Thread: Distinguished Inspector Society

My weekend is going great, thank you for asking.

By your tone Russell, much better than yours.

Funny, I do not remember him at any of the hearings or meetings either Jerry. But then I did miss one. He thinks their $20,000 bill (a year for just one year) gets covered by the measly $4,500. Plus we have to add the other years of course that they paid nothing and road on our backs and money from all the good home inspectors in this State.

Not real sure what any of his ranting's have to do with the thread? Maybe it is that JB guy in disguise, or Nicky's other son. Just another one of those guys that does not post anything of value or answer any technical questions for other home inspectors, just lurks looking to put people down and argue with BS, or just likes to hear himself talk. We must of really got his goat. Some people will bitch if they get hung with a new rope.

DIS indeed! Highest Quality Inspectors indeed!

My 17 year old girl uses that "OMG". Did not know grown ups talked like that. Do you have a Tmblr site too?

Originally Posted by Russell Hensel

The posts I made about Inspection Depot who screwed over home owner and Inspectors alike are they not getting sued? Isn't it a class action lawsuit?

Law360, New York (April 19, 2013, 8:20 PM ET) -- A Florida federal judge Friday shot down a proposed class action accusing of raising premiums through faulty wind mitigation inspections, finding that homeowner plaintiffs' parameters for class size were too broad and failed to prove that the class shared common injuries under the alleged unfair insurance hikes.

U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks declined to certify a class of more than 89,000 customers, finding that plaintiffs failed to present enough evidence to show that customers were tricked into paying higher premiums. Plaintiffs presented information indicating that these customers collectively saw $73 million in increased premiums, but failed to link this to claims of deceit, the judge said.

NOPE, THEY ARE NOT GETTING SUED! NOPE, IT IS NOT A CLASS ACTION SUIT! Do you know what the word "libel" means? ID was never named in the suit papers at all.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled TV show.

Originally Posted by JeffGHooper

Funny, I do not remember him at any of the hearings or meetings either Jerry. But then I did miss one. He thinks their $20,000 bill (a year for just one year) gets covered by the measly $4,500. Plus we have to add the other years of course that they paid nothing and road on our backs and money from all the good home inspectors in this State.

Jeff,

If he and the other inspectors over there on the west coast of Florida really wanted a good licensing law, they should have spoken up when it was offered - but they didn't, and now the law is what it is and they don't like it.

I still think that the bill modeled after the contractors law would have been the best for the profession, elevated the inspections - and for those inspectors who wanted to take advantage of the higher tiers of licensing - the best for inspectors as they would have had real credentials.

One more thread for me to no longer have to spend time reading or replying to.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Jeff,

If he and the other inspectors over there on the west coast of Florida really wanted a good licensing law, they should have spoken up when it was offered - but they didn't, and now the law is what it is and they don't like it.

I still think that the bill modeled after the contractors law would have been the best for the profession, elevated the inspections - and for those inspectors who wanted to take advantage of the higher tiers of licensing - the best for inspectors as they would have had real credentials.

One more thread for me to no longer have to spend time reading or replying to.

Agreed. Waste of time.

Jeff are you saying here that Inspection Depot is NOT getting sued for ripping off Home Inspectors? One of my friends received a subpoena Friday for this exact circumstance. Are you saying that it is not true?

What you guys don't get is you keep mentioning a "Good Law", well written. It seems for the past 15 years you have been telling the DBPR we need a law. It has been me saying WE DON'T NEED to be licensed. Being licensed has protected no one, and give me an intelligent kid and 15 days and I can get him/her to pass that test and complete all the online classes. Boom, instant State Licensed Home Inspector! You actually HURT the public and the profession and admittingly have been doing so for the past 15 years!

So now you created a situation where the public feels that people are qualified to perform Home Inspections based on a piece of paper. It has been my point and view to NEVER have licensing. All it does is adds another bureaucratic BS, where people tell you how to run your business and what you can and can't do.

All you guys did was fight for Lawyers and yourself to have job security. You admit lawsuits are on the rise. It is BECAUSE of licensing. Not because of poor quality, not because of people getting ripped off. It is because the license and requirements now let every attorney know that we have insurance. And once insurance is involved, it matters not if the inspector made a mistake or not. They will sue, just because they HAVE insurance and they will cost the insurance companies money, just because most will settle out of court, not to incur the expense of a lawyer.

You guys are way to smart not to see this, and yet you deny it and then tell us you have been fighting FOR licensing for the past 15 years. Maybe you never saw us, because you only sought people who were FOR licensing.

Jeff has us confused with another group. We owe no one nothing. As a matter of fact, if he thinks we were part of NACHI we were not. We did not support the "coalition" or its view. The last year we paid our $5,000 to Wayne Bertsch out of our own pockets. I now see where the "coalition" was getting its guidelines from.

I will say it over and over, those who wanted licensing could not create a viable business based on skills, professionalism and needed a piece of paper to fool everyone. Those who could create a viable business, did so and the licensing means nothing but MORE BS to deal with.

