Did anyone else get this? No info as to who these folks are other than their name, and what they are doing with the info?
Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, an independent, nonprofit organization. EBPHI

I told them that there query for info was less than satisfactory!

__________________

Are inspection referrals from past clients important to you? If so, click here to get even more referrals!

EBPHI produces the National Home Inspector Exam (NHIE). It is used by 19 States for their licensing exam and by ASHI and AII for their membership exam.

It is a survey of the profession that will help EBPHI with future exams and projects that some of their clients are looking at.

__________________
Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

Hi,

If you are concerned about the profession, fill it out and send it in; it won't cost you anything except a few minutes of your time.

Who knows, you may even get a letter at some future point asking you if you'd like to participate in putting together a new version of the NHIE. If that happens, and you say yes and get picked, you'll get to hole up with a bunch of home inspectors and put together another iteration of the NHIE.

It would probably be very informative to be involved in that process and see how it actually works, versus listening to the wild assumptions about organizational conspiracies and such from Harvey Pussfart and other critics of the NHIE.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Yes Joe, ASHI does use the NHIE for their membership exam. So does AII and FABI.

NAHI also allows it for their membership exam as does your organization and that would be INACHI if I'm not mistaken.

__________________
Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

Personally, I thought the survey questions where well thought out and certainly may prove beneficial. Frankly I have no clue as to some folks hostility regarding the EBPHI?

__________________
Jerry McCarthy
Construction Consultant
www.expertbuildingconsultants.com

I found it rather strange that these folks would send out an survey with no introduction as to who it was or what it would be used for! How dumb is that?

I sent them back the survey with my comments about lack of introduction and so forth. As such it was treated exactly as spam. I imagine, considering the lack of info many people likely dumbed it.

Thanks for the answers.

cheers,

__________________

I think for a few it's because they have a beef with ASHI. For most it's a fear-based reaction. They simply are afraid they can't pass the test . . .

Aaron

Many surveys do not tell you the reason for it or give an introduction. It is done in this manner so that the response will be one that it not researched and most likely an honest opinion or answer to the question.

__________________
Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

Raymond,

With respect, you've been in the business since 1991; have you been in a coma or were you kidnapped and held off the planet by aliens since 1999? EBPHI has been around for nearly 9 years. I don't understand how anyone, who is an experienced inspector in this profession and actively interacts with other home inspectors couldn't know who EBPHI is. Didn't you recently quit the soap opera? Hell, the NHIE and the EBPHI are practically daily fodder for the foaming mouths over there, how could you miss it?

Well, never mind, you've missed a good chance to give back to the profession a little bit.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Michael

I live north of the 49th parallel, we don't have time to deal with trivial matters state side, we have our own teething problems up here with associations. In this case ignorance is bliss.

Give back to the profession? Thats strange I know what I have given back to the profession since 1991 and continue to give back.

Thanks,

__________________

What ASHI exam? Are you calling the NHIE an ASHI exam?

Calling the NHIE an ASHI exam is like calling Housemaster franchisees Pillar to Post guys. Joe, I'd always thought you were smarter than that.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Mike,

Now that is one thing we can agree on.

I used to think Joe was smarter than that too, but I've been reading what he posts in defense of InterNACHI here for some time ...

You'll get to know Joe better than you thought.

And wonder how a guy as smart as him could hold those beliefs and opinions.

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

Hi,

Well, I'm no expert at that stuff, but I think you're a little out of date. Perhaps you should look at some more current records. Pay attention to who's listed as the "current" owner of the mark and who filed for the new stylized logo and marks in 2005.

OT - OF!!!

M.

