InterNACHI members might get tens of millions of dollars worth of inspections!!!

Paul, you too are not from Florida and so don’t know what you are talking about. InterNACHI members HAVE ALREADY PERFORMED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF 4 POINT INSPECTIONS.

Pay attention… InterNACHI members have already performed tens of thousands of them.

Search past threads. There are members on this message board who have done over 1,000 by themselves.

Can anyone from Florida explain to these members like Ray and Paul (who don’t live in Florida) just how big the insurance inspection market has been, and continues to be… please?

Ray and Paul, InterNACHI getting this one little form www.nachi.org/4point.htm approved 3 years ago has meant many tens of thousands of inspections for our members in Florida. Many of our members would not have survived the housing slump in Florida without them.

Paul, I suggest you look at the numbers in the 3rd column from the left of https://www.citizensfla.com/pcm/attachments/158/02%20-%20Attachment%20A%20-%20Price%20Sheet%20-%20ITN%20No%2010-0028.pdf

Those are per month, not year. And that is only 1 insurance company in FL.

Ray & Paul

As home age in Florida, insurance companies require Four Point Inspections that provide them with the necessary information as to whether the home is updated. Fuses vs. Breakers, old hot water heater, old A/C System. It is generally homes over 25 years of age. Lots in Florida.

It provides us the ability to complete these inspections for our clients and who will not have to bring in an electrician, plumber, roofer and HVAC company.

It is a nice supplement that we can add to wind mitigations and regular home inspections. We put packages together. :D:D:D:):):):p:p:p

I had several calls from companies bidding on this project. One of the things they all had in common was that they were looking for NACHI Inspectors. The other was how cheaply could they get the inspections completed for.

The good news is that NACHI Inspectors will be able to perform these inspections no matter who wins the bid. The bad news is that this will be just like working for the draw companies (maybe a little worse).

The Four Point Inspection was created by the insurance industry in Florida to help them evaluate their risk. It is required on all homes over 30 years old (I have also done them at 20 years). The insurance industry has never issued any guidelines to what is acceptable or what isn’t. Everything is left up to each individual’s interpretation. Can you imagine what a home inspection would be like without having a SOP as a guideline?

I don’t know if it is good or bad, but insurance inspections are in demand. IMHO the inspector is taking on a great deal of liability for very little in return. I haven’t heard of a inspector being sued over a four point yet, but I won’t be surprised when I do.

The wind mitigations are not much better. Many things are still not clearly defined and the people that work in the insurance industry are not properly educated about the process.

The one thing I do know is that the fees charged for the other inspections will follow the same path as they did for four points after NACHI was approved.

InterNACHI getting this contract would be huge and a real boost for all certified (and soon to be licensed) home inspectors. InterNACHI would, I believe based on current performance, legitimize the process by implementing an ethical process supported by requisite education and training.

Insurance inspections are currently crazy in this state and a real mess. 4 Points are more under control, in my opinion, due to InterNACHI having their form approved by Citizens. Wit Mitigations, however, have been a mess and have become worse. Not only can home inspectors (who are not licensed contractors, engineers ect. ) not perform them, but the new 4 page form was designed to confuse what is really going on: a ‘take back’ on premium reductions and liability shift, after an ‘out of control’ My Safe Florida Homes implementation in the first place.

The insurance inspection market also confuses our customers. Home buyers call home inspectors, only to learn that many of them cannot provide the Wind Mitigation Verification service. Even if we can provide reference to licensed contractors who can do the Wind Mitigation, we often lose the job to those who give it away for free or lowball the inspection. Also, our insurance rates are very high, so when smart buyers get their insurance quotes prior to buying, they are shocked by the premiums. The insurance agencies tell them “well, if you get a wind mitigation we MAY be able to reduce your rates up to 45%”…all they hear is 45%, not realizing that many resale homes qualify for nothing!

I had a client this week who told me she had a quote from a local home inspector for $150…sick!. She really wanted me so I had the job for $325, until she spoke her insurance agent about insurance who said she could get ‘up to’ 45% off the $2700 insurance quote. Since I’m unable to currently perform Wind Mitigations, I said I could refer her to an excellent licensed contractor for the Wind Mit (fellow InterNACHI member), but there would be an additional cost. Needless to say, my inspection scheduled for today was cancelled. I’m saddest for the consumer. Her house was a 1267 sq ft concrete block home, built in 1961 with no upgrades, jealousy windows, gable roof and was in rough shape (great potential tho). She’ll get a crap checkbox inspection and a wind mit form checked ‘unknown or undetermined’ and be shocked when she gets no insurance reduction.

This is a recurring story in the current Florida home inspection / insurance market. It sucks.

But, I still love inspecting homes. I don’t reduce my fees. I give the highest quality inspections, reports and value to my clients. Lowballers, scammers, special interest groups exist in all professions. You have to stay true to yourself, love what you do, market yourself and provide as much value to your clients as possible.

InterNACHI wining this service contract would be great for the home inspectors in Florida . I’ll cross my fingers, but won’t hold my breath. Thank you Nick, we all appreciate all of what you and InterNACHI do for it’s members.

[FONT=Verdana]Jeff Tatlock
BEACHSIDE Home Inspection
Serving Brevard County FL. Areas include Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic, Melbourne Beach, Viera, Melbourne.
www.beachsideinspection.com/why_beachside
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**Nick if we can land this deal InterNACHI will be flying to D Moon non stop:-;;. **Hands down, InterNACHI is the biggest and the best HI association in the planet.\:D/

Nick,

YOU ARE THE MAN! Go get them and sign me up. Well done:mrgreen:

I received a call from a client about two weeks ago regarding a wind mit. in NJ. He stated that it is a forthcoming requirement in NJ. I called the Division of banking and insurance in NJ and was never able to get through. It is hard to talk to any State office around here, but I need to follow up.

