Failures in the My Safe Florida Home Program continues to portray home inspectors in a bad light. The program has ended for this year and will be rebid sometime in November. I believe the program should be reformed to allow local home inspectors to work one-on-one with homeowners without having to work through a WCE.
Prior to MSFH Program being instituted the then Governor Jeb Bush commissioned the Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee to explore all aspects of insurance reform including wind inspections. At one point the committee suggested that the best course of action in regards to Wind Mitigation Inspections would be to work with the Home Inspection community and allow homeowners to be reimbursed by the state. Of course we know that this recommendation was not heeded.
My question and the reason for this Poll is to get a general consensus on how Florida NACHI members view the MSFH Program, and if there is any interest in somehow getting the state to once again review the Reform Committees findings during this lull before the rebid process once again begins.
My hope would be for the state not so much to dump the WCE Program but during this next phase to allow qualified home inspectors to contract directly to the homeowners side-by-side with the WCE’s, as sort of a pilot program to see what is really the best solution.
The program cannot be re-shaped without a push by legislators. Minor changes can be made via the OIR.
What the state needs is licensing for Wind Mitigation Inspectors. The problem with the program has been the lack of skilled inspectors hired by the WCE’s and the lack of follow up by the OIR.
Folks got real greedy, real quick. The public has lost all confidence in the program. More of a bad reflection on the state rather the inspection industry. The concept af a Wind Mitigation Inspection is salvagable.
I think that we should focus our efforts on reaching out to the general public being that the current program could only reach about 10% of the homes in Florida that need this service.
I will be pushing hard for Florida NACHI to set up an effective program that will bring awareness to the public about a Insurance Discount Survey and the benefits of hardening their homes for the next hurricane.
This program will allow qualified inspectors to perform these inspections without having to give any of the fee to another company.
We don’t need a WCE or any other company taking a share of the fee. I am all for the inspectors doing the work and keeping the fee for themselves.
The inspectors that made all the mistakes likely only took the FLASH 8 hour class. I know many inspectors had family and friends doing the WMI for them so they could make as much money as possible.
This is about helping our members with a new revenue source. I don’t want to use this to promote our exam prep. I don’t care how people get certified just as long as they do it. If we focus our efforts on just real estate sales then a lot of us will not be in business this time next year.
We need other revenue streams. Such as Commercial inspections, Insurance inspections and what ever else we can come up with.
I understand, however I DO highly recommend your class. Just because the test is an open book test, in no way means it’s an easy test. I took your class around 6 months ago. I finally feel pretty confident navigating through the code book. I purchased ICC study program and it sucks compared to the ACE Educator
Matthew, as I have posted elsewhere, the biggest QA issues did not come from home inspectors, but rather than from the insurance adjusters that many of the WCE’s recruited.
So the insurance adjusters did not know what they were doing? Wow, I did not know that was the cause of all this bad press. I thought it was from inspectors “pencil wipping”…my bad.
Hope you enjoyed Chicago I want publicly to thank you, Greg and Jay for all your hard work and effort with FLNACHI…Thanks!
I have the Icc credentials needed, I have passed the the MSFH test and have the certificate from the state,they will not issue a so called license no without working for a WCE, but I do not want or will work for a WCE due to there are not paying their inspectors. My company has been fairly successful with the ICC certification. There is only one company that will only take a licensed CGC, PE. or Architect—ST. Johns Insurance, that we have come across. I would like to get involved to see what NACHI or us as independent Inspection Companies, can do to get the state of Florida to accept us as certified to do these inspections. The system is so screwed up from the WCE now, that it will take some time and energy to straighten it out. I can not believe that the state will take the word (PAPER WORK) from a CGC that will cut corners and build as cheap as possible as to an Inspector that knows better.
Bill Billings
Billings Home Inspections
Billings Inspection Services
West Palm Beach, Florida
ICC 5280846 B-1
CHI CMI