Word Mark EBPHI NATIONAL HOME INSPECTOR EXAMINATIONGoods and ServicesIC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Preparing, administering, and scoring of standardized tests, namely, the administration of a national examination for professional home inspectors. FIRST USE: 20040901. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20040901Mark Drawing Code(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERSDesign Search Code02.01.02 - Men depicted as shadows or silhouettes of men; Silhouettes of men
02.03.02 - Silhouettes of women; Women depicted as shadows or silhouettes of women
02.05.02 - Children depicted in silhouettes or profiles of children; Silhouettes of children
02.05.05 - Boys; Children, boy(s)
02.07.03 - Groups, males and females
02.07.04 - Families (adults and children); Groups, adults and children, including family groups
07.01.04 - Detached house
07.01.06 - Other houses
07.01.25 - Greenhouses
26.01.04 - Circles with two breaks or divided in the middleSerial Number78612095Filing DateApril 19, 2005Current Filing Basis1AOriginal Filing Basis1APublished for OppositionOctober 10, 2006Registration Number3188756Registration DateDecember 26, 2006Owner(REGISTRANT) Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, Inc. CORPORATION ILLINOIS 800 E. Northwest Highway Suite 700 Palatine ILLINOIS 60074Attorney of RecordMelissa A. VallonePrior Registrations2551987;2608326;2619101DisclaimerNO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "EXAMINATION" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWNType of MarkSERVICE MARKRegisterPRINCIPAL-2(F)-IN PARTLive/Dead IndicatorLIVEDistinctiveness Limitation Statementas to "NATIONAL HOME INSPECTOR EXAMINATION"

Hi,

Well EBPHI has been incorporated as a separate non-profit entity. It's a public record. If you're going to say that ASHI, which loaned EBPHI the money to get started and develop the NHIE, is profiting from the NHIE, than you might as well say that Nick Gromicko, your imperious leader, actually owns interNACHI and is making a profit off it; but you won't, will you?

I'd say that you can't prove that ASHI is profiting off the NHIE any more than I can prove who's actually pocketing all of the money being paid in by interNACHI's members, so why persist? Are you bitter? Did you apply for a place on the EBPHI board and got turned down? Why be Gromicko's slavish toady and constantly attack everything ASHI? Aren't your knees and jaw muscles tired yet?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Do you like your role as flunky mouthpiece?

You state that the NHIE will always be the ASHI exam until ASHI accepts the NACHI exam. To date, more than 18,000 inspectors have taken the NHIE - that's about double the number of folks that are allegedly interNACHI members.

Why would ASHI ever accept passage of a test that's not legally defensible and psychometrically valid for membership when they have the choice of the NHIE and the NAHI CRI exams, both psychometrically valid and legally defensible exams? That's like asking a college to accept a 6th grade final exam as sufficient to meet the requirements for a 4-year degree. That isn't even logical; thus the reason that 18,000 inspectors have taken the NHIE.

I guess Jerry's right. You're not as smart as you look. Need some Chapstick?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Hi Joe,

I haven't. Don't need to. It wasn't required here and I never applied to be an ASHI member before I left ASHI. I haven't taken the NAHI CRI exam either; but that wasn't required here either. Next year, if the NHIE or the NAHI CRI exam are required here in Washington State for licensing under the new law that was just passed I'll take it. I doubt that they'll accept the interNACHI entrance exam here though - unless it's reworked and made psychometrically valid and is considered legally defensible.

However, I should probably point out that I've got the Army's 5-month long 18C (SF Engineer Sergeant) course under my belt and, like you, I'm the product of the franchise system where I was required to undergo a lot of training by the franchiser - 140 hours - which included going out and doing inspections on actual houses with instructors. I was also required by the franchiser to take and pass a pretty tough exam, but I don't know if Housemaster makes it's franchisees take an exam. Do they? Also, like you, I come from a construction background and used to build homes. Even with all of that though, I found out at my very first inspection that I didn't know what I didn't know and it was a long time after I got into this business before I felt like I really knew what I was doing. One thing I can honestly say though, is whenever anyone has called me to ask me whether I'm licensed and certified, I've honestly answered, "What certification? There is no real certification process in place in this state and if anyone says there is they are lying to you and I can prove it."

What's that got to do with this thread? Just because I haven't taken the NHIE doesn't mean that I don't respect the work that EBPHI has done. 18,000+ men and women, with that test in mind, have gone out and taken plenty of extra training, have spent countless hours studying what they need to know to pass it, and that alone has helped to raise the overall level of expertise in this profession more than anything else that's been done in the past ten years. EBPHI has a right to be proud of what they've managed to accomplish. They certainly don't deserve to be denigrated just because ASHI loaned them the money to get started.

Shouldn't you get a new bustier and pumps for your next date with Nick?

OT - OF!!!

M.

Joe, as you are aware the information you posted to support your post on the ownership of the Trademarks is old, outdated and no longer valid, most likely why you posted it in the first place. It reflects the time when ASHI did own the rights to EBPHI. This has never been hidden and is even stated on the EBPHI website under the history of the exam.

