The Design Builder's Blog

How A Contractor’s Web Site Marketing Can Speed Up The Sales Cycle

With the right marketing strategy and tools a contractor can turn his or her web site into a lead generation machine as well as a selling tool.  That's right.  Think of your web site as not just a place for consumers to find your business, but also a place where you can help them buy.

Make it a place where they can educate themselves

Educate them about your business as well as the many things they will need to consider about their project and about choosing the right contractor to partner with for their project.  By helping them do this at your web site two different outcomes are possible. 

1. One might be that they realize your business is not right for them.   This can save you and them a lot of time because you won’t need to get together in person to figure this out.  
2. On the other hand, because of your content, the right prospects for your business will be much closer to making a confident buying decision by the time they ask you to come out and meet with them.

Every consumer has their own buying process

Research shows that consumers spend anywhere between 38-114 days doing their research and due diligence before they make the decision to go forward on a significant investment.   If you think of their buying process as their buying cycle, broken down into definable stages, you can strategically align the content of the marketing on your web site with what your target customers need to help them as they move through these stages and their research. 

Here are the typical stages of a remodeling consumer’s buying process:

1. Awareness stage:
2. Research stage
3. Comparison stage
4. Purchasing stage
5. Repurchase stage
   

In this follow-up article I explain how to strategically market to these consumers during each stage.

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Keep in mind that due diligence will be personal to every consumer. 

Never assume what they should do or tell them what to do.   A key to this strategy is to offer options within your marketing and clearly explain the differences between them so prospects can confidently make their own decisions.   Remember, it’s all about them, not about you.   Helping them along and being a resource, rather than telling them what to do, will make you stand out as a trusted advisor.  Often times, because they are typically the main decision makers when it comes to purchasing remodeling, this strategy works particularly well with women.  Think about it.  How did it go the last time you told a woman what to do!  It’s about options and helping them compare them.

Summary

To help speed up the sales cycle with your prospects your goal should be to help them buy, not sell them something.  Put yourself in your prospects shoes.   Would you want to be sold?

5 Ways to Take Your Remodeling Business From Less To More

It’s real easy as a construction or remodeling business owner to get burned out as you try to keep up with everything.   This is particularly true now that the remodeling market is picking up.  After downsizing to stay in business, and putting in lots of extra effort and hours to make a profit during the recession, many business owners are once again trying to grow their businesses.  However many of them are still using the "do more with less" mentality they used during the recession.  Maintaining this mentality as they seek to grow will definitely add to the burnout they are already experiencing.

For a good number of these business owners doing more with less may have made sense as sales shrunk and overhead expenses had to be cut back.   To clarify things the idea was to do more of what you were already ready doing with less.  Now that the economy seems to be improving if you want to do more business than you have been doing you'll need to do and add more inside your business to support that growth, not less.

Five things remodeling business owners can do to take their businesses from less to more:

Get serious about your management style

If you have lost focus or lack the discipline to put business systems in place and stick to them it’s time to commit to and practice new attitudes and behaviors.  Before you grow your business consider the adequacy of your financial system to predict and measure results.  Do you have a formal marketing plan to guide you or are you winging your marketing?   Do you have well thought out job descriptions you can use to recruit, qualify and hold new hires accountable to?  Have you established benchmarks for the performance of your business systems?  If you don’t have or do these things what example are you setting and what type of employees will join and or stay with your business?

Don’t spread yourself too thin

If you plan to grow your business it and your employees will need your attention and guidance.   If your focus is being watered down by other outside activities like a second business, community activities, politics or even involvement at your church; the leadership and oversight needed at your business may be compromised.   There’s nothing wrong with being involved in outside activities, but make sure you put qualified middle management and business metrics in place first.

Be sure to think and act like a professional

A growing business that wants to attract and keep good employees needs to act professional.   This means having a proactive and strategic marketing plan in writing.  It means preparing a financial operating budget and staying within it.  It means investing in training and mentoring your employees to be the future leaders your business will need.  It means creating a profit sharing strategy and or compensation strategies based on performance. It also means operating legally and safely.

