AAA Construction school offers grandfathering help.

The point is that Contractors or Homeowners build or repair just about everything or at least oversee it. Therefore you can likely blame contractors for everything, heck who else could you blame the Lawn guy. Good thing the public has guys like you to point out who did what wrong.

Do things right so you don’t get blamed for doing them wrong.

I give it my best every time.

I laugh every time someone says “most of the things we find wrong were done by contractors.”

But I must say I agree. No sh-t who else is doing the work.

John my friend you have been mislead. I don’t think we have ever been considered “elite”. Most educated? Possibly. This is one heck of a site for getting education and finding answers. Elite? Well No. I can get anyone a license. There was talk about one time how someone got their dog a license. Weather its true or not is not known. Possible? 100% its possible.

But I do understand what you are saying. Elite may be a strong word, but do we have to cheapen ourselves by having sham classes for idiots to get qualified? Well I understand, this is BUSINESS. It may have a Not for PROFIT organization license but people are getting paid and I assume some of them well. So it is ran like a business. With this new AAA proposal they will get many more clients then they will lose. So 5 people get mad and leave while 100 are added to the count. See where that is going?

NICK has an awesome gathering of education on this site and continually works the education. But I think you are mislead as well as I that NACHI will be anything but an educational association. Needed, yes. Respected outside our association? Just ask and you shall find the answer for yourself.

Reminder again. I don’t follow every thread so if you need me to reply somewhere, email me at fastreply@nachi.org along with the URL of the thread.

As for the offer made by this particular vendor… it isn’t from us of course. And again (I’ve explained this many times before), the purpose of us posting nearly all vendor offers is so that members can comment (good or bad) in hopes that fellow members will benefit from the comments.

InterNACHI does not get any money from these vendors or exhaustively research the validity of every claim a vendor makes.

The vendor may be mistaken (I don’t really have any way of knowing) in believing the vendor can provide everything you need to be grandfathered. Membership in InterNACHI alone does not qualify one for grandfathering. One still must join Florida InterNACHI to be grandfathered. Florida InterNACHI requires the passing of a proctored exam and membership in InterNACHI, which in turn has its own requirements.

Remember, the DBPR does NOT accept the passing of a proctored exam for grandfathering purposes. The DBPR requires membership in a national or state home inspection association (like Florida InterNACHI) that requires, among other things, the passing of a proctored exam. This is a subtle distinction that members and even some educational vendors may not be aware of.

Why stop there? Might as well get em’ a mold license too. :stuck_out_tongue:

William Siegel is very incorrect.

I am the only person who attended all four Department-hosted Stakeholder meetings. In each meeting I argued that grandfathering should be granted only to those who have completed 120 hours of education (as this is clearly the legislative intent of the law). Also, InterNACHI was the first to get an educators license in Florida and the first to submit our free, online courses for approval. Also, all along the legislative path I argued that the law be education based. Also, I met with the Governor to argue that it should be education based and that passing one beginner’s exam is meaningless.

Diploma mill ASHI fought and knocked the 120 hours down to a measly 14 hours. They instead worked to make the license proctored-testing based. Hm… now why would they do that? LOL!

If it were me, as I publicly stated for the record at all four Department-hosted Stakeholder meetings, I’d require 120 hours. But I don’t make the rules.

Nick this is great and thanks for the feedback…But who was this discussed with? Did you ask Florida inspectors their opinion? I am sure you wanted the 120 hours because it would almost automatically send people to your organization, what really saddens me is that it is YOUR organization. I always thought I was part of something, until I started putting the pieces together. I realize I am just another $289 a year and you could care less if I stay or if I go.

I was actually trying to get people to really push NACHI, but after seeing how you have cheapened the licensed I then realized, we are nothing. You now have the numbers in our state to be very viable for years to come. But, NACHI is not a household name and your recent endorsements of SHAM schools has really made NACHI a laughing stock among other professions in my area.