Yes, you do. You need to make sure that the clusterfunk that has happened here never happens there. Nothing about the way Florida has done this should ever be repeated. N.J. should develop their own form with no input from insurance companies. The criteria should not include any determination of material compliances only dates and installation and code enforcement inspection verification should be considered neccessary for approval for discounts.

That would be great to have nachi manage the re-inspections. I wonder what nachi would plan on paying each inspector? Hopefully more than the going rate of 50$. After scheduling, drive time, inspection, protection verification and permit research, filling out paper forms(5-7) pages, up loading each inspection, and photos, scanning and uploading all the forms(5-7) pages, getting harrassed( verbally, physically, and legally) + signing your lisense # and accepting full liability for each one… I hope its more than $50-the going rate. The direct objective of the reinspections is to remove credits from homeowners and increase the price of the insurance. I get put in the situation on a regular basis, and it is a very unpleasant experience. I have also found that insurance inspections and home inspections quite often are in conflict of each other, as far as pissing people off.

AMEN!

Excellant !!!
And education can be obtained through on-line training and also at the FloridainterNACHI training seminars.
Zoe

Nick:

I don’t get it. The Citizen’s bid documents only allow for four types of license holders to perform any inspection for Citizens. Home Inspectors are not one of the four.

I brought this to your attention after I attended the pre-bid conferance in Tallahassee. Paul Palumbo SVP of Underwriting) specifically confirmed this at the meeting.

Is there something else we need to know?

Yes. In our response to Citizen’s invitation to negotiate, our management services would utilize InterNACHI members who passed a comprehensive Wind Mitigation course: http://www.nachi.org/wind-mitigation-inspection-course.htm Our proposal offers Citizens a much higher percentage of perfectly performed inspections. If you look at the numbers they are talking about, I don’t believe any bidder (other than InterNACHI) will be robust enough to take on this contract. InterNACHI already has all the inspectors, all the training, an existing digital reporting system (FetchReport) and an inspection acceptance/award/scheduling system in place and in use. We’re ready to go tomorrow morning.

Thanks Nick!

Licensed Florida Home inspectors will be allowed to do wind mits. The insurance companies can accept ANY person they want to. They MUST accept general contractors and PEs

As an InterNACHI inspector in Florida, I would welcome the award of the Florida contract to InterNACHI and it supporting membership . Our organization would gain a high degree of recognition throughout the State and an award of this magnitude could subsequently place a strong spotlight on the recently passed bill requiring Florida’s HI license. Even better, it would give us all a voice when it pertains to Wind Mitigation Inspections and help offset the one sided influence campaign practiced by the insurance industry.

Also - I would encourage other comments and opinions regarding what I feel are Wind Mitigation Inspection price points that are far to low on average for the liability that inspectors are being exposed to.

Furthermore as a group, Florida InterNACHI inspectors should consider:

  1. that many home owners can and do receive large discounts for having such an inspection completed. An the inspection is valid for five years of annual discounts and corresponding inspector liability. That’s a win for consumers and tough going for inspectors.

  2. The insurance industry as a group has been reluctant to inform the public regarding the States mandated Wind Mitigation discounts for consumers. Can you imagine that - insurance agents who work for commission not promoting state mandated consumer discounts based on having such an inspection and even worse the insurance companies themselves not seeking real risk aversion, but more interested in gouging consumers for inflated premiums. Does anyone else see the conflict here?..

So, Can an organization like InterNACHI make a difference? - I believe we can help ourselves by standing up and taking the high road on behalf of our industry and an advancement of consumer fair practices.

How? - well lets maybe consider a recommendation to the group for a strategic advertising initiative designed to inform the public and to promote our organization as being capable and ready to deliver consumer friendly services with a real voice for Florida homeowner insurance consumers.

Anyone interested in this approach please let me know?

  1. Finally, please allow me to drill down to the actual service being performed…

since many of these inspections earn discounts well over a thousand dollars a year for Florida home owners and then remain in effect for five years post, would seem extraordinarily beneficial for consumers, so I submit that a fee for 75 - 125 is just as extraordinarily absurd… considering the risk/reward that inspectors are taking.

In short, it is my opinion that educating the public will increase public awareness and the subsequent demand. Finally with the new license requirement, a window of opportunity has presented itself that supports better consumer service with a corresponding better risk/reward ratio for licensed InterNACHI inspectors.

Anyway, those are my thoughts and should anyone wish to provide comment I do so welcome the discussion for advancement or in general.

Arland Deese
Inspector Bee

[FONT=Verdana]I agree that there is some real misinformation regarding Wind Mitigation Premium reductions in Florida. Consumers only ‘hear’ their agents and many home inspectors say they can get a 45% reduction in their premiums, with little understanding that they are actually saying ‘up to 45%’ or if it’s a re-inspect, potentially a premium increase. The new form clearly is an attempt to reign in the discounts that the insurance companies felt were granted improperly. I can’t tell you how many people buying homes built in 1961, with gable roofs, jealousy windows and no upgrades insist on a wind mitigation verification.

Of course, there are many homes that will benefit from the wind mitigation verification, and have the documentation required now to prove it. It just seems there is a real disconnect for the consumer.

As far as inspectors fee’s, I also agree the current environment of giving away free or lowball services is damaging to the profession by undervaluing the service provide. It is a (mostly) free market however, and ultimately the forces of performance, value (actual and percieved), reputation, fees and liability will resolve themselves.

InterNACHIs involvement would hopefully raise the bar on this entire mess.
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Jeff Tatlock
BEACHSIDE Home Inspection
Serving Brevard County FL. Areas include Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic, Melbourne Beach, Viera, Melbourne.
www.beachsideinspection.com/why_beachside