I recently attended the annual Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors (CAHPI) National Conference in Montreal, and can tell you about several changes in the home-inspection industry and their effects on inspectors and homeowners.
As I've said many times in this space, there is little regulation or government intervention in the home-inspection industry in Canada. The only exception is in British Columbia, where the provincial government enacted legislation for licensing of inspectors last spring.
While B.C. has wisely decided to allow only accredited members of three established organizations to obtain licences, it's created some challenges for these three groups. It appears licensing in this manner has become a bit of a double-edged sword for the two accredited CAHPI organizations. Both CAHPI-BC and the National Certification Program for Home Inspectors (NCP), administered by CAHPI National, were granted status for their accredited members to obtain licences to practise. This means the government of B.C. has determined the rigour involved in the certification processes of both these groups is of the highest standard.
One concern is that this recognition has a time limit, and both groups will likely have to modify their requirements if they wish to enjoy accredited status in the future. Hopefully, the trend will be to increase the rigour of certification models rather than lower standards to be more inclusive to less-qualified inspectors, as has happened in several American states.
The other side of the coin is that, currently, candidates within the NCP may have not met all formal requirements to become a National Certificate Holder, but are still eligible for licensing. This is not the case with CAHPI-BC, as that provincial body now has the right to decide whether only Registered Home Inspectors (RHI) or all practising inspectors under their umbrella are competent enough to receive a licence.
This opens up the possibility less-experienced inspectors may try to take a shortcut to licensing by signing up for the NCP, but not completing the formal testing process for some time.
The challenge for the immediate future is for the directors of CAHPI-BC and the NCP to come up with modifications or solutions that will allow both certification processes to remain rigorous enough to meet government scrutiny but not create a competitive atmosphere.
If either or both groups fail to address this issue, the B.C. government may not grant them status for licensing when the program is reviewed in the next year or so.
After the conclusion of the national conference in Montreal, a meeting was held between the CAHPI national board of directors and the NCP board, the National Certification Authority (NCA), to address this and other issues surrounding our industry. As a director representing CAHPI-MB, I attended the meeting and was pleased to see positive progress toward changing aspects of both certification models, which may have an impact on licensing in other jurisdictions in the future.
To date, there are at least three or four other provinces actively looking at enacting legislation for licensing of home inspectors, and all are watching the B.C. situation very closely.
There is currently no active dialogue underway between CAHPI-MB and the Manitoba government, other than several informational mailings sent to officials over the last couple of years. This is due to the small size of our association in relation to those in other provinces and our limited resources. I'm confident this lack of communication will change, perhaps dramatically, as other provinces move forward with licensing.
So, what does this mean for consumers in Manitoba? Right now, it means buyer beware, because anyone with a flashlight and a ladder can call themselves a home inspector.
Homebuyers should be leery of bogus "certifications" by marketing groups or franchises masquerading as professional associations. The only protection homebuyers have against hiring an unqualified pretender is to ask if an inspector is a member of CAHPI Manitoba and a Registered Home Inspector (RHI). All RHIs have passed difficult exams, had their reports verified to meet the CAHPI Standards of Practice, and done a minimum of 250 inspections governed by those standards.
National Certificate Holders have met criteria similar to RHIs but have completed a minimum of 150 inspections and have successfully completed a Test Inspection with Peer Review (TIPR) in place of written exams. The TIPR is a mock inspection performed in front of experienced examiners and is a true test of competency and knowledge.
If your inspector is both an RHI and a National Certificate Holder, you can be assured you are hiring a thoroughly tested individual. Until our provincial government deems it necessary to increase consumer protection and license home inspectors in Manitoba, there are only two questions to ask: Are you an RHI and/or a National Certificate Holder?
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and President of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors - Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to trainedeye@iname.com. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358, or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
