One of our rural inspectors family just finished attending some sort of ANNUAL KAR (Kansas Association of Realtors) Annual Educational Convention in Witchita, Kansas. One of the things being bandied around and discussed in several REALTOR meetings was that the “Kansas Home Inspectors Group” (they thought that was either KAREI or some ASHI inspectors from either Kansas City or Witchita OR BOTH) had approached THE REALTORS and decided they want to INTRODUCE LEGISLATION for Home Inspectors and wanted the REALTORS support for their BILL.
They were told in the meetings that the Realtors are “NOT DRIVING THIS, THAT THEY"RE JUST SUPPORTING THE INSPECTORS PUSH FOR THE BILL” and apparently in these seminar meetings they were told the REALTORS have already seen the Bill (have you seen it??) and Like IT (that’s a great relief - I’m certainly glad the REALTORS like it)!!!
IS that BS or REAL - have the Realtors put a gun to these guys heads, so the REALTORS can tell everyone else that “WE"RE NOT PUSHING IT, THE HOME INSPECTORS WANT TO BE REGULATED” - have these Inspectors given up - are they the Training Crowd that really WANT LICENSING to help grow their Training Business - is it the naive inspector crowd that think that REGULATION will slow the flow of new inspectors. cheap inspectors, low price inspectors (instead of doubling or tripling it in the next 2-3 years as in other states that have it) - is it the real estate and building community that want to take control of our business - OR is it part of a special interest Inspection Group that seem to want control of everything the rest of us do - who knows??
The only thing we do know is that at the current time the only inspectors we see running around meeting with legislators, etc going “Rah, Rah lets help you get us licensed” seem to be the ASHI crowd for some reason.
You better start looking over your shoulder and getting your vasoline ready.
I’m told that another Kansas Association for Home Inspectors called KARCI has been formed to give US input and a VOICE for the other inspectors (NACHI, ASHI, NAHI and unaffilliated inspectors) that were not consulted or in the loop.
Paul Sabados is the President of this group. Call or email him for info.
Dan,
I think that it is the market that is driving the number of individuals into the h.i. field, not any state legislation. Do you know of anyone that says, “Hey, I think I’ll become a home inspector now that my state licenses h.i.'s”, or “I wouldn’t of thought of becoming a home inspector, but now that my state is licensing the profession, it looks pretty good to me!”
People are getting into this profession because of the money they think they can make. They hear of the fees, and that inspectors are doing two or three of these a day, and they think it must be easy to make this kind of money. When they finally get out in the field and start marketing, then they realize how hard it is to get going, and lower their prices (I think foolishly) to try and get their foot in the agents doors.
I have a friend who I used to work with in the trades who got into the h.i. business seven years ago. He calls me up last year to do some work on his house, and while I’m checking out what he wants me to do, I see these contracts on his desk with checks on top of them from his h.i. clients. I asked him, “you get paid as soon as your finished?” “You get two a day, year round?” He goes on to tell me that he turns down 8-10 jobs a week in the busy part of the year. I said, SIGN ME UP! He took me out on several inspections, I studied and passed my state exam. I could have cared less whether my state had licensing requirements. Inspecting was a lot more fun than construction, and a lot less tiring.
If you want to pin the blame on anyone, I think it’s the schools. They keep cranking out inspectors, and these inspectors are going to do everything they can to get a foothold in the business, even if it means lowering their prices. I remember hearing one of the educators from one of these schools stand up at the NACHI convention in Orlando, last February. One of the first things out of his mouth was something like: “Now let me tell you what they didn’t tell you at your inspection school!” If I had been trained by one of these schools, I would have wanted to find a bunch of fellow graduates and bring a lawsuit against the school for false advertising. You know what they imply: “Become a home inspector and make $1000 - $1500 per day!”
Your state passes a licensing bill and sets the requirements of a, b, and c.
Dan and Fred run up to your state and start “Dan and Fred’s HI School” where, for $49, you can take our classes (which teach a, b and c) to prepare you for your license. (Look at all the education vendors pushing licensing bills and you get a better picture.)
Recruiting is heavy and we fill our 7 day classes with 25 to 50 new inspectors, graduating them into your market every other Tuesday.
Twice per month, 50 new inspectors enter your market with the same license you have. Your market has to try to figure out why they should pay you more for an inspection than our graduates who offer their inspections at the same $49 fee they invested in the school.
I think in some instances the schools are pushing it, but Oregon is too small a state to be effected much. With a population base of only 3,000,000 +/- we haven’t seemed to attract any of the schools yet. Most of the h.i.'s I’ve met were trained by local h.i.'s themselves. As each individual passes the Oregon exam, they are given a number. My friend’s license number is in the high 400’s, like 474. Six years later, my number is 1023. So in six years, Oregon certified roughly 500 new inspectors. I don’t know how many are still in business, as a high number of h.i.'s bail on the business every year. The attorney that represents my state h.i. association recently told us that h.i.'s do not have a long shelf life; most go out of business quickly, and very few last as long as 15 years.
But I still think my point is correct, as long as the fees remain high, people are going to be interested in getting into the profession. Like everything else that is market driven, when the market becomes flooded with h.i.'s and fees drop, then interest in the profession will also decrease.