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Home Inspection organizations

There are many Home Inspection organizations out there now days. I will not critique any of them suffice it to say that when I first got into this business one of the things I tried to do was to look at all of them and compare them. Just due diligence on my part that I felt I needed to do to be as professional as possible after weeks of looking at them all I decided to join NACHI now InterNACHI or the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. All the associations are very similar in many ways but the list below is why I made my decision I feel this is what set this organization apart from all the others and I just wanted to share it with my friends at AR. Hope you don't mind but it should give you some insight into what a home inspector should be doing in my humble opinion.

1) iNACHI has requirements that one must complete before applying for membership.

2) iNACHI doesn't encourage or require new members to go out and perform a certain number of unqualified fee-paid inspections for poor, unsuspecting consumers as the only way to achieve full membership.

3) iNACHI doesn't permit newbies to perform their first inspections on actual consumers. Newbies who wish to apply to iNACHI must do 4 mock inspections without charging a fee. These inspections are then critiqued and feedback given.

4) iNACHI recognizes that consumers are most harmed by inspectors who don't know how bad they are. That is why iNACHI makes their online exam open and free to all... to alert these consumer killers that they should go back to school or not enter the profession. iNACHI's free, online exam has alerted thousands of incompetent wannabees each year.

5) iNACHI recognizes that newbies need a rigorous ramp-up system. iNACHI has it: www.nachi.org/rigorous2006.htm

6) iNACHI recognizes that fees (for exams or education) are much like a tax in that they deter inspectors from taking it. That is why all of iNACHI's education is affordable or free and much of it is online so that there are no time and transportation costs. This has resulted in iNACHI delivering more continuing education than all other groups and schools combined... and for pennies per hour.

7) This industry is changing all the time as are iNACHI's courses and exams. Passing an exam once, (years ago) doesn't alert today's inspector to that which he needs to know. That is why iNACHI requires members to pass the entrance exam every year.

iNACHI requires advanced courses as a condition of membership.

9) iNACHI's online courses contain quizzes that alert the quiz-taker when he has answered incorrectly and tells him/her which one's he/she missed. In other words, the quizzes are educational in and of themselves. It does an inspector no good to learn that he/she answered an x number of questions wrong without telling him/her which questions.

10) iNACHI believes that the industry should be full of successful full-time inspectors and that business success and marketing is the only way good inspectors can stay in business. That is why iNACHI has developed so many success tools www.nachi.org/success.htm. What good is it for a technically proficient inspector to go out of business? How does it help the consumer to have our industry flooded with unqualified newbies cutting their prices to get their inspections in and in some cases, waving their newly printed licenses that they got? This essentially triples the number of newbies overnight.

iNACHI is the best inspection association in the world. Thousands of websites, hundreds of millions of hits, a huge message board, chapters in 43 countries and 9 languages, free online education, a commercial SOP, free websites for members, free hosting, free online inspection agreements, a sister indoor air quality association, a sister online TV show, an automated phone notification system, books dedicated to promoting InterNACHI members, promotions in 50,000 retail outlets, booths at hundreds of shows, insurance discounts, software discounts, legal forms and help, tons of free stuff, a free report uploading system, moveincertified.com, a huge mall full of deals and free stuff for inspectors and marketing tools the likes of which have never been seen!

Posted by Mark Reusch on 07/03/2008 03:53 PM

Comments (6)

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6 Comments on Home Inspection organizations

Hello Mark,

Where did you snag this information?

07/04/2008 04:35 AM

by David Valley

Hi Mark,

I also went through a process to find a home inspector organization I felt was a good fit for myself and my business. I selected ASHI for many reasons.

I am some what baffled by this comment you made:

2) iNACHI doesn't encourage or require new members to go out and perform a certain number of unqualified fee-paid inspections for poor, unsuspecting consumers as the only way to achieve full membership.

What home inspection organization would actively encourage anyone to perform "unqualified" inspections?

Here in Connecticut where I work, there is a licensing process. NO ONE can perform an inspection without either;

1 Having a CT home inspection license or

2 Having a CT home inspector intern permit and thus being under the supervision of a licensed CT home inspector.

Therefore an inspector that joined a home inspector group who is working toward a number of inspections to meet the membership criteria would in fact not:

perform a certain number of unqualified fee-paid inspections for poor, unsuspecting consumers as the only way to achieve full membership.

ASHI has a parallel inspection program to help prospective members reach their full membership. A new inspector can perform an inspection along with an experienced member. This inspection is completely independent of the full members inspection and is not for the client. Once the inspection is completed the experienced inspector and the new inspector sit down and review the inspection. In this way the new guy gets valuable experience and credit toward his membership goal.

07/04/2008 07:56 AM

by James Quarello - ASHI Certified CT Home Inspector (JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC)

James I am not trying to bash any organization I am just trying to explain why I chose NACHI over the others. I do a few new Home Inspectors that performed several home inspection for fees their first time out and did them alone. I just wanted to let everyone know that NACHI asks new inspectors to perfofrm a minimum of 4 inspections for no fee and to send them in for ctritique.

David All the information is provided on the NACHI site for all to view. www.nachi.org if you are curious.

07/05/2008 07:49 AM

by Mark Reusch (A Major Inspection Service & Consulting)

Mark,

I understand you may not intentionally be trying to bash any other organizations, but your wording would imply that other organizations would encourage prospective members to perform inspections unsupervised. As I pointed out in my State that would be in violation of the law as well as, I believe, in your State. The "inspectors" to which you are referring would there fore be breaking the law and should be appropriately penalized.

07/05/2008 08:24 AM

by James Quarello - ASHI Certified CT Home Inspector (JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC)

James

I understand what you are saying but I believe you may be taking this the wrong way. All I am doing is stating what the NACHI organization does. I am aware of the other organizations and there policies. Your state requirements have no bearing on what my statement says. I know that other organizations allow inspectors to join and begin doing home inspections. If I am wrong please forward me the information where it states in any H.I. organization where a new inspector must do supervised inspections and I will amend my statement to fit. I applaud your state for it's requirements as a lot of states do not require this and/or licensing. In my state os S.C. a license is required and you must do a certain number of supervised inspections or a certain amount of hours at an approved school before you can even take the test. The only draw back to the S.C. requirements is that inspectors do not need insurance. But that is a state law. If I have offended you or the organization you are currently a member of I apologize and meant no such offense. I do however stand by my reasons for joining InterNACHI.

07/06/2008 11:39 PM

by Mark Reusch (A Major Inspection Service & Consulting)

Mark,

I believe you are missing my point. As I stated in Connecticut you must be supervised before ever doing your first inspection. This is of course after completing the other state educational and background requirements. It would therefore be impossible for someone to join any HI organization without having done supervised inspections.

"I know that other organizations allow inspectors to join and begin doing home inspections."

Again what organizations are looking for and encouraging individuals to join who are not appropriately qualified. That statement implies that the HI organizations are the bodies that have the power to allow someone to begin inspecting homes. I also can not see where any new inspector would be thinking of joining an HI organization before even doing their first inspection.

"I applaud your state for it's requirements as a lot of states do not require this and/or licensing."

There are currently 32 States that require training and licensing of home inspectors. There are others that have laws pending.

07/07/2008 07:27 AM

by James Quarello - ASHI Certified CT Home Inspector (JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC)