Home Inspection is a profession, and a trade, however that does not mean that all inspectors are professionals, or simply tradesmen. Licenses, Certifications nor Associations, make a home inspector a professional person. Inspecting is a trade, therefore a home inspector is a tradesmen in the profession of inspecting. Therefore, if I could vote, I would either vote for both or neither. Inspectors are blue collar workers, who in the quest to feed their egos, try to equate themselves as being equal to Brain Surgeons. The fact that this discussion is being conducted, this late in the game, serves to show how imbalanced, this business really is. If we don’t know what we are, how can we expect anyone else too.
It is as professional as the name you post under. :roll:
Ver good statement by Mr Lott… Home Inspection is a profession, and a trade, however that does not mean that all inspectors are professionals, or simply tradesmen. Licenses, Certifications nor Associations, make a home inspector a professional person. Inspecting is a trade, therefore a home inspector is a tradesmen in the profession of inspecting. If we don’t know what we are, how can we expect anyone else too.
No to your first question, yes to the last.
NACHI is neither a trade or a professional organization in that it does not require that its members be past or presently employed, either part or full time, in an inspection-related occupation.
And you are the poster child of a professional???
The only thing you are professional at is picking up quarters.
Well Bill, if you want a dilly of a story, try this one. Inspector turns up at a house. Calls out several faults and declares a price for fixing them and then asks the purchaser if she wants to continue with the inspection. He hurries through the rest of the inspection ( it’s getting late!) and then presents his report, collects and leaves.
For the next month after the family moves in ( inspection completed in September, possession in early December) the family feels sicker and sicker. The kids start taking days off school and the Mrs. and Mr. suffer Major head aches. The furnace then shuts down. The P.U.C. man who comes out on New Years Eve refuses to relight the furnace because the inspector had missed the fact that the smoke pipe was full of holes! The P.U.C. man demonstrates to the purchaser by poking his finger through the pipe in several places.
And the punch line? The purchaser is a lawyer and did nothing about it!!
You personally know this inspector.
Steven Meyer,
When are you going to shut up and put your money where your mouth is. You shot your mouth off repeatedly here and on the other forums about how you would be joining Nachi, and that was several months ago. Not to mention your contradictory stories you have told on the various forums about your background and where you live, etc.
If you want to come across as intelligent may I suggest you stick to the same story. :mrgreen:
George if the lawyer did nothing about it, what is your point? Maybe, just maybe the lawyer realized he did not have a case.
Truth be told, InterNACHI isn’t an “institutional” trade association… it is more of a cooperative framework. But sssshhhh… don’t tell the 35 inspectors who joined today.
InterNACHI was researched as part of the preparation for this very interesting talk: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html
Some of it came from an interview I did where InterNACHI is being considered for inclusion in the “10 Best Run Trade Associations in the World.” I argued the InterNACHI should not be included as we are not an “institutional” trade association and really not “run” in the traditional sense of the word. You’ll hear him say exact quotes from me, word for word, found in the archives of this message board. See some of my posts explaining why we don’t do much planning and why we permit annonymous posters who rarely contribute.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html
Chirs Morrell, who I credit for much of InterNACHI’s success, is a big Linux fan. You can see his influence in InterNACHI’s policies, or should I say lack of them.
What my “colleagues” do to “dupe the public” has nothing to do with me, my business, or the quality of my service. Nor would it if my “colleagues” did a better job of serving the public than I do.
My client hires me…not my “colleagues”.
You are too hung up on “the other guy”, as if his qualifications…good or bad…somehow represented what you can or cannot perform in a home inspection.
Grow up, Bill. Be your own man and stop being so darned dependent upon the skills (or lack thereof) of others.
That is an awesome lecture, I recommend everyone to watch it from start to finish.
Some interesting quotes:
“Forming an institution is inherently exclusive.”
“Institutions hate being told they are obstacles.”
For those of you who don’t get it yet, iNACHI is an experiment in forming community. That is why it is so hard for existing institutions formed before the internet came into existence (ASHI, CAHPI etc) to understand the free flowing, eternally changing aspect of this crazy online group.
Though at times it might seem the opposite, this is actually a cooperative system.
I couldn’t find any quotable quotes from you Nick, and this video was produced in 2005. Are you suggesting you are a visionary?
Personally speaking I really like this video.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/stephen_hawking_asks_big_questions_about_the_universe.html
I could relate to Nachi and its expanding universe. The Big Bang created Nachi! :mrgreen: 
Alright, God, what’s your solution to setting up and maintaining a governable organization that all will recognize as professional (with real penalties for breaches of trust, valid buyer complaints, a democratic governance, and on and on)?
The solution is for you, Bill, and others to stop trying to create an exclusive club that will perpetually ensure to the world that its members are above reproach.
Don’t be afraid to stand alone…on your own merit and on your own qualifications…in a competitive market who will, on its own sometimes choose someone of lesser quality for reasons you will not understand or identify with.
Don’t focus upon the lowest qualified inspector and understand that, in every group you will ever form, there will be someone who made it into it by the skin of their teeth and a bit of luck.
Recognize that there are professional graduates of Harvard and Yale in prisons throughout the United States who also number among the “elite” in someone’s book.
The solution is to be a better home inspector than your competitor and trust the consumer to choose quality whenever he can afford to.
Jim:
While I appreciate your fatherly advice, I must advise you that none of what I have done for the industry in the past couple years will help me personally. I have a very busy, successful multi-inspector company and have had for fifteen years. I know what works in the Canadian marketplace and that’s why I want to help others.
As to your last comment, the consumer can’t afford NOT to choose quality…ever.
Bill Mullen
And there is the rub…
Your goal is to reduce the customer’s choice to what you feel is best for them.
Didn’t work well, economically, in the Soviet Union, either.
If you were an honest man, you would publicly admit what many already know…and that is your desire is to eliminate competition from those that you feel are unworthy. You want to define the playing field as to who may and who may not compete against you.
The customer should be the person who determines his needs and who should/should not be in business. That is called free enterprise and it works very well.