Because now the consumer is duped into thinking that paper makes you "QUALIFIED" to inspect a home when actually it only makes you licensed. So for the past 15 years you have been working to screw over the Home Inspector, the Home Inspection Profession, and the public all at once, while creating a nice niche on the litigation side of things. Because litigation is the ONLY thing that has won with licensing.

Congrats you accomplished your job, you got us licensed. Now that it sucks, you want to say it wasn't written your way. Man, you guys kill me. You worked hard to get us licensed and now that it sucks, you want to point a finger elsewhere.

Keep up the good work guys and the super hard work for the past 15 years. Having screwed over everyone except litigation specialists and lawyers. Gee, I wonder why insurance rates for Home Inspectors has gone up?....Look at these two guys, they worked hard screwing you over.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Jeff,

....
I still think that the bill modeled after the contractors law would have been the best for the profession, elevated the inspections .....

Interesting I proposed the same to a certain group and they hated the idea. One of the reasons we stopped participating with that group.

The other that should be perfectly clear, home inspectors don't want to work together, until they do the profession will have issues. There is not enough of us to fragment.

While all this bickering about who wrote the best bill, did the best thing for Fla, et al. is almost entertaining, it has nothing to do with the original post.

Ok, here is what I have been able to glean from the above ranting...

There is a new club. Apparently they are not soliciting new members but are accepting applications. They are willing to discuss the club on the phone but the website should not be trusted according to an inside member. They have a logo but are not advertising it. General consensus from posters here is the logo is not well liked. The club seems to be more of a referral source when clients need an inspector out of your normal operating area. The clubs goals seem to be to promote cross pollination between local inspectors for mutual improvement through active and consistent peer review. Membership is restricted to a few in a specific area. Kind like the masons, Ask 1 to Be 1. Openly secret and defensive.

Not sure why an organization would not be wiling to provide a basic paragraph overview of the stated goals for public consumption. Oh well. Don't need another stinking badge. Or is it I don't need ANY stinking badges..

- - - Updated - - -

While all this bickering about who wrote the best bill, did the best thing for Fla, et al. is almost entertaining, it has nothing to do with the original post.

Ok, here is what I have been able to glean from the above ranting...

There is a new club. Apparently they are not soliciting new members but are accepting applications. They are willing to discuss the club on the phone but the website should not be trusted according to an inside member. They have a logo but are not advertising it. General consensus from posters here is the logo is not well liked. The club seems to be more of a referral source when clients need an inspector out of your normal operating area. The clubs goals seem to be to promote cross pollination between local inspectors for mutual improvement through active and consistent peer review. Membership is restricted to a few in a specific area. Kind like the masons, Ask 1 to Be 1. Openly secret and defensive.

Not sure why an organization would not be wiling to provide a basic paragraph overview of the stated goals for public consumption. Oh well. Don't need another stinking badge. Or is it I don't need ANY stinking badges..

Originally Posted by Bruce Ramsey

While all this bickering about who wrote the best bill, did the best thing for Fla, et al. is almost entertaining, it has nothing to do with the original post.

Ok, here is what I have been able to glean from the above ranting...

There is a new club. Apparently they are not soliciting new members but are accepting applications. They are willing to discuss the club on the phone but the website should not be trusted according to an inside member. They have a logo but are not advertising it. General consensus from posters here is the logo is not well liked. The club seems to be more of a referral source when clients need an inspector out of your normal operating area. The clubs goals seem to be to promote cross pollination between local inspectors for mutual improvement through active and consistent peer review. Membership is restricted to a few in a specific area. Kind like the masons, Ask 1 to Be 1. Openly secret and defensive.

Not sure why an organization would not be wiling to provide a basic paragraph overview of the stated goals for public consumption. Oh well. Don't need another stinking badge. Or is it I don't need ANY stinking badges..

- - - Updated - - -

While all this bickering about who wrote the best bill, did the best thing for Fla, et al. is almost entertaining, it has nothing to do with the original post.

Ok, here is what I have been able to glean from the above ranting...

There is a new club. Apparently they are not soliciting new members but are accepting applications. They are willing to discuss the club on the phone but the website should not be trusted according to an inside member. They have a logo but are not advertising it. General consensus from posters here is the logo is not well liked. The club seems to be more of a referral source when clients need an inspector out of your normal operating area. The clubs goals seem to be to promote cross pollination between local inspectors for mutual improvement through active and consistent peer review. Membership is restricted to a few in a specific area. Kind like the masons, Ask 1 to Be 1. Openly secret and defensive.

Not sure why an organization would not be wiling to provide a basic paragraph overview of the stated goals for public consumption. Oh well. Don't need another stinking badge. Or is it I don't need ANY stinking badges..

I think that pretty much covers it, except for the little Wizard behind the curtain, Nathan….. He is basically competing with all of the home inspector associations. He even started his own "Certified" designation. I wonder how long it will be until the organizations he need to support his business discover this. Seems like he is biting the hands that feed him.

