Yesterday in our NCHH RRP Training in Riverhead, New York a contractor asked; "will the EPA go after contractors who are not RRP Certified and Registered? Do you know of any illegal contractors who have been fined?

On the RRP front a New York insurance company is requiring EPA RRP Certification for contractors and firms to keep insurance. Last year we predicted that insurance companies would require contractors to be RRP Certified in order to qualify for insurance coverage.

Last week we received 6 calls from homeowners in Mass regarding contractors' RRP License and Certification. Five calls were women and one was a man. The callers asked a lot of questions about the Mass RRP License and then asked us to look up their certification. We referred them to the state lead license list so they could confirm the information officially. In addition we gave the number to call a DOS RRP official just in case they needed to talk to someone from the state.

There are two major RRP workshops coming to Marlborough Mass.

Medical Clinics; Blood Lead Testing and Pulmonary Exams

OSHA's new fall protection directive, affecting residential contractors, goes into effect on 6/16/2011.

A neighbor recently asked me to review a contract from a contractor they called to give a price for remodeling on their single family home. The contractor submitted a typical 3 part carbon proposal form with hand written scope of work and a lump sum price. He called this his contract. There was no HIC# or state required wording on the form. I told my neighbor to find another contractor since this guy was not following the Mass Home Improvement Law and his so called contract was illegal.

Many of you know I am active board member in Eastern Mass NARI. I would like to extend an invitation to you to join me on 5/4/2011 in Natick, Mass. This is going to be a sell out. The event is hosted by Professional Remodeler Magazine. Jonathan Sweet is our featured speaker. He is an outstanding resource for our industry. I hope you can join us.

There is a free webinar with remodeling expert Shawn McCadden and  myself on 4/19/2011. The webinar is produced and hosted by Daily5 Remodel. Daily5 Remodel was founded by Leah Thayer a former editor and writer for Remodeling Magazine.

As promised the EPA is stepping up enforcement for lead violations. The question is why are they focusing on property management companies? Does this mean small contractors who haven't certified their personnel or firms have nothing to worry about?  Residential contractors who have stepped up to the plate and certified their firms and workers are wondering when is enforcement going to begin against illegally operating contracting companies? Legally operating contractors are telling us that consumers are hiring uncertified companies everywhere. One contractor from Cape Cod just told us he lost his last 8 bids on jobs requiring RRP practices to non RRP certified contractors. The consumers said they did not want to pay for a legal job. Where is the consumer education the EPA promised last year? Where is the enforcement against illegally operating contractors?