Michael P. O'Handley
09-01-2009, 04:23 PM
Experienced Washington State Inspectors, did you make the deadline to be grandfathered and to receive your new home inspector's license? If you are an experienced home inspector reading this and your first response is, "What the...?" You're not going to be happy with what I have to tell you - you've missed the boat.
Here's why:
During the transition period as licensing is phased in there are three categories of inspectors.
Very new inspectors - Those who hadn't actively performed home inspections on or before June 12, 2008.
Newer inspectors - Those that had less than 2 years in the profession and fewer than 100 home inspections completed as of June 12, 2008.
Experienced inspectors - Those with at least 100 home inspections and proof of having been in the business for 2 years before the effective date of the law, June 12, 2008.
To be grandfathered, an experienced inspector had to prove to DOL that he or she had completed more than 100 inspections and been in the business at least two years prior to June 12, 2008. Once the experienced inspector had proven that to DOL, the inspector was allowed to be licensed by merely passing the National Home Inspector exam and a Washington State Home Inspectors' Exam.
If an "experienced" inspector hadn't met all of the grandfathering requirements by today, the inspector essentially lost his or her "experienced" status and is now relegated to the ranks of the "newer" inspectors; as such, the inspector has until July 1, 2010 to complete all requirements that "newer" inspectors and "very new" inspectors must meet.
Sucks, doesn't it? Nonetheless, it's now the law.
Something else took place last night at midnight, if you are a "very new" inspector in Washington state, and you haven't yet completed all of the training and experience requirements, you must shut down operations immediatley until you've met all licensing requirements. Fail to do that and get caught, and you're subject to a significant civil fine levied by the Department of Licensing.
Is this going to change the face of home inspections in Washington State overnight? No, absolutely not. "Experienced" inspectors and "newer" inspectors are still allowed to practice during the transition period between now and July 1, 2010; they just aren't allowed to advertise or hold themselves out to be "licensed" inspectors. However, if they haven't completed the requirements by then, they must shut down their operations until their license has been issued.
There is actually one other significant change that took place last night at midnight; that's the fact that all inspectors in the state now have to comply with the new state standard of practice and code of ethics and must have pre-inspection contracts with specific language and must keep copies of records pertaining to their home inspection business for 3 years because the state has the right to audit them. That's pretty significant, because up until now inspectors who were members of various competing organizations only inspected to their own association's standard of practice, which the state could not enforce.
Now, even independents - those inspectors that aren't members of any organization and make up about 2/3 of all inspectors in Washington state - are required to follow the new Washington State Home Inspectors' Standard of Practice and comply with all other administrative procedures required by the new law.
Today there are inspectors in Washington State that are breathing a sigh of relief because they got everything done in time and now have their license. However, there have also been some inspectors who called DOL or showed up in Olympia today very upset, claiming that they never heard anything about the law because the DOL had never sent them a written notice telling them that they had to be licensed.
Hmm, there was no license for home inspectors, therefore there were no records of home inspectors. Exactly was DOL to do that when they didn't know who all of those persons were? Here it is, fully 3 years after the Senator that sponsored that bill and put the handwriting for licensing on the wall, since we in the business all began talking about licensing, and fully 17 months after the law passed out of the legislature and was signed by the Governor. Since that time there have been dozens of board meetings, public legislative hearings and a representative from DOL even spent a week traveling around the state to deliver the message that licensing was on the horizon. It's pretty hard to believe that anyone in the business couldn't possibly have known about these changes.
So, what are the "requirements" that an experienced inspector must meet if he or she missed last night's deadline? they're not pretty, those inspectors not have exactly 10 months left from today to complete a 120-hour state-approved Fundamentals of Home Inspection course, do 40 hours of supervised inspections under the watchful eye of a licensed inspectors, while writing not less than 5 inspection reports, and then they'll need to take and pass both the National Home Inspection Exam and the Washington Home Inspector's Exam before they'll be issued a license.
What happens if they miss that second deadline? Miss the second deadline and those inspectors be forced to shut your doors on July 2, 2010 until they've completed all of the training requirements, been tested and have received their license.
