Builder Protection Agency Gets Legislative Protection
Yesterday the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) had it’s day in the Sunset, Commission that is.  It’s key to remember no matter what homebuilders and TRCC commissioner say, the TRCC was created to keep homebuilders from being sued for shoddy workmanship by homebuyers who received that shoddily built home.  That is why the consumers are not happy with the TRCC, and why it has received the nickname of “the builder protection agency”.  (Read this post, Builder Protection Agency “Hits Home” In Williamson County, for EOW’s earlier reporting).

Panel ponders future of builder mediation
A state agency set up to resolve disputes with builders isn't working and should be abolished, homeowners said Tuesday. The construction commission, created in 2003 with homebuilders' support, lacks authority to force builders to fix defective houses. The staff report said that only 12 percent of the commission's cases have resulted in satisfactory repair or compensation to homeowners.

Reform on the Home Front
...try to justify their agency’s existence. It’s not an easy case to make. Two weeks earlier, the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, a legislative oversight committee, had recommended that state lawmakers abolish the TRCC because it does “more harm than good.”...Even by that lax standard, however, the Texas Residential Construction Commission—created ostensibly to aid homeowners—represents a new low. It’s one thing to ignore consumers; it’s quite another to work against them. Since its inception in 2003, the TRCC has been criticized for helping builders skirt lawsuits from consumers seeking reparations for shoddily built homes...Commissioner Mickey Redwine I ask that every commissioner unite and vote for change to prove to consumers that we are serious about change.”...The commissioners did unite—and voted against most of Redwine’s reforms. Consumer advocates weren’t surprised. “His heart is in the right place,” said Alex Winslow, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Texas Watch. “But regardless of the changes TRCC makes, it is broken and needs to be scrapped.”

Representative Olivo Response: TRCC Irreparably Harms homeowners
TRCC is an ill-conceived attempt to replace true regulation of an industry with a complaint review board; as such, TRCC does more harm than good. Not only are individual homeowners irreparably harmed, but the loss in property values resulting from substandard, incomplete and unsafe construction erodes the local tax base. These are the tax dollars that educate our children and safeguard our communities...Texas must develop an effective means to regulate the residential construction indUstry, thereby protecting the value of Texas homeowners' property and protecting the local tax base from unnecessary erosion. Ifwe, as elected and appointed officials who are charged with keeping the public trust, fail to effectively regulate this industry, we have failed in our responsibility to protect the safety and welfare of all the citizens of Texas.  Read more...

Sunset Review: Texas Residential Construction Commission
Public Comments Received Regarding the Report Sunset Commission Meeting and Public Testimony is September 23, 2008. See Public Comments regarding Sunset Report to Abolish TRCC

Inspector Calls Inspection Inadequate
I expect The City of Austin and other cities that are county seats have amended their codes to require more than just three inspections. If the county seats require say 5, 10, 20 inspections each at different stages, then in the county outside that county seat it seems the same multiple layers of inspections will apply also if the amendments apply. Finally how do the RCC requirements and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation TDLR that regulates the licenses for electricians and mechanical contractors also the Texas Board of Plumbing Examiners that regulators the plumbers and the Adopted Plumbing Codes Uniform Plumbing Code and the International Plumbing Code line up with the Texas Residential Construction Commission? When there is a conflict in code requirements, which prevails?