Whats in a name then?
As the debate rumbles on the forum regarding the rights and wrongs of the Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors, attention has been briefly focused on what a good name would be for an Institute.
IDEA was rubbished for its name being attractive to DEAs and not taking into account non-domestic (commercial) and municipal energy assessors, and of course its not at all relevant to airconditioning inspectors required in 2009.
IHI fell over for similar reasons, the only difference being that of course it was more appealing to Home Inspectors than DEAs.
My vote goes for the Institute of Energy Surveyors or something very similar to this. Yes it does ignore the asbestos and airconditioning side of things, they are technical specialisms in their own right and already have various professional bodies such as CIBSE in existance- duplication is not good, and in fact in the case of using the protected term Institute, duplication is simply not allowed!
'Inspectors' is a unpopular word to use and sounds too 'governmental'.
'Assessors' sounds a bit 'simple' and not that appealing really if you explaining what you do to a friend.
Certainly when I (as an agent) and we (NRG Experts) talk about DEA/HIs we call them energy surveyors. The public are comfortable with the term surveyor. In general the public have little knowledge about the property world, other than what Sarah Beeney has taught them of course.
They think they get a survey done when they actually get a mortgage valuation.
They think a solicitor handles their moving paperwork when most of the time it'll be a conveyancer.
So whats in a name? Well as far as the future of IDEA and IHI go, quite a lot really- they both need to attract membership numbers in 2008. Without the momentum and identifying the right people to take things forward and to operate things professionally in a members-led organisation, they may just find themselves at a loose end. Its hard to tell what horse to back, maybe back neither until they demonstrate competence or maybe, funds permitting, back both, and see them operating from the inside an have the opportunity to influence debate and shape the future.
IDEA was rubbished for its name being attractive to DEAs and not taking into account non-domestic (commercial) and municipal energy assessors, and of course its not at all relevant to airconditioning inspectors required in 2009.
IHI fell over for similar reasons, the only difference being that of course it was more appealing to Home Inspectors than DEAs.
My vote goes for the Institute of Energy Surveyors or something very similar to this. Yes it does ignore the asbestos and airconditioning side of things, they are technical specialisms in their own right and already have various professional bodies such as CIBSE in existance- duplication is not good, and in fact in the case of using the protected term Institute, duplication is simply not allowed!
'Inspectors' is a unpopular word to use and sounds too 'governmental'.
'Assessors' sounds a bit 'simple' and not that appealing really if you explaining what you do to a friend.
Certainly when I (as an agent) and we (NRG Experts) talk about DEA/HIs we call them energy surveyors. The public are comfortable with the term surveyor. In general the public have little knowledge about the property world, other than what Sarah Beeney has taught them of course.
They think they get a survey done when they actually get a mortgage valuation.
They think a solicitor handles their moving paperwork when most of the time it'll be a conveyancer.
So whats in a name? Well as far as the future of IDEA and IHI go, quite a lot really- they both need to attract membership numbers in 2008. Without the momentum and identifying the right people to take things forward and to operate things professionally in a members-led organisation, they may just find themselves at a loose end. Its hard to tell what horse to back, maybe back neither until they demonstrate competence or maybe, funds permitting, back both, and see them operating from the inside an have the opportunity to influence debate and shape the future.
posted by Neil Kurz at
22:06
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home