Florida Administrative Code › 61 - DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION › 61 - Departmental › Chapter 61-30 - HOME INSPECTORS › Section 61-30.101 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
As used in this chapter, the following terms have the
				  following meanings:
(1) Additional
				Evaluation: Examination and analysis by a qualified professional engineer,
				contractor, tradesman or service technician beyond that provided by the home
				inspection.
(2) Alarm Systems:
				Warning devices, installed or free standing, including but not limited to:
				carbon monoxide detectors, flue gas and other spillage detectors, security
				equipment, ejector pumps and smoke alarms.
(3) Architectural Service: Any practice
				involving the art and science of building design for construction of any
				structure or groupings of structures and the use of space within and
				surrounding the structures or the design for construction, including but not
				specifically limited to, schematic design, design development, preparation of
				construction contract documents, and administration of the construction
				contract.
(4) Automatic Safety
				Controls: Devices designed and installed to protect systems and components from
				unsafe conditions.
(5) Component: A
				part of a system.
(6) Continuing
				Education Course: A course related to the practice of home inspection. Sales
				presentations of home inspection products shall not qualify as continuing
				education courses.
(7) Continuing
				Education Provider: An entity and any of its agents approved by the department
				to engage in providing continuing education courses as required by Chapter
				61-30, F.A.C.
(8) Course
				Instructor: Any person approved by the department to conduct training for a
				department approved course. The instructor's curriculum vitae must demonstrate
				particular education, knowledge, experience or skill which sets the applicant
				apart from those he or she will instruct.
(9) Decorative: Ornamental; not required for
				the operation of the essential systems and components of a home.
(10) Describe: To distinguish a system or
				component by its type or other observed significant characteristics; to
				distinguish it from other systems or components.
(11) Dismantle: To take apart or remove any
				component, device or piece of equipment that would not be taken apart or
				removed by a homeowner in the course of normal and routine homeowner
				maintenance.
(12) Directly
				Supervise: To direct and exercise control over the activities of a person by
				being physically present at the job site.
(13) Engineering Services: Any professional
				service or creative work requiring engineering education, training and
				experience and the application of special knowledge of the mathematical,
				material and engineering services to such professional service or creative work
				as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, design and supervision of
				construction for the purpose of assuring compliance with the specifications and
				design, in conjunction with structures, buildings, machines, equipment, works
				or processes.
(14) Household
				Appliances: Ranges, cook-tops, built-in dishwashers, food waste disposers,
				garage door openers, built-in ovens, built-in microwave ovens, refrigerators,
				freezers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, built-in trash compactors, ceiling
				fans or whole-house fans, if present and if not excluded in the scope of
				services disclosure.
(15) Inspect:
				To examine readily accessible systems and components of a home in accordance
				with the Standards of Practice adopted by the Department in Rules 61-30.801
				through 61-30.811, F.A.C., using normal
				operating controls and opening readily openable access panels.
(16) Installed: Attached such that removal
				requires tools.
(17) Normal
				operating controls: Devices such as thermostats, switches or valves intended to
				be operated by the homeowner.
(18)
				Prelicensure Education Course: An initial course of study approved by the
				department which provides the educational experience required to certify an
				individual for licensure as a home inspector pursuant to Rule
				61-30.102, F.A.C. and Section
				468.8313, F.S. Each course of
				study must be offered as a single course by a single course provider.
(19) Prelicensure Education Provider: An
				entity and any of its agents approved by the department to engage in providing
				prelicensure education courses as required by this chapter.
(20) Readily Accessible: Available for visual
				inspection without requiring dismantling or destructive means to gain access,
				moving of items, including but not limited to, furniture, personal property,
				stored items, clothing, wall or floor covering, or debris, dismantling, or any
				action which will likely involve risk to persons or property. For the purposes
				of this definition, readily accessible includes opening electrical covers or
				removing electrical panel covers if safe to do so and if it can be done easily
				without damaging property.
(21)
				Readily Operable Access Panel: A panel provided for homeowner inspection and
				maintenance that is within normal reach, can be removed by one person and is
				not sealed in place.
(22)
				Recreational Facilities: Spas, saunas, steam baths, swimming pools, exercise,
				entertainment, athletic, playground or other similar equipment and associated
				accessories.
(23) Report: To
				communicate in writing.
(24)
				Representative Number: One component per room for multiple similar interior
				components such as window and electric outlets; one component on each side of
				the home for multiple similar exterior components.
(25) Roof Drainage Systems: Components used
				to carry water off a roof and away from a home.
(26) Service Life: Service life is the
				expected lifetime, or the acceptable period of use in service of a particular
				system or component. It is the time that any manufactured item can be expected
				to be "serviceable, " providing proper maintenance has taken place over the
				period concerned. Service life may vary from region to region, and inspection
				to inspection based on the home being inspected and the professional opinion
				and findings of the inspector.
(27)
				Shut Down: A state in which a system or component cannot be operated by normal
				operating controls.
(28)
				Significantly Deficient: Not operating in the manner in which the system or
				component was designed to operate or creates a significant risk of personal
				injury during normal, day-to-day use.
(29) Solid Fuel Burning Appliances: A hearth
				and fire chamber or similar prepared place in which a fire may be built and
				which is built in conjunction with a chimney; or a listed assembly of a fire
				chamber, its chimney and related factory-made parts designed for unit assembly
				without requiring field construction.
(30) Structural Component: A component that
				supports non-variable forces or weights (dead loads) and variable forces or
				weights (live loads).
(31) System:
				A combination of interacting or interdependent components, assembled to carry
				out one or more functions.
(32)
				Technically Exhaustive: An investigation that involves dismantling; the
				extensive use of advanced techniques, measurements, instruments, testing,
				calculations, or other means.
(33)
				Training Day: The equivalent of 8 hours (an hour being no less than 50 minutes
				of instruction) including breaks and lunch.
(34) Under-floor Crawl Space: The area within
				the confines of the foundation and between the ground and the underside of the
				floor.
(35) Unsafe: A condition in
				a readily accessible, installed system or component which is judged to be a
				significant risk of personal injury during normal, day-to-day use. The risk may
				be due to damage, deterioration, improper installation or a change in accepted
				residential construction standards.
(36) Wiring Methods: Identification of
				electrical conductors or wires by their general type, such as "non-metallic
				sheathed cable" ("Romex"), "armored cable" ("bx") or "knob and tube",
				etc.
Rulemaking Authority
					 455.2035,
					 455.2178(5),
					 468.8325 FS. Law Implemented
					 455.2178,
					 455.2179,
					 468.8311,
					 468.8313(3),
					 468.8321
					 FS.
New 10-22-13, Amended
					 7-31-14.