Bellingham Technical College 2007 "regional" class

Inspection Education Topics Inspection Education & Training
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Bellingham Technical College residential home inspection training will be offered in Bellingham, January 8 through February 2, 2007. This program is part of the Washington State Community College curriculum and is one of the most intense home inspection training programs in the country. All students, who complete the 160-hour NACHI approved program, will receive a certificate from Bellingham Technical College. The class meets 8 hours per day, over four weeks. All instructors are working home inspectors who understand the complexities of the business.

The rigorous curriculum includes instructional units in structure, exteriors, roofing, electrical, plumbing, chimneys, insulation/ventilation, furnaces, wood destroying organisms, etc. Emphasis is put on class participation, discussion, interaction and professional report writing. All students will complete four field inspections while supervised by a certified professional inspector. Additionally, students receive a set of the industry leading Dearborn Home Inspection textbooks and the structural pest inspection training books from Washington State University.

Upon completion of the class, students are prepared to take any certification test required by a state, a professional home inspection association or society, the National Home Inspector Exam, and the Washington State Structural Pest Inspector’s Exam. For detailed class information please visit:

http://www.btc.ctc.edu/CourseDocs/Programs/pResidentialHomeInspection.asp

Attention: This class will be offered seven times in 2007 at cities around Washington State: Shoreline, Pasco, Vancouver, Tacoma, Spokane and the home base of Bellingham (2x). A list of all the classes will be posted at this site as soon as final scheduling is confirmed. The two classes that are scheduled in Bellingham will be “regional” classes. That is, students from around the state and the region are encouraged to come stay in Bellingham for the four weeks that the class is being conducted. BTC and the training staff will try to advise and help interested students find reasonable and suitable accommodations. For additional information on any aspects of the program, please call toll free: 1-866-676-6908

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Nice site.

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So is this (below) implying that the pest inspection requirements were brought about by ASHI? What happened to the coalition up there in Bellingham that were supposed to be making sure that there was fair representation on all sides?
I wanted to join the coalition and they refused me stating that they all had it under control and that NACHI would be properly represented. Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have got more involved.
It looks like the pest inspection requirement was a trojan horse meant to keep out certain inspectors.

RHI 110 (160 HR /10 CR)
COMPLETE RESIDENTIAL HOME INSPECTION PROGRAM
This comprehensive training program for professional home inspection combines classroom instruction with field training to provide the student with the necessary knowledge to start his or her own professional home inspection business or seek employment with a residential home inspection firm. Upon completion of the program, the student will be prepared to take the National Home Inspector Examination as well as the Washington State Licensed Pest Inspector (ASHI). Course content is based on the ASHI Curriculum and will include field inspections. The student will receive a BTC Certificate upon satisfactory completion of the 160 hour home inspection course. Texts required

Prerequisites: None

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David Helm and Charles Buell are instructors in this course. Could you guys elaborate on what is going on with this? Why isn’t NACHI represented here?

*edited because I forgot a name.

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This has nothing to do with the group that is currently working on legislation regarding home inspection. You have to remember that ASHI was the first organization in this state. I remember Gerald Iverson who teaches the classes at Tacoma Community College was a member of ASHI and doing home inspections in this state back in 1986. I was the selling agent for one of his first inspections.

Whether we like it or not, ASHI had a presence out here years prior to NACHI. That in itself gave those inspectors an advantage in being the first to make instruction available to other people through local schools and to help write the syllabus. Now that NACHI has surpassed ASHI in state membership, we may very well find an opportunity to make headway into the different schools and political venues.

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Thank you Stephen. I appreciate your help. :slight_smile:

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And I love the site! http://www.btc.ctc.edu/CourseDocs/Programs/pResidentialHomeInspection.asp

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Thanks Nick. Of the four instructors, three are NACHI members and one is an ASHI member. The three NACHI are Charles Buell, Steve Smith and David Helm. And Wendy, if you go to the link that Nick posted you will see that it is prominently a NACHI approved program.

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I understand that David. I just didn’t understand why they were teaching an ASHI curriculum and that it said the Pest Inspection law was ASHI driven/based.
Sorry for any confusion.

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If you look at the site you will see that ASHI is not mentioned anywhere. In the past, when ASHI was the only game in town, that was the case. I think it’s important to look at what is, not what was.

