An overview of the NRCIA in one page
Joining an association is rarely one person’s decision. An owner signs, but a service manager, a lead inspector and an office coordinator all have to live with it. This overview of the NRCIA is written to be forwarded to those people.
The National Roof Certification and Inspection Association was founded in 1995. It is a national standards body for roof inspection and certification. The idea behind the standard is simple enough to say in five words: Think Like a Raindrop™. Water finds every weakness in a roof assembly, and the inspection protocol is built to find those weaknesses first.
NRCIA does not claim to be the last word in roofing. NRCIA is the standard that agents, insurers, attorneys and property owners rely on when they need a roof assessed by someone who works to a published protocol.
What NRCIA does, and what members do
The division of labor matters, and it is the part teams most often misread.
- NRCIA sets the standard, trains and accredits members, administers the LeakFREE® certification system, and maintains the member directory.
- Members inspect roofs, write reports, and issue certifications. Every inspection and every certificate belongs to the accredited individual who performed the work.
There is no federal license for roof inspectors. Anyone can print a business card that says roof inspector. Accreditation is what gives a client something verifiable to check.
Membership is a program plus a package
Two decisions, made together. The program is the training accreditation and the designation it earns. The package is the annual benefits tier: Silver, Gold, Platinum or Enterprise.
- RoofGUARD™ earns the NRCIA Certified Roof Inspector designation, moving to Senior at 500 inspections and Master at 1,000.
- ForensicGUARD™ is the flagship, for members doing forensic and expert-witness work.
- E3GUARD™ covers exterior elevated elements: decks, balconies, walkways, patios and staircases. It has no prerequisite program.
- DisasterGUARD™ is an add-on for insurance-related evaluations, requiring active ForensicGUARD™ or E3GUARD™.
How the inspection lifecycle works
A member performs a LeakFREE® Check across five zones: interior, attic, exterior, perimeter and rooftop. The deliverable is the LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report. When the roof meets the published criteria, the member issues a LeakFREE® Roof Certification, generated and registered through InspectionPLUS®. A certificate created outside the platform is not valid.
The certification records a condition at an address on a date. Term is set by findings, slope, materials and condition, to a maximum of ten years. It is not insurance and it is not a service contract.
What your team should be asking
Bring three questions to the conversation. Which program fits the work we already sell? Which package matches how many inspectors we plan to accredit this year? Who on staff carries the designation, since it attaches to a person rather than a company?
Across 6,460 member inspections nationwide, more than 66 percent of roofs either qualified for a LeakFREE® certification or could be repaired to qualify. That ratio is worth discussing with whoever runs your service department.
Bring it to the group, then decide
Review membership and join NRCIA: /join-nrcia/
LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, Mr. RoofCheck®, InspectionPLUS®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP, used by permission. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.
