While I would agree with the previous commenter that some home owners get shafted by some AOSEs who like to walk away from their malfunctions and/or point the blame at others, it has been my experience that many AOSEs stand behind their work.  I know of several cases where the AOSEs have paid to fix their mistakes.  There are, of course, several instances where the AOSE has walked away.

I don't beleive that the transition from VDH certification to DPOR licensure will have any negative affect (on the home owner) in the short term.  It should be business as usual.  VDH will still be one of the first responders in the event of a malfunction.  If an AOSE makes a mistake, instead of the local health department reporting the matter to the Division of Onsite Sewage and Water Services, the local health department should report the matter to DPOR through the DPOR complaint process.  I think it could be much more effective this way. 

I have no idea how DPOR will investigate these matters but I would assume they would rely heavily on professional witnesses including health department staff, health department contract soil scientists, AOSE peers, etc.  In the past it's been a real pain figuring out how to best advise home owners because VDH had (has) no defined process.  Now the local EHS can assist the home owner with the DPOR complaint process.  For now I'd like to think positively and assume that this process will work much better for the owners.

Although I have several problems with the draft regulations I am very excited that VDH will no longer be the agency that certifies or licenses practitioners.