Installer & Inspector Workshop

Peter Kodner · November 8, 2007, 05:59 PM

Glory Days! Lee is back and ranting

We missed your passion buddy.

RG raises some good points. Personally, I love to listen to Lew but don't have the utmost respect for him as an inspector. I would still say let him come if he pays his own freight and is a participant. I am against any "caste" system (read that headliners) for this. We are all equals trying to find some common ground and advance our professionalism. We are footing the bill ourselves and maybe any outside money would make us beholding to whoever sends a check.

I suggest keeping it simple for the first go round and see what we accomplish. I might also suggest we have different types of sessions: Some panels who discuss or more formally debate a topic. Then maybe some round table talks after.

I don't own a video camera so I can't help there. Audio recordings should be pretty easy though. Have a good friend here who does duplications of any media so copies should be pretty cheap and easy to get. I'll talk to him and get his suggestions on how we can best record the proceedings.

Do we want to break out discussions by product segment (carpet, ceramic, wood, resilient, etc. ) or keep it more general? Are commercial and residential different for our purposes?

cproader · November 8, 2007, 07:51 PM

Don't Lee just make ya wanna storm the beaches.

Peter I would love to come away from this with an inspectors point of view of things related to installation. I think we would need to be more general in our approach, but installers who are specialists may be better served if it were more product specific.

I don't know if the goal is knowledge or attitude. But both aint gonna be a bad thing.

rusty baker · November 8, 2007, 08:04 PM

If Walker comes, you have to make sure he doesn't take over.

Daniel Wachtel · November 9, 2007, 02:46 PM

I'd love to attend.

1 Basic installation skills 101 for inspectors with no installation background.

2 What can an installer expect during the inspection of an installation?

3 How to make the installation sector and inspection sector work better together

4 How unusual installations are inspected

Darol Wester · November 9, 2007, 03:29 PM

What a great idea Tandy. It most certainly can't hurt anything to bridge these two groups. It just might be something that should have sequels to. I'll do my best to make it.

selvalee · November 9, 2007, 04:32 PM

great ideas,
but, remember, I am going to always remind everyone,
the special anti installer interest groups will try to discredit this effort and attack each and everyone of you in some way,,,, I support this in everyway and hope each one of you can take some heat,,,,are you guys man and woman enough to take the heat? hope so, this can be too good to let die,
slt

Peter Kodner · November 9, 2007, 05:15 PM

What is the worst case scenario for an inspector from being a part of this? Manufacturer cease using us?

As my total marketing efforts is to generate all of my new business from sources other than manufacturers (lots of reasons why), how will this hurt me? Maybe when these non-fact based inspections are spewed out I will hear from installers who are now aware of my integrity and be hired by them to re-inspect jobs? Maybe some manufacturers will get tired of the consequences of using inaccurate reports and getting caught?

I would welcome butting heads with the untrained, unknowledgeable and lazy inspectors that are out there. I just don't see a downside here.

Heat? Bring it on! Besides it gets pretty cold up here in the north country. I can use the heat

Darol Wester · November 9, 2007, 05:30 PM

Makes you kind of wonder if the small percentage of inspectors/installers that tend to create the problem areas would even be interested in showing up at something like this. We would hope that all parties could be there to have the most productive outcome. It certainly wouldn't be boring.

Jerry Thomas · November 10, 2007, 02:32 AM

selvalee said

great ideas,
but, remember, I am going to always remind everyone,
the special anti installer interest groups will try to discredit this effort and attack each and everyone of you in some way,,,, I support this in everyway and hope each one of you can take some heat,,,,are you guys man and woman enough to take the heat? hope so, this can be too good to let die,
slt

Call me naive Selva but i don't think that will happen... and if it does...well, thats life

That is one of the reasons this workshop is taking place.

Dobby Tappet · November 10, 2007, 05:49 AM

Jerry, please allow me, you are naive. That's OK, I once was also.

I would welcome butting heads with the untrained, unknowledgeable and lazy inspectors that are out there. I just don't see a downside here.

Peter, those who will be attacking will be the "industry leaders" in both the installation and inspection communities. Invite Jim Walker and he will totally take over and no installers will be allowed to speak. Exclude him and the CFI will do everything, and I do mean everything, in their power to derail, discredit and defame the event. Allow them to attend as 'regular' participants and you'll get both. This I know from personal experience.

The sad part is, the conduct of CFI corporate will be gentle and diplomatic compared to what you'll get from inspectors side, especially the folks at NICFI and the others. Like Selva, this I have seen firsthand.

Listen folks, Selva is a passionate man of conviction. He is also a man that speaks honestly. Too honestly for a lot of folks and that's what is happening here. Folks would rather put their head in the sand and call Selva extreme than face the reality of what really goes on behind the scenes when something really good, like this event, begins to come to life.

Should this event be pursued? ABSOLUTELY! Just remember this, when we put our head in the sand, guess what sticking up in the air. So please, everyone, do yourselves a huge favor, heed Selva's advice, be wise, be prepared. These stone throwers are nothing to fear, only an inevitable distraction that must be planned for.

Respectfully,

David Hunt

PS: For the record, I believe this is an absolutely fantastic idea and I honestly hope you all have the commitment, dedication and backbone to back up your words and make it happen. I most truly do.

Al Gladden · November 10, 2007, 06:09 AM

what gets me is a long time ago walker and hunt were friends...life is to short get over it.

Tandy Reeves · November 10, 2007, 06:15 AM

Selva is right. There will probably be those that try to discourage this effort, but they must understand this is not us against them. This is trades (installation, inspection, sales, and others) getting together to discuss each of our respective trades to better understand how and why something is done. We will have professionals here that wear more than one hat, such as install and inspect or install and sell. This workshop is not anyone against any group. It should be an outstanding learning experience. We have so much to cover, we will not have time to pick on anyone or any group. Will installers attend, I hope so, will inspectors attend I hope so, will retailers attend, I hope so, will distributors attend, I hope so, will mills attend, I hope so, and will other training groups attend, I hope so. When we all sit down with one common voice and equal status, nothing but good can come from it.

Based on the responses, the workshop is a go. The date will be Friday May 9 and Saturday May 10, 2008 in Tulsa, OK. Now lets all start putting a program together. We need group leaders from both the installers and inspectors. We need you to submit questions and comments about topics to be covered. How to involve each other when problems arise. For example when an inspector is commissioned in 99.999999% of the time the installers name or phone number is not available for them to communicate. Was the installer an employee or a sub? How can this be corrected? You get the idea lets expand.

There will be no main speakers. Any of the industries well known people are very welcome, but they may only participate as the rest of us do. There will be no rank.

Tandy Reeves · November 10, 2007, 06:21 AM

Doby thanks for the heads up. Advise well stated and I assure it is well taken.

tony lamar · November 10, 2007, 06:31 AM

Hear, hear! Just what any industry needs. Members of "ALL" facets coming together to address and attempt to alleviate the problems that face "ALL OF US". How could getting to the "true" nature of a problem ever be bad thing? I've always found it to be the first (and usually, the most difficult) step in solving a problem. I'm looking forward to it. Damn the torpedos!