In business, it’s a fact of life – somewhere you’ve got competition. While it may be intimidating to some, it’s the nature of the beast. You and your competitors are all trying to get a piece of the same pie. Most of the time, your friendly competition is just that—friendly. However, every now and then, …
Has the message got out yet? The risks from radon in the home, especially in Ontario, are a real and present danger! Over a five year period, between 2011 and 2015, an average of 803 people, per year, attended a Hospital emergency service with around 6% (50 people) dying either at admission or after admission, …
Demand that your prospective new home is measured for high levels of radon! Read More »
Members of your board of directors went to Toronto in April to talk to TARION about developing a program of continuing education courses, specifically aimed at Home Inspectors who wish to perform inspections that align with the Ontario New Home Warranty Program, for consumers. The meeting went very well. The outcome is that we are …
While we are 100% behind the Realtors Trade Association’s view that a public registry for grow-ops should be established and be publicly accessible, of the five points the OREA report asks for. We feel that these proposals are sensible and fully implemented should be able to help protect consumers, but we feel that the solution …
We recently received a nice letter from one of our members, Canadian-Certified Home Inspector Greg Rheaume of Home Inspect Solutions Inc. Greg operates his inspection service to support his local neighbourhood Consumers with their decision-making process of purchasing or selling a home. Like all our Professional members, Greg pushes himself to be the best he …
So the Ontario House Builders Association and the Ontario Real-Estate Association seem to be going head-to-head in a battle over mandatory Energy Audits. While OREA is publishing that the Province has put the brakes on the plan (here) the Ontario House Builders Association is all for them. (here) The press doesn’t seem to know one …
Following on from the previous year, 2017 saw a number of challenges in the Home Inspection Profession. We have seen the Profession decimated by a large number of Inspectors who were either forced out or chose to leave the profession because it was not providing a level of income to support them. While this gave …
Do you still want to register early and take advantage of the discounts? You spoke, we listened. Location, Location, Location The 2019 Annual Education Conference and Exhibitor showcase will be held at the Mohawk Inn and Conference Centre. For the last couple of years, we had the event in Mississauga, which while a great venue and …
The Home Inspection Profession is, like other professions, subject to external influences. Some affect our businesses directly, some have a knock-on effect from changes outside of our profession. We’ve put together a list of dates we think might have an impact on the profession. January 1, 2018 New Stress testing for Mortgages – …
When inspecting a residential property, we are often expected to report on items that are outside of the scope of the Standard of Practice, or that are just impossible to opine on. One of these areas is in the area of the Electrical System. While the standards of practice currently do not require an inspector …
The deadline to respond to Transport Canada for the proposed changes to the regulations for Unmanned Aircraft Systems is fast approaching. Written comments should be sent to carrac@tc.gc.ca by October 13, 2017. For anyone who hasn’t yet read the proposals you can find them here: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/20…l/reg2-eng.php Here is a very high level summary of the changes. UAS systems …
The date for submissions to the proposed rate and policy changes by the WSIB is October 13th. The proposed changes are far reaching and could be costly to Home Inspectors who have family members with their own businesses. The summary of the proposed changes can be found here: http://bit.ly/2hzJWE1 The devil, however, is in the detail …
We are offering a new news brief service to all Inspectors in Ontario, Canada. We will be sending out very short, simple messages on a regular basis that provide tips, advice, tricks and guidance on helping develop a more professional Home Inspection business and assist in your endeavours to protect the consumer and at the …
Current Market Conditions The Real-Estate market in Ontario has seen a recent phenomenon of the home being sold with multiple-bids and selling for astronomically high prices, sometimes 30% over asking. In this frenzied buying atmosphere, buyers are waiving conditions, usually the Home Inspection and often financing clauses. This puts the buyer in a precarious position …
We have, over the last 3 months, been in discussions with staff from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, the Ministry of Labour and regulators from the Electrical Safety Authority with regard to Home Inspectors opening the electrical panels to perform a visual inspection. We finally received a letter this morning putting the ESA …
Inspection services – inspecting the electrical panel Read More »
OntarioACHI recently had a call from an inspector that was threatened with reporting to the ESA for opening an electrical panel to perform a visual inspection. We contacted the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services (MGCS), for comment on how, given the fact that our profession is being regulated to protect consumers, then can condone …
Bill-59 has now been “Ordered for Third Reading”. This means the Bill will return to the Assembly for what we believe will be the final debate, and then await Royal Assent. For Government Bills the usual period of time between Third Reading and royal Assent is between 1 day and 6 weeks. This does not …
Following the passage of “Bill 59, 2016 – An Act to enact a new Act with respect to home inspections and to amend various Acts with respect to financial services and consumer protection” through the first and second reading, and through the presentations at the Standing Committee on Social Policy, the Bill has been passed …
The board and volunteers of OntarioACHI applaud the latest press release from the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), the trade association that supports Realtors, for their stance on Home Inspections. We were especially pleased to see that Tim Hudak, CEO of OREA, said “Instead of placing another demand on home sellers’ time and energy, and …
Insurance is always an emotive item of business expenditure. While many businesses believe they are never going to do anything wrong, mistakes can happen. In a tightening financial marketplace, some individuals will also attempt to take advantage of service providers, choosing to sue at the least excuse to try to supplement their income or offset …
The middle and latter part of 2016 was probably one of the most problematic years for the Home Inspection Profession. Many inspectors found their income cut by 50%-85% year on year. The decline in income has also taken a toll on the ability of inspectors to maintain their operations. Over the Holiday period, the …
We have been busy this summer with regulations for the inspection profession and working on new initiatives to help boost inspectors business and income potential and have not produced our usual monthly update on membership, so this post is a lot longer than usual. We apologise for the delay in getting our members names and …
The Accreditation committee has been working with a number of training suppliers to secure Continued Educational Training for our members. In order to speed up confirmation of whether training is approved to be used as CEU credits towards the ongoing maintenance of your CCHI designation look for the following logo. Training providers who offer courses …
Your Association’s connection to you Since 2012, we have been providing our members with a number of services on the Internet. Development of these services has been carried out mainly by volunteers in the Association with support from our technology sponsor eComSecSol Consultancy Inc. Once the platforms were built, we have relied totally on the …
