General Contractors/Home Builders Need Continuing Education

To:  Arizona State Legislature/U.S. Congress/National Association of Home Builders

Construction defects and shoddy workmanship are on the rise. During the past big real estate boom, housing developments were going up practically over night, with unsupervised crews and no attention to details.

Plenty of legislation has been passed to protect the contractors from construction defect suits, yet little has been done to protect the consumers. Now that the boom has quieted down, many developers and builders are filing bankruptcy and walking away from their shoddy work; leaving those that paid top dollar for these homes hanging in the breeze.

As an Indoor Air/Environmental Consultant in the State of Arizona, I would estimate that 80% of my projects stem from construction defect issues which led to moisture, mold, and structural integrity problems.

Almost all of these problems could have been avoided if the builders had even a basic concept of building science principals. Site planning, drainage, slopeage, material selection and installment, flashing, etc. – a small amount of knowledge can go a very long way.

Almost every other professional industry requires its members to complete a certain number of Continuing Education Units (CEU’S) every 1-2 years. My certification for example requires me to obtain 40 CEU’s every two years. Realtors who are selling the homes and buildings are required to gain CEU’s – yet those who are BUILDING our homes and structures are not?

It has been proven that our builders (and their buildings) are failing. Consumers are being hurt by these failures each and every day.

It is time to demand that the people in charge of building our homes and structures demonstrate their competency and knowledge by being REQUIRED to attend continuing education courses. It is the only way a shift can and will occur. Getting a license and “building to code” just isn’t protecting us anymore.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The General Contractors/Home Builders Need Continuing Education Petition to Arizona State Legislature/U.S. Congress/National Association of Home Builders was created by Concerned Citizens and written by Stacey Champion, CIE (sc@championindoors.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.