Spring 2024 Online Exclusive: Credentials: No Free Rides

WHEN I WAS about 11 years old my brother
and I were given a Soap Box Derby car—one
of those classic stream-lined kinds from the
1940s and ’50s. We called it the Silver Streak. It
had been built by a man named Herbert Yates,
who worked for my dad. We used to push that
heavy contraption up Granny Smith T’s Hill in
Opelika, Alabama, jump aboard, and ride that
little wooden car down the hill like a bat out of
hell—until we ran out of hill. Back up we would
go, huffing and puffing until we reached the
top again, and then back down.
We worked mighty hard pushing the Silver
Streak up hills. Nobody could ride the Silver
Streak unless they did their share of the work.
Work your tum or just watch with envy as the
Silver Streak cut the air racing down Granny
Smith T’s Hill. There were no free rides on
the Streak.
YOU HAVE TO EARN IT
I learned in the years that followed that you did
not wear an eagle on your Scout uniform unless
you earned 21 merit badges. You did not get to
wear the Scout’s Mile Swim Badge unless you
had fought the 5,208 feet (or 74,360 inches)
of water, one stroke at a time. You did not get
a degree from college or registration as an
engineer or architect until you served your time,
learned from others, made some mistakes, and
passed some tests. Then and only then could
you carry the title of professional engineer or
registered architect.
And then I woke up one morning, many
years later, after a lot of experience in highway
Online Exclusive
Credentials: No Free Rides
By Richard P. Canon, PE
RCI Past President (1985-1986)
©2024 International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC)
Interface articles may cite trade, brand,
or product names to specify or describe
adequately materials, experimental
procedures, and/or equipment. In no
case does such identification imply
recommendation or endorsement by
the International Institute of Building
Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC).
Richard Canon
Editor’s Note: This column from IIBEC Past President Richard Canon originally appeared in the June 1987 issue of IIBEC Interface. It shows the
organization’s historical commitment to its credentialing programs. While much of IIBEC’s history is roofing-centric—this article emphasizes
IIBEC’s (then RCI’s) first certification, the Certified Roof Consultant, now called the Registered Roof Consultant (RRC®)—a key part of the
group’s expansion of its mission to encompass the full building enclosure has extended to IIBEC’s numerous credential programs spanning
exterior walls, waterproofing, and building enclosure commissioning. The CBECxP®, or Certified Building Enclosure Commissioning Provider,
is IIBEC’s newest certification program. (In May of 2023 IIBEC celebrated its first class of CBECxP certifications.) Canon’s column is a reminder
that credentials continue to be a key component in increasing IIBEC’s visibility and respect among the building enclosure industry.
Spring 2024 IIBEC Interface • 19
program. The first part is documentation of the
applicant’s education and/or work experience.
This documentation procedure was presented
at the 1987 convention for a vote during the
annual meeting.
All-in-all, we have come a very long way
in a relatively brief period of time. We still
have years of work ahead of us to implement
recognition of the certification program by
governmental agencies and in the private
sector. But to become a Certified Roof
Consultant will require work. Just like riding
the Silver Streak, you can only enjoy the
pleasure and benefits if you exert personal
effort, work, and labor. There will be no free
rides to certification, no grandfathering, no
giveaways.
We need your support in this endeavor.
Please be a positive force in helping us
to help you. There are enough negative
forces out there against us now. You too can
make the difference. Become a Certified
Roof Consultant.
They are the difference.
there is no distinction between “one who is”
and “one who ain’t.” Which is to say, in the past
there was no distinction, but there soon will be!
And this, my friends, brings us to the Certified
Roof Consultant.
From the first meeting of the Roof
Consultants Institute (RCI) to this day,
a common complaint among bona fide,
experienced, and qualified roof consultants
has been that there is no distinction between
a fast-talking charlatan or crooked snake oil
salesman and the legitimate professional roof
consultant. What can be done to protect the
honest consultant? Where will this profession
wind up if something is not done to curb the
runaway misuse of the title of roof consultant?
I am pleased to report to you that the first
examination for certification of roof consultants
was administered by RCI at its annual convention
in Orlando, Florida, on March 23, 1987.
To recap the procedure, only Qualified
Professional and Industry Members may sit
for the closed-book exam. This examination
is the second part of a two-part certification
construction, the military service, and structural
engineering and found that my new job title was
not downhill racer, Eagle Scout, mile swimmer,
college graduate, or structural engineer.
I was a roof consultant!
This new title—roof consultant—did not
always represent what one would call an
elite group. We were a mixture of “ex”es:
ex-roof material salesmen; ex-roof material
distributors; ex-construction specifiers;
ex-structural, mechanical, chemical, electrical,
and industrial engineers; ex-architects; and
dozens of other varieties.
We also had a group of “still are but gonna
diversify”ers and a final group who represented
what I’ll call “sigmas,” a Greek word sometimes
meaning “the summation,” or in Latin, “et al.,”
meaning “and everybody else who wants in on
the action.”
THE CERTIFIED ROOF
CONSULTANT
The problem with all of this is that although
there is a profession called roof consulting,
20 • IIBEC Interface Spring 2024