Develop organizational charts, career paths and improve your recruiting process

If you think it’s expensive to train your employees only to have them leave and go elsewhere, think of how expensive it will be if you don’t train your employees and they stay.   If you plan to invest in training your employees make sure you can share your business plan with them.   Your business plan should show how you plan to expand your organizational chart and the opportunities they have if they are willing to grow with the business.  Your goal should be to offer opportunities that are mutually beneficial to the employee as well as the company.

If you want to step back make sure your business and the new leader are ready first

Before you as the leader can step away from your business the business needs to have a new leader already in place.   Many business owners are forced back into leading and managing their businesses because the person they hired to do so did not have adequate leadership skills and or wasn’t yet seen as the leader by the other employees.   Don’t make this mistake at your business.  Before you step away make sure there is a successful transition of leadership from you to the new leader; in the eyes of the employees as well as your customers.  Also, make sure you have a way to measure the performance of the business and the leader before you pull away.   Again I suggest you have this in place and confirm it is working before you transition out of your office and your roles at the business.

3 Considerations Before Working With A Construction Business Coach Or Mentor

Working with a coach or mentor to improve your construction business can help you avoid potential challenges, particularly those you might not know to watch for yourself. It also can help speed up your path to success while at the same time reduce the cost to get there, particularly if your "go it alone" path ends up being the wrong one.

Click here to read about the difference between a coach and a mentor.

Here are three considerations for contractors looking to work with a coach or mentor

Be cautious of who you choose to work with

A business coach or mentor should have proven success in their areas of claimed expertise.  However, there are many consultants and coaches out there who failed at their own businesses or may have never actually reached success with their businesses before becoming a coach.   Check the business history and actual level of success achieved by your prospective coach or mentor before you commit and invest in hiring him or her.  Also, if you are not sure of the coach’s reputation, check with his/her current and previous clients about their experiences.  As with other business investments, your best bet may be to ask for a referral from other contractors you respect who have already worked with a coach or mentor.  The reality is if you work with the wrong coach and or mentor you own the responsibility for that decision.  If it’s not working out with your coach first be honest with yourself about why, then either change your approach to working with him or her or find a new coach to work with.

Make sure to have a way you can both measure success

To make sure you will get a return on investment make sure you and your coach agree on how you will measure results.   Help with soft skills like leadership and people skills will be challenging to measure because changes and results may be seen as subjective and might be measured differently by different people.  However many changes can be measured in an objective way.   For example when I was first growing my business I worked with a coach on a financial system and the related QuickBooks setup required to support it.   Although he seemed to have the right experience he couldn’t offer me a reference specifically from a construction company.  After some discussion we agreed his compensation would be conditional on results and we made a list of desired outcomes to measure.  After several months we mutually agreed his system didn't serve the intended purpose and I got the majority of my money back.   Unfortunately I lost a lot of valuable time.   I assume he did too.  However we both learned a lot from the experience, I minimized my risk by agreeing on how he would be compensated, and I still had the money I needed to hire another expert to get it done.

Decide whether you want to remodel your business or do a tear down and start over

The business owners I work with as a coach and or mentor typically already own businesses that have been around a while and most already have pretty good business systems in place. These business owners come to me to help them remodel and improve their businesses so they can increase profits and or grow to the next level.  

In addition to working one on one with remodeling businesses and their owners I have also worked in the corporate side of franchising. Joining a franchise can be a great option for the right business owner. For example, if you’re an entrepreneur who wants to carve out your own path and direction and evolve your business systems on the fly a franchise might not be a good option. On the other hand if your just getting started, or need to tear down what you have and start over again, and you want to adopt an established and tested business model, and you are willing to actually follow it, not question it, a franchise can be a great way to go. 

