Member agreement

The terms that govern NRCIA membership and participation.

This Policy is subject to change at any time. How changes are made, what notice you get, and what a change can and cannot do to a term you already paid for are set out in section 13. Read that section before you read the rest.

What this document is, and what it is not

This is the public-facing policy that explains how membership in the National Roof Certification and Inspection Association works: what accreditation is, what it costs, what it obligates you to do, how it is renewed, how it can be suspended or revoked, and what process you get before that happens.

It is not the contract. The contract is the NRCIA Membership Agreement you sign at enrollment, together with the order form, the Membership Standards, the Code of Conduct, the Mark Usage Terms, the InspectionPLUS® Terms, and the Supplemental Terms in effect for your program. This Policy summarizes and, where it states a commitment in plain terms, binds the Association to that commitment. Where this Policy and the signed Membership Agreement conflict, the Membership Agreement controls, except where this Policy grants you a right the Membership Agreement does not, in which case the greater right applies.

We wrote it this way on purpose. A member should be able to read one document and know where they stand.

Who we are. The National Roof Certification and Inspection Association (“NRCIA,” “the Association,” “we”) is a national standards organization. We establish and set the standard, we train and credential member inspectors, and we administer the LeakFREE® certification, nationally available. We do not perform inspections, write reports, repair roofs, or certify properties. Members do that work as independent professionals.

Who owns what. All NRCIA marks, accreditation programs, certification standards, and the InspectionPLUS® platform are owned by Field Gate FLP and licensed to NRCIA. Field Gate FLP is the owner. NRCIA is the licensed operator that runs the standard and the member relationship.

The structure: program, package, membership

Three things, three different jobs. We keep them separate because collapsing them is how members end up confused about what they bought.

Program + Package \= Membership.

Programs define the accreditation pathway and what a member is approved to perform.

Program	Who it is for	Signature deliverable
RoofGUARD™	Standard roof inspectors. The foundational tier the whole system sits on.	LeakFREE® inspection, report, and certification
ForensicGUARD™	Forensic, investigative, and expert-witness roof work. The pinnacle designation.	ForensicCHECK inspection and ForensicASSURANCE report
DisasterGUARD™	Storm and disaster evaluations, with state-specific track add-ons. Expansion program for ForensicGUARD™.	StormCHECK™ and DisasterCHECK™ inspections, StormASSURANCE™ and DisasterASSURANCE™ reports
E3GUARD™	External elevated element compliance, with state-specific track add-ons.	E3CHECK inspection, E3ASSURANCE report, and LeakFREE® certification

Packages define the benefits, resources, technology access, and support included with membership. Package contents and pricing are stated on your order form.

Membership is the combination of the two. Membership is held by an individual. Accreditation, Inspector Titles, and credentials attach to a person, because a person is what we train, examine, and hold accountable. A company may be enrolled as an Affiliated Business and may hold platform access, listing rights, and package benefits in its own name. Section 11 sets out how a company that previously held membership in its own name converts.

The commitment that governs everything else

Accreditation is earned by meeting the standard, and it is kept by continuing to meet the standard.

That sentence carries a specific consequence, and we want it on the record in a public document.

Where an NRCIA mark is registered as a certification mark, the right to use that mark depends on continued satisfaction of the published certification standards, applied evenhandedly, and on nothing else. It does not depend on the size of your package. It does not depend on how much you spend. It does not depend on whether you are current on an unrelated invoice. If you meet and maintain the certification standards, we do not refuse to certify you and we do not withdraw the right to certify.

Dues and package fees buy everything else: education, examination administration, the InspectionPLUS® platform, directory placement, featured listings, lead routing, marketing assets, technical support, and the rest of the package. Those are real and they are worth paying for. They are not the certification right.

Certification standards are published. You can read the criterion you will be judged against before you are judged against it. Where we change a standard, section 13 governs.

