Qualifying Service Providers

As with many things, in the current deregulated marketplace, many organizations are getting in on the qualifying of service providers.

Licensing was supposed to create a level playing field so consumers would have confidence in hiring a home inspector. From my experience it appears to be a complete failure except for the revenue the government collects for annual licensing fees. In March, 2009 there was a mad rush to get everybody licensed, but from what I could tell, everyone who applied became licensed. In essence the government has enabled anyone with the inclination to be a licensed home inspector. The adage: buyer beware, applies more than ever to home inspections; which is ironic because licensing was supposed to take most of the risk out of hiring a home inspector. The public now thinks we are all equal, so why would anybody want to pay more for an inspection. It has created a marketing race to the bottom based on home inspector fees. I would say everything else is suffering as well when home inspectors try to price and gizmo compete with one another, they are looking to make their inspection turnaround more efficient, cheaper than their competitors.
I believe the home inspection industry is in a decline- lower competing fees, questionable ethics, purported specialized services offered with your inspection at no charge, inspection turnarounds- more inspections per day, but most importantly the quality of this alleged service; cannot but suffer!

The claim, BBB Accredited has no real value. The Better Business Bureau has no jurisdiction on anything, BBB Accredited simply means a business has paid the BBB for this phony accreditation. You can look up a business name even if they haven’t paid the BBB to be accredited. They will have a report on their service performance.