… and tons more: www.nachi.org/convention.htm
yeah, man. only 7 days out.
Does NACHI care about what the current trends are doing to this country? In Fl we are suffering from an out of control home owners insurance policy pricing, and one of the factors are due to bad info getting to the inspectors.
Just registered & can’t wait!
What do you want nachi to do?
How about this:
I got a call from an agent today who said I had to change the label under the pictures from
Roof/wall attachment to roof/wall attachment, single wraps with 3 nails on one side and 2 on the other, decking attachment from decking attachment method to decking method attachment, nails six inches in the field and edges, and from truss width to truss width, 24 inches on center, even though the pictures show exactly what was added as far as labeling goes.
What will they think of next?
I usually do not label my pictures(except front, right, back and left). If you do not understand the picture, it is either a poor picture or you have no business checking the work.
If I insert a picture of a wrap and you do not understand, what difference does the label make? I can call it anything I want, what matters is what is checked on the form.
My contact info is on the form, if I make a mistake or they need help understanding it I will be sure to correct it or explain it. Since all of my reports go through a QA, I do not make mistakes. :p:cool:
Look at the pictures in my post John. Are they hard to understand?
If you do not know wind mits, then they really do not mean much. Ask the agent their office location so you can stop by with your box of crayons for them. I hear they really like the 64 pack with the sharpener. Oh, wait, that may confuse this agent, get them a three pack, keep it simple. Oh wait, I think I understand now… They could not handle the Crayola crayons so, their parents got the crayons from China. You know the ones with the lead it them. Maybe you should be more understanding. :twisted::shock:
While your are there ask them if they ate some paint chips as a child.
Ok I’ll stop now, just ask them to call you and you can help them understand. Offer to do a short wind mit class during their lunch. Show them lots of examples and it will make both of your lives easier.
The form has the answers to the questions they ask. Teh pictures are merely backup for the form.
I would expect that the person in control of whether or not someone is going to get a 3,000 dollar discount on their insurance, would have some clue as to exactly what they are looking at.
If they can’t read a tape measure, perhaps my 3 year old son can help them…he can count to at least 24!:mrgreen:
I am sure I could’t give this agent the 64 pack with the sharpener…for obvious reasons.
This was actually the underwriter who was going to cancel the policy if I didn’t add more verbiage (my word, not hers) to the form.
The agent said she had gone round and round with the underwriter telling her, “look at the picture…it is a ruler and it is at 24 inches for the truss width”.
Until somebody sues the insurance industry, and they will have to have a lot of money to do so, and discounts are settled in a court of law, this thing will never get settled. Good inspections are being rejected. The insurance companies are doing whatever the hell they want.
Lets look at this. In the beginning the bad inspector was looked upon as good because he wrote improper reports. He was liked by the insurance agent because they could give discounts, and the homeowner loved him because he got the discounts.
Then we had re-inspections. Now those inspectors are hated by many because the original bad reports were supposedly change to be correct. Now we find out that many of the re-inspections are done wrong, in favor of the insurance companies, because that is how those companies are keeping their cash flow coming in.
And now we learn that both insurance agents and underwriters have no clue as to how to even read a wind mitigation report. The whole thing is a sham, and until someone exposes it, it will just continue to be a joke. However, in the mean time, the “entities” and the inspectors will continue to benefit because they are the ones who are making money of these inspections.
Go figure.
What do we do to fix it?
NOTHING. I do not label squat. It just says the picture must be there if possible.
I hope the new form at least keeps if visible and accessible.
I have DONE A TON AND NEVER EVER EVER LABLED A PICTURE AND HAVE NEVER BEEN ASKED. Tell THEM TO SCREW OFF UNLESS THEY CAN TELL YOU ON THE FORM WHERE IT SAYS IT.
sry bout the caps.
This just has to be said.
Anytime you give an insurance agent something that is not required you are screwing all of us and all of the clients.
Insurance agents usually do not know squat. Tell them to send it to the underwriters.
When we give them a inch then they expect a mile and they expect it from everyone.
Please anyone who has the letter that says they must accept a wind mit from a qualified inspector and if they do not they must send someone on their dime Please Please Please send it to me and I will post it for the good of us all.
This is why we must get tough before this abortion of a new for gets to be it.
How are we supposed to accurately measure entire complex roofs from the ground?
The whole form is crap. We must do more to LIMIT our liability instead of agreeing to increase it.
Hey I wonder how many wind mits that *** from Don Meyler who says pictures are not dangerous and they are no problem has done.
