InterNACHI’s Next IR Certificaton Webinar Class will be Aug 25-26
Does this mean that interNACHI certifies that the people who complete the webinar are competent to present themselves as professional Thermographers? If not, exactly what does it certify?
All entry level certifications classes certify a person has passed their course. Some may have more skill than others based on their background knowledge before they took the course.
Some who take Level I are not competent to do an IR scan of a home inspection and some are.
At this point, we have hundreds who have taken our IR class and are now operating their home inspection thermography business from taking only our class.
So what does this certification actually indicate to the public?
The same thing that a level I certification indicates. They have passed
the Level I course.
What do you think Level I indicates.?
I’m glad you asked what level-I certification means… Actually, when a qualified training provider (they must be qualified and certified by someone other than themselves in order to train and issue certifications - a radical concept) and certifying authority issues a Level-I certification, it’s done in compliance with a third party, documented standard i.e., ASNT and their written practice SNT-TC-1A.
The certification is a written testament that the individual has demonstrated comprehension and proficiency with the body of knowledge involved in the training. Of course the written practice also defines roles and responsibilities that a certified Level-I thermographer is supposed to be capable of performing competently, so it certainly means a bit more than they attended a training class.
I’m sure that one of the ASNT compliant training providers that visits the forum can provide a much better explanation what a Level-I certification means than what I just gave.
Surely you didn’t intend to misrepresent your certification as meaning that your attendees have “Passed the Level I course”, as you stated above.
So far as I can tell, you are certifying that someone registered for and perhaps sat through your webinar. If the general public should credit your certification as meaning something more, do please tell exactly what you are certifying and what professional services your certificate holders are qualified to perform.
I never said that taking our course means someone has passed a Level I course. Stay with the facts please.
I have met many a person who has taken Level I, II, III who have told me they cannot do an IR scan of a home inspection. So you still have not answered the question “exactly what does it certify?”.
While your at it please tell us if you take Level I, what professional services are the certificate holders qualified to perform?
I doubt you can answer the questions because it will make you look foolish.
Does taking Level I alone certify you can do an IR scan of a home inspection… NO.
Does taking Level I alone qualify you to offer the professional services an a home inspector thermographer… NO.
That is the simple truth.
John,
I think the point that Chuck is trying to make, and you always dance around, is that you a not qualified to teach a thermography certification course.
That is the simple truth.
In your case Level Inachi and nothing more :roll:…
The question he ask was what does our course certify? But if we ask the same question of Level I, then that answer is what gets danced around.
InterNACHI, like many industries, has established it’s own thermography certification course to fit the needs of it’s home inspector members. Hundreds of those members are now operating their IR business from taking our IR course, regardless of anyone’s opinion that it cannot be done. :mrgreen:
You failed to answer the question. Thanks for confirming what I have been saying.
What qualifies one to teach fellas?
A piece of paper or something else?
Level I cannot certify anyone is qualified to do anything or offer themselves as a Professional anything. A 3.5 day class does not make one a professional in any industry. Why is that hard to admit?
Does that mean a 3 1/2 day course does not make someone a professional educator as well?
What a bunch of misguided opinions.
Everyone on of us has knowledge we can impart to others apart from any “official” designation.
My wife and I home schooled 4 kids.
1 is an Engineer
1 has a Doctorate
1 has an Associate degree
1 almost has her teaching degree.
Did any of the colleges care about them being home schooled? NOPE.
Me thinks some here protesteth too much.
I hold the same opinion of IR Certification as I do mold testing.
To properly perform a mold inspection, one must have a holistic understanding of the property with regard to moisture intrusion, roof leaks, grading, condensation, crawl spaces, ventilation, plumbing leaks, downspouts, drainage, humidifiers, building materials, and on and on and on.
In other words, you really need to be a home inspector before you can be a truly competent mold inspector.
I hold a parallel opinion of IR certification. You really need to know how to inspect a home (be a home inspector first) before you get certified to use any fancy equipment… otherwise the certification means little.
That is why one of the requirements to be Infrared Certified is to be an InterNACHI member (so that InterNACHI’s requirements become a baseline for Infrared Certified’s requirements).
My point is that all education has some benefit, but certifying non-members to do thermal imaging is like giving a city boy a lesson in running a combine harvester… he’s still far from being a farmer.
Any IR program that knowingly certifies non-members is a scam on the general public IMHO.
I put more stock in my 25 years in construction, 13 more years as a professional TREC inspector and 5 of those years in thermography to call myself a professional, than a 3.5 day IR class alone. What is sad is the idea that some Level I classes are being taught to inspectors by those who have never done a building inspection at all. This created a huge wave of complaints that still goes on to this day. Thus the InterNACHI success story in IR instruction would not be here today except for this void (we want to thank those who continue to insist that this void does not matter).
Level I takes 32 hrs to complete.
INFRARED CERTIFIED takes over 110 hrs to complete and requires a more complete construction package to achieve.
See Nick Gromicko’s post #16 above.
Even though some IR schools have failed in this slow economy, our INFRARED CERTIFIED TRAINING class has never canceled a webinar, month after month, in over 4 years. Hundreds of inspectors now run their IR business from taking our IR class. We want to thank those who told us it could never be done. 
Some IR schools have begun to copy our example and methods now. God has blessed us.
This whole continual line of discussion is comical and not nearly factually based. Level 1 training does indeed require a minimum of 32 hours of training but this training has to meet specific areas of knowledge and most training providers spread this out over a total of 4-5 days to increase comprehension of the materials provided. In addition, someone that has level 1 training can with little or even no building knowledge competently perform one of the many building related infrared inspections outlined in widely accepted standards including those of ASTM, ISO etc.
Having a knowledge of buildings and construction and having a knowledge of thermodynamics are two entirely different animals. It is no different than many home inspectors having little or no construction experience and not fully understanding how a building is specifically constructed but yet having the unique ability to effectively inspect a building and know what to look for. Does this mean it doesn’t help? No, it will certainly help, but I would personally rather have someone with little building knowledge and Level 1 training perform for instance a conduction inspection than the inverse perform one.
Thermograhy has everything to do with items like: thermal capacitance, conduction, convection, radiation and how each of these interact with various building materials, this does not have direct correlation to knowing how a building is constructed but rather how those materials within a building will be viewed within the infrared spectrum.
In my personal opinion the notion that Level 1 training does not or cannot provide the knowledge needed to perform an “infrared home inspection” is ludacrous. The knowledge gained in a professional training Level 1 course will provide just that and much more, in fact for me it has taught me to perform a better home inspection all together and perform a proper infrared inspection.
Hello?
You are a home inspector who has only taken Level 1. duh!
Actually, no.
I have taken Level 1, one additional application specific course and Infraspection’s Home and Building course, but nice try. I prefer to actually make myself knowledgable about a topic or application whole-heartedly before coming to a conclusion, unlike some…