Certification hardly felt in struggling building industry 
For years, Georgia had the most welcoming home-building industry in the Southeast: Anyone with a hammer qualified to construct a multiton, multistory house. And almost anyone did. Accountants. Pilots. Weekend hobbyists. But after years of initial industry opposition, Georgia this summer began requiring that builders be licensed, just like cosmetologists, hearing aid dealers and auctioneers... "It sounds promising," said Janet Ahmad, president of Home Owners for Better Building, a nonprofit based in San Antonio that pushes for industry regulation. The real test, she said, is how well the state enforces the law, which the Legislature first approved in 2004 but later tweaked and delayed implementation of until this summer.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Certification hardly felt in struggling building industry 

By MATT KEMPNER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/13/08

For years, Georgia had the most welcoming home-building industry in the Southeast: Anyone with a hammer qualified to construct a multiton, multistory house. And almost anyone did. Accountants. Pilots. Weekend hobbyists.

But after years of initial industry opposition, Georgia this summer began requiring that builders be licensed, just like cosmetologists, hearing aid dealers and auctioneers.

Builders, who as an industry fought regulation for years, now predict the licensing eventually will drive out some bad players. So far, though, it's caused barely a ripple in an industry that's already in an economic freeze. And builders warn that, even when things warm up, the new regulations won't fully protect home buyers because the licensing hurdles aren't particularly steep.

Of nearly 11,700 licenses issued so far by the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors, almost 90 percent were for builders grandfathered in. That means they met certain requirements but had enough experience to skip taking an open-book test, which for the most basic license had 130 questions.

Bill Weeks has erected new homes from lumber and concrete for most of his 64 years. But he missed the deadline for exempting the test, so he dutifully studied his code books. He wasn't impressed on test day. Some questions were tricky, but he said they didn't require much understanding of crucial issues such as how thick concrete slabs should to be or how far to span distances with a 2-by-10.

"The license proves you can look up material in the code book and find the correct answer for the test," he said. "I suppose it is better than nothing. ... It is going to weed out the really lazy people, maybe."

Weeks passed the test.

"I told my subs, 'Well, now I'm licensed to do what I've been doing for 40 years.' "

Good thing for him. As of July 1, state law bars builders from getting a construction permit for houses, commercial construction or remodeling projects costing $2,500 or more without first proving they have a license. The public can check whether a builder is licensed at sos.georgia.gov

/myverification/. (People can build without a state license if the structure is for their own use, doesn't involve the general public and isn't for sale or lease).

To get a license, builders are required to offer warranties of some kind, prove they have liability insurance, show they have financial resources such as a commercial bank account or line of credit, demonstrate completion of previous construction projects and confess if they have been convicted of a felony or had a bankruptcy.

"It sounds promising," said Janet Ahmad, president of Home Owners for Better Building, a nonprofit based in San Antonio that pushes for industry regulation.

The real test, she said, is how well the state enforces the law, which the Legislature first approved in 2004 but later tweaked and delayed implementation of until this summer.

For years, builders opposed the concept of licensing in Georgia. But as individual counties and cities began putting in place their own licensing rules, builder groups backed the idea of statewide regulations. Hoping to avoid a last-minute rush for licenses, groups such as the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association have helped spread word about the new rules.

Penelope Round, a governmental affairs representative for the association, said she thinks most of the builders in the state have already gotten through the licensing process.

"It's a big first step toward professionalizing the industry," she said.

The new rules also may make it more difficult for newcomers to get into the industry, even if they have the proper knowledge and expertise, said former state Sen. Guy Middleton, who served on the licensing board when it was preparing for the new system.

"I wouldn't want to leave it where you get the same old folks doing the same old things and not have the flexibility of these younger folks to be able to get into it," Middleton said.

One hurdle: People who are new to the industry have to work under a licensed builder for two years and complete at least two projects before getting their own license. Applicants are supposed to get their bosses to sign paperwork attesting to their experience, essentially clearing the way for the applicants to go out on their own, possibly as competitors.

The bosses may put up roadblocks, said Doekes Gunning, a Marietta builder who has been in the business for 37 years. But he said he's seen too many people enter the business as part-timers without proper knowledge of the basics of how to build a home, such as what size footings should be under a two-story house.

"There are so many people who do not have a clue of what it takes," said Gunning, who added that in the past, government building inspectors were too busy to catch every mistake a builder made. Some rural counties don't even conduct building inspections.

Last year, the Better Business Bureau covering metro Atlanta, Athens and northeast Georgia received 459 complaints about home builders. Of the nearly 1,000 builders in the bureau's databases, one out of every six is listed as "unsatisfactory" for not being responsive to consumers' concerns. Fred Elsberry, the president of the local organization, said complaints tend to decrease in industries once licensing requirements go into place.

"Our expectation certainly," he said, "is that over a period of time this licensing is going to increase the professionalism of the contractors."

Howard Conner, a Lilburn-based builder who has pounded nails professionally for 35 years, said the price of unfit builders is sagging homes and collapsing decks.

That should eventually change with the new licenses, he said.

"It is going to eliminate a lot of fly-by-night people."
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