Most franchises offer some level of business coaching, just be sure it will be enough for you to achieve your desired level of success. Before joining a franchise I recommend you look into how much one on one support and coaching you and your new franchise can expect and will receive from the franchisor. If they offer a system, but not enough training and support to help you adopt it, you might want to keep looking.

Quick and Easy SEO Test : Does Your Web Site Expert Really Get SEO

Many remodelers have invested serious money in their web sites and in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Experts as a way to improve search engine results to bring in the leads they need to sell work.  My experience has shown that many web site designers claiming to be SEO experts really have a limited understanding of how SEO works.  Here’s one quick and easy test you can do yourself to determine if your so called web site and or SEO expert really understands SEO.  Keep in mind that this is just one factor for SEO.  Many other factors certainly apply.

Was your website designed properly for SEO?

Just like a design/build project, the design of your web site should serve an intended purpose. In this example let’s say that purpose is to attract prospects who are searching for the services your business offers (e.g.: Kitchen renovations, bathroom remodeling, roof replacement, gutter cleaning…).   Having a web site that looks good is not enough of a reason for Google or any other search engine to find your site and figure out what you offer.  If the search engines can’t find your site it won’t be included in search engine results when a consumer is searching for a remodeler to work with.  Proper SEO strategies must be used so search engines will find your site and identify what content is on your site.  If done well, when both the search engine and a consumer searches the web using the same keywords you have included on your site, the search engine results they get will include the page or pages on your site that include those keywords.

Bottom line: 

Websites show up in search engine results only when they're relevant to keyword queries.

For the purpose of SEO the page title is the most important information on a web page. You can see a page title on every individual web page when it loads up on your screen.   The page title is located in the page tab in the upper left of an open browser window above the page URL.  Below is a sample from my site:

Notice that this page on my site is the “what I do” page as found in the site’s navigation list.  If a visitor is already on my site they can open this page to find out what I do.  However, if they are using a search engine to look for a remodeling consultant or a remodeling industry speaker; they would never find me by searching using the key words; “What I do”

On the other hand, because I have included key words about what I do in the page title, if they use any of those key words when they do a search, and search engines have already found out what I do because of those key words, my site and this particular page will show up in search engine results. 

To see the full page title and all of its content at your own site simply place your cursor over the page title.  When you see what’s there you can decide for yourself if your SEO expert has included your desired keywords. 

Page title optimization is not enough

Another thing search engines look for is that you actually have content on the page relevant to the key words in your title.  Don’t optimize the title unless you also optimize the content.  If you do search engines may actually discount the page’s SEO value.

By suggesting these simple changes and others to the remodelers I work with, I have helped them maximize their ROI for the dollars they spend on their web sites.   Using the right strategies they attract not just leads, but targeted qualified leads for the kinds of customers and projects they want to get.

Now do the test on your site

To see how well you SEO expert has optimized the page titles at each page on you site, open each page and see what is in the page title.   If the page title only includes the name of your company or the page name used in your site’s navigation list, it’s not optimized to help search engines or remodeling prospects find your site and what you offer.  If you have to tell your web site or SEO expert about this, I suggest you should find another expert.

Let me know if I can help!

Guest Blogger: Doug Hanna is president of S&H Construction, Inc. located in Cambridge MA.  His firm specializes in residential and historic renovations, custom home building, renewable energy, landscaping and site work.  Doug was recognized as the 2013 “Remodeler of the Year” by the Builders & Remodelers Association of Greater Boston (BRAGB). 

Contemplating the Difference: Fixed Cost and Cost-Plus Contracts

As a general contractor, I often find myself involved in good – natured arguments with some of my fellow builders regarding the advantages and disadvantages of “fixed cost“ versus “cost plus/time and materials “ contracts. There are distinct arguments for each model, depending on the type of job, the type of structure, as well as the nature and level of completion of the plans and specifications. Having used the cost-plus/time and materials (CP/T+M) contract for the last thirty years, I am somewhat biased towards its benefits.

