What is required to be a Home Inspector in GA? (Atlanta: real estate, insurance)

[Kuya]

As a potential new home owner, I've been researching for hours exactly what is required to be a home inspector -specifically in the state of Georgia. All roads led to the following:

Georgia Trade practice act (Chapter 3, Title 8) enacted in 1994. Georgia law requires home inspectors to provide written documents containing certain information with regard to inspections. This written document must include the scope of the inspection, including the structural elements and systems to be inspected, that the inspection is a visual inspection, and that the home inspector will notify, in writing, the person on whose behalf such inspection is being made of any defects noted during the inspection.

County Law requires A $90.00 business license

If there is any truth to the above mentioned, anyone can be a home inspector! Someone please tell me there is some type of training or educational requirements; otherwise, it seems your best bet would be to ensure the person is certified with the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) and/or Georgia Association of Home Inspectors (GAHI).

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Kuya

As a potential new home owner, I've been researching for hours exactly what is required to be a home inspector -specifically in the state of Georgia. All roads led to the following:

Georgia Trade practice act (Chapter 3, Title 8) enacted in 1994. Georgia law requires home inspectors to provide written documents containing certain information with regard to inspections. This written document must include the scope of the inspection, including the structural elements and systems to be inspected, that the inspection is a visual inspection, and that the home inspector will notify, in writing, the person on whose behalf such inspection is being made of any defects noted during the inspection.

County Law requires A $90.00 business license

If there is any truth to the above mentioned, anyone can be a home inspector! Someone please tell me there is some type of training or educational requirements; otherwise, it seems your best bet would be to ensure the person is certified with the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) and/or Georgia Association of Home Inspectors (GAHI).

The inspector we used was referred to us, and he appears to be a member of both ASHI and GAHI and has a number of other related credentials.

We were very pleased with his efforts.

The State of Georgia, however, appears to have very few safeguards in place for homebuyers (and consumers in general) compared to some other states.

[BobKovacs]

There is no home inspector licensing program in GA- they've been "working on" one for years, but it keeps getting pushed off. The best thing you can do is find someone who is a member of ASHI, and make sure they have errors & omissions insurance. Without the insurance, you've got no recourse if the inspector misses something major in his inspection.

[Kuya]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

The inspector we used was referred to us, and he appears to be a member of both ASHI and GAHI and has a number of other related credentials.

We were very pleased with his efforts.

The State of Georgia, however, appears to have very few safeguards in place for homebuyers (and consumers in general) compared to some other states.

rcsteiner, I actually hired that same inspector based on your reply to a similar thread awhile back. I was very impressed by his work. I owe you one!

[scgraham]

Originally Posted by Kuya

As a potential new home owner, I've been researching for hours exactly what is required to be a home inspector -specifically in the state of Georgia. All roads led to the following:

Georgia Trade practice act (Chapter 3, Title 8) enacted in 1994. Georgia law requires home inspectors to provide written documents containing certain information with regard to inspections. This written document must include the scope of the inspection, including the structural elements and systems to be inspected, that the inspection is a visual inspection, and that the home inspector will notify, in writing, the person on whose behalf such inspection is being made of any defects noted during the inspection.

County Law requires A $90.00 business license

If there is any truth to the above mentioned, anyone can be a home inspector! Someone please tell me there is some type of training or educational requirements; otherwise, it seems your best bet would be to ensure the person is certified with the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) and/or Georgia Association of Home Inspectors (GAHI).

You are right! I have even heard of inspectors who either embellish or down-right misrepresent their credentials.

A home buyer needs guidance in this area to point them to a qualified inspector; I would not suggest looking in the yellow pages either.

[Barking Spider]

Last I heard, the GA licensing bill was shot down. Probably come back next year.

But licensing is not the end all of consumer protection. Here is what it takes in TN to be a licensed home inspector.

1. Take a 90 hour approved training class.
2. pass the NHIE (national home inspector exam)
3. HS grad
4. have E&O insurance to the tune of $500K
5. not have a criminal record, etc.

The problem here, in case you missed it, is there is nothing there that says he/she has to have ever done an inspection before.

Now if you pick an ASHI inspector (ashi.org), and they are "certified", they have to have...
1. passed the NHIE
2. passed tyhe ASHI standards of Practice and Code of Ethics exam
3. completed 250 inspections and had a sample of their reports verified that they meet the Standards of Practice

You can check at ashi.org and locate an inspector and see if he/she is a member in good standing.

I'm not sure, but I think that GAHI inspector requirements are similar.

Licensing really solved nothing to protect the public - it only made money for the state with the licensing fees.

[MIVIE]

Kuya,
What a great way to slip in plugs for your organization. But the best way to find the right inspector for you is to ask questions. The organization you plugged members have to have 250 inspections under thier belt to be a full member but they can write a check and advertise that they are a member, but you may be the first of the 250. Think about it.

[Sunshinemojo]

The free market is self regulating. If an inspector's (or anybody else's) services are not good then their share of the market will decrease. Of course, if they are like Walmart then they will funnel monies into huge campaigns telling you how great they are... but we are talking about a home inspector, I doubt you will see bill board advertisements to these ends. My point, ask a real estate agent or a friend or another reputable source who they would recommend. Of course, you can also require huge "training" expenses and annual licensing, ad infinitum... if it alleviates your FEARS. Or just exercise your own du diligence! Otherwise, those new fees will just show in your bottom line... $300-400 per inspection will become $750-1000 because of your new licensed, insured, qualified, certified, and bonified home inspector.

Side note: I held my first part time job when I was 7 years old. I was a Journeyman carpenter in the Local 121 in Seattle, Wa. when I was 24, opened my first construction business when I was 25. I have been involved in everything from shimming a door to shoring up the foundation on skyscrapers. I have built yachts for Palmer Johnson and personally built a four story freestanding spiraling double helix stairway and I have conducted over 300 home inspections "on the side". In short, it is extremely insulting for me to sit in a room while a bookworm instructs me on the intricacies of the fine art of the Home Inspector.

Seriously guys, most home buyers want an inspection so they can leverage the "issues" against the purchase price of the house. Then, after the house is purchased these same buyers begin looking for anything they can find to attack the inspector with. I have actually had a client try to get me to pay for damages to their house that could not be detected until the covering on the wall was completely removed.

Bottom line... Have your real estate agent recommend someone to you, licensed or not, this person does not want to screw up his/her relationship with your agent and lose a descent situation. Unless you just can't stand it when Uncle Sam is not involves, sheesh! This is COMMON sense.

Just a quick qualifying statement: I am currently working as an airline pilot out of Atlanta, GA. Aviation is the most regulated industry in the world and I would dare say next to an Orthopedic Surgeon there is no other position requiring more training (unless you want to include astronauts, in which case a title such as honorable is just not edifying enough). I am trusted with the lives of hundreds of people everyday I fly. My point, there are positions that one should hold license and certification (doctors, lawyers, pilots) and ones that should be left to the free market to regulate. Of course, you have the choice on how much freedom you wish to give away. As it is now, you can hire anyone you want to. In the world you propose, you will only be able to hire someone holding a certification from a government regulated certificate mill where students are instructed only on how to pass the test.

[LovelySummer]

Go with someonr ASHI-certified with years of experience.
Your agent should have told you this and saved you all the research time. Your agent should also know several ASHI-certified inspectors with which he/she regularly works and to which he/she can make a referral.