We have had a great response from InterNACHI members looking to take advantage of the InterNACHI/Live-Safe Foundation scholarship for the NIFAST Residential Fire Safety Inspector Certification Program. I am truly humbled and impressed by the response. The response from InterNACHI members shows commitment to embark on a new service in the home inspection arena and a smart business decision in your marketplace to increase your current book of business. The NIFAST Fire Safety Inspector Certification Program goes far beyond just working towards providing inspection services in the college environment. It is a certification that will open up new programs to talk with real estate agents about, give the inspector an “add-on service” to their current home inspection services, create a “call for inspection” beyond the traditional real estate transaction, and help you potentially save lives in your community with the knowledge you share through your new certification.
Here are some key reasons to obtain the NIFAST certification, and how it may impact your current, local business value:
- The certification gives you something new to speak with real estate agents and property owners about in your market place.
- By promoting your new certification through press releases and local media, you will gain exposure beyond your competition, and effectively illustrate a dedication to your inspection business.
- A residential fire safety inspection is a service you can “add-on” to a current inspection for additional fees.
- An increased relationship with your local fire department which in turn will help increase the exposure in the market place as being a credible inspector. This will open you up to a new market calling for rental properties to have fire safety inspections performed on the properties prior to tenants occupying the property. This is being driven at the local level across the country and a call -for -action from many fire departments and local governments. The problem thus far to enforce is no one to provide the inspections. Your exposure to the local fire departments, building departments and local officials will be the source to fill the needed void for these inspections.
- Your certification will put you in our online NIFAST registry giving you exposure to the many Universities across the country looking to solve the problem of residential fires occurring in off-campus student housing. With the new “Student Right to Know Act” passing this year (full enforcement in effect 2011) universities and communities are looking for solutions to residential property inspections. NIFAST is working directly with many universities for off-campus housing inspections and will utilize the inspectors we certify to satisfy those inspections. This is also an area the certified inspectors will be able to work directly with university and local officials to raise the awareness of their certification and ability to perform residential fire safety inspections in that market place.
- Through the NIFAST affiliate program for all of our certified inspectors, it provides your customers an online outlet of safety -related products to increase the safety program in their home, as well as raise their knowledge to living fire-safe. Our automated webstore can easily track and identify each inspector by an assigned number, and provide discounts on future webstore products to enhance the inspector’s current NIFAST toolkit.
Scholarships will be awarded on December 7th. Scholarship applications are due November 25th. My next blog post will address additional discount programs for those inspectors not selected for scholarships. Tune in, as a NIFAST certification is just a few weeks away!
Steve Smith – President of NIFAST
NIFAST is a national company comprised of certified fire safety professionals, founded and operated by fire safety industry leaders.
NOTE: If you have submitted an application for the Scholarship Program but did not receive confirmation, please Contact Heather Almendinger at nifast.org or call her at 877-347-3702.