So you wanted all these things, probably have 4 times the amount of other inspectors than any other organization and you couldn’t get something passed? Why? Because the organization is not considered a PROFESSIONAL organization. How can an organization the size of ours not be HEARD? Why do OTHER organizations get THEIR way. The past post tells me you have absolutely no pull when it comes to legislation. WOW, what 1200 -1500 inspectors IN FLORIDA and you have no clout? Something is wrong with that picture.

Russell, I’m only one voice. If you recall, most inspectors who spoke at the Stakeholders meeting said the same thing… that anyone currently in business should get a license.

We’re lucky we got any grandfathering requirements at all.

You win some, you lose some.

Getting meaningful educational requirements for grandfathering is one we lost. I think they might have been worried about putting inspectors out of business in a tough economy, I don’t really know.

Furthermore, the DBPR has LITTLE DISCRETION to change the actual law enacted by YOUR duly elected legislators. YOUR elected officials wrote grandfathering into the law that was signed by YOUR Governor. You can’t blame me, InterNACHI or the DBPR for that.

We did win our other two battles: Acceptance of Florida InterNACHI for grandfathering and being awarded the first educator’s license.

Nick,

Stop pounding your chest. I happen to know that you are not the ONLY person to attend all four stakeholder meetings. The council had the same person as a representative at all four meetings also. I was at the one in Ft Lauderdale. I dont remember you pushing for 120 hours of education. All I remember was you pounding your chest over how great NACHI is and that your education is accepted in however many states you could get in before they said they got the point and asked you to stop.

If I am wrong let all the NACHI members who were there post on this board. Most of the ones who got up and spoke at the meeting are the newbies in the business who wanted grandfathering to be as easy as possible so they would be able to get in and not have to take 120 hours of education.

You actually turned that meeting into a three ring circus. The DBPR went there looking for answers to specific questions. They didnt want to hear how great your are and listen to your band of merry followers do the same.

Correct. Thanks for confirming that my focus was on approved education and that licensing based on passing one beginner’s exam once, is meaningless. My recollection of my comments is the same as yours.

Correct again, as I explained to Russell earlier.

“Diploma mill ASHI fought and knocked the 120 hours down to a measly 14 hours. They instead worked to make the license proctored-testing based. Hm… now why would they do that? LOL!”

ASHI has nothing to do with that. The 120 hours is for education that will be needed for new inspector entering the buisiness if they are not grandfthered by taking a proctored exam, belonging to an association, and having the 14 hours of continuing education. I am not sure where the 14 hours came from, but they only require contracrtors to have 20 hours of education every year (if I am wrong someone please post the correct number of hours). 120 hours was never considered for grandfathering. Those couses havent even been decided on yet.

FYI - just because you are an approved educator does not mean that your courses will be approved. And how are you going to monitor them. Have you thought of that yet?

“Correct. Thanks for confirming that my focus was on approved education and that licensing based on passing one beginner’s exam once, is meaningless. My recollection of my comments is the same as yours.”

Not so. You may have pushed your education as a way to promote NACHI, but you never pushed for 120 hours for grandfathering.

I get the feeling you were a lawyer in an earlier life. You pick on the word you like and play them up. You forget about what was in the rest of the post - like you were the only one to attend all four meetings. Its time to get over yourself and look at reality.

“Thanks for confirming that my focus was on approved education and that licensing based on passing one beginner’s exam once, is meaningless. My recollection of my comments is the same as yours.”

What do you think your exam is. It is nothing more than a begineers exam. I knowk it is time for you to give your great statistics on how many people pass the test the first time. For those that really take the test, I will bet you that the percentage is a lot higher than you report. Look at the number of how many people you report taking the test as opposed to how many inspectors there are out there.

Its not about the law thats written. I am not saying that will be changed. But the upcoming SOP, the UPCOMING legislation and ANY future Home Inspection criteria and making NACHI the leader in the inspection industry was/is my concern. It will just be hard to turn around and undo thats that have been done and are being done. No accountability, no discretion and the continual lowering of the standards by people using the NACHI name is disheartening.

