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American Society of Home Inspectors
By Ben Teague

What You Need To Become an ASHI Inspector

1. $$MONEY$$
Anyone can become an ASHI candidate for a fee without ever having completed an inspection or having any construction experience.

2. Time
After completing 250 inspections, and passing a very simple test, the candidate can be a certified inspector and ASHI member.

THATS IT!!!
Don't be fooled into thinking ASHI is the only way to go!

Are you an ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) inspector? I have heard this question several times in the last year and it has forced me to contemplate the need to join the ASHI organization.

Lets talk about standards. I wish every one who has been sold on ASHI would go to the ASHI website and look at the ridiculous ASHI standards of practice. Pay close attention to the exclusions. The standards look good until you get to the exclusion section. ASHI has decided that they should require their members to only inspect , and I quote “ a representative number of components” and when you go to their definition of representative components, it says this means only one componant per room, or one exterior component per side of the structure. This is truly ridiculous.

It is obvious to me that ASHI is more interested in marketing their members and creating a guideline that is easy for their members to follow. This makes more sense knowing that their money comes from their members. If their money came from prospective buyers the standards would be completely different.

So many people have been sold on the idea that only an ASHI inspector can deliver the ASHI experience, that I some times wonder if I should pay the organization the money and spend the fifteen minutes that it would take me to pass the test and become a member. When you look at the ASHI organization close, you have to wonder what their purpose really is. Do they offer the prospective buyer any thing more than an empty promise that their members are really qualified? Do they accept any liability for problems that may arise if the inspector is not really qualified? The answer is NO.

When you take a closer look at the ASHI organization it will become apparent that they are collecting dues from their inspectors in order to market them to the public. In my personal opinion the qualifications to become an ASHI certified inspector are far too lax to put it mildly. I personally know ASHI inspectors that have absolutely NO construction experience at all. This is a disservice to a prospective buyer. I believe that the state of Colorado should start to strictly regulate inspectors. I will welcome a real test and standards applied by the state, which is the only organization that is truly interested in protecting the public.This is why I look forward to the day that the state begins to independantly regulate inspectors.

I have a real dilema when contemplating the idea of being an ASHI member. I take pride in my background and experience, and I almost feel it would be like stepping to a lower level by joining ASHI.