TO OAHI Board and Members,
Re: Media Release GreenSaver and OAHI
Know Your Home Inspections Inc. like GreenSaver, is a Service
Organization with the
Ministry of Natural Resources to train evaluators and provide the
ecoEnergy Evaluations in
Ontario.
As an RHI member of OAHI and owner of Know Your Home Inspections Inc., a
Service
Organization licensed with the Ministry of Natural Resources Canada and
as a Trainer for
ecoEnergy home auditors, I was astounded that the Board has Announced an
Agreement
with, and launched a Media Release, exclusive with GreenSaver without
OAHI member
consultation.
The Board did not ask for membership input before making this
Association Agreement. The
Board is not familiar with the partnerships available from within its
own OAHI membership
and are not supporting our own members/industry first.
This just speaks to the lack of communication within OAHI and a cavalier
approach that
continues to create divides within the membership. It is getting more
difficult all the time to
support OAHI when members are not consulted, adding to the ongoing
disappointments as
we continually lose inspections over the years to InterNACHI: InterNACHI has a
much better
marketing program than we at OAHI. It is financially not sustainable for
OAHI to have a
stringent program for RHI qualifications if we don’t support RHI’s with
marketing.
We need to employ our Home Inspector members yet OAHI is not promoting
the great
possibilities in the area as we continue to see urgent health and safety
concerns in homes
across the province. Recommending a “green team” with GreenSaver is just
an easy out. As
OAHI is not able to promote our own association profession, the OAHI
Board is promoting a
change in what we do. That is a very cheap way out of the Ontario
Association of Home
Inspectors Board mandate.
I regret that it detours the purpose of the Association in promoting the
important inspection
skills and abilities obtained by its members through rigorous training
and practice. Home
Inspections are critical to the health and well being of our
communities. OAHI has ‘dropped
the ball’ (or was it a “sneak handoff”) by not making the public and
government agency aware
of the importance of the home inspection profession that would lead to
increased
employment for OAHI home inspectors. The Association demonstrates a
limited vision
focused on real-estate agents and the buying and selling of homes. This
is a very limited
vision! I have raised this concern many times over the years, and
continue to do so. And
now the OAHI Board and resources are outright publicly promoting another
organization and
profession.
I and other members have offered to volunteer to take initiative on
concerns and ideas for
improvement but are ignored; the organization asks for volunteers and
input but does not
have the know-how or infrastructure to accommodate input. This seems to
be a problem
muttered, and occasionally rises to the surface, at every OAHI gathering
I have attended.
Further - I would recommend my colleagues expand their training and
practice to include
energy evaluations. With a background in environmental concerns I find
it very satisfactory. It
has been a good supplement when I lose work to the increasing numbers of
none OAHI
inspectors, or those that come and go, charging ridiculously low prices
for an inspection. Ten
years ago I also worked with our past president Andrew Dixon as a
colleague at GreenSaver
and my experiences at GreenSaver were good.
However, when I became a Natural Resources Canada Service Organization
in Ontario, I
decided to create better employment practices and promote job security
as programs come
and go. This can be difficult when private sector companies are
competing with non-profit
organizations (such as GreenSaver) that are eligible for additional
grants when competing
with the private sector.
I am getting the sense that our Association is not committed to the Home
Inspection Industry,
the home inspection profession or its members. Tell me what the Board is
doing to support
the home inspection industry? Do not ride the apron strings of another
industry and create
more divides within the membership.
Sending my dues to OAHI is now like sending advertising money to my
competitors. As a
dues paying member in OAHI I would like the same “green team” promotion
and media
coverage given to GreenSaver as other OAHI members may also request.
Further – I am not interested, nor do I have the time to debate this
fiasco of an OAHI Board
decision that is not what we elected them to do.
I highly insist that the Board clearly retract this “green team” and
alert OAHI members, and
others receiving the “Media Release”, of the opportunities in home
energy evaluations in
Ontario and the names of the many Service Organizations, some within and
some outside
OAHI affiliations. And further, compare the employment conditions of the
various Service
Organizations.
Move forward OAHI Board, start promoting Home Inspections for health and
safety!
Respectfully,
Pam
Pam Sayne, RHI
Know Your Home Inspections Inc.
Tel: 705 454-9384