News Release

RESPONDS TO FALSE POST ON INTERNACHI MESSAGE BOARD


May 7, 2008, Palatine, IL – A recent post on the InterNACHI message board has proven false, according to Pearson VUE, Inc., psychometric contractor for the National Home Inspector Examination.

On April 10, 2008, a claim was made that a group of questions and answers was available from the actual National Home Inspector Examination. Later, a group of home inspection-related questions and answers were posted on the InterNACHI message board. After investigation, the material has proven to be from sources OTHER THAN the NHIE’s question and answer item bank.

The Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors ensures that the NHIE is both valid and reliable, two qualities required for legal defensibility. Development, maintenance and administration – including security measures – adhere to accepted psychometric standards. Test takers can be confident that their score is reliable due to the test security measures EBPHI employs.

For further information about preparing the exam, please visit our website at www.homeinspectionexam.org.

You just might want to post this on the NACHI board seeing as how this appears to be a language dispute between NHIE & NACHI whose outcome will most likely not change anyone's opinion one way or the other.

How was it proven that the material was not from the NHIE?

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Joseph P. Hagarty
Main Line Inspections, Inc.
http://www.householdinspector.com

This was posted on TIJ.

May 10, 2008 - Seattle, WA
Recently, one of the ethics committee members of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (interNACHI) found himself in ethical hot water when he tried to discredit the National Home Inspector Exam (NHIE), owned by the Examining Board of Professional Home Inspectors (EBPHI).

James H. Bushart, proprietor of Home Inspection Services of Missouri, a St. Louis home inspection firm, initiated a post on the interNACHI public message board wherein he offered to provide to any requesting state legislator what he purported to be 980 actual questions and answers to the NHIE. The thread was entitled, 980 Questions/Answers to the NHIE....Free!. The post read in part,

"Are you dealing with a state legislature that might be seriously considering the NHIE as an entrance test for home inspectors? Have your favorite congressman email me and I will send him 980 questions and answers to the NHIE that was recently sent to me, as a free bonus, when I bought some practice questions for the ICC exam. I can prove to anyone who needs proof that the test has been compromised and that it....and its answers....are for sale on eBay."

Though, in the very next sentence Bushart said that he would not pass on the questions or answers directly to other inspectors due to ethical considerations, less than 15 posts later he agreed to send them to Frank Carrio, a New Hampshire inspector, who wanted to use them to discredit testimony made to New Hampshire legislators by Noel Zak, Executive Director of EBPHI.

The NHIE is used to ensure that home inspectors have basic competency at what they do by the majority of states that have some form of home inspector regulation. The questions and answers used in the NHIE are written by a committee of home inspectors from all parts of the continent and are reviewed independently by subject matter experts before they are used in the exam. To ensure security of the exam, inspectors taking the exam are not allowed to bring books, papers, or electronic devices of any sort into the exam room, are not permitted to copy questions or answers, and must agree not to divulge the questions or answers to anyone.

EBPHI takes a very dim view of home inspectors that claim to have the questions and answers to the NHIE and offer to distribute them to anyone. Consequently, on April 16th, Bushart posted to the same message board the contents of a demand letter sent to him by Barnes & Thornburg LLP, a Chicago law firm representing EBPHI. In that demand letter, Melissa A. Vallone, counsel for EBPHI, informed Bushart that his claim to have the questions and answers to the NHIE, and offer to distribute them, constituted "willful copyright infringement, as well as tortuous interference and unfair competition." Vallone demanded:

• A complete copy of the NHIE test questions which Bushart claimed to have;
• The immediate destruction of all copies of the NHIE test questions which Bushart claimed to have;
• The identifying information of the individuals who provided Bushart with the alleged copy of the NHIE test questions;
• An immediate post of the following message by Bushart to the interNACHI message board and any other place where Bushart had published that information:
  “Copies of the NHIE test will not be distributed. The NHIE test is the property of the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, Inc. (“EBPHI”) and is subject to copyright protection. I acknowledge that the NHIE test is not public domain material.”

Vallone warned that if Bushart did not agree in writing to those demands within five business days the firm would take "all necessary steps to fully protect EBPHI’s intellectual property and enforce its right".