However, I understand the allure of a fixed-price contract for both the owner and the contractor.  Fixed cost is most appropriate with a very thorough, well-defined set of construction documents (plans and specifications) and even more so if those complete documents are produced for new construction. In a less well-defined job with plans in progress, or in an older home, cost-plus/time and materials may be more appropriate simply because there is too much that is unknown to be able to estimate with full certainty what it will take to perform the work.

On most projects of any size, no matter which contract is used, anywhere from 50 to 90 % of the work will usually be done on a fixed cost basis by subcontractors. CP/T+M jobs are generally “open book”, meaning that the owner has complete access to estimates, proposals and invoices for the entire project. Still, there can be a somewhat more open-ended aspect to CP/T+M contracts, and some people simply are not comfortable not knowing exactly what they are going to pay up front.

Risks and rewards for both options

There are more risks for a contractor operating under a fixed price contract, but there is also the possibility for more profit.  Fixed price contractors are more likely "bidding to the plans", meaning the bid is based strictly on the plans as they are, even if they are not fully developed. This is only natural. If contractors are only getting a fixed amount, they must base their estimate strictly on what the plans show. If you proceed with a project having only rough sketches or incomplete plans, it is very likely there will be changes (change orders). The more changes there are, the more things cost, with an attendant extension of schedule.

Again, if you have fully developed plans and specifications, and especially in new construction, where most factors are known and manageable, fixed price makes sense. With phased design, where plans are being developed on a fast track as construction proceeds, and especially in renovation work, it’s my opinion that CP/T+M is the better choice.

Try to become as educated as possible on the contract options available and get a good tight set of plans and specifications from your architect. Then do your homework when it comes to the contractors you invite to bid on your project. There are excellent contractors in both the fixed cost and the cost plus/ time and materials worlds. 

Guest Blogger: Ruth Ann Monti is the founder of TimeStorm Communications, which provides original content, copywriting, social media and marketing services for entrepreneurs and small business. She lives with her son and two dogs in sunny Scottsdale, AZ.

3 Ways Contractors Can Become a Trusted Customer Resource

A recent survey by Planese found the home improvement and remodeling industry earned a customer service score of 4.5 out of 7 in 2013. Not bad, but it could be better. More worrying is our industry's score for meeting expectations, which is just 36 percent. Comparatively, banking scored 61 percent, which is pretty good for an industry that isn't exactly the most popular.

A little bit of work to understand what your customers or potential customers want and offering yourself as a good resource can help you improve your customer service outlook and give yourself a competitive advantage.

First, Understand Customer Expectations

Many customers turn to online resources to find out the things they should anticipate during their remodel; usually these sites warn about delays and unexpected problems during the remodel like unusual plumbing and wiring. Dust and noise are hard to control, but this is a great opportunity to exceed expectations by taking an extra step or two and providing a little what-to-expect education beforehand.

Exceeding customer expectations is a strategy entrepreneurs should embrace, whether they run an auto repair, medical practice or remodeling business. Richard Branson, found of Virgin Group, says this is why his business stands out from the competition. If you are about to bid on a project, he says, "deliberately move your customers' expectations up a few notches and consistently over-deliver on your promises"

Use Your Proposal to Provide Customer Education

Begin offering customer education right from the start in your written proposal or estimate. Here are a few ideas about what to discuss that demonstrates your knowledge and experience and can help you shine:

• Timeframe. It's difficult to nail this down but if you're considering a project similar to ones you've tackled in the past, provide a sample schedule. Note items that can slow things down or build in time to address them. There's nothing wrong with over-delivering by completing a project ahead of schedule because you foresaw potential problems that did not materialize.
• Access to Specialized Equipment. Let customers know you have access to equipment that isn't part of the standard remodel kit. Provide links to specialized tools like lifts for second-story projects or insulation removal and installation.  Explain why they will or might be needed.
• Discuss materials options. Customers want energy-efficient and environmentally friendly materials. Explain the differences between standard drywall and plaster, for example, and the different grades of insulation. Tell them about green materials you've worked with.

