| Certification
for home inspectors
REM FEBRUARY 2011
By Bill Mullen
Despite efforts for many years by
several individuals and groups, the Canadian home inspection industry is
still very much unregulated. British Columbia is the only province that
has licensed practitioners, although three or four others are
considering legislation.
In this unregulated sector, anyone
can simply print some business cards, buy a flashlight and clipboard,
and promote themselves as a home inspector. On top of that, some
associations, training schools and even government agencies have
convinced thousands of gullible people that a two-week course or even a
short online quiz will qualify them to earn a high income inspecting
houses for an even more unsuspecting public.
In 2006, the Canadian Association
of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) announced that after 10 years of
meetings and hard work, they along with CMHC1, HRDC2,
the Construction Sector Council and other industry partners, had
successfully developed and implemented a national certification for
Canadian home inspectors. The goal was to create a large group of
well-trained, field-tested and qualified home inspectors on whom the
public and others connected to a home purchase transaction could rely.
The program would be administered by a CAHPI "arm's length" committee -
the National Certification Authority (NCA) that would process all
inspectors fairly and objectively.
In the years since then, more than
500 inspectors have applied, had their backgrounds evaluated, been field
tested and received their National Certification. However, the estimated
number of home inspectors in Canada is between 5,000 and 6,000, so
obviously the program has attracted only a very small percentage of the
inspector population.
Since the program was created to
bring some uniformity and credibility to the industry, the result were
less than stellar - disappointing those who had seen the program as an
opportunity to bring more legitimacy to the relatively new home
inspection industry. It became apparent that since CAHPI's membership
accounted for only about 15 percent of the total number of inspectors in
the country, non-members were not comfortable that the NCA would process
and test them objectively, despite CAHPI's genuine assurances. As a
result, applications for national certification slowed to a trickle in
recent years.
 In
early 2010, in an effort to breathe new life into the certification
program, and to address the concerns of the industry a new, fully
independent, non-partisan certification body was established, with
representation from all existing associations but no affiliation with or
obligations to any, including CAHPI.
The National Home Inspector
Certification Council (NHICC) was incorporated and quickly received
recognition, encouragement and support from government agencies, home
inspection associations and other stakeholders. The NHICC is a
certifying body only, and is not an association, so it is not seen by
the associations as competing for members. Most organizations have their
own "certifications" that can be complemented by the National
Certification. One national group (PHPIC3) based its Mission
Statement on support for the NCP4 and they have actually
adopted the NCP requirements as their own. The program also makes it
possible for inspectors who choose to not be members of any association
to be recognized and certified competent by an independent third party.
Home inspectors can now take
comfort knowing that their education and abilities will be compared
uniformly and objectively by the NHICC to the National Occupational
Standards for Canadian Home Inspectors. Consumers and others can be
assured that despite the proliferation of pseudo-professional home
inspection associations, there is ONE national, strong and valid
certification that exists to rigorously evaluate and test inspectors
based on actual occupational standards that were developed through
thousands of hours of study and debate.
For more information, contact the
National Home Inspector Certification Council (NHICC) at 519-383-1652 or
www.nationalhomeinspector.org
Bill Mullen (National Certificate
Holder #00001), Professional Home & Property Inspector (PHPI),
Registered Home Inspector (RHI) and ASHI-CHI5 has
operated Bluewater Home Inspection in Sarnia, Ont. for 18 years. He is
now the director of external relations for the NHICC and official
historian of the National Certification Program.
■
REM
1. Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation
2. Human Resources & Development Canada
3. Professional Home and Property Inspectors of Canada
4. National Certification Program
5. American Society of Home Inspectors - Certified Home Inspector
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