Bushart soon changed his tune, stating in a subsequent post, "The testing material that I have does not actually say "NHIE" on it. It says "Questions and Answers from the ASHI NAHI Test". Perhaps ASHI and NAHI are using a different test these days, and I simply made an honest mistake in interpreting that as such."

It's clear that, despite his contention that he might have made an “honest mistake,” Bushart was knowingly being less than truthful when he’d offered to distribute the questions and omitted the true title of the documents; stating instead, "I will send him 980 questions and answers to the NHIE" and "I can prove to anyone who needs proof that the test has been compromised and that it....and its answers....are for sale on eBay."

When TIJ contacted EBPHI on April 17th to find out more about this issue, Ms. Zak and Scott Patterson, President of the EBPHI Board of Directors, confirmed that action was ongoing but declined to comment about the specifics. On May 7th, EBPHI issued a news release stating that, “the material has proven to be from sources OTHER THAN the NHIE’s question and answer item bank,” affirming that the security of their test questions and answers has not been compromised (See the press release).

As of this writing, it’s not known what, if any, actions EBPHI is considering against Bushart, for attempting to discredit EBPHI and impugn the integrity of the NHIE through false allegations.

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Bruce Ramsey
Advocate Inspections
www.NCAdvocate.com

I hope you licensing pushing exam peddlers didn't spend all the cash you presumed you were going to garner when the Governor signed Georgia home licensing bill HB 1217, because it appears he chose instead to promote & support the private sector and chose not to supplant the good work of the free market with taxpayer funds. Go figure?

Brian,

When did a "Exam" become qualified to become a member?

Joe.. Do you think the Govener will have 2nd thoughts when he recieves a letter stating congratulations he passed an online HI org membership quiz, or will he have them a few weeks later when he's also listed as a "Certified" home inspector in Ga.

Dan,

What I think is irrelevant, but since you asked... I think the Governor of Georgia is cognizant of the fact that an unencumbered free market is better able to insure that the best inspectors will continually compete in the marketplace to provide the highest quality service at the best price to the public, much better than the lame regulations which have plagued our profession from coast to coast. Thanks for the opportunity to share.

Joe.

I find this fascinating and revealing. The InterNACHI message board allows people to run off at the mouth freely. Even after the poster of that message acknowledged that he was mistaken about the source of the questions, you choose to issue press releases like this.

This type of conduct is unprofessional and so obviously political in nature. Everyone knows that you are free to confront anyone on that message board with the facts, yet you choose to swat a fly with a Nuke. What a silly and wasteful activity. Your presumtion that anybody gives a **** is enourmously amusing.

In my state, all home inspectors are required to take the NHIE and I can tell you that a good majority of inspectors here find the idea that the NHIE is "valid and reliable", to be laughable. The typical remark upon exiting the exam is "WTF was that?", or "That is suppose to be a home inspectors exam?"

Personally I have never seen an exam that was so off the mark and so overloaded with questions that have little to nothing to do with home inspection. I guess if you pack it with enough questions that no one needs or cares to know, you can disguise the small amount of questions that are seriously related to our industry, Many inspectors with a moderate amount of construction knowledge have guessed their way into passing the NHIE. Passing it is truly not in the least bit any indicator of competence.

Rather than running around tooting your own horn, it may be a good time to get back to the drawing board and develop a decent exam. I'll bet there is a hotbed of qualified inspectors over at InterNACHI that would be happy to lend a hand.

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David Nice
http://www.nationalcertified.com
National Certified Inspection Services, Inc.Wauwatosa, WI

[quote=David Nice;43914]I find this fascinating and revealing. The InterNACHI message board allows people to run off at the mouth freely. Even after the poster of that message acknowledged that he was mistaken about the source of the questions, you choose to issue press releases like this.

This type of conduct is unprofessional and so obviously political in nature. Everyone knows that you are free to confront anyone on that message board with the facts, yet you choose to swat a fly with a Nuke. What a silly and wasteful activity. Your presumtion that anybody gives a **** is enourmously amusing.


Enourmously amusing? and so obviously political in nature?
If you are operating a legit business, and another inspector knowingly lies about you, and discredits your business on an open to the public BB. An open board that is read by a few hundred inspectors, and thousands of spider thingies that go on millions of search engines, I suppose you would just sit back and not present your side.?

