Chairman's Message

By: Ken Collins, CCI

Dear CREIA Member,

I am so honored to serve as Chairman of the Board for another year! Your CREIA Board of Directors is completing agenda items and looking forward to continuing work towards the overall association mission and refining goals and objectives during 2017-2018. We are also continuously open to ways of ensuring CREIA is the premier association for home inspectors in California.

As you are undoubtedly aware, it has been a very busy legislative year in Sacramento. There have been many proposals introduced this year that could change or alter our profession. The CREIA Legislative Committee is keeping a watchful eye and attending meetings or hearings on bills that have been introduced or that are in motion. We will be giving legislative updates frequently, but know that they can change daily.

CREIA's marketing and social media teams are always looking for new ways in promoting CREIA to the Real Estate community. The “flow rate” bags have been a great success with some agents now asking inspectors if they can have more. In late June, CREIA sent the press release, CREIA Urges Property Owners to Have All Guardrails Decks and Balconies Professionally Inspected to the PRNewswire. We have been posting general tips and chapter toolboxes on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, please “like,” "friend," and "follow" CREIA and CREIA-posts. Doing so helps with brand awareness and promoting CREIA. Go to CREIA's Website , scroll to the bottom of the homepage, and click on the social media icons. If you don't have an account, they are quick and easy to create.

The education and membership committees are constantly working on assisting CREIA Associates towards becoming CREIA Certified Inspectors (CCIs). We have augmented CREIA's online CEC and non-CEC videos, one on the subject of report writing by Michael Casey. Associates are encouraged to take it prior to submitting reports to be reviewed, which is required for certification. I want to also take a moment to thank all of you that have taken the time to mentor Associates. We hope all members will take the time to participate on the Technical Information Exchange (TIE). Please don't hesitate to place your questions on the TIE--members from the corners of the state will benefit.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) and CREIA have been working very hard on creating the CREIA Certified Simplified Seismic Assessor (CCSSA). This is a special CREIA designation to perform specific seismic inspections. CCSSA inspections may allow homeowners to get a discounts on earthquake insurance and help houses better withstand the next big earthquake. We have had the CEA at our last few conferences offering the FEMA P-50 / QuakeGrade class. Our ultimate goal is to have Certified trainers throughout the state assisting members to obtain this certification to CREIA members only.

The Conference Committee is working on the 2018 Annual Conference to be held in Costa Mesa at the Westin South Coast Plaza, April 26th ~ 29th. This event is going to be great for CREIA inspectors and their spouses. We have a fantastic lineup of educational speakers and there are plenty of off site attractions for guests, such as the huge South Coast Plaza luxury shopping center and Disneyland only 20 minutes away!

I want to give a sincere thank you to the CREIA Staff, Board of Directors, and all of the Committee participants for their hard work and dedication in an effort to make CREIA the best home inspection association in the state.

I want to also thank all of the Chapter leaders who volunteer their time to help other CREIA members. If you have not yet volunteered to be a chapter leader, please do so, you will get more out of it than you put into it. This is a great place to learn and help fellow inspectors at the same time.

Thank you for your continued membership and participation. Please remember that this is a volunteer organization, we are always looking for assistance on various committees. You can feel free to contact the office or me for details. We welcome your participation!

Yours in Service,



Ken Collins
Chairman of the Board