As Mike showed you, all of that changed in 2005 when EBPHI become completely independent and self sufficient of any third party influence. In fact the NHIE is the only home inspector exam that can say this. All other home inspector exams are influenced by membership organizations, and this is why the NHIE is in the majority of licensed states across the country.

You ask why ASHI accepted the NHIE over other alternatives? Could be that their were no other exams that met their needs at that time.

__________________
Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

Yeah, I figured it might be something like that.

How many of those taking that test had done any training to get into the home inspection profession before they took the test? You don't know, do you?

How many of them didn't know anything about home inspection or construction, had never had any training in the subject, and shouldn't have even been taking any exam to get into this business in the first place? You don't know, do you? All you've got is a failing score with no data to compare it to.

How many of those that passed were retakes that were retaken immediately or within a day or two, by the same persons, after they'd done a little bit of studying? You see, if your statistics are to be accurate, since it's an unprocotored exam, you need to reflect in those statistics all of the retakes that were done immediately or within a specified time period - say a day or two.

How many of those who passed sat there with a home inspection text open on the desk or had someone there to help them answer the questions? That's one you'll never know, will you?

For the past four years, I've taught a 32-hour introduction to the home inspection profession course for realtors, appraisers, investors, property managers, and an occasional wannabe home inspector at a local community college. This past fall, before any of them had ever had a single class to try and understand what it is that we actually do, I had all 26 of my students go to the interNACHI site and take the vaunted interNACHI entrance exam as their first homework assignment. They were told not to crack even one of their texts before taking it and were to take it one time, cold turkey, without any help, in order to see how they fared.

Now, to interNACHI's credit, all 26 of my students took it and none of them passed it. So, if they'd really been trying to get into the home inspection business, the test would have prevented 26 people, who had no business trying to do home inspection, from getting into interNACHI....once. I say once, because to interNACHI's discredit I think that most of them, after having taken it once, probably would have passed it on the second attempt, after getting a feel for how it was structured.

19 of them scored between 76 and 79 correct answers when, according to the website, they only needed 80 to pass. All except one of them said that they'd felt confident, after taking it one time, that they could have passed it if they'd had one of their texts open on the desk, had someone else sitting there helping them, or did a little reading about the business before taking it again.

IACHI gets a kudos for not just accepting anyone as a client before cashing their checks. However, that test is a long way from a test of even barely adequate competency or so many folks without a clue wouldn't have come so close to passing it.

I say that because the student who got the highest score - a 79 - is a property manager who'd once worked for a roofer in college. The next highest score was a middle-aged woman who works for a house cleaning service and was taking the course as part of the real estate license course. She said she'd gotten 78 correct answers. The next highest score was a 22 year old single-lady who was learning as much as she could about the real estate process before trying to buy a home - she got a 77. Sixteen of the students scored a 76, five of them 75, one got a 73, and one got a 58.

I think the fact that interNACHI has an entrance test is a good thing. What I think is bad about it is that interNACHI hawks it as if passing it means something, which it really doesn't. Many of the people who pass that test and get into this business are exactly like all of those that join the other associations, the ones that the interNACHI folks say have joined "diploma mills;" which is to say they are inexperienced and don't have any training to be home inspectors. Just like those who join another association by paying a fee and not taking a real test - like here in Washington - many are still doing inspections on homes completely unprepared and without any experience whatsoever.

Yeah, I know that before a lot of folks get into this business they do a lot of research and most attend some kind of training before they kick off their business, but unless you've captured those numbers and compared them to those who have absolutely no training the numbers you are throwing around are really meaningless. They certainly don't prevent unqualified persons from getting into the business, because, as you are fond of pointing out, they can join one of the associations instead of signing up as one of your lord's clients. Their choices are limited, though, because two of the other associations will require that they go through some training and take tests before they can even join and the other won't even acknowledge them as an experienced inspector until they've got at least 250 inspections under the belts and passed the NHIE. I wonder which one that is? One thing I know is; it isn't the public relations firm that calls it's clients "certified" inspectors the minute they fork over a check, regardless of experience.

Could it be that you are so against the NHIE because so many people who do a little bit of research on the internet will look beyond the alleged "certification" awarded to inexperienced people that are clients of your buddy's public relations firm to see whether the person they're thinking about hiring has passed the NHIE or the NAHI CRI exam? Hmmm?

So, after all of that, EBPHI does serve a purpose after all; in at least 19 states when an inspector claims to be a "certified" inspector, consumers are able to say, "Yeah, w