A Home Inspector could violate the code of ethics by using one of the items in his report to get another job for his company. For instance, if he owns a handyman company, this Inspector who finds that the fascia along the gutters is in bad disrepair. The Inspector tells the homeowner that this item really should be replaced and his company can do it for him at the best price. This Inspector is cornering the homeowner on an issue and pressing his own services upon this owner without giving the owner a chance to get an honest opinion with more than one estimate.
The Owner at this point should turn down the Inspector and report the Inspector on violation of ethics. The Inspector needs to wait at least 12 months from time of inspection to offer this owner his services to repair his fascia.
Hypothetical Conflict of Interest:
A Realtor® calls and offers to schedule four inspections with us if we will write a favorable home inspection about a “problematic” home he is trying to sell. He has had four inspection reports that have talked about foundation problems, aluminum wiring and Polybutylene plumbing that have had four other offers canceled.
I thank him for the offer, but I cannot do the inspection(s) as it would be a conflict of interest.
This thread is an excellent example of why the “inspector MB” and the “educational courses” need to be completely separated! For the people/public that are reading this and are not understanding that these posts are part of an educational course, ie. an essay describing potential conflicts of interest, the wrong impression may be given. These essays should be written within the course themselves, and then postable to a dedicated MB thread section by the course, so as to avoid being posted in improper MB sections/threads!
What does that have to do with where INTERNACHI Educational staff choose to post the essays written by students taking the course? Are you saying the Educators should have to take an IQ Test