Houston Homebuilders Association- Builders Foolishly Claim Industry Understands what is Best for Consumers
Response from Janet Ahmad:

Mr. Binash (President, Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes) and any builder that is against abolishment of TRCC and claims the agency is good for consumers are selfishly incorrect.  No one is buying the industry (Binash) smoke and mirrors spin, that without TRCC homeowners will end up in "time-consuming and expensive litigation."  
The true fact is Sunset concluded that of the homeowners with construction defects who were forced into TRCC, 88% were driven to “time-consuming and expensive litigation.”  Sunset further concluded TRCC is bad for homeowners and failed to protect them from the bad actors of the building industry.  Shame on the industry that claims an agency that they bought and paid for is somehow good for the consumer. The industry’s attempt to claim to be experts on the subject of what is good for consumers is a hoax. They had their chances and failed miserably while making our Texas legislators look incompetent for listening to the industry for its legislative wisdom. Abolish TRCC!  It’s bad for consumers and it’s an embarrassment to the industry and Texas . 
Janet Ahmad

More TRCC Spin from the Homebuilding Industry
Letter to Houston Chronicle
BRIAN BINASH, President, Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes

The Aug. 22 editorial "Shoddily built," commenting on the Sunset Commission staff's recommendation that the Texas Residential Construction Commission be abolished, was a bit unfair and definitely one-sided. The staff's recommendation is shortsighted one and would return Texas to the uncertainty of unregulated home builders and the absence of consumer protections.

The Greater Houston Builders Association is disappointed that the staff recommended throwing out significant consumer protections, many of which have been in place less than a year, leaving the state with no authority to prevent bad actors from harming Texas home buyers.

In 2003 and again in 2007, the Texas Legislature recognized the need to regulate home builders and remodelers and authorized the TRCC as an efficient alternative [to the courts] to resolve construction defects. With the additional resources and powers vested in it by the Legislature last session, the agency implemented considerable changes that, contrary to the staff's conclusions, do protect Texas homeowners.

It makes no sense to vaporize the numerous home buyer safeguards that have evolved over the last five years. With the advent of the TRCC in 2003, Texas created for the first time statutory building and performance standards, as well as a requirement for builders to give mandatory written warranties. The TRCC has also been given full authority to issue cease-and-desist orders against bad builders who violate the law, and to fine fraudulent builders up to $100,000. To date, the agency has shut down nearly 500 home builders who would be able to pick up a hammer and begin building should the staff recommendation become a reality.

Without the TRCC's dispute resolution process, homeowners with construction defects would be left with nowhere to turn but time-consuming and expensive litigation. The dispute resolution process serves a further role by providing home buyers an online search tool of a builder's history of construction defects. The GHBA and the Texas Association of Builders look forward to working with the members of the Sunset Commission and the Texas Legislature next session to explore necessary changes to the TRCC to enhance the positive effects consumers and builders have enjoyed since the agency's creation.

BRIAN BINASH
President, Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes