Considering becoming a non-municipal inspector

[fmtjfw]

I'm thinking about getting my commercial inspector license (IAEI Certified).

Questions:
A. Is it advisable to do the residential and commercial tests on the same day?
B. Is it better to do the IAEI or the ICC electrical Inspector certification? Or does it make any difference?
C.What is the probability of actually making money doing this? I'm pegging this on getting a fair amount of Marina inspections which will begin in earnest next year. And avoiding doing lots of single service only inspections.
D. Non-muni inspectors generally don't do anything other than service inspections on 1 or 2 family in WV. I guess I'd need to find some development that wanted to have whole house inspections?

Requirements:

1. Pass the residential part of the test. $275 fee
a. HS Diploma or GED [X]
b. Master Electrician. [X]
c. 4K hours as electrician.[X]

2. Pass the commercial [master] part of the test. $275 fee
d. a-c as above [XXX]
e. 8K hours as electrician. [X]
3. Apprentice to a master inspector resi
f. 20 resi inspections
g. including 5 service inspections
h. including 2 swimming pools or case study
4. Apprentice to a master inspector commercial
i. 30 inspections
j. including 5 1&2 family dwelling inspections, supervised
k. including 1 multi family inspection, supervised
l. including 5 commercial / industrial, 1 supervised
m. including 5 service inspections, 1 supervised
n. optional AG, Marina, Industrial, Manufactured home as some substitution for above.

o. $1,000,000 Errors and Omissions insurance. $2500 minimum
p. $750,000 General Liability. $?
q. Fire Marshal application license fee. $100
r. Simple incorporation

5. renewal
s.
I. Fire Marshall per year. $100
II. IAEI per year $60
6.Continuing education, professional activities:
I. for Fire Marshal 14 CEUs per year [14 easily]
II. for IAEI 60 points per 3 years
i. 1 per inspection max 30 [?]
ii. 1 per year of IAEI membership max 6 [6(10)]
iii. Instructing 2/hour max 48 [min 32?]
iv. publications 5/article max 10 [10?]
v. CEUs min 12, max 60. [42 min]

One time:
So taking the tests would cost $550 + $100 Fire Marshal

Yearly:
renewal fee Fire Marshal $100
Insurance $2500+
Incorporation (daughter-in-law atty) ?
Drive all over place and do 20 resi & 30 comm inspections for free?(?6 overlap) total 44 to 50

I'm not including IAEI membership, and continuing education, since I'd do that anyway.

 

[mgookin]

What is the market rate for the marina inspections?
How many per year do you anticipate you can get?
(to be honest when you say marina in WV it's hard for a florida person to comprehend but I guess you have lakes; never understood why people have a boat on a lake - where are they going to go?)

Answer those questions to find out if its equitable. Then see how much is left over to see if its worth your time.

 

[fmtjfw]

What is the market rate for the marina inspections?
How many per year do you anticipate you can get?
(to be honest when you say marina in WV it's hard for a florida person to comprehend but I guess you have lakes; never understood why people have a boat on a lake - where are they going to go?)

Answer those questions to find out if its equitable. Then see how much is left over to see if its worth your time.

Actually WV doesn't have any real lakes. Lakes are a product of glaciation and the glaciers bypassed WV. We have rivers, and artificial lakes from either damming for another purpose or specifically for lake creation. Ironically our oldest river the "New River" is one of the five oldest rivers in the world.

The US Corps. of Engineers says there about 500 marinas and boatyards in the state, but many are truly private or unelectrified and fall outside the inspection requirements. I believe there are fewer than 30 licensed commercial inspectors in the state. So there is likely to be lots of work. It is also my understanding that these inspections are to be very thorough and gross out at >$1000 for a typical marina. They all need to be inspected before they can open in 2015 and re inspection every 3 years. Some have chosen to drop electrical connections but it is unclear if that is "forever" or until they can get their arms around the new requirement.

Looks like I need to get more information for a business plan.

 

[cowboyjwc]

Trust me when I say, that you'll never get rich being an inspector.:happysad:

 

[fmtjfw]

Trust me when I say, that you'll never get rich being an inspector.:happysad:

Not planning to be come rich. I'm retired with sufficient pension income. I just want to a little more than break-even, not pay for the privilege. Something interesting to do and to keep me out of the bingo halls.:roll:

 

[cowboyjwc]

Not planning to be come rich. I'm retired with sufficient pension income. I just want to a little more than break-even, not pay for the privilege. Something interesting to do and to keep me out of the bingo halls.:roll:

Oh well in that case it's not such a bad deal.

 

[kwired]

(to be honest when you say marina in WV it's hard for a florida person to comprehend but I guess you have lakes; never understood why people have a boat on a lake - where are they going to go?)
.

A lake can be only an acre or millions of acres in surface area. Lake Oahe Starts in central South Dakota and ends in North Dakota is about 200 miles long. Lake Michigan is about 300 miles long, care to swim the length of either one of those??

 

[mgookin]

A lake can be only an acre or millions of acres in surface area. Lake Oahe Starts in central South Dakota and ends in North Dakota is about 200 miles long. Lake Michigan is about 300 miles long, care to swim the length of either one of those??

Thanks for the education there Kwired!

 

[kwired]

Thanks for the education there Kwired!

No problem, next time you question how/why things are the way they are further north I'll be here for you.

Maybe you can tell me why you don't commonly see any snowmobiles in Florida

 

[fmtjfw]

No problem, next time you question how/why things are the way they are further north I'll be here for you.

Maybe you can tell me why you don't commonly see any snowmobiles in Florida

They are there, they just call them jet skis, same loud noise.

 

[kwired]

They are there, they just call them jet skis, same loud noise.

Can't fool me on that - we have those up here too, but the snowmobile does get around much better then a jet ski if the lake is frozen.:happyyes:

One condition for the marinas here that you don't probably see is a lot of the equipment is pulled from the water when freezing temps come, if not it will probably need repairs when the freezing temps go.

 

[iwire]

One condition for the marinas here that you don't probably see is a lot of the equipment is pulled from the water when freezing temps come, if not it will probably need repairs when the freezing temps go.

Around here these crank up docks seem to becoming very popular on the lakes.

http://www.centerharbordocks.com/docks-floats/retractable-docks.php

 

[mgookin]

No problem, next time you question how/why things are the way they are further north I'll be here for you.

Maybe you can tell me why you don't commonly see any snowmobiles in Florida

True story - late dec07 I fly into Manchester, NH to rescue neighbor stuck in a blizzard in her motorhome. She gets to airport to pick me up about 3 hours late. None of the heaters work in the motorhome, no defroster on the windshield, etc. I work on the motorhome in the parking lot (3 feet of snow on the ground, heavy snowing, 30-40 mph wind). I get one heater working. Off we go to her friend's house 15 minutes away. She says "pull in here and get wine and cheese for Jack & Deb" at a convenience store with fuel pumps.

I park the motorhome out of the way best I could and dash for the front door of the store. I get inside and I'm making a cup of coffee and think "Why in the world is that guy fueling up all those jet skis during a blizzard?"

As I go outside I see they are snowmobiles. I had never seen one before!