Nationwide Standards may Change the Future of Home Inspection

by Terrie Petree

 

On February 19, 2007, The American Society of Testing and Materials International (ASTM) held an organizational meeting in order to explore the development of nationwide, uniform standards for residential home inspection. The meeting took place at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada in conjunction with the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI) 2007 Educational Conference and Twentieth Anniversary Gala. Mallory C. Anderson, NAHI executive director, said that NAHI’s board of directors contacted ASTM in 2006 “to see if the industry is ready to take that step” toward ratifying a set of standards that would regulate all home inspectors despite geography or association affiliation. Pat A. Picariello, the director of developmental operations for ASTM said that although the meeting was held in Las Vegas during the NAHI educational conference, ASTM is not affiliated with NAHI or any other association. “This activity has nothing to do with the trade associations. We are not affiliated, and the meeting did not convey any connection whatsoever between any association,” Picariello said.

 

According to the overview provided in the official minutes of the February 19^th meeting, ASTM was organized in 1898 as a not-for-profit management corporation that has developed over 12,000 standards for “materials, products, systems, and services.” These “materials, products, systems and services” include a diverse range of categories from “Stainless Steel and Related Alloys” to “Pedestrian/Walkway Safety and Footwear,” “Snow Skiing” and “Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Systems.” These are only four of the 140 categories that are overseen by technical committees and for which ASTM provides “a legal, administrative, and publications forum within which producers, users, ultimate consumers, and representatives of government and academia can meet on a common ground to develop standards that best meet the needs of all concerned.”

 

In other words, once an entity within any given industry initiates contact with ASTM, ASTM in turn contacts other key players in the same industry in order to gauge the level of interest in developing binding industry-wide standards. ASTM’s International Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management, and Corrective Action considered NAHI’s preemptive request but originally decided against pursuing the initiative because the committee’s “title and scope of work was inconsistent with the objectives of the activity in question.”

 

“E50 develops standards for environmental development tied to commercial real estate transactions,” Picariello said. “The initial request was funneled to E50, but they decided it didn’t fit the current scope.”

 

After ASTM Committee E50 declined to initiate the development of residential home inspection standards, the NAHI board of directors invited ASTM to take a second look at their proposal. “They [NAHI] sat for awhile and then re-engaged,” Picariello said. This second attempt was to be conducted independent of Committee E50. According to the official minutes of the February 19^th meeting, “ASTM met with the NAHI Board on September 10, 2006, and on October 5, 2006, ASTM received a letter from the NAHI President formally requesting that ASTM move to the organizational stage of its new activity development process.” ASTM agreed to participate in an organizational meeting at NAHI’s annual conference in Las Vegas. Once the details of the meeting were finalized, ASTM contacted “consumers, service providers, trade and professional societies, and federal agencies” and invited them to participate.

 

Many of those contacted by ASTM were surprised to learn that NAHI had begun the process of formally creating residential home inspection standards. On February 8, 2007, the American Society of Home Inspectors’ (ASHI) board of directors issued a letter to the ASHI constituency declaring its position on the subject:

 

“Until only a few weeks ago, ASHI was not consulted or invited to participate in these discussions nor were any other home inspector associations other than NAHI. We believe the process ASTM has followed to date has been flawed and influenced by political motives.

 

ASHI opposes the proposed creation of ASTM inspection standards because we believe they would dilute or replace ASHI’s existing industry standards which have been carefully crafted over time, standards which are based on the practical experience of untold numbers of professional home inspections. We believe this would directly undercut our continuous efforts to build the integrity, independence and professionalism of the home inspection profession and would harm our membership which believes that our profession should seek the highest levels of expertise rather than regress to the mean in a likely ASTM homogenization of the competing industry standards. Such a result would also work to the detriment of home buyers and sellers across North America who depend on genuinely proficient professional ASHI inspectors to help them buy and sell homes safely and intelligently.”

