- Info@sahita.co.za
- +27 (0) 83 310 9766
THE BEST SA BUILING & HOME INSPECTOR TRAINING
THE BEST SA BUILING & HOME INSPECTOR TRAINING
SAHITA OFFERS 100% SOUTH AFRICAN BUILDING AND HOME INSPECTOR TRAINING
SAHITA is the first building inspection academy to equip South Africans with an all-round knowledge of South African building methods and South African building regulations and standards – including SANS 10400. SAHITA training combines detailing training on building compliance and building methods with practical knowledge on how to conduct a building inspection and compile an inspection report.
SAHITA was established in 2012 because the South African home inspection industry was completely unregulated and there were no benchmarks for training and accrediting home inspectors. HouseCheck, South Africa’s leading building inspection company (established in 2008), therefore pioneered the launch of SAHITA. SAHITA is now widely recognised for its excellent standard of training material which is fully compliant with South African building laws, regulations, standards and systems.
The SAHITA course covers the many different building disciplines that all certified building and home inspectors must understand.
In 2016 SAHITA was approved by the QCTO (Quality Council for Trades & Occupations) to develop a National Building Inspector qualification (Curriculum Code 335913000).
SAHITA teamed-up with the Local Government SETA (LGSETA), which provided funding for a task team of experts and stakeholders to develop a curriculum for this important qualification. The task team, which worked for two years, comprised a broad spectrum of industry stakeholders (representing SAHITA, the NHBRC, leadings municipal building control officers, the Banking Association South Africa, the NRCS and various private sector home inspection businesses).
The curriculum for the Building Inspector Qualification was finalised and approved in by the QCTO board in 2019. The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) then requested the QCTO to repackage the Building Inspector qualification curriculum as follows.
Building Inspector (Class I) – NQF level 5. This is to be a “stand-alone” qualification for building and home inspectors
Building Inspector (Class II) – NQF level 6 and Building Inspector Class III – NQF level 7. This is to be a specialised qualification, which is aimed at the municipal building inspectorate who require more detailed expertise in both building plan approval and law enforcement.
The QCTO task team completed the repackaging of the Building Inspector curriculum in 2019, but since then the final approval of the qualification by SAQA appears to have ground to a halt for various reasons.
In anticipation of this new Building Inspector qualification being eventually accredited by SAQA and to meet the existing need for building and home inspector training, SAHITA has again taken the initiative.
By December 2019 SAHITA had completely rewritten its online building and home inspector training material to align with the approved curriculum of Classes I & II of the new Building Inspector Qualification. Existing SAHITA graduates were afforded the opportunity to complete the new SAHITA course at a greatly reduced fee.
Once SAQA accredits the Building Inspector Qualification, then the QCTO will be able to finalise Assessment criteria for the qualification. Because the SAHITA curriculum is fully aligned with the QCTO-approved curriculum, SAHITA expects that SAHITA graduates will qualify for the accredited qualification under a “Recognition of Prior Learning” (RPL) “sunset period.
In order to assist the development of professional standards for South African building and home inspectors, SAHITA has also launched and funded in 2016 a new non-profit organisation the National Association of Building Inspectors of South Africa – see www.nabisa.org.za for more details. All SAHITA graduates qualify for membership of NABISA.
The SAHITA and NABISA training benchmarks for home and building inspectors have now been recognised by one of South Africa’s leading banks (the Standard Bank of South Africa). Various municipalities and other government bodies have also funded SAHITA training for inspectors in their employ.
Home inspection”, known as “property surveying” in Britain, is one of the most exciting business opportunities in South Africa and in many overseas countries. In the US home inspection is a US$3-billion a year industry.
You can become part of this fast-growing industry. The SA home inspection industry is especially suitable for small business and entrepreneurs. The prospects for growth are excellent, start-up costs are low and a high level of professional and personalised service will enhance your prospects of success.
The new Property Practitioners Act 2019 has been passed by Parliament and signed into law by the State President. This new law, which is expected to give the home inspection industry a major boost by promoting consumer protection for home buyers, will come into force when the final regulations are published by the Minister of Human Settlements. This has been delayed by the Covid19 pandemic.
SAHITA offers South African focused training opportunities to entrepreneurs to enhance their building inspection skills.
The philosophy of SAHITA is to share knowledge for the greater good of the South African community and to create opportunities for students. After qualifying, some SAHITA students may be invited to join the HouseCheck team, others may choose to set up their own businesses as home inspectors, to join another home inspection company or to work in building quality control in both the public and private sectors.
EXPERT TRAINERS
John Graham is the Principal of SAHITA and is readily available to assist SAHITA students (you can call or WhatsApp him on 083 310 9766 or email him on john@sahita.co.za). His passion is to train building and home inspectors in order to raise building standards in South Africa, improve the consumer protection for home buyers and create thousands of job opportunities for building inspectors and home inspectors.
In 2021 John developed inspection templates for SAHITA graduates to use when inspecting existing buildings. These templates are fully compliant with South African building regulations, national standards, laws and South African building practice.
The SAHITA inspection software functions on a smartphone app and is designed to assist SAHITA-trained inspectors to produce detailed inspection reports quickly and accurately. The SAHITA software has been developed in partnership with the international inspection software business, Property Inspect.
John is also the founder of HouseCheck (www.housecheck.co.za) and Chairperson of the National Association of Building Inspectors of South Africa (www.nabisa.org.za). He was a member of the QCTO task team which developed the curriculum for the new national Building Inspector Qualification.
Graham has owned and operated a number of property development companies; he has hands-on home building experience and has been enrolled by the NHBRC as a registered home builder. Graham is the author of several books on building inspection, including The Complete Guide to South African Building Inspection. This is the text book on which the SAHITA online course is based.
Graham has run dozens of building inspector training workshops in different parts of South Africa and he has personally trained hundreds of municipal, government and private sector building inspectors and home inspectors. Engineers, architects and project managers have also benefited from his wide knowledge of SANS 10400 and other national building regulations and building standards. Graham is recognised for his ability to combine practical building experience with his knowledge of building compliance.
Ettienne Jansen van Rensburg has spent 28-years at strategic and project level in the consulting, municipal and construction environment, working in South Africa and neighbouring countries. Ettienne assists John Graham in developing and updating SAHITA training materials. He holds a National Diploma (Building and Civil Engineering); he is a graduate of SAHITA and also works as a Master inspector for HouseCheck.
Ettienne’s passion is in developing training material for building inspectors and home inspectors which will assist inspectors to become knowledgeable and to produce inspection reports of the highest quality.
Makhosi Mhlope: 12-years experience in structural engineering design and a registered project manager (member of SACPCMP). Trainer of building industry interns on behalf of SAHITA. B.Eng (Civil) University of Zimbabwe; post-graduate engineering studies Wits.