bmullen

So what if you believe the government numbers are high? Have you done a study and count as they did? What scientific method did you use that you would arrive at different figures than they did? OAHI, just as the other associations, has agreed to the entire process. If you feel your provincial association has not consulted the members, that is between you and OAHI. It has nothing to do with CAHPI National or me.......it's an internal provincial matter. There is nothing misleading in the Free Press article at all. You choose to interpret things whichever way will work the best for you. Of course it remains to be seen how many will apply. I can't and won't argue with you about numbers that are unknown. I am optimistic so my numbers will be high. You on the other hand are a 'glass is half empty' type, so your estimates are very low. Our goal is to have most Canadian Inspectors certified by the end of 2007. We can't force anyone to apply, and if they choose to stay away, that's just fine. We all have a right to operate our own business however we wish. I can tell you that we already have hundreds of names of inspectors who want to be assessed, including many who are not members of CAHPI associations. If we have 5000 National Certificate Holders that would be phenomenal. However, if there are only 1000 at the end of the day, that just means that there will be thousands of inspectors missing out on a great opportunity. It's a free country.

Raymond: We have never said this was a mandatory certification, but we suspect that when inspectors recognize the benefits they will quite willingly sign up. The numbers are based on government studies which a few years ago identified about 5000 home inspectors in Canada. They were not pulled out of thin air. The memberhsip of every CAHPI association in Canada has ratified this in one way or another. They have all agreed to back the National Certification Project many years ago. CAHPI National also has a signed document showing buy-in by all seven associations. It is voluntary, and if people don't want to sign up, that's their choice. Who knows how anything will afect our business? All I know is that this is a very positive step to bringing consistency and credibility to our profession in Canada.

Test Inspections with Peer Reviews (TIPR) is part of our National Certification program. I agree it is a daunting task, but we feel it is necessary to ensure that even the old-timers like me are doing inspections right. Yes, I will have to pass one. We actually have some government money to develop the protocol and train 'reviewers' but the examination process should pay for itself. We will train several 'reviewers' who will be very experienced inspectors. Hopefully, many will be either retired or close to retirement. We call them 'Emeritus Volunteers' although we will be paying them an honorarium. Inspectors being Peer Reviewed will pay a fee (amount still to be determined) which should offset the cost to CAHPI. If we examine 5000 inspectors in a period of six months, that is about 200 per week. If we have a team of twenty examiners across Canada, that's only ten per week per examiner. We estimate that each examiner can process five or six people per day. Like most jobs, they don't seem so bad when you break them down into chunks.

The long document with the requirements listed is on the website at www.cahpi.ca . There is also a short, brochure version at the same site. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them. This initiative is very detailed and complex, but I think it has possibilities for most jurisdictions in North America. Bill Mullen CAHPI National Certification Program Project Coordinator