Becoming a member

Apply. Submit the enrollment form for the program you want.
Qualify. We verify identity, business standing, applicable state licensure, and general liability and professional liability insurance meeting the minimums stated in the Membership Standards. You must name NRCIA as an additional insured on the professional liability policy at the level your program requires.
Train. Complete the required program curriculum and continuing education.
Examine. Pass the examination for your program and, where applicable, each pillar or track.
Enroll. Sign the Membership Agreement and the order form. The order form states your program, your package, your term, your price, and your renewal terms on its face. If it does not, do not sign it.
Accredit. On completion, you receive your accreditation, your Inspector Title, your credential record, your mark usage rights, and your platform access.

A member is not a Forensic Inspector until every ForensicGUARD™ pillar is complete. Pillars may be purchased a la carte. The designation is not granted until all six are done.

What membership obligates you to do

Hold and maintain every license, registration, and permit your state and locality require for the work you perform. Accreditation is not a license and does not substitute for one. It does not substitute for a government mandate, an engineering role, or a third-party credential.
Carry insurance at or above the published minimums, with NRCIA named as an additional insured, and provide current certificates on request.
Follow the standard. Perform inspections using the published methodology. Document what you observed. Issue a certification only once every applicable requirement and criterion is met.
Tell the truth in the record. Reports state findings, professional observations, and defensible conclusions. Findings are yours. AI tooling may assist in drafting and organizing a report. It never determines a finding and never issues a certification. That line is not negotiable, because the standard depends on it.
Use the marks correctly. Follow the Mark Usage Terms. Carry the correct ® or ™ on first prominent use. Never place ® on an unregistered mark. Attribute the marks to Field Gate FLP where attribution is required.
Never overstate the credential. Do not describe yourself as licensed, authorized, or approved by any government body by reason of NRCIA accreditation. Do not describe an NRCIA program as a government mandate. Do not claim a scope you do not hold.
Submit to audit. Cooperate with quality review, file audit, and field verification, and produce inspection records and photographs on reasonable request.
Continue your education. Complete continuing education on the schedule your program sets.
Report material changes within 15 days: loss or suspension of a license, lapse of insurance, a felony conviction, a professional disciplinary action, a bankruptcy, or a claim arising from certified work.
Comply with the Code of Conduct, including the advertising and claims discipline in the Brand Voice Playbook where it governs member-facing marketing that uses NRCIA marks.

What the Association owes you

Published standards you can read before you are measured against them.
Evenhanded administration of certification decisions.
Notice and a hearing before any discipline that affects your accreditation, your title, your marks, or your directory placement. Section 08.
The benefits in your package, for the term you paid for. Section 11.
Renewal transparency, including the notices in section 09.
Your data, on the terms in section 12.
A response. Written inquiries to legal@nrcia.org get acknowledged within 5 business days.

Fees, dues, and billing

Your program fee, package fee, term, and renewal price are stated on your order form. Fees for examinations, pillars, tracks, events, and continuing education are stated at the point of purchase.

Dues are billed to the payment method you authorize.
We do not publish a suggested retail price schedule for member inspection services and we do not tell members what to charge. Members set their own prices independently. Pricing guidance we publish addresses non-price factors only: roof size, slope, complexity, region, and term.
Fees are non-refundable except as section 10 provides or as law requires.
A failed payment triggers written notice and a 15-day cure period before any suspension of package benefits. Certification rights under section 02 are not suspended for non-payment.

Automatic renewal, and how to cancel

Membership renews automatically unless you cancel. We comply with the California Automatic Renewal Law, California Business and Professions Code sections 17600 through 17606, as amended, and we apply it to every member nationwide rather than sorting members by state.

Before we charge you the first time:

We present the automatic renewal terms clearly and conspicuously, in visual proximity to the request for consent, before you submit your billing information.
We obtain your express affirmative consent to those terms, separately from your agreement to anything else.
We send an acknowledgement containing the renewal terms, the cancellation policy, and how to cancel, in a form you can retain.

Every year, before we renew you:

We send a renewal reminder at least 15 days and no more than 45 days before the renewal date, stating the amount that will be charged, the date it will be charged, and how to cancel.
If the price is changing, we send advance notice of the new price and the date it takes effect, and we do not charge the new price without it.

To cancel:

Click to cancel. If you signed up online, you can cancel online, in the member portal, in the same number of steps it took to sign up, without talking to anyone and without a retention gauntlet.
You may also cancel by emailing legal@nrcia.org or calling (888) 687-7663.
Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid term unless you request otherwise. You keep your benefits through that date.

