Houston Chronicle: Only builders shed tears for flawed state agency
Its facade of legitimacy is so flimsy that a Sunset Commission staff report recently recommended its absence would serve homeowners better than its presence. It called the commission "fundamentally flawed." It's telling that the only group upset about dismantling the TRCC is the builders it is supposed to police. The TRCC purports to resolve differences between aggrieved homeowners and builders and promote better home construction. In fact, it's been a Legislature-sanctioned smoke screen for bad construction..."There is a huge burden on the homeowner to prove what's wrong with their house, and where do they wind up? In a legal dispute," said Janet Ahmad of San Antonio, president of Homeowners for Better Building. "We don't need a state agency for that."

Only builders shed tears for flawed state agency
By LOREN STEFFY
Sept. 11, 2008

During the past five years, state lawmakers and home builders have constructed a Potemkin village of regulation in the Texas Residential Construction Commission.

Its facade of legitimacy is so flimsy that a Sunset Commission staff report recently recommended its absence would serve homeowners better than its presence. It called the commission "fundamentally flawed."

It's telling that the only group upset about dismantling the TRCC is the builders it is supposed to police.

The TRCC purports to resolve differences between aggrieved homeowners and builders and promote better home construction. In fact, it's been a Legislature-sanctioned smoke screen for bad construction.

No wonder, then, that the builders are clamoring to keep the TRCC while consumer groups are saying good riddance.

In a statement issued after the Sunset Commission's decision last month, Ron Connally, an Amarillo builder and first vice president of the Texas Association of Builders, called the decision shortsighted.

"Without the TRCC's dispute resolution process, homeowners with construction defects that are currently being resolved in an expedient and cost-effective manner will be left with nowhere to turn but time-consuming and expensive litigation," he said.

That, though, is pretty much the system we have now. The Sunset Commission's found that 88 percent of the disputes brought before the TRCC wind up in court anyway.

"There is a huge burden on the homeowner to prove what's wrong with their house, and where do they wind up? In a legal dispute," said Janet Ahmad of San Antonio, president of Homeowners for Better Building. "We don't need a state agency for that."

One last chance?

The Sunset Commission has scheduled a hearing on the matter for Sept. 23. TRCC Commissioner Mickey Redwine believes that may be the TRCC's last chance to show it's willing to change.

"We're looking down the barrel of a loaded gun," he told me. "We get one shot at fixing this."

Builders seem to be taking a different approach. As my colleague Clay Robison noted recently, Houston builder Bob Perry has been showering cash on Sunset Commission members.

Meanwhile, Redwine, who runs a cable drilling company in Ben Wheeler, seems to be the lone advocate for change on the TRCC. He's calling for it to hire a full-time consumer advocate, requiring state licensing of builders — currently the TRCC requires only registration — and switching the composition of the board from three consumer representatives to four while reducing builder reps from four to three.

Redwine called the Sunset Commission report long overdue, but he welcomes it because he said the TRCC simply doesn't go far enough in supporting consumers.

Eliminating, though, would be a step backward that would hurt consumers, he said. At the same time, he doubts builders will support the reforms he's proposing.

"I'm concerned some among the builder groups may not welcome the required change within the commission that it's going to take to save it," he told other commissioners at last week's TRCC meeting in Austin.

They may not want to. In the TRCC, builders have had a lapdog commission. Because most disputes still wind up in court, the TRCC is little more than a bureaucratic speed bump in the resolution process.

Builders' advantages

Delays, of course, work in the builders' favor, and if the TRCC goes away, they don't lose anything. In fact, they gain the upper hand in the battle with consumers over meaningful building standards.

The Sunset report called for replacing the TRCC, but once it's gone it will be difficult to replace. Builders, who have a lot of sway in the Legislature, can argue that the state tried oversight, but no one wanted it.

What consumers want, of course, is real oversight, and Redwine's proposals would go a long way toward achieving that.

Licensing of builders, meaningful construction standards and the threat of penalties for builders who don't adhere to them would offer the sort of consumer protections that the TRCC gives only lip service to now.

Redwine's proposals, though, appeared to fall on deaf ears at the TRCC's meeting in Austin last week based on a video of the proceedings.

Once again, it seems, the TRCC is doing the builders' bidding, embracing its own demise rather than fulfilling its responsibilities to consumers.

As the facade of the TRCC crumbles, we see it for what it is: a regulator that never was.

Loren Steffy is the Chronicle's business columnist. His commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . His blog is at http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy/.

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