Colorado introduces legislation to license home inspectors

Anyone from Colorado want to try to explain why they think government regulation of their business is a good idea?

Nobody ever said it was a good idea.

CAR has been trying to have a law passed for years and were very close last year when the legislature was controlled by the democrats in the house, senate and Governor. The proposals always were stacked against HI’s with no HI’s input. For the past couple of years there was push back from HI’s and some powerful republican senators. They were still not able to get the bill passed. Now the house and senate are controlled by the republicans.

CAR and the bills sponsor finally agreed to work with the HI’s. Representatives from NACHI, ASHI and NAHI met with CAR and the senator multiple times.

The thought has been that if we are to be licensed then it should be with input from HI’s rather than no input from HI’s. The way that CAR was trying to ramrod this thing thru we would have been under the control of the realtors. The way this bill is written we will not be under their control, we will be licensed just like the electricians, engineers, plumbers etc.

I have been on the fence on this issue. But If we have to be licensed I would rather it be this way rather than the way that CAR wanted it.

CAR is Colorado Association of Realtors.

Michael,
Did you happen to read the bill? I’m just wondering what you think of the way that it’s written.
Thanks,

Here in Kansas, we still do not, have any state wide building codes. Some counties do, but most do not. In Kansas to volunteer or be placed on any state board or committee, a college degree is required.

Any HI licensing law should create the codes of ethics and SOP’s before the laws are passed, or even discussed in committee. There is a huge difference between ASH and NACHI SOP’s. Just look at the definition of “representative number”. Who is going to police the laws and the HI’s? The five member board? The REA’s? Is the state going to hire hundreds of law enforcement people to watch the HI’s?

Any licensing law only creates minimal standards and procedures, creates standard bare minimum basic HI reports, and does not fully disclose to the home buyer the true state of the home they are purchasing.

“Mr./Mrs… Home Buyer, understand that there is state home inspector licensing in Colorado, so now every inspector does the same thing. So, I suggest to you just to hire the lowest cost inspector you can find”—your local REA.

Good luck to you, and future Colorado home buyers. You will need it.

I’ve already arranged for 10 homes to be available for our members to do the 10 supervised inspections.

I have not read it.

Its hard to escape the conclusion that these bills are either promoted by those who want things shaped their way and that includes both Real Estate groups and Home Inspectors not to mention all the new HI schools and education providers that will pop up.

I would rather there was no legislation.

Little good can come out of from my perspective.

It only adds to your business expenses and tends to promote lower pricing by flooding the market with new licensed inspectors.

I agree.

Thanks Nick.

I was involved in every meeting. InterNACHi argued for more initial education on page 9 and much more continuing education than the 10 hours per year on page 11. 10 hours a year is not even enough for us to alert inspectors to all the changes in our profession. The Bill is way weak on CE.

This is nice but these “supervised inspections” will need to be supervised by approved and licensed inspectors. So this provision will have to wait until the law is enacted and the SOP is written.
Just my opinion.

EDIT:
I don’t foresee this bill becoming law (if it becomes law) until July 2015 or January 2016. Then there will be a period of time for the “Board” to meet and establish the SOP and other rules. The bill states that the HI’s on the Board will need to be licensed by July 2016.

So I don’t think anyone will be getting an HI license for another 1.5 yrs at least.

Michael, your comments here are appreciated. My comments are usually over the top, so yours are short and truthful.

It is frustrating that any HI laws that get introduced are very weak, and totally unprofessional. This always result in basic, minimalist standard home inspectors and reports.

If any committee/lawmaker wants to have good laws to protect the home buyer, lets get professional, go way above any other state SOP’s rules and regulations, and do it right, instead of doing it half a*s.

To any Colorado HI law committee member: “do you want me to do an inspection for your son or daughter by these laws, or do you want me to do an inspection to the best of my ability? Do you want a standard basic home inspection for your next home purchase, or do you want a CMI to do it? After all, every driver that has a driver’s license is the best driver, right?”

In a committee hearing a few years ago, I challenged every committee member for me to do a home inspection on their personal residence for free, because I was a CMI, and did more on my reports than most other HI’s. I wanted to show them the difference between ASHI SOP’s and that of NACHI’s. Not one took me up on it.

It would be cheaper, and best, for each real estate office/broker to set the standards of any HI or tradespeople, to do business with the REA’s of that office. It would show to the home buyer that the office would truly provide the best services. But, no, the REA’s want licensing, so they can hide behind the laws that would be standard, and basic. That is really what they want, so legally, basic standard reports will be the norm. Sad for the home buyer.

The bill introduced looks good to me. Compared to Indiana, it is a walk in the park. To all other home inspectors reading this, please know that licensing is NOT going to ruin your business, no one is going to tell you what to do or how to run your business. I have been licensed here in Indiana for the last 8 years and have had absolutely NO problem whatsoever! No one tells me how to run my business and all of the laws in place DO help to protect the home inspector as well. Bottom line, as long as you follow the standard (which you should be doing anyway and is minimum at best) you will have no problem.

I am happy to see it as I will be in Denver in just a couple of months.