We retain records of your consent, our notices, and your cancellation for the period required by law and by section 12.

Discipline: the process you get

This is the section members care about most, so it is written as commitments, not as options.

Grounds

Discipline may follow from a material violation of the Membership Standards, the Code of Conduct, the Mark Usage Terms, or the InspectionPLUS® Terms; from misrepresentation of a credential, a title, or a scope of accreditation; from issuing a certification where the criteria were not met; from falsification of a record; from loss of a required license or insurance; or from conduct that materially damages the integrity of the standard.

Notice

We shall give you written notice of the charges. Not “may.” Shall. The notice states the specific conduct alleged, the specific standard or provision it is alleged to violate, the evidence we are relying on, the range of outcomes under consideration, and the deadline for your response.

Your response

You shall have at least 15 calendar days from the date of the notice to respond in writing, to submit evidence, and to request a hearing. On written request we extend that period once by a further 15 days.

The hearing and the decisionmaker

You shall have a hearing before an unbiased decisionmaker. The person or panel deciding your case shall not be the person who investigated it. You may appear, present evidence, and respond to the evidence against you. You may be accompanied by counsel at your own expense.

No direct competitor of an accused member sits on the panel deciding that member’s case. No exceptions. Panel members disclose conflicts before the matter opens and recuse where one exists.

The decision

You shall receive a short written decision stating the finding, the standard applied, the evidence relied on, the outcome, and the effective date. Decisions are recorded so that the same standard is applied consistently across cases, and we keep those records.

Outcomes

In escalating order: written guidance, corrective action plan, mandatory retraining, written reprimand, probation, suspension of specified privileges, suspension of accreditation, revocation of accreditation, termination of membership.

Emergency suspension

Where conduct presents an immediate risk of serious harm to the public or to the integrity of the standard, we may suspend immediately without prior notice. Where we do:

We shall deliver written notice of the charges within 5 business days of the suspension.
We shall convene a review within 15 business days of the suspension.
If we miss either deadline, the suspension lifts automatically and we bear the burden of starting over.

Appeal

You may appeal any decision within 30 calendar days to an appeal panel that did not decide the original matter. The appeal panel issues a written decision within 45 days. Its decision is final within the Association.

Publication

We publish only what is necessary and accurate: the fact of a suspension or revocation, its effective date, and its scope. We do not publish the underlying allegations, we do not editorialize, and we do not comment on a member’s character. Where a decision is reversed on appeal, we correct the public record with the same prominence.

Suspension, revocation, and what happens to your work

On suspension or revocation:

Your Inspector Title, mark usage rights, directory listing, and lead routing stop as of the effective date.
Certifications already issued to property owners remain valid according to their own written terms. We do not void a homeowner’s certificate because of a dispute between the Association and a member. The homeowner did nothing wrong.
You retain read and export access to your own records for 90 days after the effective date, so you can serve your clients and close your files. Section 12.
Fees paid for the unused remainder of a term are refunded on a pro rata basis where the termination was initiated by the Association for reasons other than a finding of fraud or willful misconduct.

Termination by you

You may terminate at the end of your paid term through the cancellation path in section 07. You may terminate mid-term for cause if we materially breach this Policy or the Membership Agreement and fail to cure within 30 days of your written notice, and in that case we refund the unused portion of your term on a pro rata basis.

On termination you stop using every NRCIA mark, title, badge, seal, and credential claim immediately, on every surface: your website, your vehicles, your signage, your proposals, your report templates, your email signature, and your social profiles. This is the obligation members most often overlook, and it is the one we enforce most consistently, because a mark on an unaccredited inspector’s truck is what makes the mark worthless to everyone else.

Members who enrolled under earlier terms

The Association has revised its membership structure. That revision does not reach backward.

This Policy and the current Membership Agreement apply at renewal, not mid-term. If you purchased a membership under earlier terms that promised an enumerated schedule of benefits at a fixed price for a defined term, you keep that schedule and that price through the end of your current term. We do not present new terms mid-term and treat previously purchased benefits as discretionary. If we want you to migrate early, we will offer something real in exchange, a fee credit or an extended term, and we will document the exchange.

