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Also, go to the TIJ forum for free training resources. The Certainteed site is there someplace along with a ton of other sources. Here's the link:

https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... RUM_ID=109

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Now that I've looked, I see it there Mike. I should have been looking there a long time ago. Thanks.

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Try this one on for size: while ASHI, NAHI et all will accept any and all of CertainTeed and many other on line credits for CEU's, Oregon will not!! It seems that the Company "offering" the credits must submit a lengthy form with a full outline to the State for a full review before credits are allowed. If I were CertainTeed I would likewise tell the State to stuff it! I somehow have a feeling that if it does not increase the States revenue then it will not be "approved".

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Hi,

It's the same way here in Washington State; the education provider must submit an application for approval along with a fee, the course content is reviewed by one member of DOL and by one board member to ensure it meets the education criteria for CEU's and isn't a veiled sales course or software provider's course, etc., and then, if it's approved, goes on the list. If it is not approved, the provider is notified and has to make changes, reapply and pay another fee.

We just discussed this at our quarterly board meeting. The state has no intention of waiving the fee; and, frankly, they shouldn't. The licensing program has to be self-sustaining and doesn't get any money from the legislature; everything it costs to administer that program, pay the salaries of the two state employees involved and pay for the broadband, etc. has to come from what's brought in by initial licensing and renewal fees.

Here, the fee is $75 per course. If myself and a group of inspectors wanted to get a Certainteed course approved, we could get together, pool our money for the application fee, have Certainteed provide us with copies of the course material and submit an application on behalf of Certainteed.

I'd certainly be willing to cough up a few bucks to get a decent online course approved and I bet others would too, rather than spend a couple of hundred bucks to go and sit in a seminar put on by one of the local association chapters that turns out to be full of non-relevant material (such as the one I attended last weekend).

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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It's the same in NY. There is a bunch of training that will earn Code Officials their 'pink cards' but the Bureau of Education won't approve it for HI CEUs unless it is an HI course that has also been approved for CO credits. The State won't approve their own training either, apparently it isn't good enough.

Tom

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Maryland does not currently require CEU's. I understand how government things can be messed up. I like the idea of CEU's in general. Maryland may be requiring CEU's in the future.

Do you think opposing legislation on State required CEU's is a good or bad idea? In order to be safe rather than sorry, I would think opposition would be the better bet. What say you?

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Oppose continuing education?

Why in the world would you oppose continuing education requirements? What good does it do to have a bunch of home inspectors get licensed in 2010 and not require them to stay current in their profession? In 20 years you can bet your britches that a bunch of them will not have a clue about current technologies.

You should have seen/heard the opposition here by long-time inspectors who were supposed to be competent to having to take the National Home Inspection Exam. Then when the test began getting administered it was those who were loudest in their opposition who couldn't pass it!

Remember the hearings we had not so long ago in Olympia because a state senator from eastern Washington tried to get the education requirements waived for those "experienced" inspectors who'd dragged their feet and hadn't completed all of the requirements for licensing - including the NHIE? The deadline for "experienced" inspectors to get their license had been September 1, 2009. These guys were forewarned from June 21, 2008 that come September 1st 2009 they had to complete all requirements. If they didn't complete those requirements by September 1st, they had to go back to school, get 120 hours of mandatory education, do 40 hours with a licensed inspector and then take and pass the NHIE before they'd be licensed.

Well, when they didn't get it done, some of these folks cast around until they found a sympathetic state senator who was casting around for extra votes and got him to try and extend the deadline to July 1st 2010 so that they wouldn't have to go back to school. He also threw in an extra caveat - if they went to school, they wanted to be exempted from the CEU requirement to earn 24 CEU's every two years - until 2016! The bill got introduced, got debated in both houses but then died in committee when the session ended.

Well, as it turns out, the poster boy for these dedicated souls who got the senator to attempt this, who I'm told has nearly two decades in the business, had failed to pass the NHIE multiple times - that's why he didn't make the "experienced" inspector cutoff last September. Now that the bill is dead and he'd dragged his feet for two years, he's kind of stuck and has only a little more than two weeks left to get his training, complete his 40 hours, schedule take and pass the NHIE and then get the paperwork done and get DOL paid or he'll be operating illegally and subject to a fine of up to $5,000 for every portion of the statute violated, plus $1,000 a day for every day he/she continues to operate illegally. Failing to pay those fines when directed, can earn him/her an injunction prohibiting him/her for inspecting and a hearing where, if found guilty of contempt, he/she could be fined up to $25,000.

Now, if this "experienced" inspector and his cohorts had bothered to keep up with the demands of the profession by continuing to educate themselves, they probably could have easily passed that test, met the original deadline, and wouldn't be stuck with paying some education provider a heavy chunk of change to get "retrained" in a profession they've been doing for years.

CEU's are necessary if we expect to be a true profession and don't want to be lumped together with the carpet cleaning guy, the trash collector and the dog walkers.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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Why in the world would you oppose continuing education requirements? What good does it do to have a bunch of home inspectors get licensed in 2010 and not require them to stay current in their profession? In 20 years you can bet your britches that a bunch of them will not have a clue about current technologies.

I don't oppose continuing eduction, but in my opinion, about the only ones benefiting are the CEU farms. The states are requiring continuing eduction, but not quality continuing education. Quality inspectors are gonna stay up to date no matter what, while crap inspectors can just buy the credits and not really learn anything along the way.

CEU's are necessary if we expect to be a true profession and don't want to be lumped together with the carpet cleaning guy, the trash collector and the dog walkers.

Something needs to change, but I don't think that purchasing CEU's for "continuing education" is doing much good.

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