Home Inspection of the Future
The Real Estate industry is highly regulated. Each state in the US has it's own set of rules and regulations, and each one is completely different from the other. Many are moving into fingerprinting and streneous background checks as well as.
On the other hand, the Home Inspection industry has been largely unregulated. Recently I've noticed that many states are picking up Home Inspection regulations; requiring licenses, continuing education, and registration with the state.
Specifically I've seen mention of Arkansas and Florida thinking about moving to a regulated home inspection model. Florida promises to put recently approved legislation into effect in early 2010.
With the home loan industry in trouble, and the mass of houses on the market due to foreclosures, we might see this industry regulation pushed even faster than previously thought.
While it'll be nice to have this part of Real Estate regulated, it brings up the question, how happy are the newly regulated home inspectors going to feel? This will definitely restrict entry into the market, but from my perspective, I can't see anything bad about it. What do you think?
Labels: arkansas home inspection, florida home inspection, home inspection law, home inspection regulation
posted by Kate @ 8:59 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
The number of inspectors nearly triples when licensing is adopted. Minimum standard licensing brings everyone in an causes home inspection schools to pop up on every corner pumping out new, unexperienced home inspectors, all waving their freshly printed licenses. Makes a mess of things in comparison to www.nachi.org/rigorous2006.htm
The arguments for regulation are falsely justified by “protect the public” slogans. It is true that anyone in an unregulated state can set up shop. Some inspectors do a really good job and some don’t.
There is a move to require professional liability insurance “to protect the public” when historically insurance was always intended to protect a business. The “insurance” slogan represents a false concept of warranty to the public and inspectors routinely avoid that risk with copious limitation language, contracts and delegation of liability tactics. That results in a bloated and confusing product to the consumer. While regulation requires insurance they avoid defining the inspectors liability. That has people working to undefined requirements, a formula for poor quality work.
Regulation usually requires education. The amount of education is woefully small. Texas has the most stringent requirement. A whopping 320 hours or 8 weeks. Most states require 2 weeks of training. The training requirements are conducive to a revolving door of unqualified persons entering the business.
Regulation results in “Standards of Practice” being developed to “protect the public”. The Standards tend to remove professional responsibility by becoming prescriptive. A prescriptive standard makes the service a commodity. It turns it into a “check list” product. A profession is reduced to a trade.
So ask, how does so little education, misrepresented insurance and check list reporting requirements “protect the public”? The answer is some inspectors do a really good job and some don’t. There is very little difference between good reports in a regulated state. The same is true for bad reports.
Regulation is about money and control, not quality. Its that simple.
Let’s not end with a critique and no offered solutions. I do not see an end to regulation. With that in mind I would suggest the following opinions.
1. Home inspection education should expand to an associate degree or similar to that required by master plumbers and electricians.
2. An apprentice program that works must be developed.
3. The standards of practice should serve as guidelines that promote free trade improvement and not a checklist of mandates.
4. Civil courts and not state agencies should enforce violations. The state should only supervise education.
5. Clearly define the liability you expect the inspector to assume and the industry will react naturally with the fee of their product and appropriate insurance.
John Cahill
Past Chairman Texas Real Estate Commission Inspector Committee
I agree with both of your points. While I tend to agree more with John, there is a point about the business aspect. I do believe though that this trend is more about protecting the public and less about business. Remember that most regulations are set up by boards of people selected by the state. I think the trend is headed in the right direction and I am looking for more states to pick up regulations in the next few years.
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