Hey, Paul.

I thought I was pretty clear and definitive in my earlier post:

A failure to read? That, not money, seems to be the major point of contention between home inspectors and Realtors. Home inspectors write up a report and Realtors then say, "Oh, don't worry about that" or "Your insurance will take care of that after escrow closes" or "Oh, I see that all the time. It's nothing to be worried about" or "He doesn't know what he's talking about." I make more money than 90% of the Realtors out there, so money is not the issue with me. It's the incompetent Realtors who are the issue with me. And interesting, since Realtors have been licensed and regulated for quite some time in all fifty states, licensing and regulations seem not to have kept the incompetent Realtors out. So to think that licensing and regulations will keep incompetent home inspectors out is laughable at best. If one thinks that licensing and regulations is the panacea to poor home inspectors, one truly does have blinders on.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on how to go about licensing. And that's okay. Folks disagree with other folks all the time.

I don't want Realtors involved in my profession any more than Realtors want me involved in their profession. They each do different things. Sometimes they overlap; most of the time they don't. All of the time they shouldn't.

I don't even want Realtors interpreting my reports because they don't do it consistently. Hmmmmmm, where have I heard the complaint about consistency before. Seems we all have problems, don't we?

To each his own. I believe that if one takes care of his own problems, provides the best that he is capable of doing, communicates appropriately about everything, follows up, provides the best customer service, etc., then one will be so busy that one needn't worry about the competition and what they are doing.

I can't do every inspection, but the ones I do are done right.

Best wishes.

I want to thank those who have responded to this thread and Russel even though I am a Realtor I follow along with what you have said - I think you have said it better than I ever could have -mainly because you seem to have a greater knowledge of it than I. State licensing dose not keep incompetence out of any profession but their should be uniform standards and a method of accountability. Trade groups should voice thier minds about things that effect thier profession but should not be a leading force involve another profession.

Exactly.

I'm all for standards, which is why I belong to a national home inspector trade association. However, because CREIA is mentioned specifically in our California Business and Professions Code, by law I think I kind of have to inspect, at a minimum, to the CREIA standards.

The fact that CREIA already is mentioned in our California Business and Professions Code, and that CREIA does a creditable job in setting standards and ethics codes in California, probably is a significant reason why we don't have home inspector licensing per sé. However, the fact that CREIA has about 1,200 members but that there are upwards of 5,000 home inspectors in California says something about everything that we have discussed in this thread.

I fully support statewide standards like Texas has. I think that's good for the public. Then one doesn't necessarily have to join a trade association, although I fail to understand why anyone in any business would not belong to at least one of the trade associations in the profession they have chosen.

I don't know if Texas requires continuing education, but I would fully support that as well--AFCI is a good reason for continuing education, as well as the fact that codes generally undergo revision every three years. Technology changes, and home inspectors need to keep up with that technology and the changes in the codes.

Why did Tn not just take the requirements for home inspection of new home and let it apply to all homes?
This bill will lower the license requirment for new homes but raise it for older homes

I believe you're talking about codes inspection for new homes.

That and a home inspection are 2 different things.

The bill isn't about licensing homes but the industry that conducts inspections for home buyers.

Hi Jim
HB#6 will remove the bill that passed in 1997 and become law.
Both are for home inspection.

OK.

Here's the bill, I don't see anything about a bill that passed in 1997.

http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/
Bill Summary for *HB0006 / SB0302

"This bill would establish licensing provisions for home inspectors. This bill would make it unlawful for anyone to act in the capacity of a home inspector without having first received a license from the commissioner of commerce and insurance. The commissioner would be authorized to issue citations to those acting in this capacity without a license. This bill would require that persons applying for licensure as a home inspector be at least 18 years old, have graduated from high school or have a GED, have not been convicted of a crime that has a bearing on home inspection, not be the subject of disciplinary action relating to home inspection by another jurisdiction, submit an application, and pay the requisite fee. The applicant would also be required to pass a competency exam and obtain a certificate of insurance in the amount required by the commission. Also, the applicant must have completed 90 hours of a commissioner-approved training program or course of study involving the performance of home inspections. This bill would allow a home inspector to receive a license within the first 180 days after implementation of this bill without the requirement that such person have completed 90 hours of a commissioner-approved training program or course of study involving the performance of home inspections. To qualify, an applicant would have to furnish evidence that such person has been a home inspector for the last two years and has performed over 150 home inspections over the course of his career. To renew a home inspector license, the holder would submit an application for renewal and the renewal fee. This bill would set the time for renewal at no earlier than 120 days before the expiration of the license and not later than 30 days prior to the expiration. This bill would require that a license be renewed only if the applicant has completed 32 hours of continuing education, has not violated any rules or regulations of the commissioner, and has obtained the requisite certificate of insurance. A home inspector license would be valid for two years. The commission would be required to keep a roster, which would be made available to the public, of each licensed home inspector. This bill would set out a list of grounds upon which a home inspector may be fined up to $1,000 per violation. The commissioner would set out rules and regulations to specify what constitutes violations and the range of penalties for each violation. A citation issued under this bill would be in writing, describe the basis for issuance, contain a cease and desist order, and an assessment of a penalty of no less then $50.00 and not more then $1,000. The sanctions provided for in this bill would be in addition to all other remedies, civil and criminal, available to persons under present law. "

Are there standards in the Tennessee bill? The summary doesn't seem to state anything about standards.

