Are there really more people looking to be HI's?

[AHI in AR]

I have a program on my website that tells me what search string visitors use who visit my site. I have seen a marked increase recently in people entering search terms like "becoming a home inspector" or "home inspector requirements" or similar. My only guess is that there are enough layoffs that desperate people are trying to find something to do.

Anyone else seeing this?

[Brad Manor]

I've seen lots of it here. Freshly minted experts are popping up like toadstools after a heavy rain here. I've even had people ask if I offer training.

-Brad

[hausdok]

It's the logic disconnect that I don't get,

Guys in construction that have just been laid off seem to think that this is a natural progression. It's kind of like all of the internet gurus that arrived in Seattle after the dot.com bubble burst and they couldn't figure out why there were no jobs for them. What makes these folks think that there's going to be work in this business when the whole mess the country is in is predicated on the real estate slump and the hundreds of thousands of homes that aren't being sold. D'oh! When homes don't sell there is no work for home inspectors.

The worst part about it is that they're running around here with no experience, offering to do home inspections for less than half of what the experienced inspectors are doing them for and they're falsely telling people, if they've had 15 years of construction experience, that they have 15 years of inspection experience.

It's actually illegal here in Washington State for anyone to enter the business right now. The licensing law went into effect last June 21st and says that if one didn't have more than 100 inspections or more than 2 years as a home inspector under one's belt on that date, one may not practice home inspections until one has completed more than 120 hours of classroom training (not correspondence or internet) from a state-approved training provider, completed more than 40 hours of supervised inspection and taken the state-approved test before practicing. For those of us who had more than two years in the business and more than 100 inspections under our belt before last June 21st, we'll have to take the NHIE and have a 90-day window between June 1st and September 1st of this year to get our licenses or we'll also be practicing illegally.

It's going to be tough getting into the business here right now, since there are no state approved courses anywhere in the country, absolutely none. Also, as it stands right now, even anyone new to the business prior to June 1st who didn't meet the 2/100 rule on that date are technically practicing illegally - even if they've attended one of the classroom courses - because their training will not have been gotten from a state-approved school.

Since lots of these guys are hanging up their shingles without doing any real investigation into the new rules for the business, I expect that, as things continue to contract and it gets tougher and tougher out there, lots of old hands will begin dropping dimes on newcomers. It's going to be ugly when those newcomers start receiving cease and desist orders and the state hits them with fines.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Richard Moore]

Just slightly off-topic: I was perusing RipOff reports for the fun of it when I came across the following. It's a reply to a complaint on a home inspection. It seems the author (apologies to actual authors) is "planning multi certification". Copied and pasted. Enjoy the prose!

Inspector night mare

I can sympathize with your situation.

How ever most states require a certification to be licensed and Home inspectors are required in thease states to carry insurance just for this purpose.

In selecting an inspector you should have checked that the certification was not an online test but a hands on.

Most but not all inspectors have a back ground in construction if not beware as far as the realtor you stated this was one of many recommended If the realtor pushed this one I would recommend contacting the realtor licensing board because its a conflict of intrest how ever more than likely you have a non invasive inspection this meens only what can be seen in other words if there where visible signs of a roof leak.

Or if there was water stains on the ceilings the inspector will not move things out of his way open outlets or look in wall cavities thease are invasive, I personally believe to some degree we should I personally use a flare system that can see through walls and spot problems but even than its Guss work and most cliants dont want to pay the extra money.

I am a 25 year retired construction worker and am planning multi certification and agree there are people that do not belong in the business.

I recommend you look over you contract and although I agree it is not right to over look you will discover your inspector was in his rights this doesnt excuse his actions if you know of the orginization he is with report him to them there is a code of ethics.

And he should have tried to at least explain how or why these problems were over looked its just good business.

I gotta get me one of them Guss work flare systems. Must be cheaper than an IR camera.

[SWagar]

I hope a couple of his certifications are English 101 and Spellin' 102 !

[AHI in AR]

Originally posted by SWagar

I hope a couple of his certifications are English 101 and Spellin' 102 !

I suspect that he would have trouble with those fields of study, despite apparently being the author of You To Can Create Run-On Sentences For Fun and Profit Just Don't Make A Misteak and Ad Two Many of Them Confusing Punctuasion Marks Its To Hard Too Remember the Rules For Them.

[Scottpat]

Honestly now would be a good time for a person to learn and enter the profession with this caveat: They need to realize that the market is depressed and homes are not selling like they were when the market was booming. They need to have a way to make money outside of home inspections while they learn the profession.

This is how I got into the profession back in 1992-93. The market was depressed and the interest rates were in the 16% range. Homes were selling just about like they are now.

I can tell you that we have seen an increase in just about every state with folks taking the National Home Inspector Examination. This is a good indicator that individuals are entering the profession. I just hope that those who are entering realize that they will need a second job to generate income for a year or two.

[Terence McCann]

Originally posted by Scottpat

Honestly now would be a good time for a person to learn and enter the profession with this caveat: They need to realize that the market is depressed and homes are not selling like they were when the market was booming. They need to have a way to make money outside of home inspections while they learn the profession.

This is how I got into the profession back in 1992-93. The market was depressed and the interest rates were in the 16% range. Homes were selling just about like they are now.

I can tell you that we have seen an increase in just about every state with folks taking the National Home Inspector Examination. This is a good indicator that individuals are entering the profession. I just hope that those who are entering realize that they will need a second job to generate income for a year or two.

