Inspection Program - Jobs For 60,000 Vets

[hausdok]

MIKE PERRAULT• The Desert Sun • November 21, 2010

Palm Springs-based Environmental Service Professionals Inc. has garnered $150 million to launch a national home-inspection program that company officials say will eventually employ 60,000 veterans across the nation.

ESP, an 18-year-old publicly traded firm based at 810 Farrell Drive, will tap funding from a private equity lender to kick off its Healthy Home Mortgage program, said CEO Edward Torres.

ESP's annual inspection program would help ensure that potential problems with structures, energy efficiency and mold, air quality and other issues are caught early, said Torres.

To read more at The Desert Sun's online webzine, myDesert.com, click here.

[Nolan Kienitz]

I read that earlier today and pretty much think it is "smoke and mirrors".

Some company on the East Coast tried something similar a few years back and it also fell flat after folks skimmed the cream from the top.

Will just have to wait and see what works out.

[Marc]

Correct me if I'm mistaken but it seems to me that this company will train/employ their own home inspectors but will have mortgage lenders, insurance companies, government agencies and real estate management companies as clients instead of home buyers. Homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters will all find that lenders and insurance companies that they wish to do business with will require that the house be inspected by ESP and that it will have to meet the ESP 'standard' of condition before business can proceed. That would be a radical change in how real estate ownership is transferred.

One issue that might result is when a buyer hires his own home inspector because he doesn't want to rely on the findings of the lender endorsed ESP inspection. It creates the opportunity for the lender to happen upon a copy of the home inspector's report which makes them aware of major conditions that the ESP inspectors did not have the competence to reveal. That wouldn't speak well of ESP's services.

Perhaps ESP's entire concept of nationalizing home inspections will fail because of the difficulty in standardizing home inspections across the entire country. Home inspections can't be standardized the way code inspections are.

Marc

[hausdok]

Hi,

They can do air quality, mold, energy efficiency inspection all they want; but they won't be able to do home inspections here unless every one of their inspectors meets state requirements and then the buyer can choose whoever they want to inspect the house; because a contract is required between the buyer and inspector and they can't mandate who a buyer uses for that.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[resqman]

They can do air quality, mold, energy efficiency inspection all they want; but they won't be able to do home inspections here unless every one of their inspectors meets state requirements and then the buyer can choose whoever they want to inspect the house; because a contract is required between the buyer and inspector and they can't mandate who a buyer uses for that.

Last I checked about 30 states require licensing for home inspectors. So presumably 30-40,000 of the 60,000 vets would have to be licensed in the state where they are operating. The SOPs for all the national assoications and the states with licensing are fairly similar. If they were to create a standard checklist that incorporated all the required fields from all the SOPs and States, they could create a national standard. That would give them a reason to reject any inspection by someone who does not follow their SOP.

Of course, meeting the minimun standards to become a home inspector in each of the 30 licensed states would have to be met by these vets who want to do these inspections. Who is going to pay for the couple of weeks of classroom and who is going to provide the ride alongs for all these new inspectors? Sounds like a great time to start a home inspection school and develop a Pay to Ride Along program. ESP can develop their own HI classroom, charge the vets to complete their training, with the provision if the canidate actually completes the course and gets licensed, then they will get reimbursed 50% over the next year. ESP makes money training people which they use to pay back their loans while they start up the company that never does any actual inspections. Eventually the money runs out.

I am not worried about this pie in the sky scheme. If it actually starts hiring, I am betting they will start hiring existing HIs as sub-contractors to meet their immediate needs while searching for the 60,000 vets.

[Jim Katen]

. . . Who is going to pay for the couple of weeks of classroom and who is going to provide the ride alongs for all these new inspectors? Sounds like a great time to start a home inspection school and develop a Pay to Ride Along program. ESP can develop their own HI classroom, charge the vets to complete their training, with the provision if the canidate actually completes the course and gets licensed, then they will get reimbursed 50% over the next year. ESP makes money training people which they use to pay back their loans while they start up the company that never does any actual inspections. Eventually the money runs out. . .

They're vets. The Gummint will pay for job training.

[Tom Raymond]

...And then the money will run out, but not before the Head Honcho skimmed everything he could off the top. It's a scam dressed in 'feel good' marketing clothes. If ESP really wanted to provide jobs for all those vets they'd be looking to utilize the training they already have.

[Erby]

Whoo, did you read the three pages of comments under the article. Not very flattering!

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[stubrooks]

The way this works is that the company will spend the funding and time on meetings, planning, meetings, overhead, joint meetings, travel, more meetings, really big production presentations, and more meetings. Oh, they'll hire a big name or two and if they can get a PhD or 2 on board the federal bureaucrats will go gaga. If anyone is actually trained and placed it will be a new direction in government contracting.

[Inspectorjoe]

This is the same company that bought Porter Valley Software (Inspectvue). By all accounts they thoroughly botched the the transition, leaving users in the lurch without support for months on end, and for all intents and purposes, destroyed the company.

[Bill Kibbel]

This is the same company that bought Porter Valley Software (Inspectvue). By all accounts they thoroughly botched the the transition, leaving users in the lurch without support for months on end, and for all intents and purposes, destroyed the company.

So then, this would be the same company that patented IR for home inspections and threatened inspectors using IR cameras until FLIR sued them.

[kurt]

Ohhh Lordy.......is this "HomeSafe" in a new incarnation?

[Scottpat]

Ohhh Lordy.......is this "HomeSafe" in a new incarnation?

I don't think it is HomeSafe, they are or were out of Oxford Mississippi.