Ever since I became an inspection (Feb, 2002) I have been dismayed by the so-called “Association wars”. Don’t get me wrong, I live NACHI and my membership has been very good for my business.
But, when I first got into home inspection, almost all the agents told me that “If you aren’t an ASHI member, then you aren’t a real Home Inspector”. I life about 6 miles east of ASHI National Headquarters and their so-called “branding” campaign had saturated the area (Chicagoland). Alos, being such a union town, the feeling of many ASHI members were that they were the “union” and NACHI members were nothing more than scabs.
And ASHI and NAHI (now, mostly, invisable) ran all the state required CE classes. If you wanted to keep your license, you had to pay them for CE credit, and pay through the nose.
So, we started the NACHI Chicagoland Chapter. With a lot of hard work and help from NACHI, we also got into teaching state licensed CE courses. As a result of this, the course prices went down, forcing the other CE providers to also lower their prices, AND the general quality of the CE increased, becoming more challanging.
So, the culmination of my dream happened last Wednesday. Our Chapter President, Chris Kirkman, working with Myself and my Education Comittee co-Chairman, put on a CE class that was presented at the monthly meeting of NIC (northern Illinois chapter) of ASHI! We offered to teach the course and only charged them $2.00 a head (for state processing fees and mailing costs for the state required certificates). The course dealt with a very timely topic, in this area, water intrusion in masonry buildings. It also shows the way for another specialty service, above pre-purchase inspections, i.e., water intrusion inspections.
The feedback from the ASHI members was very positive and most told me that they learned alot.
So, in a scant 9 years, NACHI (at least in this area) has gone from practically non-existent to a dominant (most dominant?) association and with the best and most complete education courses available.
See what you can do with a dream and hard work. 
Go figure.
Here is a copy of the e-mail broadcast for the course.
**REMINDER
NIC-ASHI’S SECOND CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
Members $50.00
Non-Members $80
(ask about special membership promotion) **
AUGUST 10,2011
VILLA NOVA
**237 W. St. Charles Rd. Villa Park, Il. 60181 ** **NO Associates Corner **
Dinner 5:30- 6:00 PM
Presentation and Exam 6:00-9:30PM
WATER INTRUSION INTO MASONRY STRUCTURES
Dear William,
[FONT=Calibri]*WILLIAM DECKER , OWNER OF DECKER HOME SERVECES,LLC WILL BE OUR * C.E. Night presenter. HE will speak on :[/FONT]
" WATER INTRUSION INTO MASONRY STRUCTURES"
William J. Decker Jr.
President, Decker Home Services, LLC
Member, Foundation for Safer Housing
Member, U. S. Green Building Council
Charter Member, Illinois Home Inspector Association (IHIA)
Director, Board of Directors (IHIA) (served 3 terms)
Author and Lecturer for Illinois State Licensed Home Inspector Continuing Education courses:
145 - Electrical Home Inspection Checklists
145 - Structure for Home Inspectors
145 - Thermal Imaging for Home Inspectors
145 - Introduction to Thermal Imaging
145 - Introduction to Building Science
145 - Building Envelope Inspection
145 - Residential Home Energy Audit Inspection Model Manual
145 - Water Intrusion Inspections
145 - Advanced Thermal Imaging Techniques for Home Inspections
Author, Evaluation of Residential Masonry Buildings, InfraMation annual thermographer’s conference, Author, “Evaluation of Residential Masonry Buildings, Water Intrusion”, 2009 InfraMation Conference
It seems that Resitance is, indeed, futel.
