The world of the small home improvement contractor has been rocked with the financial instability of the country. Most homeowners are struggling just to make ends meet and pay their bills with the thought that their biggest purchase of their lifetime is being neglected, yes, I am talking about their home.
As a homeowner myself I believe I am like many other people that try to make at least one improvement to your home each year. Usually this improvement is to make the time that you spend in your home more pleasant. But, with the changing times we have begun to focus less on the big screen television, the huge deck in the back of the house, or even the new kitchen. With all of these items you are looking at making your down time more pleasurable but as a responsible homeowner most people are looking at trying to make their house more energy efficient by spending their hard earned dollars on new energy efficient windows, doors, and insulating products to try and save money.
This past summer many home owners had a new phrase introduced to them called, The Renovation Repair and Painting Rule (RRP) that was kindly brought to us by the (EPA). The RRP rule is the law that deals with how renovations are performed when there is lead paint detection in any dwelling built before 1978. The new RRP rule is not actually that new. However, in April of this year (2010) it became a major headache for the general homeowner. In the past this law only had to be followed in Houses that were being funded by the Housing and Urban Development Administration (HUD) or in a child occupied facility (schools, daycares, etc.)
Now as you sit back and think about this:
1- The law states that any house built prior to 1978 must be tested for the toxic substance of lead before most types of work can start. If lead is found the Lead Safe Work Practices must be followed or the contractor could face very steep fines (these fines start in the low thirty thousand ranges per opening / per day. At the current time there is only one lead swab test available on the market that is considered to be acceptable for use within this law for testing. This swab is the Lead Check lead test kit. When the law first came into effect it was challenging at its best to try and locate these for sale which delayed the business owner as well as the owner trying to get work completed and there were many companies selling these at a highly elevated price which created an opportunity for many people to be taken advantage of.
2- The EPA has come up with an estimated cost of forty six dollars per window or door to cover the cost of the lead safe work practices. I know in my area I see billboards and print advertising all the time that show any window can be installed in your home including the window for one hundred ninety nine dollars. Has the average homeowner added the forty six dollars per opening to cover the cost when trying to figure out what the renovation will involve? Has the homeowner looked over the quality of the product or the quality of the installation they will receive? In many cases we have seen that this advertising ploy takes advantage of older people and people who have not even looked at the product they are having installed until it is too late. I believe that many people are settling for less quality of work and a lesser quality product just to get the job done at what they believe is a good price and regret their purchase shortly thereafter. I believe because of the cost involved with this work in pre 1978 homes many contractors will stop doing work on these homes because of the profitability which will create a problem for many homeowners. Also, don’t forget the materials needed to actually perform the work at hand to comply with the law are to be supplies for the Forty six dollars. This point brings the questions of how many people will hire contractors under the radar so to speak to do the work without following the lead safe work practices and the homeowner will most likely receive less than satisfactory work and will once again give the independent contractor another black eye? When pondering the thought that the same group of people who came up with this cost to cover this law also paid seven hundred dollars for a toilet seat in the Pentagon…….
3- While no serious homeowner or parent would want to trade the health of their children to save money is understood. However, we need to question the timing of this law going into effect. Our country is coming off of the worst economic crunch is many years and this is only going to create a drag on changing the status of the economy. You hear many of the government spokes people on the news everyday saying that the backbone of the financial community is small business and that small business is what will bring the country out of the funk that we are experiencing now. This law, be it very important is also a creating a strangle hold on the smaller independent contractor and will continue to do so. I believe that any contractor will tell you that this law is a deciding factor when a homeowner is contemplating starting a project in their home. Should the law have been pushed back for a while until the country was ready for this?
4- My last point would be to look at the financial impact for the government and the small contractor. All business owners had to look for a class to take to be certified with a cost of around three hundred dollars. After taking the class it meant nothing until you registered with the EPA which then cost an additional three hundred dollars (ponder that every company was paying a minimal amount of three hundred dollars (and much more in some cases) to the EPA – how much money has this raised?). Now you are thinking well this is the cost of doing business, correct it is but also keep in mind this was all happening in the spring when the average small contractor is just struggling to stay in business in the best times. I believe to make this competitive the cost to cover this extra expense and time would need to be around one hundred twenty five dollars per opening considering a two person crew on a job site.
The lead safe work practices are very important but you need to ask yourself one question: Is it a safe way of doing work in certain situations or is it a back door to raise revenue? At this point people that are buying houses trying to start out on their journeys in life and create families need to be aware of the laws and how they will affect them when it comes to having work done on their newly acquired home. Catching that great deal on that beautiful row home in a metro area may not be the deal that you think!
If you need supplies for RRP renovation projects or Leadcheck lead test kits visit our site LEADPAINTEPASUPPLIES.COM
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