Companies that held membership in their own name under earlier terms receive a defined conversion path at renewal:

The company is enrolled as an Affiliated Business, retaining platform access, directory listing, and package benefits in the company name.
The company designates individuals for accreditation, and the Association credits the company’s prior payment against those individual enrollments.
No company loses directory presence or platform continuity as a result of the conversion.

Contact legal@nrcia.org to start a conversion. If you believe your prior terms have not been honored, say so in writing and we will look at it rather than point you at a supersession clause.

Your data, your reports, your photographs

Inspection reports and photographs are copyrighted works. Copyright belongs in the first instance to the person who created them, unless a signed writing transfers it or the work made for hire doctrine applies because the creator was an employee. Many members are sole proprietors or independent contractors, for whom it does not.

So we say what happens instead of leaving it to be argued later.

License to the Association. By uploading material to InspectionPLUS® you grant NRCIA and Field Gate FLP a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, store, reproduce, display, and process that material for the purposes of providing the platform, administering the standard, verifying compliance, issuing and maintaining certifications, and defending claims. You keep ownership. We do not sell your material, we do not license it onward for anyone else’s marketing, and we do not use it to train models on identifiable data.

License to the affiliated company. Where you performed the work in the course of an engagement with an Affiliated Business, that company receives a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to the material for the purpose of servicing the client relationship the work arose from.

Export on departure. For 90 days after your membership ends, you may export your own inspection records, reports, photographs, and certificate records in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Ask and we will provide it. After 90 days, export is available on request while we still hold the records under the retention schedule in the Privacy Policy.

Disputes between an individual and a company. Where a departing inspector and a company disagree about who owns what, NRCIA preserves the data, provides both parties access to their own records, and takes no side. We are not the arbiter of that dispute and we will not pretend to be. We will not delete contested material while the dispute is open, and we will not hand exclusive control to one party over the objection of the other.

Property owner information. Inspection records contain personal information about property owners and occupants. For that information the member is the business or controller and NRCIA is the service provider, acting on the member’s documented instructions. Members are responsible for giving their own clients whatever notice their clients are owed. The full picture is in the Privacy Policy, section 02.

Changes to this Policy

This Policy is subject to change at any time. Here is exactly what that means and what it does not.

What we can do. We may amend this Policy, the Membership Standards, the Code of Conduct, the Mark Usage Terms, the InspectionPLUS® Terms, and any Supplemental Terms, to reflect changes in the standard, in technology, in our operations, or in the law.

Notice. For any change that materially affects member obligations, benefits, fees, certification criteria, or the disciplinary process, we give at least 30 days’ advance written notice before the change takes effect. This 30-day notice requirement applies to the Membership Standards and Supplemental Terms as well as to this Policy. We do not use a document incorporated by reference as a side door around the notice period.

What a change cannot do.

It cannot take away, mid-term, a benefit you already paid for. See section 11.
It cannot raise your price mid-term. Price changes take effect at renewal, with the notice in section 07.
It cannot apply retroactively to a dispute that already exists. The version of the dispute resolution terms in effect when a claim arose governs that claim.
It cannot lower the procedural floor in section 08 for conduct that occurred before the change took effect.

If you do not accept a material change, you may terminate at the end of your current term with no penalty, or, where the change materially reduces the benefits of the term you already paid for, terminate immediately with a pro rata refund. Tell us in writing within 30 days of the notice.

Continued membership after the effective date of a change, without a written objection, constitutes acceptance of it.

Dispute resolution

Step one

Send written notice of the dispute to legal@nrcia.org with “Dispute Notice” in the subject line. We work in good faith to resolve it within 30 days. We do the same before bringing a claim against you.

Step two

Unresolved disputes go to binding arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules, seated in Orange County, California, before a single arbitrator, governed by California law.

