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Knowing the Codes ~
WED
April 28
LEAD Paint Rule ~
How to Comply
The
scoop for your business, and compliance, not the certification
course |
at the Cabot Inn ~
Rt 2 East of
Lancaster, NH.
5:30 Dinner from menu
6:30 Free Program
Debi 603-444-1512
Call Bob
823-5100 |
Coming to
the programs is the #1 way you can support Home Builders in the North
Country. So come, learn, network. You can even bring a
friend or supplier. It's all free.
Together we have a presence and a voice.
Past:
Green Money sources
Thursday, Nov 12th
We had a very good presentation by Beth Fischer from
Green Build NH on the many sources of Green funding and how to access
it. Winter Seminar
Series
Thrifty Green Building
Weds Jan 27, Feb 3 & 10
From Energy Audits to new materials, techniques and examples of building
tight homes in the North Country. Presenters: Aaron Betourney, Bob
Tortorice, Haze Smith, and more.
Conversation with Government
State & Federal ~ Laws, Rules & Regulations
Legislation& Our Voice
Monday March 22
Local, state and federal elected and appointed representatives met with
a full house of builders and trades to discuss housing related issues:
IRS and tax credits and incentives.
Federal rules-EPA Lead Paint rules and our request to ask them to delay
implementation.
State legislation and rules, victory on sprinklers at state level.
| Sponsors so far this
year: |
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First Colebrook Bank |
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Nudura ICF / Carroll
Concrete |
|
Get great exposure directly
with builders and industry pros - Show your product and bring us
quality materials and services. We are glad to have your
attention as a
sponsor. |
|
Set your calendars now
for the entire season of free educational programs for the
building professions.
Be sure to come and bring your builder friends. Attending is the
single biggest thing you can do to advance Home Builder's interests in
the North Country.
Build a strong voice through numbers and quality.
What can I do?
|
Our recent PRESS RELEASE
*****For Immediate Release******
(Warning - reading the article below may cause
irritation and stomach upset, proceed at your own risk) We are
sending this to regional and national media outlets.
Just When Things Were Bad, It Got Much, Much Worse
Housing trades will be knocked from their knees to the ground April 22
by EPA.
Our nation’s pivotal economic engine, the home building trades, who have
already been knocked out of the business of building new homes in this
economy, have struggled to eek out some flagging work in renovations.
That consolation market now will be decimated by a government initiative
to remedy a faulty product that was discontinued for use before many of
these builders ever picked up a hammer for hire.
The new EPA Lead Rule places all of the burden of compliance and
financial consequence for the remediation of the long-prohibited product
on the individual building tradesmen. If they fail to obtain the EPA
training and also conform their practices to those procedures on all
work on pre-1978 homes starting April 22, they will bear fines of
$37,000 per day, an amount that is twice the annual salary for many of
these folks. In addition to the burdensome training, the required
procedures include wrapping the work area and wearing of special suits,
like the isolation scene of the ET film. They also must follow
prescribed cleaning, disposal of all materials, posting signs,
inspecting, testing, as well as paperwork. Why is it that during the
worst economic conditions of many of our lifetimes – why is it now that
the government must place the burden of ameliorating a long un-used
product upon the shoulders of the sector of the economy that is most
uniformly hit by the economic crash? Why must these individuals bear
this economic responsibility for a product that has been out of use for
32 years? Why now and why on their shoulders?
Who knew? A large number of affected trades people have not known of the
Rule and its deadlines. The EPA did no wide-spread announcements to
reach affected housing professionals. In practicality, the compliance
for this Rule is impossible, since there are not even enough trainings
to allow full compliance by April 22 for all of the trades affected. You
might wonder, how about more trainers? Not possible either, since there
is not enough trainer-training to multiply class availability, as local
home builder associations have discovered. It is estimated by a local
homebuilder group that only about 25% of the affected trades people will
be trained in time. The remainder must turn away work on older homes,
which for them is the only work that is available in this housing
market.
What happens to energy efficiency makeovers? What about those government
incentives to add insulation and better windows? Those programs were
just starting to catch on in the pre-recovery economy, as the
contractors adjusted their marketing and tooled up in those areas, and
as consumers saw the payback in savings for those renovations. But with
these new procedures in the EPA Lead Rule, the savings are gone, as the
window job that was $350 now will cost $1,000 due to the burdensome
additional labor and materials to address the requirements of the Rule.
The EPA has even eliminated the opt-out for homes that do not house
pregnant women and children. Thus, elderly who reside in homes they have
owned for half a century, and to whom the offending products pose no
danger, must also be subject to the expensive prescriptions of the EPA
Rule. Those homeowners will skip the needed energy renovations and
continue to struggle to pay their high energy bills.
Those same houses, with elderly owners, holding the investment of their
lifetime, which were already deflated by one-third in the housing bust,
now will lose even more value as those homes become un-sellable, due to
this Rule. The majority of homes on the market in many areas, are homes
older than 1978. Those inventories will deflate in value very quickly
after April 22, as new buyers avoid the exorbitant costs of any repairs
on those homes. The nation’s flagging economy that teeters on the value
of homes, their sale, and the robustness of the housing market, will
languish with this Rule in place. It has grave consequences for the
entire economy.
What can be done? All Senators and Congress people should write to the
Office of Management and Budget to delay the EPA Lead Rule, to study its
consequences, and amend it before instituting it. They should petition
the White House to do the same. The bodies of Congress and Senate can
also vote to suspend the rule altogether, in order for proper revisions
to occur. Those revisions must include making training available,
publicizing the requirements and deadlines to all affected trades,
allowing opt-out for homes without children and pregnant women, and
financial offset for the costs involved in ameliorating a toxic product
that was discontinued in the trades 32 years ago.
********END of file**********
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