Thanks for getting this out in the public. I would like to see a email blast to all NY NACHI members. Bill if you could, I am in your database, please forward the documents you referred to in earlier posts. I need to ensure all the NACHI members in Western New York are aware of this. I was thinking of a topic to kick off the new WNY NACHI Chapter meeting with and I believe I just found it. By the way, I’ll let everyone know when a date, time, and location is set for the first official meeting of this chapter.
Let’s keep the communication open and follow our Standards of Practice, and you’ll all benefit from this.
I have read this post. It is very disturbing to see some other professionals are trying to stomp out the others. I agree with Joe, we need to know our boundries and stay within them. Knowledge is power! That is so true.
I have a gentlement that is a License PE, when I have something in question. I call him and get him involved. An example of a house I was called in for a 203k inspection. As a lady came across the room, I was bouncing a little. I was across the room. I told her we need to involve a Structural Engineer before we do anything else. There was a lot of concerns with this house. Don’t be afraid to involve others. All I do is connect the links and then they take over.
That is how I handle things in questions. When I look at anything I document on the physical conditions only. Example: Furnaces- give information off the label, what I physically can see. Rusting, running, and functioning. I also note, rusting in and around the heat exchanger. Too much rust, I personally recommend someone to do an internal inspection of it. I am not doing any engineering inspections just a physical inspection and note what I see not what I suspect. Remember if you do not note it, you legally did not do it. That is what I have always been taught!
As I look at some of these documentation of some of these software selling out there can put us on the line for stepping over the line. Ouch! Another thread. Just becareful of what you use for documenting and you know what you are using. Because it can come back to bite you too.
An SOP really only establishes the minimum a home inspector must (“shall”) do, and what an inspector is “not required” to do. It doesn’t normally state what an inspector shall not do … so I don’t think having an SOP from the NYSDOS will really have any bearing on this issue.
I assume the company that sent out the letters also offers engineering services at a higher fee to set themselves apart from other inspection companies. The tactics may be questionable (haven’t seen the letter), but it sounds like the company is just restating a provision in most if not all HI licensing laws, including the one in NY, that having an HI license is not authorizing the practice of engineering or the evaluation of structural, mechanical, and electrical systems. The NYSED Office of Professions has long held the position that evaluations of those systems constitutes the practice of engineering, even before HI licensing became effective. So there is really nothing new there, and my understanding is that the NYSDOS agrees with that position.
Unfortunately some HI’s do go well beyond the SOP and provide evaluations of systems, such as the apparent suitability/capacity of foundations and framing elements, which does cross the HI/PE practice lines … and they really shouldn’t be doing that anyway. For example if you observed a main basement girder with (3) 2x10’s and 2-1/2" steel columns 7’ apart, and don’t see anything wrong, it should not be reported as the framing appears to be adequate as thats an evaluation. Just describe what is there and that there were no visible defects.
I don’t think New York HI’s really have anything to be concerned with as long as they are sticking with the principal of performing visual observations and just reporting any noticeable material and installation defects, without offering an evaluation … “Observe & Report” … thats the job … :idea:
P.S. It has also often been a mostly unwritten rule that a licensed master plumber or licensed master electrician can perform evaluations and layouts for residential plumbing and electrical systems where the total cost is less than $10,000 if done in accordance with prescriptive building codes … which seems to make sense to me. Commercial systems are a whole different ballgame.
