In Alberta I represented InterNACHI and fought for the recognition of InterNACHI and the CMI credential.
We were successful. What did it get us? That is what did AlbertaNACHI and InterNACHI get when the government grand fathered CMI’s for automatic licencing. When this happened there was 6 CMI’s in the province now there are over 65. The CMI certification board collected $1000.00 per CMI after the law was proclaimed. This totalled $59,000.00. What did InterNACHI get? SCREWED?
Alberta NACHI has about 12 dues paying CMI’s. That leaves 53 CMI’s that they have not paid any dues to AlbertaNACHI and many have not paid any dues to InterNACHI either.
We spent a lot of time and money to promote and get legal recognition and these free loaders contribute nothing to the on going cost of maintaining the standard and promotion of the CMI.
It was was a serious mistake by not making the use of CMI conditional on maintaining membership in InterNACHI and InterNACHI chapters.
How many of the 65 CMI’s in Alberta are members of InterNACHI?
Thanks for the input Vern. I always wondered how that affected you guys, but no one was speaking about it (that I had access to).
Vern, What does NACHI or AlbertaNACHI have to do with CMI? When Nick started the CMI program, it was supposedly not affiliated with NACHI, at least that is what was stated. It is open to all inspectors, regardless of whether they are a member of an organization or not. They just have to meet the CMI requirements.
It was through mine and Nicks efforts that CMI was recognized in Alberta and qualified to get their licence. If we had not sat on the advisory committee they would not have been recognized.
Thanks Vern - that helps clear up a lot. I find it hard to fathom…I was watching the CMI $1000 counter clicking away…
“The CMI certification board collected $1000.00 per CMI after the law was proclaimed. This totalled $59,000.00.”
“Alberta NACHI has about 12 dues paying CMI’s. That leaves 53 CMI’s that they have not paid any dues to AlbertaNACHI and many have not paid any dues to InterNACHI either.”
That must be pretty tough as an association to survive on!
Regards, Claude
So what happened to the $59,000?
It was paid to the CMI certification board at $1000.00 per review. To be clear I do not have any problem with the amount charged for the review. The problem I have is the no strings attached once the CMI is granted. All associations always demand that the user maintain membership in the association. CMI does not do this. For some that is a plus but it does nothing for the ongoing expense of maintaining the association that has to maintain the status of the designation.
As of 2012.05.13 there are 68 CMI’s in Alberta.
CMI is not an association. It is a designation.
While “membership” in an association is not a credential (though many would like it to be) … the certification of an independent board, such as CMI,* is* a credential.
One can belong to any, all or no home inspector associations and recieve this designation once they have acquired the necessary qualifications. Inspectors who relied upon their membership in an association to serve as their faux credential can, once they have met the standards for board certification, focus on different reasons for membership in their association(s)* (i.e. education benefits, marketing benefits, etc).*
At one point early in its history, CMI was intended to be a tier that would set qualifiying NACHI members apart … similar to what ASHI does with its simple “250 inspections to use the logo” requirement. Nick offered the CMI designation exclusively to NACHI members … but the membership did not want to add the higher tier. Many NACHI members still resent the designation providing that degree of separation, anyway, and attempt to discredit it.
In its early stage, an ASHI member was actually made President of CMI and one of his first decisions was to add a “peer review” to the criteria … making it another exclusive “club” controlled by elite membership. He was quickly (and not so quietly) replaced.
Instead, it was beefed up to exceed the qualifications for all tiers of all associations and allows inspectors to use it to set themselves apart from *all *of them. It is the ultimate credential for a home inspector that presently surpasses the perceived “credential” of membership in any of the national or international associations.
Accordingly, an association that wants to attract CMIs might consider their educational and marketing benefits, first.
And then???
From another thread - sorry I asked…seems it was taken with offense! (None was intended)
If your type more than 10 words and someone in here is not offended your on the wrong message board.
:):)
So lets do the math. $1000.00 dollars for the right to have CMI logo on the website, CMI logo on your shirt, CMI logo on your truck, CMI logo listing and access to use the designation as the most respected Building Inspector Professionals in the Universe. I would say that it is worth the one time payment of 2 inspections.
I did not pay this by the way it changed after I qualified.
Only if John also throws in “Certified Infrared”…
Good history lesson. I will try again to make my point.
We were successful in getting CMIs recognized by the Alberta government as qualified to get a Home Inspector’s licence. On the face of it that was a great success. The problem now is AlbertaNACHI has the task of promoting our members as called for by the members. The members have paid their hard earned money to InterNACHI and AlbertaNACHI.
So James do you think it is fair and reasonable for the money paid by members be spent on promoting CMI’s that are not members and never have been, thus giving them free advertising.
To make it personal “Why should my dues be used to promote CMI’s that have not paid one thin dime for that promotion?”
You will have to ask the CMI certification board.
I trust the money was used to cover the cost of the review procedures and subsequent certification. I do not care what happened to it.
What I am concerned about is the ongoing cost of promoting CMI’s that are not members of any association and contribute nothing to the betterment of Home Inspectors and the industry.
So why would AlbertaNACHI spend money promoting non-AlbertaNACHI members? If they are CMI and belong to AlbertaNACHI, promote their names. If they are not members, their names should appear nowhere except the CMI website. If you promote someone who isn’t a member, you are stupid. Plain and simple. CMI doesn’t advertise and doesn’t show up very high in any search engines.
No, I don’t. I think that the members of your association should be promoted by your association based upon their membership in your association.
I think that CMIs who belong to your association should be promoted … and that CMIs who do not belong to your association should not be promoted by it.
I don’t understand how or why you would be promoting people who are outside of your association … unless you are saying that your promotion of your own members who are CMIs provides a residual benefit to CMIs who are not members. In that case, there is little that can be done about that, IMO. Promoting any credential that is not exclusive to your association is going to bleed over to others who are going to benefit without actively participating. I think this is just a fact of life.
James I could not agree more. Anyone that does not pay into the “Certified Master Inspector” should not be allowed to use any promotional aspects of CMI with the LOGO whether they have 10 years and 10000 inspections. I would rather see new ones pay 350/year for three years to get full membership and set up just like InterNachi. After three years than you have no more payments and have a website provided by CMI for a small cost like Inspectorpages has done still costing you 350/year.