Ontario Inspectors - Straw Poll

One of the fastest growing sectors in the housing market is home/property inspectors (HPI). The HPI mainly inspects existing homes and commercial buildings. The home/property inspection sector includes sole-operators, firms, and franchised businesses. In addition, consulting engineers, architecture firms, and testing companies are engaged in specialized technical inspection on commercial buildings (e.g., high-rise buildings, shopping malls).

The majority of HPI work on residential inspections. The HPI typically provide services related to potential home and property purchasers, existing home and property owners, financial institutions, and real estate agents. The home/property inspectors are becoming an integral part of the consumer’s decision to purchase a home. It is important that consumers are making their decisions on qualified people. Unfortunately some consumers fall victims of an inspector that is not properly qualified or may not be a member of a provincial home inspection association. Many home inspection associations in Canada have already created and set the standards of practice, which include ethics and discipline of its members.

Even with the move towards national certification which is voluntary, there is still concern that the lack of a mandatory requirement will result in home/property inspectors operating without the minimum standard requirements. Thus, consumers may still be susceptible to these operators resulting in substandard inspections.

Also, the home inspection is the only segment of the home purchase that is not regulated by any provincial or federal laws. For example in Ontario there is:

Real estate agents
Home Inspector
Financing
Purchase
(Real Estate and Broker’s Act)

(Loans Brokers Act
(Business Practices Act
Sales of Goods Act

This leads to the larger question on whether this sector should consider to be regulated under provincial legislation. If not, can a self management or self regulatory model suffice?

Beware rant coming:

I take exception with that sentence–it implies that you must be part of a provincial association or you are somehow criminal. I don’t belong to any of the provincial associations because frankly they all suck. As near as I can tell they collect money for fees and return absolutely 0 benefit.

There’s guys that think RHI is some kind of benchmark and everyone else is somehow inferior. what’s the synonym for certified home inspector? Registered home inspector–they mean the same thing except one organization provides a myriad of benefits to its members, while the other drains your wallet in fees and makes you take bogus courses to qualify so that the executive can make even more money.

In the thousands of inspections i’ve done, how many clients have asked before, during or after if I was an RHI or any other ontario member designation? 1–and he was a former inspector who got out cause it was to litigious for him…

/rant…

66 have visited this site and 5 have voted
View Poll Results: What form of control do you support as an Ontario home inspector?
Self-regulated

00%
Association managed

**3 **60.00%
Regulated by license

**1 **20.00%
Undecided

**1 **20.00%
Voters: 5.

61 are Americans peeking to see what crap you Canadians are up to now! :eek:

Good point Stuart - are you inferring they are all fee sucking, self-educating, self-certifying associations?

On another note what standards do you follow?

Have you thought about “what if” licensing is mandated in Ontario? I’m not saying it will be, but in 2 out of 2 provinces regulating inspectors it became an issue for the unaffiliated home inspectors.

Just curious - no ill will intended. :slight_smile:

Remember Whistler
http://www.nachi.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4935
Bill has a big anouncement comming soon
http://www.nachi.org/forum/showpost.php?p=166560&postcount=103