I have recently been reminded of an old quote I first heard as a young adult "Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. " I'm sure most people understand the need for continuing education. At Ellis Inspection Services, we take it very seriously! You might wonder how much can change in the home building industry, well, let me tell you... I typically start my day off at 5 a.m. , get through my e-mail then review and study particular home inspection techniques through threads and blogs on the Internet for half an hour so. During the course of an average day I speak to the other inspectors that work with us, and I read a few selected periodicals related to home inspections and building. The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) requires 20 hours of continuing education annually by pre-certified institutes. Each hour of credit usually takes close to two hours of study and prep time. Each certification and or group requires more training and studies. Building codes, mold, air quality, water quality, green, infrared. Now when your through studying you have to apply what you've learned. I have not even touched the surface of what can be done. As you can see, it takes hours and hours to perform a home inspection!
Canyon Lake, TX
Jim- Continuing education is something we all need to do in our industry. We are required here in TX to attend continuing education classes to be licensed. This is good as we all need to stay current with changes in order to perform our job. I really look forward each year to attend these classses.
Jan 22, 2009 11:14 AM
Fathom Realty - Cary, NC
Realty Consultant for Cary Real Estate
I think we all need some continuing ed but sometimes I don't the people that really need pay attention to it or somehow seem to bypass it.
Jan 23, 2009 01:46 AM
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia
Jim - in college sports my coaches always said if we dressed like pros we would play like pros. Prepare like a pro, and perform like a pro - good point! Between reading and studying and classes and performing inspections, our continuing ed probably adds up to 1000 hours a year...
Jan 23, 2009 11:48 PM
Clayton Inspection Service, Inc. - Knoxville, TN
Jim, Did you come to the ASHI Inspection World in Orlando last week? You had a great chance to pick up 18 hours and there were a lot of great topics covered. Have to say it was a bit chilly though.
Jan 26, 2009 11:20 AM
Ellis Home Inspection Services - Pensacola, FL
Hey Jack, no I didn't make it this year, in fact it's been a couple of years now. In the past when I've attended it has been a big benefit to not only learn but also the networking was great.
Perhaps I will meet up with you next year.
Jan 26, 2009 11:33 PM
Century 21 AmeriSouth Realty - Pensacola, FL
Pensacola Florida Real Estate
Hi Jim: Yes, we all need to continue in our area of continuing education. Glad to see you blogging again.
Jan 27, 2009 05:19 AM
Accredited Home Inspectors - Endwell, NY
Here in Broome County, NY we have formed our own Orgonazatiion of home Inspectors. We meet once a month to discuss new Licensing laws tool tech and we usually have a 2-5 credit class approved by the state. It helps us all to get all of out 24 credits for two years for our licensing aggreement.
We also have a new website we are working on www.stahi.org
Jan 28, 2009 10:42 PM
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