It looks like current home inspectors who have completed 150 inspections are grandfathered in during the first 180 days in regards to not having to complete the training program. But isn't that current crop of "incompetent" home inspectors who have caused this legislation to come about also eligible for that two-year license during the first 180 days without completing training?

Hmmmmm. I'm a little perplexed. I think the grandfathering might need to be fine-tuned some, perhaps such that 10-years experience, or 1,000 fee-paid inspections, or appropriate education (construction engineering, civil engineering, wood engineering, building construction, architecture, etc.) would qualify one for grandfathering. I think the 150 inspections is too low for grandfathering.

I don't think we have a whole "crop" of incompetent home inspectors; just a few bad apples.

The real estate commission sanctions anywhere from 100 to 200 Tennessee real estate licensees each year out of the total of 20,000+. That's not a "crop" of bad real estate licensees, just a small percentage who break 1 or more rules and get dealt with.

This bill will establish some standards, rules, and regulations; AND a mechanism to apply fines and sanctions to those who violate them up to revoking their license and putting them out of business.

It may be easy in your eyes to get the license but persons calling themselves a home inspector in Tennessee now will have to know what they're doing to keep & renew that license and stay in business.

This bill is not intended to be an "instant fix" but it does establish a continuing education requirement plus an prerequisite educational requirement to get the license and renew it.

This is also just the beginning, the commission is free to fine tune their regulations and adjust them as they find the need.

Just think about it. Now we have nothing. Soon we'll have a commission to oversee this profession, educational requirements to make the profession better, a licensing mechanism to regulate it, and a way to further protect the public from the bad apples.

I see it as a no lose deal for the Tennessee home inspectors who want to do a good job and the homebuying public who depend on them.

Jim,
I tend to agree with you that it is generally not a whole crop but just a few inspectors that cause the majority of the issues that the regulations will help correct. What it will do is to make sure that the new inspectors entering the profession have some required min. training before entering the business. The existing inspectors that are grandfathered will have to do the CE or get out of the business. As you said it is a start! Russel the point of standards is not to weed out the competition but make sure all the players meet a min standard of training.

The few bad apples tend to ruin everything for everyone, don't they?

That current crop of bad apples, however, still gets grandfathered in without the training that they seem to need. Additionally, even the bad apples get to stick around for two years before having to renew their license.

Probably the insurance requirement will keep a lot of people out of the profession, depending on what they set as the minimum there.

Additionally, the minimum standard of training really doesn't do much. I think standardized inspection standards would do much more. Will standards be in place, similar to trade association Standard of Practice or what the TREC put in place?

Not necessarily; the commision could lift their license if an offense warranted.

Additionally they know they will be under scrutiny to do better now. Whether they do or not is their decision.

Do we know what offenses would warrant license revokation, or is that still to be determined?

I was over at the TREC home inspector complaint site that someone posted a link to quite a while back at inspectionnews.com, I think it was, and some of the things that the buyers claimed were missed by the home inspectors just absolutely horrified me. And the result of the complaint? Small fines and three to six months probation. But no indication as to what anyone had to do while on probation other than stick it out for six months. No review of reports for six months, nothing about not having any more complaints, etc. I thought it was standards (which are very good) basically without enforcement.

Some of the errors and omissions apparently cost the buyers a significant amount of money, but the fines and probation time just seemed wrong for the "crime" committed.

I hope Tenneessee does better with its enforcement.

The only down fall is there are plenty of current "home inspectors" that will be grandfathered in. Until just recently all you had to have to be a HI in Tn is a buisness license and some business cards. There are alot of people that dont have any business at all being an HI. When a client asks me to recomend someone there are only 2 or 3 in the area that I know are trained and insured professionals.

If the whole purpose of licensing is to increase the competency of home inspectors as a whole, then I disagree with grandfathering.

There still are many states where even a business license isn't required in order to hold one out as a home inspector. California happens to be one of them. Live and work in unincorporated areas and all one then would need is enough money to do quality marketing.

I've always found it interesting that many people in many professions will spend more money on quality marketing materials before they will spend money on becoming a quality professional.