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Home : News
NEWS | Oct. 11, 2019

Soldiers earn home inspector certification, continuing RISE WV mission

By Maj. Holli Nelson West Virginia National Guard

Almost 20 West Virginia Army National Guard (WVARNG) Soldiers can now add home inspector to their arsenal of job skills learned through serving in the National Guard.

Thanks to a memorandum of agreement with Bridge Valley Community and Technical College (BVCTC) and the Home Inspector Training Institute (HITI), three iterations of an accredited, 80-hour home inspector course were opened to Soldiers currently working in the RISE West Virginia program.

WVARNG Education Services Director, Dr. Sherri Shafer, said it is due to a longstanding partnership with BVCTC, and cooperation with HITI, that allowed her to facilitate the course and exam, supporting the mission of the RISE program. 

RISE West Virginia is a flood recovery program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that the West Virginia National Guard provides oversight to for the construction management portion of the program. It is designed to assist those West Virginians who were impacted by the devastating floods of June 2016 that impacted large swaths of the state.

The WVARNG has around 20 Soldiers employed full-time with RISE West Virginia, working daily in everything from progress reports, environmental reviews, construction management visits and quality control, to demolition management and ensuring state building code and HUD quality standards are met. The Soldiers travel to every site in the 12-county area of operations, following each home from pre-construction to final inspection.

Prior to this training being accomplished, there were a limited number of individuals able to perform home inspections for houses or mobile home units that were ready for key turnover to a waiting family. Now, the RISE West Virginia program will have a multitude of individuals able to perform home inspections and deem a house as either passing or failing. This training is making Soldiers more proficient in inspections along all phases of the construction process, aiming for a first-time-pass for all homes.

This training is instrumental in ensuring the RISE West Virginia program can meet the demands of the number of homes being built and needing inspection for recovering West Virginians. For the course, Soldiers studied a wide variety of topics including pre-inspection agreements, inspection process and report writing, basic home construction, environmental and pest concerns, and setting up and operating a home inspection business. With the classes held in the evenings, the Soldiers worked full time during the day and joined up again for another five hours at night to complete the requirements.

“It’s very much a team effort,” said 1st Lt. Kent Westfall, a demolition and construction manager for the RISE West Virginia program. “It takes a good work-life balance and staying organized, but it’s what college students are used to.”

The WVNG program pays for the course and one exam that, once passed, would officially grant them the status of certified home inspector. In the first two iterations, there was 100 percent pass rate for the course and many Soldiers are now preparing to take the test. The third course is beginning in October.

“This home inspector training course provided by the Home Inspector Training Institute was very comprehensive and a key learning tool for our development,” Westfall said. “It will allow us to ensure that quality homes are being built for the affected citizens of the State of West Virginia who are working through the recovery process.”

Westfall explained that the entire construction process will move faster with the new proficiency. The Soldiers now know what they are looking for at each phase, instead of having to stop the contractors and ask for explanation. It’s much more proficient and through, he said.

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