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This is what I posted initially David:

RHI 110 (160 HR /10 CR)
COMPLETE RESIDENTIAL HOME INSPECTION PROGRAM
This comprehensive training program for professional home inspection combines classroom instruction with field training to provide the student with the necessary knowledge to start his or her own professional home inspection business or seek employment with a residential home inspection firm. Upon completion of the program, the student will be prepared to take the National Home Inspector Examination as well as the **Washington State Licensed Pest Inspector (ASHI). Course content is based on the ASHI Curriculum **and will include field inspections. The student will receive a BTC Certificate upon satisfactory completion of the 160 hour home inspection course. Texts required

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Hi all,

Wendy, I am a bit puzzled where that language you are quoting came from. In fact, it is really bugging me, pardon the WDO term. When I became coordinator of this program about April, working directly with BTC on every aspect of the class, I changed ALL of the language in the course description. I did this while discussing it with all class instructors, the BTC dean in charge and I was, also, in communication with Nick, tapping into some of his marketing expertise. So, the bottom line is, I made all references to state tests, societies, and associations “generic”. Of course, there is one exception: After studying the program, Nick and NACHI agreed to give it the “Nachi approved” symbol.

That said, I know that in the past the language you are pasting was posted and available to the public. And I thought I had gotten rid of all of that a couple months back, with some effort on my part. So, if you are getting that class description somewhere off the internet (and not an old cached page) please let me know where you got it. Honestly, lots of publicity is out there for this program, and every state college involved prints up a course catalog and has a website. In light of what you posted, I gasped and did a search of every word at the current BTC site, and I did not find the ASHI language anywhere. And, equally important, nothing about the WDO class involves ASHI. That little reference, wherever it came from, was a typo and wrong to begin with. The internet people at the schools, who do the web pages, do not know NACHI, ASHI or other terms in the industry, so that probably should have simply said WSDA.

I designed this WDO class for the school, and have been teaching it for two years. I had, originally, worked with the former independent class administrator, who was the fellow who used the ASHI language in ads. As David Helm said, that was then and this is now. The program is now solely owned by the school. In the program, all of us strongly believe in teaching students the WDO rules and inspection procedures. We feel we would not be offering a class that prepares inspectors to competitively seek business, at least in this state, without teaching that class. FYI: The WDO class is a full day, very intense, and includes visual presentations, actual samples of wood damage and specimens of WDOs. Additionally, we have a virtual pest inspection and students are tested on all the material and given study aids for use prior to taking the real state test. We have trained many inspectors from around the state and we are not aware of any graduates who have not passed the test. Many of them score in the 90 percentile.

I hope this clarifies things and, if you are “googling” that language from somewhere PLEASE tell me where and I will get it taken down as soon as possible and have it replaced with information that is current and describes what we really do in class.

Bottom line: We try to run a worthwhile class, that trains people in the skills of home inspection and also running a business. We are not trying to slam anyone or anything. And, as it stands, the only ones promoted at the site – that I know of – are BTC, NACHI and the Carson Dunlop books, which are very good and part of our core material. Oh, and Nick, thank you for the positive comments, I will pass them on to the fellow who helped design the site. Everyone knows that you understand the web, so a good comment from you means something.

Thanks.
Steve Smith

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first go to this page:

http://www.btc.ctc.edu/CourseDocs/Programs/pResidentialHomeInspection.asp#Description

Then click on this link here: CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS RESIDENTIAL HOME INSPECTION
**Course #DetailsCourse TitleClock Hrs**Credits

[RHI 110](http://www.btc.ctc.edu/CourseDocs/Courses/CourseDesc.asp?course=RHI 110)

Which brings up this link here:

http://www.btc.ctc.edu/CourseDocs/Courses/CourseDesc.asp?course=RHI%20110

Which has the info I had cut and pasted.

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BTW, that is from the link originally pasted in this thread. I never googled anything. It’s off of your own website.

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Wow, thanks Wendy. That is what I needed to know. I had trouble locating that link, and would not have ever seen it without your detailed navigation information. I was clicking on all the main course requirements and links and everything looked right to me. Then I went step by step from your message and, there it was, that little blue RH110 link. That was among the first language I changed months back, but it either did not get changed there, or it someway got reverted back when they updated information recently. I will get that correction over there within the hour and have it changed. Thanks much for the information.

Also, as I said, that ASHI in there is an ancient typo that I had caught and changed. It should be WSDA.

Thanks again.
Steve

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You’re welcome Steven. :slight_smile:

Hopefully the little details like that will be what contributes to me being an awesome home inspector. :slight_smile:

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Wendy,

Now if you click on that little link, it is all squared away. It gives a much better description of the class and the goals. Thanks.

Steve

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My feable attempt to get rid of canadian BS