Council News: When is an ASHI Inspector not an ASHI Member?

I attended the EPA Region 8 Radon Stakeholders Meeting in Denver in early April.

During breaks, I gravitated toward people wearing logo shirts from one of the large franchise inspection firms that you will see represented at ASHI functions from chapter meetings to national events.

The three people in the group were a husband and wife team (the franchisees) and an independent inspector. We shared the kind of small talk that I have found so valuable at every gathering of home inspectors.

Call me naive, but I assumed that I was in a group of ASHI inspectors and was surprised to discover that I was wrong. The assemblage had over 30 years of inspection experience and thousands of inspections, not including me, and I guarantee you, these inspectors were a class act.

Of course, I asked why they weren’t members of ASHI and was somewhat gratified to hear that they would like to be ASHI members. They explained they were out of range of any ASHI Chapters, in the beginning didn’t want to be tagged as Candidates, and now they have “hoops to jump through” to be ASHI members. 

There are literally thousands of experienced home inspectors across the country who have the background and qualifications to be great ASHI members. We need to develop programs to bring them into ASHI where they belong.

Our strength, reputation and influence depend on the quality and size of our inspector corps. I know the Membership Committee is working on some ideas to bring my three new friends into ASHI.

I hope some day you get a chance to sit down and swap stories with them at InspectionWorld, LTC or some other ASHI function. They have much to share.