ASHI Leaders Admit "Licensing Solves Nothing"

General Inspection Topics Legislation, Licensing, Ethics & Legal Issues
1

In the following article, under the guise of “ranking” states that have licensing laws as to who comes the closest to fitting their particular model — ASHI leaders have unwittingly demonstrated for all to see exactly how ineffective and wasteful these laws have been.

Using their model (which, coincidentally happens to mirror many of their entry requirements) as an arbitrary “goal”, they have illustrated how the majority of states with legislation have failed to qualify their home inspectors to the basic minimum acceptable standard of something as simple as ASHI membership.

Out of 32 different sets of state laws, they can only recommend five (5) of them.

Here is a copy of their generic press release. See for yourself:

2

If ASHI was ranked against these five states, where would they fall?

Example: If an ASHI home inspector does not inspect up to ASHI standards (reporting he inspected a crawlspace but clearly did not) and there is a complaint to ASHI, will appropriate action be taken?

3

Texas? I don’t think there are any ASHI members in Texas.

4

Hey, I see that Massachusetts falls into the top 5, but these rankings don’t mean shi+ to me.

5

I know there are some ASHI members here in Texas, but I have only heard of a couple inspectors willing to admit it in the last 10 years… :slight_smile:

6

How can they rank Georgia when we have no laws governing inspectors at all? If they do this, then where are the other 18 states?

7

I don’t think unwittingly is the proper word to use here, I do believe that the ASHI membership is beginning to see the light and that new leadership is less likely to back licensing just to support the NHIE & the EXAMINATION BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL HOME INSPECTORS especially after the debacle here in Florida where the the DBPR has refused to talk with ASHI or the those who control the NHIE.

In another instance, in this month’s ASHI Reporter Janet Swandby is once again quoted regarding the pitfalls of licensing…

MYTH: Regulation will “raise the bar” and “eliminate the fly-by-nighters” and “lowlifes”.

REALITY: Licensing will NOT eliminate them. In fact, states with licensing have more inspectors, at least in the first few years after enactment, not fewer. And more means more unqualified inspectors.

It appears to me that the membership of ASHI is no longer just willing to support licensing because it fills the coffers of the EBPHI, although here in Florida the law could have mandated that inspectors wear their underwear on the outside of their clothing and FABI & NAHI would still have wholeheartedly supported the bill any friggin’ bill.

8

Funny, my state operates under a licensing law modeled by ASHI and it ranks #16. Go figure!

9

Ranked by whom? ASHI has done nothing but push crappy legislation everywhere, operate a no-entrance-requirement diploma mill, encourage their come-only-with-cash associates to go out and perform a certain number of unqualified inspections for poor, unsuspecting consumers, offer no membership benefits, and lost 2/3rds of their members this year… and they have the balls to “rank” anything. What’s rank is their crappy licensing that keeps schools opening up on every corner.

10

How would ASHI rank these membership requirements: http://www.homeinspector.org/join/application/associate_application.pdf ???

Send a check to ASHI and Shazam!

They should rank all the diploma mills in the world and rank themselves #1 for being the most outrageous.

11

Actually Ken, there is something in the Georgia Code regarding home inspectors…

http://www.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/default.asp Search for “home inspector” or go to TITLE 8. BUILDINGS AND HOUSING, CHAPTER 3. HOUSING GENERALLY, ARTICLE 6. DOCUMENTATION BY HOME INSPECTORS

§ 8-3-330. “Home Inspector” defined
As used in this article, the term “home inspector” means any person, except an employee of a county, municipality, or political subdivision while engaged in the performance of the duties of his or her employment, who, for consideration, inspects and reports on the condition of any home or single family dwelling or the grounds, roof, exterior surface, garage or carport, structure, attic, basement or crawlspace, electrical system, heating system, air conditioning system, plumbing, on-site sewage disposal, pool or hot tub, fireplace kitchen, appliances, or any combination thereof for a prospective purchaser or seller.

§ 8-3-331. Documentation required
Every home inspector shall provide to the person on whose behalf a home or single-family dwelling is being inspected a written document specifying:

  1. The scope of the inspection, including those structural elements, systems, and subsystems to be inspected.,
  2. That the inspection is a visual inspection; and,
  3. That the home inspector will notify in writing the person on whose behalf such inspection is being made of any defects noted during the inspection, along with any recommendation that certain experts be retained to determine the extent and corrective action necessary for such defects.
    § 8-3-331.1. Licensing authority of political subdivision
    Nothing in this article shall preempt a political subdivision from prescribing licensing requirements for home inspectors.

§ 8-3-332. Criminal penalty
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Licensing and Laws are two seperate things.

12

I have to say that overall I am happy with our state law. The state law got rid of most of the summer home inspectors. The number of inspectors in this area has not grown (as far as I can tell by the brochures and phone book in the past and the current Indiana list. And it kept the news papers quiet about home inspectors not be licensed. These three reason alone makes me happy about the state law. So that above statement is not true.

Did I mention that the few Realty companies that only recommended ASHI member are now recommending that the home inspector be state licensed.

Lastly I must say that being 9th in their list (which also doesn’t mean anything to me) is a good place to be.

13

It is insanity for me to believe that any association could benefit from backing licensing, in licensed states associations have no power, authority or reason to exist except to help their members secure as much work as possible. The problem is the cost to promote the membership to the public in many cases exceeds the dues an association can collect.

The way I see it associations have screwed themselves and will in the end reap what they have sowed. In any case you can bet your a$$ that Realtors will no longer be promoting home inspectors just because they happen to be a member of an association, no they will tell their clients that as long as the inspector is licensed they are all the same. That way it will be business as usual, Realtors will continue to steer work to those now licensed inspectors who provide soft fair-to-the-house inspection reports. Nothing will change except we will be further under their thumb.

14

Joe,

Amen, brother.

15

I second that!
Randy

16

quote=jburkeson1

I disagree, associations will have to change the way they do things, which is always the way things go since change always occurs.

They should have never done that in the first place. There is no information out there (that I’m aware of) that lawsuits have dropped just because home inspector belongs to an organization.

I have never heard that from a Realtor in this area. Many Realtors will not recommend certain home inspection companies because of the problems with them.

Since I heard many people on these message boards relate how much a home inspection company charges relates to their experience:?:, I know a few home inspection companies that charge a lot and still are in business.

There will always be Realtors that do this, but there are also a lot of Realtors that will do the right thing for their client. Just like there will always be home inspectors that offer these “soft fair-to-the-house inspection reports” (not sure what that means exactly).

In my opinion, organization can and will do things that state law cannot, while state law has the potential to do things for the home inspection field that organizations cannot.

17

We obviously see this differently, yes it is true that I have never worked in a licensed state as a home inspector but prior to being a home inspector I was a licensed contractor for eighteen years so I know a bit about licensing. Based on that, here are a couple of questions regarding your comments about my last post, maybe you could enlighten me.

  1. Exactly what benefit did home inspection associations derive from backing state licensing for home inspectors?
    *]What changes will home inspection associations need to make to remain relevant in licensed states?