Don't Be Shy: Advertise Your Work

Remodeling magazine urges contractors to advertise and enlist past customers for testimonials. Start by sending thank you notes for trusting you with their remodel and ask if they would send a review you can post on your website.

Speaking of: don't shy away from online review sites. Register with Google, Yahoo, Yelp and Angie's List, which is highly recommended for its popularity with consumers. In addition, by registering with these sites, you can respond to reviews and ensure that the information out there is accurate and complete.

Yellow Pad Estimating For Contractors: The Good and the Bad

Many contractors start out estimating and learning how to estimate using what I refer to as the “Yellow Pad Method”.    Using paper and a pencil they can create estimates any time and on the fly.   However as the business grows, particularly when others take over the management and building of projects sold, the typical yellow pad estimate may not give the build team the information they need to build the project on their own.  Also, the information within the yellow pad estimate may not be in an intuitive and organized format, making it hard to find the information they need. 

I came to this realization as I built my company and eventually formalized my estimating method and started using a better tool to get it done.   I learned at lot by attending training seminars, reading articles and plenty of trial and error.  In this blog post I’ll share a little about what I learned during the evolution in hopes it will help your estimating evolve.  

I’ll even offer you a free copy of my recently updated Excel Estimating Spreadsheet Template.

The Good

Actually I think yellow pad estimating is the best way to learn how to estimate.   I say this because every time you do a new estimate you start out with a blank canvas.   This allows you to be creative and try new ways to estimate and organize your info each time you do one.  Using the yellow pad I learned how to do estimates in a variety of formats.   For example the information in the estimate could be listed in critical path order, the same order I promised my client and therefore wanted my production team to build it.  For another client I assembled the information room by room so they could decide what to do at a later date if the total cost came in higher than their current budget.

Using the yellow pad I could also do quick estimates for small projects on the fly.   This often allowed me to sell the job at the first visit as long as I could also easily write up my proposal ready for a signature.   That was back in the good old days when work was plenty and hand written proposals were the norm.

The Bad

Eventually I became frustrated with many of the limitations of using the yellow pad to estimate.  Here is a brief list of what I ran into that motivated me to make the switch to using Excel spreadsheets instead.

• I had to add up all the numbers with a calculator multiple times before having enough confidence to give it to my prospects because I didn’t always get the same number!
• Cutting and pasting to insert missed tasks was literally cutting and pasting using scissors and tape.
• If a prospect who several months back had said no to my price called back to go ahead, making updates to the estimate was not possible, I had to do it all over again.
• If the customer wanted to make product substitutions or wanted suggestions to value engineer the project, to be confident about the price differences I had to do the estimate all over again for each option.
• After hand writing the estimate and proposal me or my staff then had to also hand write out the sub contractor agreements and the materials lists.
• When I had to do another estimate for a similar project trying to reuse an old estimate wasn’t as simple as copying and pasting or changing the quantities like it could be using a computer to do so.

Then I started using Excel to Estimate

Eventually, after a lot of experimenting using the yellow pad I eventually incorporated what I had learned into an Excel Estimating spreadsheet I created on my own.   Doing so definitely improved the speed and accuracy of my estimating methods.  The end result also provided the majority of information the production team needed so they could build the job without me around, leaving me time to sell more work.

For more on how I advanced my estimating methods and how I used the Excel estimating template check out this previous blog post titled “Don’t Underestimate Your Estimating System’s Potential”.

Click on the button below to get my NEW UPDATED Estimating Template now!