If I would have went that would have been my question for sure.
Sorry to all that I did not have the passion to waste my time by going. I still do not. 
This is as far as I will take it. The rest is up to you guys. Good Luck.
The OIR needs to be able to step in and make a final determination on these disputed wind miits.
Our arguing with the underwriters doesn’t do any good they just do what they want.
They should be answerable to some one and since it is the Office of Insurance Regulation I think they need to do their job and regulate.
If the OIR is making the rules they should also make sure those rules are followed.
I have and idea:
Everyone who is questioned on a wind mit sends me the facts, including emails, report and picts. I will give you my honest opinion(including some input form others) in writing. You can then forward it to the agent, customer or underwriter. If you do not like my answer ignore it and do nothing.
I will then collect the info, including those you do not need or want an opinion on and use it for future meetings with the OIR anyone else that would like to hear it. We turn the tables and collect the data on the insurance companies.
We can then have solid evidence of what the insurance companies are doing incorrectly.
Thoughts?
John,
There are a couple of answers that would solve the problem. Some of them would cost money, some would not. Unfortunately when you are dealing with bureaucracy things will never get done. Here are some solutions:
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Take out a class action law suit against the insurance companies. I am sure we could find enough people who have been screwed. But that will take years and only those in the law suit would benefit, not to mention the lawyers.
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Make the underwriters and agents all take the same class that we take so everyone could be on the same page. With proper documentation there should be no gray area as to what qualified and what does not. Along with this you would need to set up a review board to handle disputes.
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Hand out fines, hefty ones, for fraud. Any re inspection case that is contested should have the right to go before the review board. Which ever inspector is wrong should have to pay a price for their mistake. This would help stop some of what we are reading on these posts - mainly re inspections that change something that was right in the first place.
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Get rid of these inspections all together. They really prove nothing. Are they really trying to tell us that a 50 year old home in Miami Shores made from Dade county pine is any less secure than some of these newer homes. I think they all forget that back then homes were built smaller so that they would be more secure in high winds. We really never saw any of those home sustain severe damage from any of the hurricanes since 1950. Or what about the old houses in Key West. Just because they are gable homes they should not be insurable. Total nonsense.
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Someone ought to run an audit on Citizens and see where all of this money they are collecting in premiums is going. Lets check office space, salaries, benefits, etc and see how much money we are wasting. I will bet there is enough graft going on to lower everyone insurance rates.
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Have a better system in place for the pay out of funds. This would drastically reduce insurance costs. Why should someone who has a 15 year old shingle roof that is already leaking get a new roof just because a hurricane blows through and exposes all of its flaws. If people cannot take care of their homes, they should not be living in them. I heard numerous times after Wilma came through, and insurance did not cover enough to get a new roof, that they would wait for the next hurricane because then it would be replaced. The house across the street from me had a roof that was leaking like a sieve. They got a brand new tile roof (had shingle), and needed 10 sheets of plywood. We just paid to replace something that needed replacing years before. And yet we wonder why insurance costs are so high.
Unfortunately none of the above will happen because it is all about the money and who is greasing who’s hand. So in the mean time, I guess all the inspectors out there should be grateful that for the next few years these inspection will be around as a meal ticket for many of them.
good idea- I will start fowarding you the bogus ones I encounter
That is all well and good Mike, but what about your Client? Now, either their insurance gets cancelled and they have to get another wind mitigation inspection done, or, they could potentially lose their home if their insurance is part of their mortgage.
The homeowner is the one that suffers and one way or another will have to pay the bill. Legal extortion.
I say go back to the 2 page form and eliminate pictures.
As Bill said, and I have been saying since this scam was started, it really doesn’t matter how well the home was built. Homes in the 50s and earlier are still here and will probably still be here after a major hurricane.
Almost every home here can survive a category 3 storm.
That is why I keep asking for that letter that was going around that stated if they “the insurance company” did not accept our form then they must PAY for their own hack to do the inspection.
Whenever I tell them that it usually solves the problem.
I have never had a client complain about how I handle the insurance agencies. Most of the time there is a problem is because of the agents and not the underwriters.
I set the agents straight every time and have never taken any crap from them.
Again I beg if anyone has that damn letter please send it to me and I will post it everywhere and keep whoever sends it out of the discussion.
Never, Never, Never take any crap from agents and NEVER provide more info that is REQUIRED. Not doing as I suggest is what causes us problems. The agents think they know something and most of the time they do not.