PHOENIX — A popular Valley home inspector known for his videos exposing problems he finds during inspections will not face discipline after one of the country's largest home building companies complained to regulators about his popular videos.
Cy Porter of CyFy Home Inspections specializes in inspecting new construction homes in Arizona and his videos oftentimes expose flaws he finds. He says he posts the videos in an effort to inform homeowners of their rights under Arizona law.
Taylor Morrison wanted Porter to stop posting videos to social media about its homes and claimed his videos violated state standards. Taylor Morrison filed a complaint with the Arizona State Board of Technical Registration, which regulates Porter's industry and his license. In the complaint, it alleged Porter's posts are "harassing, falsified, and bullying."
This week, the board held a hearing to discuss the complaint. The investigator assigned to the case stated after interviewing witnesses and homeowners who worked with Porter, and reviewing his posts, there was no evidence to show Porter lied in any of his videos.
A Taylor Morrison representative at the meeting called for Porter's license to be suspended.
“Taylor Morrison is asking that you control this kind of advertising, that you suspend his license until he has taken appropriate professional ethics training so that he has a much better understanding of what it means to be in this profession," the Taylor Morrison representative said.
Board members had differing opinions.
One called for discipline.
“I think the board should take it seriously and talk about this because we are professionals and we need to treat people as professionals," said board member Keith Smith. "I've spent two hours looking at these videos and I was kind of appalled at it, to be honest with you."
Another board member said there was no violation and Porter's videos are protected and free speech.
"We're saying that we can't find specific violations of conduct and yet we're phishing for some kind of something to hang our hat on just because we don't prefer his advertising methods," said board member Stacy Skankey.
Ultimately, the board did not discipline Porter after finding no violation of board statutes or rules.
Instead, the board voted to issue a letter of concern for unprofessional conduct. The letter specifically called out a video Porter posted in March. The board stated he displayed evidence in the video of a gas leak with an audio recording that was not associated with the leak.
Porter defended that video and said the video was not showing a home inspection. Rather, it was satirical and made as a joke for his social media followers.
A Taylor Media spokesperson released the following statement in response to the board's decision: “We respect the board’s decision that the conduct was troubling enough to warrant issuance of a letter of concern. Our utmost priority is our customers, and we are unwavering in our commitment to building quality homes we stand behind.”
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