So, did you make the deadline?
ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
Mike O'Handley, LHI#202
Your Inspector LLC.
Kenmore, Washington
Here's why:
During the transition period as licensing is phased in there are three categories of inspectors.
Very new inspectors - Those who hadn't actively performed home inspections on or before June 12, 2008.
Newer inspectors - Those that had less than 2 years in the profession and fewer than 100 home inspections completed as of June 12, 2008.
Experienced inspectors - Those with at least 100 home inspections and proof of having been in the business for 2 years before the effective date of the law, June 12, 2008.
To be grandfathered, an experienced inspector had to prove to DOL that he or she had completed more than 100 inspections and been in the business at least two years prior to June 12, 2008. Once the experienced inspector had proven that to DOL, the inspector was allowed to be licensed by merely passing the National Home Inspector exam and a Washington State Home Inspectors' Exam.
If an "experienced" inspector hadn't met all of the grandfathering requirements by today, the inspector essentially lost his or her "experienced" status and is now relegated to the ranks of the "newer" inspectors; as such, the inspector has until July 1, 2010 to complete all requirements that "newer" inspectors and "very new" inspectors must meet.
Sucks, doesn't it? Nonetheless, it's now the law.
Something else took place last night at midnight, if you are a "very new" inspector in Washington state, and you haven't yet completed all of the training and experience requirements, you must shut down operations immediatley until you've met all licensing requirements. Fail to do that and get caught, and you're subject to a significant civil fine levied by the Department of Licensing.
Is this going to change the face of home inspections in Washington State overnight? No, absolutely not. "Experienced" inspectors and "newer" inspectors are still allowed to practice during the transition period between now and July 1, 2010; they just aren't allowed to advertise or hold themselves out to be "licensed" inspectors. However, if they haven't completed the requirements by then, they must shut down their operations until their license has been issued.
There is actually one other significant change that took place last night at midnight; that's the fact that all inspectors in the state now have to comply with the new state standard of practice and code of ethics and must have pre-inspection contracts with specific language and must keep copies of records pertaining to their home inspection business for 3 years because the state has the right to audit them. That's pretty significant, because up until now inspectors who were members of various competing organizations only inspected to their own association's standard of practice, which the state could not enforce.
Now, even independents - those inspectors that aren't members of any organization and make up about 2/3 of all inspectors in Washington state - are required to follow the new Washington State Home Inspectors' Standard of Practice and comply with all other administrative procedures required by the new law.
Today there are inspectors in Washington State that are breathing a sigh of relief because they got everything done in time and now have their license. However, there have also been some inspectors who called DOL or showed up in Olympia today very upset, claiming that they never heard anything about the law because the DOL had never sent them a written notice telling them that they had to be licensed.
Hmm, there was no license for home inspectors, therefore there were no records of home inspectors. Exactly was DOL to do that when they didn't know who all of those persons were? Here it is, fully 3 years after the Senator that sponsored that bill and put the handwriting for licensing on the wall, since we in the business all began talking about licensing, and fully 17 months after the law passed out of the legislature and was signed by the Governor. Since that time there have been dozens of board meetings, public legislative hearings and a representative from DOL even spent a week traveling around the state to deliver the message that licensing was on the horizon. It's pretty hard to believe that anyone in the business couldn't possibly have known about these changes.
So, what are the "requirements" that an experienced inspector must meet if he or she missed last night's deadline? they're not pretty, those inspectors not have exactly 10 months left from today to complete a 120-hour state-approved Fundamentals of Home Inspection course, do 40 hours of supervised inspections under the watchful eye of a licensed inspectors, while writing not less than 5 inspection reports, and then they'll need to take and pass both the National Home Inspection Exam and the Washington Home Inspector's Exam before they'll be issued a license.
What happens if they miss that second deadline? Miss the second deadline and those inspectors be forced to shut your doors on July 2, 2010 until they've completed all of the training requirements, been tested and have received their license.
So, did you make the deadline?
ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
Mike O'Handley, LHI#202
Your Inspector LLC.
Kenmore, Washington