This new RI law was pushed through by the electrical union IBEW. It makes no diffrence that the RI home inspector SoP requires the inspector to remove the deadfront in order to comply with the SoP to inspect the interior components of the service panel and subpanels.
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Give them credit, they actually figured out a way to get this law passed which may benefit their members. Really no different than an organization like InterNACHI lobbying a state legislature for laws that favor home inspectors.
Not surprising. They have the loon senator destroyed by Pam Bondi
For years they had no administrative staff so anyone could inspect
They used the term THE Board 9f Home Inspection is Unfunded.
Should have stayed so.
They may infect us in MA.
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Lawmakers are gatekeepers to business.
Interestingly, home inspectors find defects all the time in panels and subsequently refer to an electrician for corrections. I suspect the buyers who follow through would hire an IBEW member.
I am not sure what their motivation is other than to seal off any encroachment into the field. Similar to doctors who are highly insulated from competition.
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I’m pretty sure that’s it. This will create a new market now only for IBEW union electricians but licensed non-union electricians as well. They’re doing similar things here in NJ with their contractor licensing scheme.
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A friend of mine who is a HI in RI has been trying to fight this for at least 6 months maybe longer.
Here is his post from FB from January 7th 2025
Rhode Island has done it again. The general assembly has screwed the RI consumer once again with this stupid move that disadvantages the public and home buyers by favoring special interests. For 40+ years in every state in the US, trained home inspectors have been conducting electrical inspections as part of the home inspection process. Now, only RI consumers will be forced to pay an additional fee, and chase, beg, plead and pay an electrician to come and inspect the electrical system. Thats IF you can find one who is willing to come within the 10 day window, and If you can afford the additional fee, and If you can manage to schedule them at the same time as the inspector. Consumers and realtors will have yet another person to schedule in, which is already like herding cats. Most Electricians are not required to carry Errors and Omissions insurance so if they conduct the inspection and make an Error, or miss something, good luck. Also, there is no conflict law that prevents the same electrician from offering to repair the work they claim is not proper. Thats going to end up with some people making work for themselves. When I and others were at the state house fighting this stupid bill, I was on air with Matt Allen on WPRO. Matt asked electricians to call in and tell him what they would charge to do this. 90% said they dont want to do this, its not worth it to them to drop what they are working on and go do the electrical inspection. He pushed them by saying "OK, but lets say you HAD TO, what would the cost be like. The electricians said they would have to get between $500 and $800 for JUST the electrical portion of the inspection. We home inspectors were doing that at no extra cost as part of the home inspection. So, expect your home inspection costs to DOUBLE. You can Thank your legislators for this stupid move. Rhode Island is a national embarrassment once again.
His post from June 2024
As many of you know, RI home inspectors have been fighting against a bad bill at the state house that would prohibit home inspectors from conducting the electrical inspections. The state electrical union and IBEW have been trying to stop home inspectors from doing this important work. Over the last few days the Media picked up the story and its been all over TV, press and Radio. I gave an interview to Matt Allen on WPRO. Paul Brunetti went on channel 10 news. Sally Hersey the president of the RI association of realtors, went on WPRO. David Salvatore the pobbyist for the realtors has been all over media. As of today the House corporations committee passed the bill 9 for and 3 against. The senate held the bill for further study so far, but Senate labor can flip and vote on this. In the last few days Electricians were calling in on the radio saying they wont leave a paying job to go inspect and electric panel, its not worth their time, and this is what we have been saying all along. Home inspectors are cross trained in a multitude of trades for this very reason. We are a highly skilled professional that can evaluate every aspect of the home and refer licensed trades for further evaluation of issues we see. You would never be able to get 6 different trades there in the limited time allotted for home inspections. Once this passes, home buyers will be severely harmed and disadvantaged all for nothing because now they are buying a home with no electrical inspection, the one item most commonly defective in homes. We need support from anyone and everyone who can reach out by phone, email or any means and oppose House bill 7015 and Senate bill 2120. once it passes, every home buyer in the state will be harmed, and lives will be at risk. Please contact your reps and senators and voice your concern. Matt Allen has been tearing it up on the radio.
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What a Stupid Law in so Many ways. A couple of things come to mind:
- Anyone of us that have performed inspections on New Construction know how incompetent some “Licensed” contractors, including Electricians can be. (and or used homes where supposed alterations have been performed by a so called electrician)…and Passed the City Code Inspectors eye.
- It is never wise for any portion of an inspection be performed by someone that stands to make a financial gain by “finding something” they can fix fer’ ya’… for an extra fee… (ie. Auto repair shops doing the required State safety inspections.)*
- This is a money grab by a Union (Mafia Leadership) that is proving they are not interested in the well being of The American Consumer but only to serve the interests of their DUES paying members.