 

During the open forum portion of the February 19^th organizational meeting, ASHI further clarified its official opinion; “ASHI disapproves of the venue of this meeting (in that it was co-located with the annual NAHI conference), and with the late notice of the meeting provided to ASHI, its Board, and its chapters,” said ASHI president Frank Lesh.

 

Despite what Lesh referred to as “late notice” and the less than neutral timing and location of the meeting, ASTM was successful in calling together an unprecedented number of the home inspection industry’s heavy hitters. Representatives of NAHI and ASHI were joined by representatives from the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI), the American Home Inspectors Association (AHIA), the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH), the California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA), Kaplan-ITA, the National Academy of Building Inspection Engineers (NABIE), the American Institute of Inspectors (AII), Pillar to Post, and state associations and independent home inspectors.

 

The seven hour meeting began with an overview of ASTM and background on the original request for activity presented by ASTM director of developmental operations, Pat Picariello. Following the overview and background, the floor was open to discussion from those in attendance, and the comments both for and against the development of nationwide industry standards were recorded in the meeting’s official minutes. NAHI was the first to take the floor and used the opportunity to explain the organization’s reasoning for initiating the process in the first place:

 

“NAHI’s focus is on the issues of consumer protection and the current state of home inspection legislation. Homogenization (from a legislative perspective) is presently underway, but in a fashion that is evolving state by state. The evolution of the home inspection industry is inevitable. The development of a national series of standards will help support this evolution,” J.R. Burke, director of government affairs, NAHI.

 

Following NAHI’s comments, ASHI and NACHI took the floor:

 

“An arms length distance should be retained (among the association and standards development population) at all times. Uniting this effort under ASTM is not in the best interest of the collective industry,” Frank Lesh, president, ASHI.

 

“While NACHI believes the concept of a standard detailing code of ethics for the home inspector would be a good idea, NACHI is opposed to the development of any standards that would focus on the practical application of the inspection service,” Nick Gromicko, founder, NACHI.

 

Other associations seemed to agree with ASHI and NACHI:

 

“The development of a national standard (via ASTM) would set a bar for all to shoot for that would ultimately minimize the liability of the inspectors; the standard(s) would provide justification for the actions taken by the inspector,” Tom Knapp, AHIA.

 

“Any effort to develop additional standards for home inspection services would result in the ‘watering down’ of the existing standards of practice. CREIA is not in favor of proceeding with this activity,” Tyler Clydesdale, CEO, CREIA.

 

Aside from NAHI, the leaders of the more widely known home inspection associations seemed to be united in their general disapproval of the proceedings. Taken as a whole, however, the comments generated during the open discussion forum were almost evenly split. Many of those who spoke on behalf of independent companies, smaller associations or personal interests pointed to the obvious and ongoing discord between large home inspection associations, and throughout the industry, as a reason to support and cooperate with ASTM.

 

“ASTM’s organizational meeting is a wake-up call and careful thought needs to be applied to the evolution of this activity and to the home inspection industry/profession as well. An opportunity for the collective industry to work together is a step in the right direction,” Mike Casey, vice president/general manager, ITA-Kaplan

 

“The current state of the home inspection industry can be viewed as a boat with thirty rudders; this presents significant challenge in our attempt to steer the boat. ASTM can provide a good opportunity to create a single rudder, which would be beneficial to the entire industry,” Russell Strahan, NABIE.

 

“Working together (as an industry) is a challenge that should be embraced; any focus on the development of protocols for new home inspectors is positive,” Bill Ball, home inspector.

 

“Too much time is spent on the phone with clients answering questions about the differences between NAHI and ASHI. A single, nationally relevant standard has merit,” Benjamin Meredith, Building Specs, Inc.

 

Before the close of the meeting, a vote was taken to determine whether or not another organizational meeting would be held to further explore the standardization of the home inspection industry. The vote passed with fifty-four attendees voting in favor of a second meeting and thirty-two attendees voting against it. A specific date and location have not been determined for the second meeting, but it will probably occur “at ASTM headquarters [West Conshocken, PA] probably around the third quarter” of this year, according to Picariello.

 

For more information, please contact Pat Picariello at ppicarie@astm.org.