On Lead, Abdication
May Not Be an Option
Shawn McCadden
December 2009
Reprinted with permission
from here.
I just took a full-day training
class to become a Certified Renovator according to the EPA’s Lead:
Renovation, Repair and Painting law. I am so glad I did. The class was presented
by Rob Dowse of The
Connor Institute. Rob was well informed, offered practical advice and
compliance methods, and did a great job keeping the discussion on focus.
If you own
a remodeling business, you’d better take an RRP class too, as soon as possible.
Do not abdicate this responsibility. There is too much at stake to risk not
being adequately informed about how the new regulations will affect your entire
business. April may seem like a long way off, but once you realize what
you need to do to get ready, you might wish you had more time.
A Short, Serious List
Here’s my short list of what you and
your business will need to consider and/or plan for before you consider working
on homes that were built before 1978:
- As a general governing philosophy, decide if you
want to continue to do renovations on homes that require you to comply
with the regulations – that is, on any home that was built before 1978!
- Register your business as a “firm” under the
regulations before you perform the work. The EPA says the turnaround time
for this will be 90 days from the time you submit your
paperwork. Keep in mind that those are “government days,” and
consider adding a safety margin.
- Calculate whether you’ll need to make staff
additions or changes to comply with the law. For every applicable job,
you’ll need a Certified Renovator to supervise. And you’ll still need to meet
your production volume requirements!
- Have each Certified Renovator on your staff train
those working under him or her and keep records of all the skills that
have been trained. Know that all RRP work must be supervised unless the
person performing it has been trained in those specific tasks. They will
need classroom as well as on-the job training experience. Do this training
before the ruling takes effect on April 22nd.
- In your estimating, change your assumptions about
the labor and material-related costs associated with any lead-related
work. If you have a backlog of work, make sure the work you plan to start
and/or complete after April 22nd is priced appropriately to cover your
additional compliance costs.
- Re-evaluate and revise your business systems. All
of the following will need to change: your production scheduling methods,
how your jobs are supervised (including how often a certified individual
will need to be on-site), how to ensure that your subcontractors are also
registered firms (and have certified employees), your sales process, and
how you explain things to prospects.
- Accept that compliance will means a lot of
paperwork and documentation for each project. Complying with paperwork
requirements will significantly increase your overhead costs, particularly
if your business is technology-challenged and will depend on paper, file
cabinets, and employee oversight to manage. You will need to complete,
deliver, collect, and store the required paperwork in an accurate and
timely manner.
- Be serious about complying with all of the
regulations. A lackadaisical approach can expose you and your
business to the risk of fines of up to $32,500 per violation: per job, per
individual requirement, and/or per employee.
The $32,500 Killer
Remember that I said this was my
short list. There is plenty more to consider about the lead law. In
this tough economic environment, one $32,500 fine might put you out of
business. Get educated now and start making plans to do the work within
the regulations.
Or, start planning for how you will
make up for the lost volume if you choose to stop working in pre-1978 housing.
Learn more about the EPA's lead rule
and remodelers' concerns in Leah Thayer's blog and Shawn's last blog.
Shawn McCadden
founded, operated, and sold a successful design/build company. A co-founder of
the Residential Design/Build Institute and former director of educaton for a national K&B remodeling franchise, Shawn
writes a monthly column for REMODELING, speaks at industry events, and consults
with remodeling companies. Email him at shawnm@charter.net.
Click here to see Shawn's
columns in this magazine: http://www.remodeling.hw.net/expert-opinion/columnists/columnists/shawn-mccadden.aspx