NRVIA inspector certs

[azpete]

there is a severe shortage of rv techs, and qualified inspectors. the rv industry need to start a training program, like the rvia the certification schools, but held locally in a region or statewide area.
the problem, as i see it, is that unless the training is ongoing, and supported by the dealers, it wont have the necessary participation. by support, i dont mean encouraging training, i mean require it, and maybe pay for it,
the other problem, is the schools i have attended, include everything in a four day school
there are some items, like a/c's refrigerators, and generators that sometimes require at least a half day, or even a full day to go more in depth study.
we definitely need more schools, but as i said, if the dealers, and manufacturers do not require training, its not going to go anywhere. no support, no training.
i am talking from a techs point of view. i have worked in the rv industry since 1967.
i have been a tech, shop and service manager, part owner of a winnebago dealership,
and after a short retirement, sales and service tech for hwh corp.
almost all of my training has been hands on, not schools, its a hard way to learn.
i was never a parts changer. i try to do a thorough diagnosis, before replacing the first part. i learned this from paul hanser, joe portelli, and fred grunder at hwh.
when hwh had schools, it was a one week school, just on leveling systems, and slide room mechanisms. even then, i had more questions.
i firmly believe in training in a classroom setting, but the internet has. changed that. now, you can get training on anything on the internet. it just takes the gumption to get going, and read it. i am available to answer any questions you have on hwh product.
paul maddox 602 549 3638
i do work full time for hwh corp
i never solicit part sales on this forum, and never solicit service work.
im just another resource at your disposal
sorry to be so long, training of any kind is better than none.

[mackwrench]

Thanks Paul,
I'll add that it's not just the RV industry that's short on technicians, the entire auto/heavy truck/equipment repair industry is in a hurt for them.

I graduate average 10 to 12 decent entry level techs a year and have a 100% placement rate.

[HDGoose]

Will the industry pay for qualified techs? I know it doesn pay to be a Harley tech and go to those schools.



Everyone wants a school trained mechanic. Few want to pay for it.

[azpete]

hdgoose, thats the point. no one is willing to pay for it, but everyone wants it.
most techs that have training paid for it out of their own pocket.
you are right, it doesnt pay off readily. sometimes it takes years.
the one thing i learned is that with more knowledge, comes security, and more money, not right away, but by demonstration of that knowledge, and gaining experience, comes job security. you make yourself a
more valuable employee, even if working for yourself.
when i get training, even on line, it gives me a good feeling to know that i can handle most problems, and that i have the backup of associates, and my bosses as resources if i need them.

[EJW]

Awesome thread!

I've looked at the NRVIA Level 1/2 courses as a possible career move (own my own tech/data consulting business, but am getting burnt out after 24 years), but mostly as an RV owner. I really love to learn, but don't have a strong foundation in all the RV systems. Just reading these forums makes me realize that. .

Maybe there's some opportunity to curate the online information and make a course out of it. I've taken a reputable, good priced data science program where this was the model. Worked with a mentor online.

The issue with self-study is you go down a lot of rabbit holes - some of it good, some of it not good. Having a mentor helps to tell which rabbit holes to go down and for how long.

I teach Google cert bootcamps where I have to train teachers in 4 days to understand apps/flows and pass a pretty tough test. I use the DSSR method - it helps to learn stuff quickly and the results are good - Deconstruct the material into minimal learning units (MLUs)-small bite sized bits of knowledge, Select the most important (80/20 rule applies at least in tech, 20% of core knowledge can solve/fix 80% of stuff, Sequence - foundation stuff vs. advanced stuff), and Repeat - Practice.

To give an example, I'm not 100% comfortable with electricity - know a lot of folks here are experts. When I hear to put a meter on something, I really try to understand, but don't always think I would have the comfort to do so. I know there are gaps in my knowledge, but having a foundational curriculum to fill in those gaps and a mentor would help.

Just some thoughts. Thanks again for a great thread.

[wingnut60]

Just to comment on RV inspections/inspectors--
Last Jan, sought to purchase a '16 Tiffin, got a list of graduate inspectors off the website, and contacted the nearest one. Ended up with an 8-hour go-thru and a 30-page report. Used the report to negotiate the fixing of some problems, and negotiating for tires. Very satisified, inspector and wife team, very thorough.
On the other hand, inspection for extended warranty policy--they sent out a yoyo that declared it a 'very nice coach' but the oil was dirty. Oil had 400 miles on it/maybe 10 hours. Apparently, the warranty company was only interested in obvious 'pre-conditions' which the inspection, short as it was, satisified there were none.
As to paying for tech work--hourly charges seem to be running about $120-160/hr---problem may be that not much of that gets to the tech.

[mackwrench]

Technician pay is kinda all over the place, a lot of variables. In my area,
Dealership pays best at $28 to 40 bucks an hour
Private fleets a little less....$20 to 28
Government fleet shops a little more less, at $18 to 30

Dealership pays off incentive program sometimes that bumps up pay on jobs complete in less than flat rate time...

