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Brick by brick, quality as a home inspector
These days, most Toronto
house sales don't close until the buyer has sent in an inspector to look
over the premises. Home inspectors are kept busy in a normal market. Demand
for their services soars when residential real estate turns red-hot and
hundreds of properties are
changing hands on a weekly basis.
Home inspections as
a buyer safeguard became popular in the 1970's. Now the idea is ingrained
that it is worth paying a couple of hundred dollars
in advance for an independent appraisal of a
house's structure, roof, plumbing, electricity,
heating and other essentials.
Job openings for qualified
home inspectors in
Ontario are expected to increase by 400 percent
by 2005, according to real estate experts.
While a number of independent contractors exist, the primary employer of inspectors in the Greater Toronto Area is Carson Dunlop & Associates. To meet it's need for personnel, Carson Dunlop has partnered with Seneca College to develop a certification program that can be taken by career seekers on a part-time basis.
"We used to do that type of teaching (ourselves) back in the 90's, when we offered a crash two week program," explains Carson Dunlop's Alan Carson. "But I always felt there was no way to prepare someone adequately in that time period, so we stopped." His firm then spent 3 years designing a training program in conjunction with schools such as New Foundland's Memorial University, specializing in distance education. "The educators we consulted said that the logical starting point was paper-based correspondence.", he says.
Carson Dunlop introduced it's correspondence courses in 1997 and they continue to attract enrollees across North America. However, "People want class time," Carson says. "They like the discipline it imposes. They like to have an instructor to talk to, peer interaction, the whole social context. So we approached Seneca." Seneca responded with a blueprint for two- and three- year diploma or degree programs. The college's Home Inspection Certificate course opened for registration last September.
"Seneca brought the structure and credibility to the table as well as changes in the delivery," Carson says. "They helped us build lesson plans and refine our testing techniques."
The program began with 10 subjects. Starting this fall, all 10 will be available in three different modes, says Susan Horne, chair of continuing education at Seneca. "Right now we've got classroom studies and correspondence," Horne says. (Soon) we'll have online as well. People can mix and match." Courses cover roofing, structure, electrical, heating, air-conditioning, plumbing, exterior and interior insulation, and professional practice.
The program is offered in fall, winter and summer trimesters. Tuition is $497 for instruction and materials. Most students in the program are working full time and many have families.
Stephen Ashley is one of two students completing all 10 courses since enrolling last September. The 33-year-old had been working in Vancouver as a contractor when he was injured. "I had to move back to Ontario to have surgery and I can't lift heavy objects any more," he says. "I had heard about home inspection as a career and decided it would be perfect for me."
Ashley plans to start his own business in Markham.
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