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Accuracy Questions Again Hit Home Inspection Program

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 9, 2007

10/14/07: Program's Worth Questioned
Comment: Are You Surprised By The Discrepancies?

My Safe Florida Home officials have spent months, and millions of dollars inspecting homes, trying to tell residents whether their houses can withstand a hurricane, and whether they are eligible for insurance discounts.

The state, however, can't guarantee the inspections are accurate.

Officials said Wednesday that a quality-assurance review, released last week, found widespread differences between the original inspection and reinspection of 2,567 houses.

"It showed us that more discrepancies were occurring than we were comfortable with," said Nina Banister, a spokeswoman for the Department of Financial Services, which oversees the program.

However, program officials still don't know how many of the discrepancies equal a factual error.

And, for the first time, they acknowledged that those errors could extend to both the original and reinspection reports.

"We're saying inaccuracies could be in either," Banister said.

Now the state is launching a third review of those houses to identify errors and correct them - but only those errors that affect either the possible insurance discount or safety enhancements, as recommended by the report.

That could mean a third trip to some homes in question.

"We're not ruling it out, if that's necessary," she said.

The 2,567 inspections, however, represent just a fraction of the more than 111,000 homes inspected to date.

Banister said the state currently has no plans to go back and re- inspect each of those homes to ensure accuracy.

Same House?

The Tampa Tribune also looked at a random sampling of the re-inspections. The newspaper, which published its findings on Oct. 14, reviewed 72 homes and found no fewer than 20 discrepancies for each set of reports, the original and re-inspection.

Six sets of reports had more than 100 discrepancies each, including minor differences, such as dates or measurements, and more significant differences, such as how the roof was attached to the home.

Some of the inspection reports appeared as though the inspectors visited different properties, even though they both evaluated the same house.

At the time, state officials and many of the inspection companies hired to do the inspections dismissed the newspaper's findings. They pointed to the potential benefits for homeowners. They said that the program is still in its infancy.

Then the state began making changes, starting with the 11 companies it hired to perform inspections.

It fired one company for multiple contract violations and dismissed four others that received low marks on a performance audit. The low marks were based mostly on incomplete files, not inspector accuracy.

Of the six companies retained, two have direct ties to the program. One company - SkyeTec - employs Lisa Miller as a lobbyist. Miller is the state's former deputy chief financial officer, who helped launch My Safe Florida Home.

Another company, Applied Research Associates, was paid by the state last year to design the software that generates the inspection reports.

Program officials also recently announced plans to dramatically enhance training requirements for inspectors, including more hands-on field training and post-inspection education. Currently, inspectors attend one daylong class and take an open-book test. And the state does not oversee field training.

Most of those changes, however, won't happen until 2008.

No Choice

Yet program officials continue to encourage residents statewide to sign up for a free inspection.

"We have said all along that we think consumers should have confidence despite these discrepancies," Banister said.

State officials don't have a choice.

The Florida Legislature wants 400,000 inspections done by June 2009, and interest has waned as criticism and questions continue to mount.

Since debuting in August 2006, My Safe Florida Home has spent about $17 million on inspections and reinspections.

A matching grant up to $5,000 is available for residents that live within a designated wind region along the coast. Much of the state, including almost all of Hillsborough County, sits outside that region.

Program officials have pushed the possible insurance discounts, which they say average $192 statewide, as an alternative to the grant.

However, the inspection review isolated 13 categories where discrepancies occurred most often. Of those categories, eight directly affect possible insurance discounts and/or safety recommendations.

The state in August hired former inspector David Pasquarelli to lead the quality-assurance review. He has been paid $11,385 so far for more than 253 hours of work at $45 per hour.

Pasquarelli's review found a majority of instances where both inspectors agreed in the inspections. But he also found 4,887 instances where they did not.

Some of the categories can have a significant effect on a homeowner's insurance premium. For instance, correctly determining that window or door openings have hurricane-rated protection could mean up to a 39 percent reduction.

Out of 2,567 inspections reviewed, Pasquarelli found inspectors disagreed 286 times on window ratings and 258 times on door ratings.

He did not return a call for comment.

Banister said the state is preparing an addendum to the inspection report that may help reduce the number of discrepancies by clarifying specific situations that seem to be confusing inspectors.

For instance, inspectors aren't supposed to take down measurements for windows that have a hurricane rating. Yet, many of the reinspection documents showed one or both inspectors making that mistake.

"We're feeling pretty confident that's going to eliminate some," she said. "It won't allow them to put anything inaccurate, hopefully."

The state also plans to start sending out alerts to the inspection companies about changes or improvements to the inspection process.

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915 or jallman@tampatrib.com.

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