It is time for Washington to step up and put legislation in position that will force states to raised regulate the house improvement industry. Until now Washington has left the regulation of the home improvement industry as much as state regulators, and for whatever reason(s) many states have fallen considerably short.
There are still some states that do not even have contractor licensing in place for home improvements. For a number of the states that do have licensing, the license requirements don't include that the applicant demonstrate the capacity to do any type of home improvement work. (That is similar to saying I'll issue you a license to cut hair however, you don't have to demonstrate that you understand how to cut hair......... ouch!) Then why do states bother issuing licenses if you can find no requirements to demonstrate competence? Revenue? Or could it be they need more consumer complaints for Consumer Affairs and BBB to deal with? The unfortunate consequences of this problem are that homeowners are the people that are paying the price by receiving poor workmanship and a cascade of home improvement problems.
Let's be honest, the house improvement industry does not seem to attract the most reliable, honest and competent individuals. The lure of a quick buck and the relative ease to "qualify" to complete Home improvement work, brings many a "character" to your door. When I was a contractor I needed seriously to hire people for a number of field positions. All the people, who I interviewed and sometimes hired, seemed to have the same form of issues with past employers. These problems contained substance abuse issues, honesty issues, and reliability issues. The labor pool never seemed with an over abundance of talent and employability to choose from.
I recall always reading article after article that dealt with the significant manpower shortage in the house improvement industry. The underside line of each article would continually be the exact same, "If you can find a sincere, reliable and competent person to do the job, pull out most of the stops to help keep them!!!! Do whatever you should do to help keep that person happy because you'll never know in the event that you will undoubtedly be fortunate to locate you to definitely take their place." As an owner, it had been an extremely constant and stressful problem to deal with. You had been almost afraid to test and increase project production because you knew you would have to try and find you to definitely do the extra work. Finding employees was always an adventure, an adventure that I never looked forward to.
For the last 10-15 years the top problem in the house improvement industry is the possible lack of manpower. Many contractors are training and hiring minorities to test and solve this major problem.
If you had been to talk to your state authorities about what is being done to improve regulations and screening in the house improvement industry, they'll probably tell you something is in the works or there is no money for more regulations (testing). I have already been hearing this for 30 years. The county where I live (Suffolk County, New York) still does not require any demonstration of home improvement ability to acquire a home improvement license. The fee has consistently gone up but the requirements have more or less stayed the same. We're among the highest taxed counties in the united states, so I refuse to believe there is no money to produce and implement a better policing and screening process in the house improvement industry.
