It never bothered me but the masses have spoken and gotten a controversial section of the NAHI COE changed in regard to HIs performing repairs on properties they inspected. I received the following in an e-mail from NAHI today:

"After analyzing the results of the membership survey pertaining to our members thoughts and actions with Code of Ethics #6, the code has been revised to read as follows, "An Inspector shall not, directly or indirectly and for compensation, perform repairs on or recommend contractors to perform repairs on any component or system included in the inspection under the NAHI Standards of Practice. An Inspector may recommend or offer ancillary inspection services." All electronic and paper documents will be updated to reflect this change. Click this link to see the full NAHI Code of Ethics: http://www.nahi.org/NAHI-web-code-of-ethics.pdf"

Some people may see this change as a big step in the right direction but it is small peanuts to me. Now if the major HI organizations could include prohibition of realtor referrals in their COE, then we'd be getting somewhere. But that is a pipe dream.

Good for them, I see it as positive move, once all of the associations are on the same page in regards to working on inspected properties it will only leave the independents who will be offering value-added repairs.

I don't know that I entirely agree on this. While I definately consider it a conflict of interest to perform repairs or recommend companies that pay the inspector a referral fee, I don't know that I would agree that it is a conflict of interest to recommend good contractors. I have several contractors that I refer when asked "who do you know" and I always let them know that I refer them based on the opinion of previous clients or personal experience and I do not receive any type of compensation for these referrals. I also let them know that if they decide to use their service and are not 100% satisfied with the service, they should let me know so I can stop referring that contractor. One unhappy client means I won't ever refer that contractor again. What is the ethical problem with what I am doing and if someone can convince me that it is unethical, I'll stop, but I just don't see it. Help me understand.

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I'd rather be catching a big ole Redfish!

Because many who refer contractors receive kick backs from those contractors.

Bad apples spoil the entire bunch.

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )
EastWestData (www.EastWestData.com )

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