State of Florida requirements to become a home inspector: NONE

State of Florida requirements on standards for performing a home inspection: NONE

BUYERS BEWARE is the bottom line when considering hiring an inspector in the process of purchasing a home. Some people claim to be qualified, certified, or "whateverfied" but who or what organization provided their credentials? People with little experience or knowledge can obtain credentials via the Internet for a fee!

The 2007 Legislative session in Florida has ended.  A Home Inspection bill was passed by both houses and signed by the Governor into law on 6/27/07.  Florida now has a law for the regulation and requirements for home inspectors.  To allow time to work out some of the bugs with this new law it does not become effective until July 2010.

The Home inspector law is now effective July 1, 2010.  But wait, to allow more time to work out some bugs with the law the 2010 Legislative session delayed requirements until July 2011.

Some of the proposed Requirements for Practice are:

• Complete a course of study not less than 120 hours
• Obtain a passing score on a valid examination
• Disclose to the consumer the approximate number of home inspections performed for a fee or the number of years of experience as a home inspector

What is lacking from this legislation is any minimum required standard on what an inspector should be inspecting. All home inspections and inspectors should be using the same criteria on what systems, components, items, etc., to be inspected during the inspection. Currently inspectors throughout the State are looking, inspecting and reporting on a wide variety of things without consistency.

Florida is still without any Required Home Inspection standards of practice or Home Inspector qualification requirements until July 2011.  What this means for the consumer is that anyone who performs a Home Inspection or advertises as a Home Inspector, may do so without any qualifications or certifications.

The 2011 Legislative session?

CHOOSING YOUR HOME INSPECTOR

In an email urging the Governor to sign the 2007 Home Inspector Legislation, members of Florida's 150,000 Realtors®, stated:

"While some transactions are "made" by the inspection, a great many are also lost, and in almost in every case, a home inspection leads to further negotiations by the parties, where it's not uncommon for thousands of dollars to change hands as a result of a home inspector's findings. . . . . . Sadly, I must report that every Realtor I know can recount numerous, and often times outrageous, stories regarding incompetent home inspectors. . . . . . Poorly performed inspections have serious financial consequences, by dooming perfectly viable transactions, or leaving defects undiscovered until after a transaction has closed and the previous owner cannot be located."

It is to your benefit to choose the most qualified inspector that you can!

 PREFERRED HOME INSPECTOR CREDENTIALS

A Home Inspector should be knowledgeable about home construction, building codes and the various trades involved in home construction. A good starting point in choosing the Inspector would be the points the Legislature was considering:

• Has the Inspector completed a course of study of not less than 120 hours? (The more hours, the better!)
• Has the Inspector received a passing score on a valid examination to test their knowledge? (Valid!! This should be a test such as the National Home Inspector Examination, given at certified testing facilities throughout Florida, not over-the-Internet-for-a-fee.)
• Discloses to the consumer approximate number of home inspections performed for a fee or the number of years’ experience as a Home Inspector.

• What other qualifications and credentials does the Inspector have?
• Are they now or have they been a contractor?
• Do they have prior experience in the building trades such as carpentry, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, or electrical?
• Do they belong to Building Code Organizations and/or are they certified in building, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical areas, to ensure that work on the home was done in accordance with the current building code? (This is especially true for newer construction since Florida has been under three completely different building codes in the past seven years!)
• What professional associations and organizations do they belong to? The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) is the oldest and most respected organization in the United States. Its members agree to inspect to a recognized Standard of Practice and to adhere to a Code of Ethics. Don’t even think of using someone who is not a member of ASHI. Read more about ASHI at www.ashi.org.

• What standards do you use for inspecting? Many inspectors do not use a formally recognized Standard of Practice. The ASHI Standard of Practice is the most widely used and recognized. Many States that have adopted Home Inspection/Inspector laws have adopted these standards.

• How is the report prepared? Handwritten, computerized, can it be e-mailed? When will the report be available? Are pictures taken and included?
• How long will the inspection take? (Anything less than 2 and a half or 3 hours on an average size house is not sufficient and larger or older homes will take longer!)

• Who will perform the inspection? If you call XYZ Company, they probably have employees who are trainees or apprentices. The multi-inspector company’s owner may have a long list of qualifications but the company owner probably won’t do your inspection, so what are the qualifications of the inspector that’s being dispatched to do YOUR inspection??

In the process of buying a home there are many stressful and time-constrained situations that come up. If you take time to choose your Home Inspector, with a personal interview and a review of his qualifications, you will benefit greatly from making an informed choice.