Discussions

Buyer of our home asked for a WETT inspection on our wood burning fireplace. I called our insurance agent who was surprised at this.... said she never sees one for fireplace but only for wood stoves.  
 
I called one place.. which may be only place that does it because when I asked how long it took they said half hour ish... when I asked how much they said $200.00... I WAS SHOCKED... i mean how is this justified? Does anyone know of anyone who does these? Or is there only one person therefore they are able to charge this much...Just curious...

Ray's does them, also I believe there is a guy from guild insurance that does them. Not sure of anyone else, but I think you'll pay the same either place.

Are you surprised? What were you expecting?  
 
I assume that the person doing the inspection has taken some education on the subject, is possibly certified, and would need to do paperwork to go with their inspection.  
 
If you think that's expensive, try paying a lawyer or engineer for the same amount of time.

education  
maintaining certification  
annual training and travel to courses  
travel to site and back  
vehicle expenses  
office expenses, report writing etc.  
business insurance  
errors and omissions insurance  
workers compensation  
reference library, some businesses this is upwards of 20 grand a year when lots of codes change.  
 
And this is the short list of things  
 

The WETT inspection can be done on any solid fuel burning apparatus. I work in insurance and if I were to buy a home with a woodstove or fireplace I would be getting one done, seen to many improperly installed units. And when it comes to your family's safety $200 is nothing! The training manual for WETT inspections is like 500 pages, multiple days intense training and exams. If I was younger I would go for the certification in a heartbeat.  
 
 
 
Edited by chilling, 2016-01-29 17:29:35

$200 seems like a small price to help the sale of your home and like the guy above me said there is way more to the inspection then just the 1/2 hr they are at your house  
 
As a buyer if you refused i would walk away

LOL Thank you all very much for your input.. opinions.. analysis and justifications.... I merely said I was shocked... I didn't expect to be paying for all the bills associated with getting a licence to do the certification... LOL.. I stated I was shocked.. and still am.. I am not saying at all that the safety isn't worth the $2oo... that line was truly taking it wayyyy out of the spectrum of the discussion. However, to each their own. Typical person works an 8 hour day.. if you were to charge $200 per half hour that works out to $3600 per day to do these inspections... yes take one day out of that work week to do the paper work.. so say 4 days at $3600... hmmmm where do I sign up for the course?? I am a business owner, I am fully aware of the cost of overhead.. I apologize to those who feel that my post was offensive... no worried.. I did book the inspection BEFORE the post.. I was just curious as to if this was typical or not.. Have a great day all!

Tracy L. said "Ray's does them, also I believe there is a guy from guild insurance that does them. Not sure of anyone else, but I think you'll pay the same either place. "

I truly appreciate your information and respectful comments..

for a half hour inspection doesn't mean 16 inspections per day. Travel is not part of the price, so if you drive between inspections that comes out of your bottom line. Also, I don't think this market would permit 16 inspections/day everyday. If he does more than one per day I'd be surprised. Probably part of a range of services offered (WETT inspections, installs, repairs, etc.).

BTALK said "LOL Thank you all very much for your input.. opinions.. analysis and justifications.... I merely said I was shocked... I didn't expect to be paying for all the bills associated with getting a licence to do the certification... LOL.. I stated I was shocked.. and still am.. I am not saying at all that the safety isn't worth the $2oo... that line was truly taking it wayyyy out of the spectrum of the discussion. However, to each their own. Typical person works an 8 hour day.. if you were to charge $200 per half hour that works out to $3600 per day to do these inspections... yes take one day out of that work week to do the paper work.. so say 4 days at $3600... hmmmm where do I sign up for the course?? I am a business owner, I am fully aware of the cost of overhead.. I apologize to those who feel that my post was offensive... no worried.. I did book the inspection BEFORE the post.. I was just curious as to if this was typical or not.. Have a great day all! "

I hope you actually got the inspection done & not just booked before you came on here and started complaining about the bill. Seems like a small group to choose from and maybe a couple of guys decide they are pretty busy now for the next couple of weeks (and perhaps slow down your sale...) As you say it is a bit rare to need this inspection so it wouldn't be hard to figure out what home is being discussed  
 
