Funny. Be careful, readers won’t understand that you were joking. I’ll tell you the not so funny part. I bought their commercial SOP. I think they charged me $130. Anyway, when it arrived by CD (yes, they still use snail mail to send 1 document) it had a full size sheet of paper in the envelope that said “No Refunds.” I thought, hm… that’s odd. Then I looked at their 2 page SOP and understood. What a rip-off organization.
Nick:
Thanks for clearing that up. Sarcasm doesn’t translate that well in the written form. Ben had me going back over the CREIA SOp’s for the umpteenth time.
Ooooh. That’s right, Nick. Good idea. I forgot about comsop. The course for CA real estate agents will be a teaching of the SOPs and Ethics of both commercial and residential.
** Course Title**: Commerical and Residential Standards of Practice of InterNACHI: What Every California Real Estate Agents Needs to Know About Their Certified Home Inspector"
Good?
Section §7195 (2) of the Cali Law states, “(2) “Home inspection,” if requested by the client, may include an inspection of energy efficiency . Energy efficiency items to be inspected may include the following:
(A) A noninvasive inspection of insulation R-values in attics,
roofs, walls, floors, and ducts.
(B) The number of window glass panes and frame types.
(C) The heating and cooling equipment and water heating systems.
(D) The age and fuel type of major appliances.
(E) The exhaust and cooling fans.
(F) The type of thermostat and other systems.
(G) The general integrity and potential leakage areas of walls,
window areas, doors, and duct systems.
(H) The solar control efficiency of existing windows.”
My concern is the word “may.” If your client requests hires you to perform
a home inspection, do you include items listed a through h, including
the age of major appliances? Do CA clients expect to be told of
the age of all the major appliances from their home inspector? Or do
they understand that those items (a-h) are really just an option, and at
the discretion of the home inspector to include them in the report?
I read some stuff on the CREIA site. They mention a California Coalition of Home Inspectors. But I can’t find this (CCHI) on the web. Does anyone know about CCHI?
Ben;
No one uses the states information listed above. We all use CREIA, ASHI or INACHI SOP’s. We also have contracts which list specifically items not included. Our inspection reports further list items not included. Between the SOP, Contract and Inspection Report, not much room for confusion.
I also understand you and Nick think CREIA and ASHI suck, but here in California the realtors don’t. What can I tell ya. The inspectors industry affiliations just don’t seem to matter much.
Thanks for your efforts, but I don’t see 100K California Real Estate Agents watching NACHI.TV any time soon. I’m thinking your CE offerings will be added to a long list of options for real estate agents to obtain their CE requirements.
I guess I’ll just mark you down as “Undecided.”
That exact quote was made about inspectors by ASHI’s Scott Patterson out of TN about a year ago. Then this happened and his world changed: http://www.nachi.org/tnconted2008.htm
Real estate agents are cheap and we don’t want to take off work to get our CE’s in.
Unlike the home inspection crowd who actually come to learn, real estate agents often come just to keep their license. Letting them earn their CE’s in their pajamas while promoting InterNACHI members? Go for it.
Online CE courses available from a few sources:
http://www.car.org/media/pdf/car_education_booklet_online.pdf
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/continuing-education/real-estate-ce.htm
http://www.kaplanprofessionalschools.com/california/real-estate/
http://www.realestatece.com/cgi-bin/z_home?mode=courses&cert_state=California
They’ll be hurtin just like all these http://www.tennessee.gov/commerce/boards/hic/education_ce.html
Tell a 20 year veteran real estate in California that she needs CE and see if she doesn’t shop for an inexpensive online option.
InterNACHI and NACHI.TV combined form a wreckin’ machine.
Ben, CCHI was a “coalition” of CREIA/ASHI in California that was pushing licensing about 6-7 years ago, effectively they were CREIA their URL www.thecchi.org is now pointed at the CREIA main page.
Regards
Gerry
California loves regulation. I wonder why it failed?
Legislators like the Cash the opposing Lobbyists provide?
You got that right.
California has been broke for the last several years. They can’t manage the departments they have now. To start up another group of license requirements for home inspectors would no doubt cost way more than fees they would receive. It also appears to provide little additional protection to the general public over and above our already very litigious society…
I’m against it!
You don’t have to look any further than how well they’ve controlled fraud and unethical activity in the California Real Estate Agent system.
So you’re saying just having four years of liability, even without a claim or lawsuit, is punishment?
The trend in legislation is 1 year.
CREIA cannot recruit because their cost for membership was over $700 the last time I checked, this is INSANE!!! I mean come on, what does this actually cover??? $289 for NACHI is at least reasonable, and look at the excellent resources we have… NACHI TV has been a great addition!!! 
Will Handley is Correct, licensing for the home inspection industry would not improve anything, the State Contractor’s Licensing Board has trouble just going after evil contractors that are licensed and violate laws, the State has limited resources and very few personnel.
The best associations for home inspectors is NACHI and ICC (International Code Council)
I only have one complaint with NACHI… WE NEED TO THROW SOME ADVERTISING MONEY AT REALTOR.COM FOR A BANNER ON THEIR WEBSITE!!! NACHI INSPECTORS DESERVE THIS!!! Don’t forget, many home buyers checking out listings would see this, and check out NACHI. It would not be just for realtors!
Just my rambling thoughts,
Justin
www.americandreamhomeinspection.net
Does it not mention somewhere in the B & P that one should be an architect, General Contractor or other state licensed official?
I still am a licensed building contractor there, I remember some mention in a newsletter that if one, as a Home Inspector was not an architect, licensed General Contractor or similar that this was to be disclosed to client. It was an item buried somewhere in the B & P code.
I remember this as I thought that it was a way to ultimately fine a person ***if***the fact that a person who decided one day “I’m a home inspector! and I’m good!” was complained about up to state level, they AG office would figure out a way to fine them.
I really kinda disregarded this tidbit as it didn’t affect/apply to me.
I guess if I had the entire code in .doc or .pdf I might be able to search it. Might be of value to someone else if applicable.
Really wouldn’t be a big deal as you would simply have to indicate whether or not you were a licensed building professional.
Tim
I remember that!