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So then, like a good friend of mine, who attended his DEA course last week, you are new to the industry, looking to join a like-minded body of individuals in a profession that by its very nature involves a great deal of lone-working. Makes the need to join a members organisation even more important really, in order to keep up with whats happening in an industry where the goal posts seem to move on a monthly basis.

Time for a run through them all then, we've been up and running for a year with EPCs, so what have the members organisations been up to then? Running through them all then, we have 4 at various stages of birth, life and death.


NARHI National Association of Registered Home Inspectors

Still headed by the busy bee Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy who I have bumped into at various meetings since the first problems with the HIP rollout dating back to Autumn 2006. NARHI no longer have an active roll within the DEA/HI community itself, but certainly Hugh is a valuable asset to the pro-HIP, pro-HCR and pro-EPC community, so should NARHI go ahead with its rumoured merger or be taken over by IHI, it would be a remarkably stupid move not to have Hugh as roving representation. You will not find a greater depth of knowledge than he has.

You can find more details about how to join NARHI here.


IHI

Banishing the theory that this organisation was only suited for Home Inspectors, the Institute for Home Inspection recently revealed that over two-thirds of its membership are in fact standalone DEAs and that number is increasing all the time.

Recently the IHI have been running a series of surveys as part of their contribution into the one of the CLG Consultation Groups.

The first survey was called "The State of the Industry" and the outcome gave a good indication of current fee levels and working conditions for IHI members and across the DEA spectrum.

The second survey, conducted by a chap I know called Dean Jones was entitled "Where Are We Going" and concentrated on the circumstances surrounding Certification, panel management, minimum EPC fees levels and the thorny subject of data collectors.

There is no sign of IHI losing its way or indeed fading away. Maybe a bit more marketing about what it is actually doing and fewer comments about how its all happening 'behind the scenes' will help it drive forward and evolve into a useful representative body for DEA/HIs. It certainly has senior members with vast amounts of property experience and a bank balance that other organisations could only dream about.

You can find more details about how to join IHI here


IDEA

IDEA is itself going through something of a relaunch having completely fouled up last year. The top 2 of Jim Gillespie and Steve Roberts stay the self-appointed leadership and voting commences next week for the balance of the first committee. Having personally sat on the first Steering Group, I can only wish the committee the very best of luck, IDEA has considerable baggage having being hijacked by those wanting to simply benefit from the income of being a pack provider, quite whether it can gain the credibility to attract and retain members remains to be seen. With a claimed membership of 1897 individuals, although these numbers do come from the era of 'free membership' it will be interesting to see if IDEA will introduce the transparency as befits the use of the protected term Institute and put its real fee-paying membership numbers on its website later this year. Anecdotal evidence suggests that members would like to be represented a lot bit more, and 'sold' deals a bit less- must be a lesson in there you would hope.

A separate blog posting follows about the IDEA committee forming process.


ProDEA

And quietly in the shadows there are whispers of positive talk, positive representation, positive action by DEAs and the hoped-for positive outcomes by doing the right thing for DEAs. Could it be that ProDEA, in discussions about its formative steps can launch and capture the imagination of the DEA community? Seems to have an ideal opportunity with fewer than 500 paying members of any organisation right now, that leaves over 10,500 DEA/HIs looking for a group they feel they can align to. I suspect we'll be hearing more about ProDEA in the coming weeks, and we can only wish all involved well.

There are no joining details for ProDEA available at this time, but do keep an eye on www.prodea.org.uk where any announcements are most likely to be made.


I have already heard the arguments about Do we need another organisation?, in fact they are nicely laid out here in the article Energy assessors rally behind new proposed body by my fellow blogger MikeC of Energy-Performance-Certificates.org but frankly, as a DEA, its not obvious who to pick and why? No wonder we see another organisation being discussed and formed, and I don't for one minute think it will be the last.


Too many members organisations, surely?

No way Jose! This industry has upward of 12,000 DEA/HIs in it right now, only when those who have run out of money and/or patience have left the industry well we see who is left, and only then will any great consolidation be on the cards.

As an individual I am not a member of any of the above organisations. I am unlikely to practice as a DEA or HI in the next 6 months and until such time as that may change, my time, energy, and focus must be elsewhere.

Labels: Organisation-for-DEA-or-HI IDEA-IHI-NARHI-ProDEA Domestic-Energy-Assessor Home-Inspector