Edited by Crash, 2016-01-29 20:04:12

Crash said "    BTALK said "LOL Thank you all very much for your input.. opinions.. analysis and justifications.... I merely said I was shocked... I didn't expect to be paying for all the bills associated with getting a licence to do the certification... LOL.. I stated I was shocked.. and still am.. I am not saying at all that the safety isn't worth the $2oo... that line was truly taking it wayyyy out of the spectrum of the discussion. However, to each their own. Typical person works an 8 hour day.. if you were to charge $200 per half hour that works out to $3600 per day to do these inspections... yes take one day out of that work week to do the paper work.. so say 4 days at $3600... hmmmm where do I sign up for the course?? I am a business owner, I am fully aware of the cost of overhead.. I apologize to those who feel that my post was offensive... no worried.. I did book the inspection BEFORE the post.. I was just curious as to if this was typical or not.. Have a great day all! " I hope you actually got the inspection done & not just booked before you came on here and started complaining about the bill. Seems like a small group to choose from and maybe a couple of guys decide they are pretty busy now for the next couple of weeks (and perhaps slow down your sale...) As you say it is a bit rare to need this inspection so it wouldn't be hard to figure out what home is being discussed     Edited by Crash, 2016-01-29 20:04:12"

Thankfully, an intelligent person would realize I was stating that I was shocked (which I point blank stated) and curious as to the cost... the twist on my post came from others not me.. I bet you have been surprised once or twice by the cost of something have you not? I did not mention who I called, I said could it be there is only one and that is why the cost is high? It was a question... which is a typical situation in cases where services are limited in the area.. again, that wasn't bad mouthing a company I DIDN'T mention.. it was asking a question.... truthfully, if I didn't get it done and the sale fell through I truly wouldn't be disappointed.

ronfay said "for a half hour inspection doesn't mean 16 inspections per day. Travel is not part of the price, so if you drive between inspections that comes out of your bottom line. Also, I don't think this market would permit 16 inspections/day everyday. If he does more than one per day I'd be surprised. Probably part of a range of services offered (WETT inspections, installs, repairs, etc.). "

would call for that many any day let alone every day.. I was just trying to point out that if someone is going to the list the total costs of doing business in comparison to ONE service then I should logically be able to compare the income of that one service as well.... your correct, I agree it doesnt make sense to just calculate that one service... it clearly would be one of many offered... Your also correct in the travel time that I didn't account for... sorry. In any case, I will say again.. I am not trashing or meaning to trash the service I was stating I was shocked at the cost. Thank you for your comments though.

Stiles Masonry did ours on a wood stove, less money and great to deal with. Highly recommend them.

You didn't merely state you were shocked, you also asked how that fee was justified. That's why people responded the way they did.

We live close to Yorkton where there are only 2 WETT inspectors. We are wanting to install a wood burning stove in our new build and have been told that a WETT inspection will help with insurance coverage. Not sure if that is true but will see.  
 
Anyway, aside from the cost of having it installed, and inspected, we also are paying mileage charge for them to come out and it is almost as much as the install and inspection. But as one earlier post stated, it is a small expense for the safety of the house. Been through one house fire in my life time, this is a cheap expense.  
 
Good luck with your house sale.

who-am-i? said "You didn't merely state you were shocked, you also asked how that fee was justified. That's why people responded the way they did. "

Now I have to justify why I asked how it is justified... doesn't that sound silly to you? It does to me.. it was an honest question.. as I said in the post, "JUST CURIOUS"... the cost seemed high.. I wasn't being cocky.. I wasn't being rude.. I was surprised.. like the poster above said, they have to pay mileage.. makes sense to me.. therefor an added cost.. I asked if it was because they were the only one in town and able to charge this because that happens all the time where services are limited.. and I get that.. we don't have to pay mileage. I have friends who actually are plumbers, electricians & journeymen caprenters.. an earlier constructive comment stated there is an approx. 500 page manual.. weeks of intense training etc. etc.. ok.. well these friends went through YEARS of training and costs and apprenticeships etc... still have to maintain their licensing and certification .. as I'm sure the WETT inspector has to... but they don't charge $400 an hour..someone mentioned try getting a lawyer or engineer then be shocked at the cost.. how can you compare courses for a few weeks and 500 pages of reading and an intense test to 5 or 7 or 9 years of schooling? I can't... again, there is no comparison... Thats not to say that the inspection doesn't cost money.. clearly it does... that isn't the point.  
 
