Originally Posted by
M Kelekci
I don't know anyhing about FEMA funded inspections. Attending the workshop is the first step I am taking.
That's a good place to start.
The kind of work we are talking about is FEMA's IHP (Individuals & Households Program). In this program FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) offers assistance to people for, among other things, damages to their primary residence and essential personal property. FEMA disaster inspectors are assigned inspections in their assigned area. The inspector will contact his applicants, schedule apointments and make site visits to inspect the property for damages as well as collect information and get signatures from the applicants.
The workshop covers some of the basic information and data FEMA needs.
Originally Posted by
M Kelekci
I am not sure If there is anything in it for me. I am kind of a new home inspector. ( I have been in construction/real estate for 10 years though).
That is very good experience for this work. You don't have to be a home inspector to be a FEMA disaster inspector (but I think it helps). If you know the difference between a rafter and a soffit you will move to the head of your class.
A FEMA disaster inspection is very different from a typical home inspection. FEMA is not interested in ALL the damages to the home and personal property. They are primarily concerned with "essential" rooms - bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living room - and damages to other areas that may affect the essential areas as well as "essential" personal property.
A typical disaster inspection will take about 30 minutes; some take only 10 minutes (generator only, Not Primary Residence, Withdrawn, etc.) while some may take close to an hour (when you have to spec out a severely damaged house that is not quite "destroyed").
Originally Posted by
M Kelekci
Is there any fee involved in this kind of inspections?
The applicant does not pay anything. FEMA pays you for each inspection. (Actually, FEMA pays the contractor who in turn pays you.) Currently PB pays $48 per inspection. PaRR may pay a bit more per inspection but you have to weigh that against how much work you can do with the way they assign work.
You should be able to easily do 6 to 8 inspections a day. Once you get comfortable with scheduling and doing the work and learning your way around your assigned area you should be able to do 10 to 12 or more inspections a day.
Originally Posted by
M Kelekci
What happens after first workshop?
First you have to submit your fingerprints and complete a lengthy questionaire for an FBI background check. (FEMA pays for everything.)
You will be issued an inspector number. FEMA assigns the numbers, not the contractors.
Assuming all goes well the contractor (PB or PaRR) will place you at the bottom of their list of available inspectors. With only basic training and no experience you will be behind all the other inspectors with more training and experience.
Guess who gets called first for a disaster. That's right - those guys with more experience. So how will you ever get the call to be deployed so you can get some experience and move up the ladder? There are two main ways:
1) To be needed for a disaster none of the experienced inspectors want to work, e.g., West Virginia flooding.
2) A scenario where all available inspectors are needed, e.g., four hurricanes striking Florida in 2004 or the massive destruction caused by Katrina and Rita in 2005.
Originally Posted by
M Kelekci
Just out of curiosity, how can one hitch his wagon to PB?
800-411-1177 or
PB Inspections
There are a few more things you should know before you decide to pursue this. This work is not for everyone.
You will be an independent contractor. You determine when to start and stop working each day. There is no one looking over your shoulder so you have to motivate yourself to work. The more you work the more you make.
Most inspectors will start work early, work through lunch and work until almost dark before stopping for supper. In the evening you will be on the phone contacting your applicants and scheduling your appointments for the next day. Plus there is a fair amount of paperwork that needs to be done periodically.
PB will pay your travel to and from the disaster field office. You are responsible for EVERYTHING else - rental car, fuel, lodging, food, cell phone, postage. Daily expenses are usually between $100 and $150 per day, every day whether you are working or not. If you can do 12 inspections at $48 each ($576) and your expenses are $150 you can clear $426 a day. That's $3,000 a week. Before taxes.
You are responsible for paying your taxes.
You will be working in a disaster area. Lodging may be difficult to find. After a hurricane many motels may be damaged. Utilities may be out. Combine the loss of rooms with the increased demand for rooms (displaced residents, Red Cross workers, utility crews, tree trimmers, roofers, insurance adjusters, FEMA, FEMA disaster inspectors, media, etc.) and it may be impossible to find a room in your assigned area so you may have to commute an hour each way every day. If you are lucky you may find a fleabag motel to stay in until something better opens up. (I still have bad dreams about Motel Hell in Pennsacola after Hurricane Ivan.) Or you may have to settle for a bunk at a National Guard armory somewhere.
You may be stuck some small town where the only places to eat are McDonald's, Hardee's and a truck stop.
You will be going into damaged houses, many of which are full of rotting fish and animals (after a hurricane surge), rotting food in refrigerators and freezers and rotting clothes and carpets. (Some of the worst-smelling houses are that way naturally. The residents are just slobs.) You will be stepping over collapsed ceilings (sheetrock and insulation) and walking through mud.
Some areas are impossibly hot and humid with tons of mosquitoes and huge snakes. Inspecting a water-soaked house with no electricity (hence no air conditioning) in South Florida in August is not a pleasant task.
You will be dealing with highly-emotional people who have recently experienced a traumatic event.
Due to the nature of the work you will primarily be dealing with people on the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder.
Many people think FEMA is insurance. The truth is FEMA will not restore anyone's home to its pre-disaster condition. The IHP is a band-aid program designed to help people repair their home to a safe, sanitary and secure condition. Period. You will need good people skills to convey the message to your applicants that FEMA is not going to take care of all the damages not covered by insurance or that FEMA will not pay their insurance deductible or that FEMA will not replace their destroyed pool cover (not essential). Sometimes it is best to not explain this bad news and let the app find out when they get their rejection letter from FEMA (when you are long gone).
Fraud is rampant. You will probably be the only person representing FEMA to visit the app's house so it is up to you to accurately describe damages and to obtain other information FEMA needs to determine an app's eligibility for assistance. If you suspect fraud you should report the info to FEMA's Inspector General.
Invest in a GPS. You will be able to more than pay for it if you only do 10 or 12 more inspections in a single deployment. A GPS will practically take you to your applicant's doorstep so you don't have to constantly pull off the road to look at a map. If you need to return to an address (e.g., app was not home) simply save the location and the GPS will recall the location with the click of a button or two. Think of the advantage you will have if you are deployed to a location where the street signs have been blown down; you don't need street signs if you have a GPS.
Like I said before - this work is not for everyone. It is hard, grueling work. The pay can be good. Plus, if you are so inclined, you get a good feeling from helping a truly needy applicant get all the help they are entitled to.