Dealership has better OEM training opportunities, but higher pressure

Private fleet could be a local garbage or concrete company or large fleets like Walmart or UPS...

Government fleet is steady, good benefits and job security.

.....RV shops have to compete with all them for techs.

Biggest thing I hear in dedicated RV shop is low pay and little benefits. Add in hard to please, less understanding of equipment customers and be easy to see difference.

Best money it appears for RV tech is mobile service. Someone with a good personality, that can "speak" repair along with a clean cut look, sharp looking service vehicle with availability to look up, get correct parts would do very well for themselves.

[mtofell]

I've been in the home inspection industry for 20+ years and am a huge RV fan and owner. Watching the evolution of the RV inspection industry is very fascinating to me. I see it going through all the same growing pains that home inspectors went through 25-30 years ago. Contracts, liability, standards of practice, licensing, certifications, etc, etc.

I think it's on a good track and there should be a general need for the service but there are a lot of challenges. Geography is a big one. Sure, an inspector in Florida or Texas could probably stay busy but a lot of the country just won't have the demand. I can tell you the real estate market is constantly booming, busting, crashing, soaring, etc, and most everyone NEEDS a house so there is always at least some demand. RVs for the most part are an optional purchase so I imagine the ups and downs would be even greater than what I experience as a home inspector.

Speaking of certifications, here's one I can share from the inspection industry - My company does anywhere between 1000-1500 inspections per year and I can literally count on one hand the number of times in the last 20 years that anyone has asked about certifications that I hold (aside from basic state licensing, of course). Despite consumers not caring, the home inspector association business is a HUGE one with new inspectors being promised the moon when they are new and sign up.

[moderator edit]

[Isaac-1]

To follow up on this comparison to Home Inspectors, there are a couple of BIG differences with RV inspectors, these days a home inspection is often required as part of the purchase process for a house, as most people finance houses, and most lenders require an inspection. In the RV industry few lenders require inspectors, and the ones that do tend to accept a very minimal fraud prevention level of inspection that could probably be done in 15 minutes. Also it seems many of the RV's most in need of inspection don't get one, as they are either well depreciated, and the cost of an inspection is seen to be too high, ie the 15 year old, $15,000 motorhome, where the buyers don't want to pay an inspector $750 to inspect the coach, and honestly from what I have heard at the NRVIA conference, most inspectors don't want to inspect these types of coaches, as they don't want to spend hours writing the deficiencies in the report. The other category of RV's that don't get inspected are the brand new ones, instead most people buying new RV's trust the dealership to find faults, which as many of us know is a bad idea.


Taking my NRVIA level 2 class a couple of years ago we did a couple of practice inspections, in my case one was on a 18 month old low end travel trailer that had never been sold, was donated for training use by an RV dealer, and was built by an RV company that had went bankrupt. It lacked sealant on a number of seams, and the dobs there were there were half as much as there should have been, as a result the entire roof had rotted out. The other was a brand new 5th wheel, with less than 100 miles on it, which had been bought just a few weeks earlier. The problems with it were eye opening, roof access ladder was crushed at the top, sealant on front and rear fiberglass caps was split with a 1/4+ inch wide gap in places, edge trim in one of the slides was pushed out due to too long of trim screw being used from the inside (water stain inside on ceiling), another slide seal was split, looks like someone cut it with a box cutter length wise, toilet floor seal was leaking onto the vinyl floor, even one of the 4 screws for the breaker panel was stripped and would spin in its hole.


A few weeks later I heard the owner had left Texas on the way to Colorado and the rear axle fell off the 5th wheel going down the road. I don't know how things worked out, last I heard 5 months later they were still fighting with the manufacturer to get it fixed.

[mtofell]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

these days a home inspection is often required as part of the purchase process for a house, as most people finance houses, and most lenders require an inspection.

Home lenders require appraisals but I've never heard of them requiring inspections (trust me, I'd LOVE it since it would bring me more work). Honestly, one of the worst things that can happen in a transaction is to let the lender get their hands on the full inspection report. Once they see it they feel compelled to act on it and ask for a ridiculous list of things to be fixed or replaced. Small town credit unions are the worst.

Lenders will sometimes require a Pest/Dry Rot inspection (often just called a "termite inspection" or "termite certificate") but this is a much more limited scope inspection.

[Isaac-1]

It must either be a regional thing, or just the house sales I have known about lately. A few months ago my mother in law sold a house, the sale was delayed by months, and $20,000+ of work had to be done before the buyer's lender would sign off on the transaction, of course the home inspector dinged every burned out light bulb, with the obligatory don't know if it is bulb or the fixture, ... this was on a 60+ year old house in rural south Louisiana. Amazing the amount of stuff one has to do these days just to sell something, another delay she had was getting the septic tank inspected, that took a few weeks, and multiple back and forths with the local permitting office, all over a mechanical septic system that was installed less than 15 years ago.