- Here in Utah, we finally had enough of the “State Sanctioned” fraud perpetrated by “State Approved Inspection/repair shops” miraculously finding Stuff wrong with our vehicles and charging to fix stuff that was not broken before entering their Shop. We no longer have the required “safety inspections” witch have saved us Millions of $$ on unnecessary repairs…yet no increase in accidents due to faulty equipment… (Colorado did this back in about the mid 80s with the same results)
Oh’ and completely unrelated I’m Sure: Harris won RI
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Reading the law, I think it is aimed at RI handymen doing unlicensed electrical work (which could be a legitimate problem). I did not read anything that would directly prohibit anyone from removing the dead front and visually inspecting the electrical system. Basic circuit testers are not specialized equipment as any homeowner could buy one and use it.
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Is it the finalized version of this bill from two years ago?
Yes. It is different.
IBEW Lobbied to make a rule to benefit their members at the peril of homeowners.
InterNachi lobbies for rules that benefit members and the homeowners.
I hope you can see the difference.
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Actually I don’t. When a HI performs an inspection and they find a defect they defer to a licensed electrician for further evaluation. By eliminating the HI from the equation haven’t you actually improved the benefit to the homeowner by eliminating the middleman?
Is this case isn’t the licensed electrician is considered to be the higher authority and therefore in theory they’re better at performing an inspection and evaluating the components of the electrical system?
Every time people find a way to make a living the government steps in to make sure they can’t make any money at it…
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Funny you should mention that.
About 20 years ago I had an idea where I would have a licensed electrician, plumber, HVAC, and roofer come out and perform those inspections while I did everything else in the house. The fee was going to be around $1,500 per home, however, if work needed to be performed, the other vendors would discount the inspection fee from the amount of the work.
It never took off but I did have everyone in place to do it.
One of the biggest opponents of it were the Realtors when I ran it by them. They were much happier having several, at the time new home inspectors, perform these inspections where they could find hardly anything wrong as opposed to real Tradesmen who knew exactly what to look for.
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I see your point in that Internachi lobbies for Home Inspectors not Home Owners. However there are differences here. I think there is a very real conflict of interest having an electrician who can also sell the repair inspect an electrical panel vs one of us. An HI will refer something they find out for evaluation and repair.
Nothing was stopping a potential buyer from hiring an electrician before. This certainly happens, in homes with more complex systems like three power or complicated generator and solar setups. But the higher cost compared to a home inspector doesn’t make sense in most situations.
This is like saying your general physician can’t use a stethoscope to listen to your heart, or measure your blood pressure. But instead you have to see a cardiologist for those basic tests.
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There is no protection from phony defects. Don’t tell me electricians never “over sell” a job. Home Inspectors are prohibited from doing the work, EVEN IF THEY ARE LICENSED AND QUALIFIED TO DO IT!
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Except in the cases where nothing is wrong. Now the buyer has paid twice as much to be told it’s all good. Not to mention the conflict of interest it creates.
Fact of the matter is, a home inspector can check a receptacle for an open ground as easily as an electrician can. Same when it comes to removing panel covers and looking for defects that would not be considered “technically exhaustive.”
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I’m not advocating for the electrician to also do the work, I only mentioned the doing actual inspection. But in the end it does it really matter? Once the HI calls something out for further evaluation the electrician is free to look at whatever he wants and give an estimate for the repairs.
For the record I’m against any of these type of laws. If the issue in Rhode Island was that HI’s were not competent enough to perform the electrical portion of a home inspection then the state should be looking at ways to improve their competency not remove them entirely from the inspection process.
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Did you miss this part? An HI hasn’t been eliminated from the equation.
A friend of mine who is a HI in RI has been trying to fight this for at least 6 months maybe longer.
-Here is his post from FB from January 7th 2025**
When I and others were at the state house fighting this stupid bill, I was on air with Matt Allen on WPRO. Matt asked electricians to call in and tell him what they would charge to do this. 90% said they dont want to do this, its not worth it to them to drop what they are working on and go do the electrical inspection. He pushed them by saying "OK, but lets say you HAD TO, what would the cost be like. The electricians said they would have to get between $500 and $800 for JUST the electrical portion of the inspection. We home inspectors were doing that at no extra cost as part of the home inspection. So, expect your home inspection costs to DOUBLE.
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No I didn’t miss it. If the HI cannot touch an portion of the electrical system how have they not be eliminated from the equation which is inspecting the electrical system of the home?
The equation = Home inspection
My state (CA): Home Inspection = 1 trade / Home inspector (1x the cost)
RI: Home inspection = 2 trades / Home inspector & Licensed electrician (2x the cost)
How does this help the homeowner by eliminating the middleman? Am I missing the premise of your question?
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