The following terms apply and cannot be waived by the Association:

NRCIA pays all JAMS filing, administrative, and arbitrator fees for any claim a member brings, regardless of outcome. You pay only what filing the same claim in court would have cost you.
No blanket secrecy. Neither party must keep the existence of the dispute, the fact of an award, or its outcome confidential. Confidentiality attaches only to material actually designated confidential in the proceeding.
Public injunctive relief is preserved. Nothing here waives the right to seek public injunctive relief, and such a claim may proceed in court if it cannot proceed in arbitration.
The version in effect when the claim arose governs it. No retroactive amendment.
Small claims stays open for individual claims that qualify.
Opt out by writing to legal@nrcia.org with “Arbitration Opt-Out” in the subject line within 30 days of first enrollment. Opting out costs you nothing and affects nothing else about your membership.

Class action waiver. Arbitration proceeds individually. Each party waives the right to bring or participate in a class, collective, or consolidated proceeding. This waiver does not extend to a claim for public injunctive relief. If a court holds the waiver unenforceable as to a claim, that claim proceeds in court and the rest stays in arbitration.

Court proceedings. For any matter not subject to arbitration, and where the arbitration provision in this section 14 is held unenforceable, the state and federal courts located in Orange County, California have exclusive jurisdiction, and the parties consent to that venue.

Injunctive relief. Either party may seek temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in court to protect intellectual property, confidential information, or the integrity of the certification program.

Limits, indemnity, and the things we do not warrant

Independent contractors. Members are independent professionals in business for themselves. Membership creates no agency, partnership, employment, joint venture, or franchise relationship. Members are solely responsible for their own professional services, their own licensing, their own employees, and their own client agreements.

No guarantee of business. Membership does not guarantee leads, revenue, directory ranking, or a volume of work.

Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent applicable law permits, NRCIA’s and Field Gate FLP’s total cumulative liability to a member for all claims arising out of or related to membership shall not exceed the fees that member paid to NRCIA in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages.

Carve-outs. Nothing above limits liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, willful misconduct, or gross negligence, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for any liability applicable law does not permit to be limited.

Indemnity. Members indemnify NRCIA and Field Gate FLP against claims arising from the member’s professional services, the member’s violation of this Policy or the Membership Agreement, the member’s misuse of a mark or credential, and the member’s violation of a third-party right. This indemnity does not extend to any claim arising from NRCIA’s own negligence, willful misconduct, or breach of its obligations.

Insurance. Members carry professional liability and general liability coverage at or above the published minimums and name NRCIA as an additional insured. This is a condition of accreditation, not a suggestion.

Antitrust discipline

We are a standards organization whose committees include people who compete with one another. That carries a specific obligation and we take it seriously.

We do not set, suggest, recommend, or publish prices for member inspection services. Members set prices independently.
We do not allocate territories, customers, or accounts among members.
We do not agree, and do not permit committees or volunteers to agree, to boycott any supplier, competitor, or class of competitor.
Discipline is decided on published standards, applied consistently, with the process in section 08, and never by a member’s direct competitor.
Committee and volunteer service is subject to a written antitrust policy and an annual acknowledgement.

If you observe conduct in an NRCIA forum that looks like price discussion, market allocation, or a coordinated refusal to deal, stop it in the moment and report it to legal@nrcia.org

Notices and contact

Notices to you go to the email address on your member record and, where a formal notice is required, also by mail to the address on file. Keep both current.

General

Order of precedence. The signed Membership Agreement and order form, then this Policy, then the Membership Standards, then Supplemental Terms, then the Terms of Use, except that where this Policy grants a member a greater right than another document, the greater right applies.

Severability. An invalid or unenforceable provision is modified to the minimum extent needed to make it enforceable, or severed, without affecting the rest.

Waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. A waiver must be written and signed by an authorized representative.

Assignment. Membership is personal to the member and is not assignable. NRCIA and Field Gate FLP may assign in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets.

Survival. Sections 09, 12, 14, 15, and 16 survive termination.

Governing law. California law, without regard to conflict of law principles.

NRCIA marks, programs, and platform technology are owned by Field Gate FLP and used under license. LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, InspectionPLUS®, Mr. RoofCheck®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, StormCHECK™, StormASSURANCE™, DisasterCHECK™, DisasterASSURANCE™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.

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Name: National Roof Certification and Inspection Association
Address: 1421 N Wanda Rd., Orange, CA 92867
Phone: 1 (888) 687-7663
Email: legal@nrcia.org