I hear someone say we have a lobbyist. I wondered who hired him, who guides him, who is he and what is working on? WE KNOW NOTHING! It just sad so many things are happening and will happen in the state in which I run a lucrative bushiness and wish for it to stay that way. I always assumed things were going well, but then all of a sudden I realize no one is at the wheel and the appears that you back a teaching company that gets inspectors to be a member of the organization and take a proctored exam for what…$240?

I feel your attention is getting the numbers up and not taking care of the inspectors you have. I know the numbers game, you will maintain and get more than you loose. I just hope you realize when your licensing frenzy has dried up that people will then see that you and your organization is not needed and leave.

You are a marketing guru, this organization is proof of it and maybe people want cheap and easy. But there will be a need for people to distinguish themselves from other “licensed” inspectors and the NACHI brand name is not going to do that and I do know in my area, its the opposite they stay away from NACHI inspectors. So although you have the strong hold for now, pleas consider the very near future and where this is going. I know there are 49 other states to worry about and I realize that. But a direction of competence, confidence and elitism is something I am looking for in an organization. Not just one of the other 2,000 NACHI inspectors in my state and given the poor criteria and ease you make getting a license through this sham of a school, you make it hard to be proud to wear the NACHI emblem because it portray mediocrity at best at the present time.

Perplexed Bill Siegel writes:

Certainly not from us!

I’d love to sit for the bar exam right now, but I can’t become a licensed attorney because I didn’t go to law school. I believe this is true in all 50 states. Even lawyers know you shouldn’t be able to pass one state exam once and Shazam!.. get a license. You need education. Which is why InterNACHI offers so much of it and why states continue to award approvals for InterNACHI’s educational offerings. See right column of www.nachi.org/education.htm

The 14 hours came from YOUR duly-elected legislators in Statute 468.8324 (b). Look it up.

Nick what sets us apart? Why be a member of NACHI? If I asked 1000 Realtors in Florida what NACHI is…How many do you think would know? Now that Florida has licensing, why stay a member of NACHI? Why would a REALTOR or HOME BUYER Choose a NACHI inspector over another organization member? We don’t even keep track of the requirements to STAY a member. Once again, you have all this clout and all of these members and no power to get your way with legislation. Does that not tell you something?

“The 14 hours came from YOUR duly-elected legislators in Statute 468.8324 (b).”

You finally got something right. The legislature came up with the 14 hours. What they based it on I have no idea.

FYI - I am not perplexed. I have seen your education. When you make it proctored, or make so someone cannot go on line and open up two broswers, on for the test, and one to get the answers, then maybe you will have something. Offering something with no teeth behind it means nothing.

You entrance test is so easy that my son took it three years ago when he was 16 (has never been on an inspecton) and missed passing by 2 points. Pretty sad for an entrance exam.

All you have done with your “proctored” exam in Florida is cheapen the system and let unqualified inspectors into the game.

Russell, I’ve witnessed your frustration with licensing in every state that adopts licensing. Everyone thinks that licensing will keep the bums out. They’re wrong. It lets the bums in. Sleep through a 2-day course, pass an exam that everyone has the answers to, and you get the same state-issued credential as Russell.

Licensing is the very lowest bar with minimum of requirements, especially in a right-to-work environment like Florida.

InterNACHI’s requirements will always be above and beyond, and in addition to, whatever your state requires.

Florida represents over 10% of all of NACHI. Over half of those members have joined since licensing started. How many do you think will renew now that they have a license. You laugh and make fun of ASHI. They did a great job of branding in certain areas. What has NACHI done?

“Licensing is the very lowest bar with minimum of requirements, especially in a right-to-work environment like Florida.”

This is what FABI, ASHI, and NAHI were fighting against back in 2002-2004 when they tried to shape legislation. The wanted the bar set a a much higher level than it is currently set. They had the insight to know that it was coming. NACHI did not join that fight. And now they are dictating to us how we are going to run our businesses.