I love hypocrites. While Mr. Nice openly condemns the article regarding Mr. Busharts nefarious actions he glaring overlooks the other conflicts of interest, the corrupt actions of the ESOP, and the outright lies perpetrated by Nick Gromicko himself, and the abusive, unsolicited emails from ESOP members both private and posted on the open discussion board, no bylaws, no policies, no due process, and no elections. I have never seen such abusiveness in any of the professional bodies I have belonged to. The fact this type of activity is openly promoted speaks volumes as the character and make up of NACHI as a whole.

The latest gimmick is the issuance of the title "Certified" for all manner of one day courses!

The public would be well advised to steer clear of any NACHI inspector and the joke of a title Certified Master Inspector.

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Meyer

You never cease to amaze me with your skewed logic. You know nothing about association membership. Your repeated involvement with that mob mentality over on NACHI is pathetic given your pious posts here on this board. You have no concept of how a proper functioning body is to operate especially given your propensity to brag about your background. I would have thought someone with an economics degree would not be void of common sense, logic and ethical proprieties.

Other than providing nothing about yourself other than peripheral information I still call into question whether you are who you say you are other than for the opportunity to partake in the guttural, juvenile postings of a person serving on the Ethics Committee and then openly condoned by you and others and the leader himself Mr. Gromicko.

Meyer it is you who has chose to throw the first stone and make unsolicited comments only to serve your need to fill your own short comings.

Perhaps you would be better served to listen to those who have through experience both individually and collectively on this forum who at some point have been members of that circus NACHI and have found common ground to speak out about the travesty NACHI has become.

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Meyer don't preach to me. You cannot even be certain what you claim was in fact me. You're no better than the company you keep. Without doubt your pleadings show that you have no objectivity and that makes you an ideal candidate for Nachi, and instant expert, a newbie, with no inspection experience or knowledge to make informed decisions.

You can't even prove who you are so as to your credibility you are the one with the deficit.

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Meyer

Where do you get off, you have no proof, nothing. You only have your claims, thats it.
As for tomorrow do you really think I am concerned with the actions of a rogue who couldn't resist resurrecting the whole issue? Do you really think his actions are warranted, the proof suggest you are siding with the wrong party. I have been threatened by Mario Kryciacou and maliciously attacked by a wacko. Don't come here and stir the pot because you can't get a response over on NACHI, we know your intent.
You know squat and you don't even know the extent of malicious private emails Mr. K. has sent to me. But I guess you support that too, considering you have no proof to provide. Don't be so easily swayed by a mob, you are supposedly better than that.

I dare Mr. Kryciacou to send his emails to the parties he has listed, and don't think for a moment the door on that issue does not swing both ways. Mr. K has more to lose than I.

It is more clear to me now that you are not who you say you are! You are a hypocrite and you can't hide behind your false name any longer.

And by the way if I wish to hate Nachi and spew the truth thats not your problem and is none of your business considering you can't even muster membership.

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Meyer

Put your money where your mouth is! You have no proof, you have nothing but what you read!

Everyone knows if I have something to post I will do it under my own name, that record is evident repeatedly. If you choose to be ignorant as you continually prove thats your cross. Also I find it rather interesting that my posts and those of who you claim to be mine are conveniently removed while Mr. K's posts are left to show the contempt of NACHI's own rules. Considering his claims and his statements made on my behalf are outrageous not to mention the outright lies, that record is disgusting.

Stop preaching your brand of ethics we don't suffer fools gladly.

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Noted? By whom? By a wacko who is not to be believed? I didn't see anyone providing my IP address did you? I don't think so and if they did you would be able to post it.

As to your writing style it appears to me to be that of someone else I know who was quite a prolific writer and of the same ilk as Mr. K.

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Thats right you don't have any proof and amazingly its not the first time you have dwelled on misinformation. You should be sure to get your facts right.

As a reminder you also had no right to dump on Mrs. Cooke with your comments nor Mr. Cooke. Mrs. Cooke does not need to hear your myopic ill informed views on how to pick friends. They make their decisions without my input and for you to suggest otherwise is another attempt by you to make you look like your intelligent, well it backfired.

Little Boy's Club - InterNACHI Message Board

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