In Florida ALL home inspectors are Certified Home Inspectors. All our licenses state (Certified, fill in the blank)

468.8319 Prohibitions; penalties.—
Effective July 1, 2011, use the name or title “certified home inspector,” “registered home inspector,” “licensed home inspector,” “home inspector,” “professional home inspector,” or any combination thereof unless the person has complied with the provisions of this part.

LOL

Originally Posted by JeffGHooper

In Florida ALL home inspectors are Certified Home Inspectors. All our licenses state (Certified, fill in the blank)

468.8319 Prohibitions; penalties.—
Effective July 1, 2011, use the name or title “certified home inspector,” “registered home inspector,” “licensed home inspector,” “home inspector,” “professional home inspector,” or any combination thereof unless the person has complied with the provisions of this part.

LOL

Jeff,

I've been accused of being "certifiable" ... does that count?

Originally Posted by Russell Hensel

Jeff the offer is very kind, but from my perspective this is how I see things.

Reading all the BS and these guys sitting around, having a circle jerk and bragging about how big their package is, is mind boggling.

One thing I can see, is that, Hooper is a Cancer to the Home Inspection Profession. He said he retired in 1996. OK, then why come into a profession, you have no intention of participating in and no intention of doing ANYTHING in, except being part of the “expert witness” profession.

So you were instrumental in writing the Home Inspection Law. Because you said "it was gong to happen anyway". I think you also said, just get it in, we will change it later. How has that worked out for us so far? How has it “protected the public”? Wait, we didn’t have to pay our licensing fee’s this year because THERE WAS NOTHING TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM!

As I follow the bread crumbs, I see this, by your own admission. Lawsuits are up! How in the hell can we have all this education, all of this “comradery” all of you super studs leading the Home Inspection industry and lawsuits are up? How?

My inclination is that YOU WANTED it this way. Who in the hell makes money on lawsuits? Lawyers and expert witnesses. Well, I will be damned this guy who fought so damn hard on getting us licensed and never bothered to even get the license himself, is now raking in the money on the “lawsuits”.

I think this was the plan from the get go.

Lawyers know everyone has to have a minimum of insurance and they know when cases get filed, about 80% if not more, get settled out of court. So now we have Home Inspectors who work damn hard, are now getting sued, more than ever. Thanks Hoop! I would agree lawsuits are up, but how many are VALID lawsuits, that is the question. How many are just people who are idiots and expect the Home Inspection was a 50 year warranty on the house? Rising lawsuits are not the issue, VALID lawsuits are. So now because of you we have hard working professionals, losing their hard earned money, defending themselves, against a bogus claim.

Congrats...you plan is working, but only for you and lawyers. It does and never did anything for the profession.

Hey, when the construction board filed a Declaratory statement saying that all contractors can "inspect homes" without using any SOP, having any contract, having any requirements as to what they do...where were you? O' hell, your a contractor without a Home Inspector license, performing Home Inspections. I guess why would you fight that? So you pigeon holed my profession why you gave your free reign to do whatever you want. Thanks again, super stud.

Man, I would have thought people to be smarter than this, but I guess I was wrong. They let the wolf in the hen house. Just boggles my mind how people don’t see this stuff.
Well Hooper, congrats on screwing over an industry your not even part of and haven’t been for over 20 years. How about you just retire, like you said your did and stop with all the pseudo credentials that one can get with about 30 days of spare time and reading books. You’re like the guy who plasters his NACHI diplomas all over the place and gives a few talks here and there and thinks he is “super stud” out to save the world.

That’s my view on it and given the facts, it is pretty indisputable. Has anyone seen a super huge spike in business because they have a piece of paper? My clients don’t use me because I am licensed, they use me for the service.

Thanks Jeff Hopper, you should be the bud light Real Men of Genius commercial.

Thanks for the offer of the "affidavit", kinda funny you used that word...but when you sucking the milk from my brothers, then I guess you would use law terms.

BTW...have a super weekend!

I need to make a statement here, I bit my tongue on this issue long enough.

Everything I write from the rest of this post is my actual personal experience with both Jeff and Jerry who have had profound and life-changing consequences on my inspection carrer.

For a FACT I know there is no greater stewards to the home inspection industry than Jeff and Jerry, they have both bent over backwards and given their all to those willing to listen and ready to learn. I communicate with both of these gentlemen almost daily on issues relating to my inspections, code questions, guidance on client relations, and especially help with all things related to home inspections.

When I started in the business, I was your typical $300 home inspector working my behind off to appease realtors for the next referral. something I hated and quickly grew to disslike. Through Jeff's guidance and help my inspections start at 3 times that for an average structure, and at every step of the way Jeff and Jerry have been willing to help....7 days a week.

I have seen both Jeff and Jerry do this with other inspectors, not just me. They do this free of charge and their guidance and help is invaluable! It is through my personal relations with these gentlemen that I say you are dead wrong, and haven't really been right yet. I'm not sure where you are getting your information from.....but you should check your source as nothing could be more inaccurate than your description of both Jeff and Jerry.