I did not say I wouldnt do it, as a matter of fact I said I booked it, I didn't say it wasn't worth your families safety, I didn't say it wasn't necessary,I didn't mention the company, I didnt name names... I didn't say anything even close to that.  
 
Discussions are to be around the topic posted... I asked if anyone did this to tell me why it was so expensive. Again, I will apologize if it came across as though I was bashing the profession, that wasn't my intention. The cost and time involved seemed excessive to me... every day I learn something new.. unlike other people, I don't know everything so I ask...  
 
Please people, can you not be so judgemental and just accept the question for what it was. IF not please... if you can't answer the question, please don't be so rude and create issues that were not the intent or even in the post.  
 
I will say again, like texting, words without tone or visual can often be misconstrued.. if I came across the wrong way, again, I'M SORRY.  
 
To those that are offering constructive comments and opinions, thank you for that... clearly you have taken what I said in the correct way.  
 
Have a good night folks..

Try Bing at 204 848 0169. He is WETT certified.

BTALK said "    who-am-i? said "You didn't merely state you were shocked, you also asked how that fee was justified. That's why people responded the way they did. " Now I have to justify why I asked how it is justified... doesn't that sound silly to you? It does to me.. it was an honest question.. as I said in the post, "JUST CURIOUS"... the cost seemed high.. I wasn't being cocky.. I wasn't being rude.. I was surprised.. like the poster above said, they have to pay mileage.. makes sense to me.. therefor an added cost.. I asked if it was because they were the only one in town and able to charge this because that happens all the time where services are limited.. and I get that.. we don't have to pay mileage. I have friends who actually are plumbers, electricians & journeymen caprenters.. an earlier constructive comment stated there is an approx. 500 page manual.. weeks of intense training etc. etc.. ok.. well these friends went through YEARS of training and costs and apprenticeships etc... still have to maintain their licensing and certification .. as I'm sure the WETT inspector has to... but they don't charge $400 an hour..someone mentioned try getting a lawyer or engineer then be shocked at the cost.. how can you compare courses for a few weeks and 500 pages of reading and an intense test to 5 or 7 or 9 years of schooling? I can't... again, there is no comparison... Thats not to say that the inspection doesn't cost money.. clearly it does... that isn't the point.     I did not say I wouldnt do it, as a matter of fact I said I booked it, I didn't say it wasn't worth your families safety, I didn't say it wasn't necessary,I didn't mention the company, I didnt name names... I didn't say anything even close to that.     Discussions are to be around the topic posted... I asked if anyone did this to tell me why it was so expensive. Again, I will apologize if it came across as though I was bashing the profession, that wasn't my intention. The cost and time involved seemed excessive to me... every day I learn something new.. unlike other people, I don't know everything so I ask...     Please people, can you not be so judgemental and just accept the question for what it was. IF not please... if you can't answer the question, please don't be so rude and create issues that were not the intent or even in the post.     I will say again, like texting, words without tone or visual can often be misconstrued.. if I came across the wrong way, again, I'M SORRY.     To those that are offering constructive comments and opinions, thank you for that... clearly you have taken what I said in the correct way.     Have a good night folks.. "

wow that quite the post, i think you should read your second to last paragraph again and think about it for a minute, you can post a topic and even ask a question but a bit of variation on where the topic goes is normal so imo you really need to ask yourself if you took the replies the "correct" way  
 
for my 1st post what i meant was $200 is what i would expect for that and i am not shocked at all