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Safe & Sound Home Inspections, Inc. (206) 226 3205  | |
| SPECIALIZING IN SEATTLE AREA HOME INSPECTIONS Darrell Hay ACI, owner of Safe & Sound Home Inspections Inc., has a lengthy background in the construction and inspection industries, having been involved since 7th grade, skipping school to be out in the field building and remodeling houses with his father--- more than 35 years ago. After many years in the construction industry Darrell began inspecting homes in the middle 1990's, and has completed in excess of 7500 home inspections since that time. Safe & Sound Home Inspections provides traditional pre-purchase building inspections throughout the central Puget Sound region for potential homebuyers on used homes, new construction, and warranty-expiration inspections as well. Individual condominium and townhouse inspections are a large part of the business of course, as are inspections for apartment investors and homeowner associations. Manufactured houses (trailers and modular), and houseboats are also part of the inspection services provided. Darrell has performed at least two hundred log home inspections over the years, this becoming something of a minor sub-specialty. Construction consulting, and single item inspections are also welcomed. For eleven years, until the recent bloodletting in the newspaper industry, Darrell wrote a popular weekly real estate/construction/inspection column called "Ask The Expert" in The Seattle Times www.seattletimes.com. He is now blogging, and you can find it here: www.darrellhayunplugged.blogspot.com You may find Darrell regularly giving presentations on home inspections, maintenance, and construction for contractor associations, insurance industry groups, continuing legal education (CLE) for real estate lawyers, landlord groups, and so forth. Darrell also continues to work with the King County Prosecutor's Office helping to document and prosecute unethical "contractors" preying on the elderly and disabled. Darrell previously taught home inspector education classes at two different local colleges (Highline CC and Discover U), is a regular guest on local radio and television stations on housing and home inspection related topics, and has done public service announcements for The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries Contractor Registration Program www.lni.wa.gov That is great and all, but what Darrell really relishes are appearances as a judge for the REX Awards (Remodeling Excellence) sponsored by the Master Builder's Association of King and Snohomish Counties www.mba-ks.com. They are great people and put out a spread that would kill a hungry horse. It is hard to concentrate on judging remodeling projects when you are stuffing your face with catered gourmet food!! As you can see, Darrell is a food whore... Legalities and Qualifications On July 1, 2010 Washington state's new home inspector licensing program took full effect. All inspectors must now be fully licensed. Darrell is licensed now as Washington State Licensed Home Inspector #246. Previously it was harder to become a hair stylist than a home inspector, and there was rumored to be as many as 1300 "inspectors" full or part time in Washington State. Today the numer of licensed individuals in Washington state is approximately 500, with many less than full time, or relatively new to the business. The new law has obviously screened out a lot of marginal inspectors due to meaningful education and experience requirements. Sad to say, but the extremely high cost of licensing ($980---before the required three weeks of schooling and 40 hours of peer review) and the poor economy has influenced this number as well. Washington State Department of Licensing's list of licensed home inspectors can be found here: https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/dolprod/bpdLicenseQuery/Default.aspx Darrell is certified as an EIFS/stucco inspector with the Northwest Wall & Ceiling Bureau www.nwcb.org, as well as a Certified Earthquake Home Retrofit inspector with the local arm of FEMA's Project Impact www.seattle.gov/emergency/info/contractors-print.htm. Associations and Education Darrell is Certified Inspector #202384 with American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). ASHI is the oldest, best known, and most respected home inspection organization in the world, with the toughest membership requirements in the industry, based on reporting, experience, knowledge, recertification requirements, standards of practice and code of ethics www.ashi.org ASHI is the ONLY inspection organization to have third party accreditation of its membership requirements by NCCA, so ASHI Certified Inspectors can legally use the "ACI" designation. Darrell has been involved with the Western Washington ASHI chapter for 14 years, serves on the board, and is chapter PR Director. ASHI Western Washington chapter just completed its annual community service project, inspecting in excess of 50 decks, for which Darrell was the local organizer. The 84 members of the Western Washington chapter of ASHI are the most experienced home inspectors in the Puget Sound area. If Darrell is not available to do your inspection you are highly encouraged to choose from a list of the most experienced inspectors in our area by clicking www.ashiww.com Darrell is also a member of the Independent Home Inspectors of North America (IHINA) www.independentinspectors.org. IHINA is an industry group that requires its home inspector members to adhere to the industry's toughest ethical standards regarding real or potential conflicts of interest with real estate agents. Currently Darrell Hay is one of only two IHINA members in Washington State. IHINA's ethical standards are beyond better known and better funded inspector organizations such as International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, www.internachi.com, and National Association of Home Inspectors, www.nahi.org For formal ongoing education Darrell attends the local quarterly ASHI weekend education seminars...and not just for the training (they sometimes have great food! *wink*), as well as periodic attendance at ASHI, Inter-NACHI, and CREIA national conventions and online education. Several local plumbing, HVAC, and electrical associations also provide ongoing education seminars. Employees Many people ask, so to make it perfectly clear, there are no subordinates, and no employees. Darrell performs ALL home inspections personally. Mentoring Darrell has mentored and trained several new home inspectors, and is willing to help new inspectors with their state required 40 hours of supervised inspections and/or helping them to achieve the minimum 250 inspections for ASHI certification (ride-alongs) at a very reasonable cost (typically $1000 for the state sign-off). If you have passed your tests and are looking for state-required 40 hour supervision/mentoring feel free to call and let's chat. References are avaialble of course. Service Area Home inspection service area covers the entire Seattle, Washington area, with work focused within Seattle city limits, the eastside (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Kenmore, Duvall, Snoqualmie, Carnation, Fall City, Sammamish, Issaquah, Bothell, Renton, Woodinville), and to the north (Everett, Lynnwood, Brier, Mountlake Terrace, Marysville, Shoreline, Lake Stevens, Lake Forest Park, Mill Creek, Edmonds, Mukilteo, Monroe, Arlington, and Snohomish). This means all of King County, all of Snohomish County, as well as Skagit County and northern Pierce County. From Tacoma to Mount Vernon, from West Seattle to North Bend, and everything in between. Yes, that means all you secessionists in Ballard too. Sometimes, if the moon is just right, a ferry ride to Kitsap County may be in the cards too, just to mix it up a bit... Why We Do It Darrell owns, manages, and has been remodeling several rental houses and apartment buildings that he owns. As you can see, real estate, construction, and building inspections are not just a job to Darrell, but a life long passion. Darrell has three back-talking, spoiled children, most of whom are still lingering in their late teenage years and slightly beyond. Two now require college tuition. Ouch. So of course your business is desperately needed! As you can imagine, he is looking for someone, anyone really, willing to trade for smaller, cuter, and less expensive children (potty trained only please). To quickly get a feel for the real quality of Darrell's inspections, read the true story of a recent visit to the photographer's house. Or, read what customers are saying about his work. | |
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| Darrell@safesoundhome.com Find "Darrell Hay Unplugged" on Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/Darrell-Hay-Unplugged  Seattle Real Estate |
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