Yesterday on the linkedin NARI group contractor and remodeler John Clark implemented the lead safe practices according to the EPA RRP Certified Renovator course. He describes his challenges in excellent detail. This may be a glimpse of what is to come for remodelers. Please let us know if you have any similar stories out there. We will forward these stories to our contacts at the EPA to let them know the realities we will face complying with the rule. Here is John's excellent post;

We are asked every day about who must be certified under the new EPA RRP Rules. One common question is, do sub contractors have to be certified. See this recent answer from the EPA site about general contractors and subs.

On 4/22/2010 the EPA Renovate, Repair and Painting Lead Rule goes into effect. There are only 90 days left to complete the application to become registered.

Last Wednesday we had Kachina Contractor Solutions, an EPA Certified Trainer conduct EPA RRP Training for our contractors. The training answered many questions about this new rule.

The new EPA Renovate, Repair and Painting Rule requires that both contractors and sub-contractors become certified. Many contractors think this won't affect sub-contractors, however it does.

Many contractors are starting to find out about the EPA Renovate, Repair and Painting Rule. Remodelers, and Trade Contractors are lining up their training and sending in their application to become  an EPA Certified Firm.

We just finalized two new training dates for the EPA Renovate, Repair and Painting Certified Renovator Program. Our training on 1/13/2010 in West Boylston, Mass is sold out.

We just received two new dates for Contractor EPA Certified Renovator Training. Our West Boylston training on 1.13.2010 is sold out in three weeks over the holidays. That was pretty fast. Likely this is a sign that training venues will be in high demand throughout the spring.

Recently on the NARI LinkedIn group, professional contractors shared their views on the EPA's enforcement of the Renovate, Repair and Painting Rule. One huge concern  is contractors who comply will have to compete against thousands of illegal contractors who do not.  

In September, we recognized that there would be a shortage of EPA approved trainers for the Boston market to train contractors, remodelers, and the trades in time for the 4.22.2010 effective date. Currently there are just over a 100 approved trainers nationally and half a dozen in Mass. This presents a huge challenge for our industry. There will not be enough available training space for all that need to be trained before the effective date.