Guest Blogger: Brian Altmann, CAPS is the president of DBS Remodel, Inc.a full service residential remodeling company in LaGrange, NY. He frequently speaks at the Remodeling Show and JLC Live. Brian has over 28 years of experience in the remodeling industry. At JLC LIVE in Providence RI this spring Brain shared his experiences with me about doing consumer seminars as a marketing tactic.   He agreed to contribute this guest blog to help other contractors do the same.  He can be reached at Brian@DBSremodel.com

How To Be Successful Using Educational Seminars As A Marketing Tool

In my 28 years in the remodeling business I have seen many relationships go south between homeowner and contractor! All too often the homeowner is in a position where they don’t even know what they just purchased from their remodeler. Whose fault is this? The remodeler was not paid as a consultant so possibly inadequate time was spent creating a job scope and contract. And of course, the homeowner only wanted to know two things…when can you start and how much is it going to cost! The blame should be spread evenly. I have always wanted my clients to understand EXACTLY what they were purchasing and felt that educating them on the process would be win/win for everyone.

This is why I started to offer seminars to teach prospects “What They Must Know About Hiring A Remodeling Contractor”.

Here are some details on how I do it

I always hold these seminars at a local hotel.  The seminars are complimentary and I always provide coffee and donuts. The duration of the seminar is 2 hours. During this informal, relaxed session we will discuss The Top Ten Questions To Ask A Remodeler During An Interview, how to handle extras, a well written contract, the value of a pre-construction meeting among other topics. I usually ask attendees in the beginning what they were hoping to learn and that helps me drive the content as well. We leave plenty of time for Q&A at the end.

Marketing these seminars presents the biggest challenge, but, not one that is insurmountable! Many homeowners fear being sold at such an event. The key here is to keep all content objective and make this about the homeowner and their needs and not an infomercial for your company. Our seminars are sponsored by 16 local companies that are either vendors or trade partners. This allows us to create objectivity in our marketing efforts as well as help to subsidize the marketing budget.

Benefits of doing the seminars for remodeling consumers

The biggest benefit of conducting seminars is that DBS Remodel is perceived as the local expert in our industry. It is a great platform to create trust with those in attendance. We feel that if we give as much knowledge as we can to our prospects and sincerely help them…good things will happen! 

The short video below will give you an idea of some of the content we include in our seminars

The seminars are fun and quite easy to deliver

Many companies would balk at the expense of putting seminars on and those that do will be missing a golden opportunity.  Last year 34% of our gross sales came from homeowners that attended our free educational seminars. We have 15 scheduled for this year with two of them already complete.

Instead of waiting for the economy to turn around we are taking matters in our own hands!

2 Critical Business Investments for Contractors Looking To Grow Their Businesses

Good news!  Confidence in the future for remodeling contractors is starting to pick up.  A recent surge in new sales and leads being reported by many in the industry is a welcome change that will help businesses strapped with aging accounts payable and uncomfortable loan balances.  As welcome and helpful improved cash flow can be, be sure you prioritize how you use it.  Remodelers should not only catch up on dept with this money, but it is also important to direct some of it to invest back into your business as a way to prepare for an improved marketplace. 

Below are two critical areas remodelers should consider investing in as their finances improve and before the remodeling marketplace rebounds. Sure, both will cost money and require a commitment of your time.  However consider the lost opportunities and lost income you could be enjoying for the rest of your career if you invested in your business now.

#1, Think past the present and develop a long term perspective:

If contractors knew how to prepare for this recession, they would have been ready for it and the actual impact wouldn’t have been as dramatic on their businesses.  Knowing what you now know, use the lessons learned to better predict and deal with the next recession.  Also, start thinking about where you want you and your business to be in the future.  Be proactive and create a plan, don't wait to see what happens and where you end up.  Rather than do it on your own consider finding a mentor with a track record of success, someone who can help you and will invest the time required to understand you and your business and will invest in you. 

