Onsite Commercial Building Inspection Training Boulder Colorado July 29-August 2

Thank you Bill for the update. I’m interested and will try to stay informed. The original dates were at a time I could not fit in.

:roll: You don’t say :roll:
I had registered for the original course. I will do it again no matter where you guys have it the world.

Thanks Will.

We will keep everyone informed once we are ready again.

YEAH
trouble makers like me

Thanks for the update.

looking forward to it:D

You guys need to take this show on the road!
I’m pretty damn mad I missed it. I’m sure it was a great class hosted by the best in the business. I’m extremely jealous of those who were privileged to go!

The class was canceled. Not enough interest.

Which I still can’t believe. An opportunity to learn from the best.

Bill, just a thought, consider holding it at say next year’s Casey O’Malley conference, or say a day or two before, so that the inspector(s) aren’t just absorbing the cost of flight, hotel, etc for just the said commercial training, but could then also couple it with a conference. Not that spending the money isn’t worth it, but would be killing 2 birds with one stone. Might get alot more folks to commit, but just an idea.

Here’s my 2¢.
Most of the inspectors that would be attending this class are likely not currently ingrained in commercial inspections.
I would assume that this class is geared for those, like myself, who do predominantly residential, with the occasional commercial inspection, and would like to become more efficient with commercial inspections for the sake of taking on more commercial inspections.
The class, however, appears to be priced for currently successful commercial inspectors.
The price of the course is, in my opinion, exorbitant for residential inspectors hoping to learn more about commercial inspections.
Sure, it’s probably well worth the cost and I’m sure the cost can be recouped in a few inspections, but there are A LOT of “ifs”.
It seems that the main purpose of this course is to help develop inspectors for the purpose of growing the commercial inspection industry and NACBI. If this is the case, wouldn’t it make more sense to set the training fees lower? To help those like me get going in the commercial inspection field.
That’s just my thoughts. I would love the training and could definitely use the training, but the cost is definitely prohibitive.

I understand there was enough interest, as for as inspectors willing to take the course.

But there was too much conflict of interest.

The cost is chump change in comparison to business income. It’s not a big “if” it’s FACT!
Just one of the evening sessions alone could earn an inspector 3 times (and more) the cost of the course! It has for me multiple times and the economy ain’t so great here. :wink:

It’s a mind set. Do you want to get into commercial inspections or not. Like with everything, you get what you pay for. One way to make up your mind is to pay for it.
You could take a half day course with no hands on, that makes you feel good, but in the end, you really don’t know much about the standards, what to look for, how to hire the proper people, who to market to, what the different types/levels of inspections there are, what questions to ask the buyers during the phone interview etc…

When I chose to become a home inspector, I paid out of pocket a little over $4K between the schooling, getting my license and original tools.

When I wanted to get into thermal imaging, I paid $5K, between the training and EX320 Cam, however, this time, not out of pocket as it became a business expense, which I recouped in under 6 months since I charge extra for IR.
Paying and taking Dale and Bill’s course + the loss of income for that week, is a business expense, an investment in yourself.

My first commercial inspection paid for that course. $3K. The scope of inspection was only structure and plumbing per client’s request. 4 hours onsite. I paid my helper $300 which was about 4 times what he normally makes.
Wait a minute… $300 in 4 hours. That’s what the average home inspector makes doing a full home inspection meaning my fee was 3 times that for this commercial inspection.

And here are my 2 cents.

In a private message to Dale I conveyed my thoughts about the course after it was cancelled. I offered suggestions as well. I am posting here the points I made to Dale to elicit additional suggestions from the world at large to help him and his crew make the best choices for everyone so we can have a win-win-win… situation. They may have been working in the dark, so we should let them know what we can and cannot do, what our limits are in time and, oh yes, money.

THE VENUE.

  • Colorado, in general, has an image of a playground for fun, fun, fun. To us in the Midwest, it is an expensive area, a fact borne out by the prices of the hotels in the vicinity of the Marriott. I learned about them when I was looking for a hotel in Boulder, itself not a low-priced area.

  • The Marriott Hotel, judging by the room prices, would charge a small fortune for a meeting hall with meal services.

This is what most of us faced: $3,000 for the course, 4 nights for hotel, say $450?, airfare and transportation that in my case was close to $400. By the time it was over, the whole thing would have been $4,000 easily. I share Will M’s. mind set about spending money to make money, but also Reece’s pocketbook concerns, so I was looking at Motel 6 when the course was cancelled.

SUGGESTIONS.

Have the meeting in a small town in a place where a good deal can be had, and stay away from large cities. Does it have to be Colorado? Take a page from Snell. They have money up the wazoo, yet when I took Thermography I with them the course was held in the meeting room of a church in a small town in northern Illinois. Nothing fancy, but very pleasant all around. As I told Dale, no dancing girls, no caviar, only simple fare. It worked very nicely. THE AREA DOES NOT MATTER as we are not there to be entertained, so let’s keep it low priced.

I offered Milwaukee to Dale as a nice, low cost alternative because it is what I know best (OK you cynics, so it is convenient for me, too. So, sue me) but I made it clear that anywhere in the Midwest would be reasonable in price.

I hope the rest of you can come up with reasonable suggestions to help Dale’s crew help us.

I added a few comments above. Also I believe that Nick was the one the was getting the local venues set up.
I am biased on the location since Boulder is a short 45 to 90 minute drive for me depending on traffic/construction. I would travel to Milwaukee or where ever for this class.
I was one of the ones that had paid in full. I did receive all my money back.
I will go when they have the class.

I think this is a great idea to tie the commercial training class to another major event. One event that is coming up quick is the ITC Inframation Conference in Orlando this fall (perfect combination). I was also on the fence with the training offer in CO and was “this close” to signing up, but I was thinking $5K out of pocket, and decided to shelve due to being a single event out of my area. Orlando is great in the fall…no bias here…

Casey O’Malley is also coming to Orlando next year instead of Vegas…at least I think I read that somewhere. Don’t quote me though.

Is there another course scheduled anytime in the near future?

James, yes, we’re having the course this winter, I sent you an email.