Where is the data showing that HIs in one area or another are not trained? I’ll tell you where… NOWHERE.
HI licensing, itself, is part of an agenda of control by one particular association in the US, and probably Canada, as well. Its about control, increased profits, and thinning the herd.
These are home inspections, not brain surgery. Licensing never ensured a client of anything. States interested in the prospect of licensing should start with a simple plan of registration. Then they should set up a system of receiving and investigating consumer complaints, not realtor complaints; Limit it to actual consumers. Give it a 3-year period, with the 1st for getting us registered. If your not registered, you cant inspect.
After the time period, analyze the data and make recommendations; are controls needed at this time, and if so, which ones will immprove the situation. Like I said, one size doesnt fit all. Oh, by the way, it would be nice if HIs had a mechanism in this project to report unscrupulous and predatory and harassing behavior of some real estate agents and brokers.
Just a thought, before handing over common sense to the government.
Funny how no one ever suggests registration as a first step. Its like going to the doctor and asking for chemotherapy because your dying, even before he has had the opportunity to draw a single vial of blood for a simple test. The first determination is whether the current system is broken or sick. The second step is determining the best course of treatment, once an illness has been diagnosed.
“The operation was a success, but the patient died”. Ths is what governmental involvement almost always guarantees. In medicine, and in Home Inspections.
In regards to socialized medicine, when Hillary was attempting her version of the “Great Society”, a friend of mine in the health care profession coined a phrase… “If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until its free”.
That is to say, yes, no home inspector licensing.
And how do you do that without licencing? You can’t because the self regulating bodies up here have no intent to govern according to the rules. I have experienced it first hand and continue to experience it. They bend the rules, conspire, and withold vital info from the members by restricting access to BOD minutes and relevent financial info. Without outside oversight there is no guarantee things are on the up and up.
Just as the Ontario association just recently retained a former President of the New Home Warranty program to lobby the provincial government for licencing. As far as I know the membership was not consulted to the hiring or expenditure for this person fees. It was all decided behind closed doors without consultation of the membership.
As to licencing you can be sure in Ontario OAHI will want its cake and eat it too. NACHI and others must be vigilant.
I guess that is why more and more Americans are going to India and Thailand to have their operations. Why because you can go have an operation in those countries by American Board Cert. Surgeons at a third of the cost for the same operation in the USA or Canada.
To those detractors of licencing you keep telling us all the negatives but I have yet to see a logical alternative as it applies to Canada.