This should be an on-going commitment.  Don’t get started with a mentor unless you are willing to really embrace making changes and commit to the time it will take.  Establish a consistent schedule to interact with your mentor and stick to it.  You may be lucky enough to find someone who will do it at no cost.   If not, expect to invest at least an hour or more of your time a week to interact and at least $5000.00 over the course of one year to pay this person.  It is better to predict and control your future than to be subject to whatever happens.  The right mentor will have already successfully gone down the same path you are looking to get started on.

Check out this article about working with a coach or a mentor

#2, Improve your sales skills:

Consider this.  Contractors earn profits when they sell, they earn wages when they wear a tool belt.  If you want to make a lot more money you should learn how to improve your sales skills.

Selling isn’t what it used to be.  Memorized responses to prospects’ objections won’t cut it anymore and emailing your proposal is not selling; it makes you an order taker.  Find a sales training coach or program that will help you understand and take advantage of the psychology of sales and selling.  I took three years of sales training on a weekly basis during the early years of my business.  Sticking with the training and having a coach to guide me helped me “own” a sales system.  That system became second nature to me and dramatically improve not only my ability to sell at higher margins, but also allowed me to become more selective about who I would ultimately choose as my customers. 

If you join a training program expect to invest about two hours a week in the class and about $5-7,000 a year for the training.  If you have multiple salespeople consider doing in-house training and working with a remodeling specific sales coach and assume you will invest at least $7000.  If you choose the right trainer and embrace what you learn, it will be an investment, not an expense.

EPA Announces Plan To Inspect Contractors For RRP Compliance

The Boston EPA Office, in an effort to improve compliance with laws that protect children from lead paint poisoning, has announced it will be sending letters to approximately 200 home renovation and painting contractors, property management companies and landlords in and around New Haven, Conn. announcing a compliance assistance and enforcement initiative.  According to an April 7, 2014 press release the EPA letter outlines steps EPA will be taking to increase compliance by these entities with the EPA RRP Rule.

EPA says they will offer compliance assistance

According to the press release the letter EPA is sending to New Haven-area contractors, landlords and property management companies invites these entities to an information session to be held at the New Haven Health Department office on April 16, 2014 from 3 to 6 pm where EPA says it will provide an overview of the RRP Rule requirements, and introduce an expedited settlement offer for one violation of the RRP Rule. It’s not clear from the press release what the settlement will be or what violations they are referring to. 

In addition to the information session, during April and May, EPA says it will offer compliance assistance on the RRP Rule to companies and the public in the New Haven area.   The press release did not offer any details on what type of compliance assistance would be offered.

WARNING: EPA also says they will also be inspecting to verify compliance

The letter will also notify the contractors that EPA will be inspecting a number of them in June 2014.  According to the press release EPA lead inspectors will inspect numerous renovation, painting and property management companies in the New Haven area regarding their compliance with the RRP Rule. The inspections may be followed up with enforcement.

Besides increasing protection for children’s health, EPA says it aims to ensure a “level playing field” for individuals and companies that are already complying with the RRP Rule.  To extend its reach, EPA says it is coordinating with many agencies, including the New Haven Health Department and the Connecticut Department of Public Health on this initiative.

Why New Haven CT and who might be next?

EPA says it is doing this initiative in the New Haven area because public health records indicate that New Haven has one of the highest rates of childhood lead exposure in New England. 

So, will contractors be happy about this?

The RRP Rule has caused much controversy in the remodeling industry.  Some contractors want to see the rule go away altogether.  Others are OK with the rule and its purpose, but have complained that the lack of enforcement and the ineffective public outreach efforts to date have made it difficult to compete with business that do not comply; due to the additional costs related to rule compliance. 

Time will tell whether this intuitive will help improve compliance in any significant way and or really have any effect on leveling the playing field.   Either way it’s likely that EPA will use the findings and enforcement of this initiative to capture the attention of contractors in the New Haven area.  Contractors outside of CT may also want to consider that this may be a test program that could eventually be put in place in other areas of the country.

If anyone reading this receives one of the letters I hope you will share it with me so I can share it here at the Design/Builders Blog.