Or a very loving spouse that brings in enough money. [:-party]

[Erby]

5 New licenses in Kentucky in January.

But 23 expired in Oct, Nov & Dec.

[hausdok]

Hi Erby,

Of the five new, were they brand new or are they some of those those whose licenses had expired who turned around to renew?

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Neal Lewis]

Originally posted by Scottpat

This is how I got into the profession back in 1992-93. The market was depressed and the interest rates were in the 16% range.

Scott, what interest rates do you mean?

[Scottpat]

Originally posted by Neal Lewis

Originally posted by Scottpat

This is how I got into the profession back in 1992-93. The market was depressed and the interest rates were in the 16% range.

Scott, what interest rates do you mean?

Home mortgage rates were around 10% and not 16%. My bad..

[Phillip]

Last year Alabama had 336 inspector. At this time only 226 inspectors have renewed their licenses.

[Erby]

I track it for the Kentucky Real Estate Inspectors Association.

The five are all new. I don't count the renewals. Just the new and the actual expireds.

494 licenses issued since June of 06.

370 Active Licenses now.

But I have personally spoken with several of the Active Licensees who told me they are out of business and I could stop sending them e-mails from the Kentucky Real Estate Inspectors Association.

[qhinspect]

During the first two years of licensing, the county I live in (which is the second largest county population wise in the state of Indiana) had 10 inspectors not renewing. I don't remember the count but it was under 10 inspectors that have become licensed since that renewal date. Only one person became licensed since a year ago. This year should be interesting to see who is going to renew.

[Scottpat]

Tennessee started the first renewal year back in July 2008. Between July and December 187 folks have not renewed out of the original 370 that got their license during the initial grandfather period from July to December. They are dropping like flies. We still have around 700 in the state but I would bet that that number will drop by half over the next few months.

[resqman]

North Carolina renews Oct 1. Licensing has been around since 1996. The licensing board maintains a directory online. In theory, if they did not renew in Oct, they would have been dropped from the directory. Oct things were beginning to sour but not really bad yet. Most probably paid the $150 annual fee hoping for the best. I believe last year there were about 1400-1500 inspectors. According to the current directory, NC has about 1050 inspectors state wide.

http://www.ncdoi.com/OSFM/Engineering/h ... tories.asp

If will be interesting to see how many attend the largest training conference in the state next month. Last years attendance was about 500. $285 for training, $140 per night hotel, plus food and travel. $550-600 for the two days this year.

The licensing board has waived the Oct 09 renewal fee if you were licensed in 08. HIs still have to attend the 12 hours training. I would imagine the ranks will have thinned dramatically by then unless conditions change significantly.

[AHI in AR]

We've had licensing for about 10 years. Renewals were due at year end; there was only a 10% decrease in inspectors in my county compared to last year. Statewide, there was about a 13% decrease. Honestly, I expected more. However, in what was an unusually horrible month, the home sales in my county were down 24% compared to the previous month. Add to that the fact that we have had 36 straight months where sales were down compared to the same month the previous year and one could reasonably conclude that something has to give.

I'm really hoping it's the $200 inspection guys.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by AHI in AR

I'm really hoping it's the $200 inspection guys.

You couldn't prove it by me; I lost one an hour ago to a $200 guy. They wanted a guote on a 1017 sf one-floor condo flat. My normal price for that would be $345. There was some whining, so I said I'd round it down to $300; more than a 10% discount (Normally I wouldn't budge but this is a pretty tough market these days.).

An hour later, he calls back and says he's going with another firm. I ask why - "Cuz they'll do it for $100 less than you will came the reply." "Well, good luck with that, " I replied as I hung up.

I probably should have pointed out to him that, at the rate home inspectors are going out of business, Mr. $200 will probably be out of business by next month anyway; then who can he complain to if he finds out six months from now the guy missed something major.

Me, I still have my military retirement; it pays for the house and the incidentals - everything else I can deal with.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[AHI in AR]

Mike--

I suspect that the only reason that your prospect called you back to tell you that he had chosen another inspector was to give you a chance to salvage the deal; he really wanted you to do it, but he had to justify your price. In other words, he wanted you to sell yourself. His gut told him that choosing by price wasn't the smartest choice.

Maybe folks in your neck of the woods are exceedingly polite. Maybe not, but I have NEVER gotten a call from a client that I didn't land telling me I lost out to someone else.

Why would he call if not to give the "losing" inspector a chance to "sell" himself?

Then again, I could be wrong about why the guy called you back. I'm wrong about human behavior all the time.

I tend to think in a linear, logical fashion. I used to assume that other people do the same. Unfortunately, I've come to realize that most people don't.

[hausdok]

Hi,

Well, I guess I should have mentioned that by the time I'd hung up with him the first time he wasn't a "prospect" - I'd actually booked him at $300 before he hung up and had the address, date and time all locked down. He had to call back and tell me he was going with the other guy or I would have shown up to do the inspection at the appointed time and date.

I've been doing this long enough to sense the guy that needs to be sold; this wasn't that, this was a guy who'd made up his mind.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Brandon Whitmore]

Mike,

Mike,

I had a guy do something similar that last week. It kinda ticked me off, because it was a referral job...... Getting those jobs is almost a given . I did their co- workers (lawyer) house 6 months prior.

Problem is, I probably was well over a hundred dollars over the other guy's price. (some are doing inspections for set fees of $250 for anything I am told). The would be client called me back a couple of hours after booking the inspection. He had an offended sounding tone with me when he said he was no longer going to need my services. Kinda sounded like he thought I was screwing him over on the price or something.........I hope he doesn't learn his lesson.