State Affairs House Committee to regulate homebuilders Broadcasts of Live Coverage State Affairs hearing on HB3404 – 4/18/05 Advance to 4:52.
Of the 502 complaints officially filed with TRCC over the past 15 months – 206 filed for SIRP the dispute esolution however, only 137 were eligible. 365 could not use TRCC if they wanted to. Based on these figures clearly, TRCC is a $2.5 Million state agency that selectively serves a very small portion of the home buying public stuck with defective homes.
Texas Residential Construction Commission was created by the Homebuilding Industry and serves the Industry
Homebuyers were misled and Building Codes don't apply
Homeowners claim the system is flawed and offers no protection for Consumers... If TRCC is supposed to be so good for the consumer it should be free, voluntary and effectively enforce by the State.
Homeowners would welcome a process that holds builders responsible for their actions and that gives builders an incentive to build a home right the first time or fix it if they should happen to make a mistake.
In 2003 when TRCC became law it was promoted as a dispute resolution process that would help keep homeowners from the need to take their builder to court over construction defects.
Now TRCC officials tell homeowners to get an attorney and take the builder to court.
Unlike any other profession, knowledge and financial responsibility are optional for Texas Homebuilders who do not need to show proof of knowledge, experience, qualifications, proof of financial strength or even evidence of a current bank.
Records show TRCC is fundamentally flawed ·Of the 502 complaints officially filed with TRCC over the past 15 months – 206 filed for SIRP the dispute esolution however, only 137 were eligible. 365 could not use TRCC if they wanted to.
·Based on these figures clearly, TRCC is a $2.5 Million state agency that selectively serves a very small portion of the home buying public stuck with defective homes.
· Through open records request it was discovered that the track record for TRCC was TRCC was even worse than thought… even more so for homeowners who actually went through the SIRP Process
·HOBB
members contacted 22 of the 63 homeowners who completed the SIRP process. Of those contacted only 2 felt like the process worked for them but 22 were very unhappy and some very angry.
·Overwhelmingly builders ignored TRCC's findings and conclusions of SIRP.Most after going through the SIRP process got confirmation of construction of defects but were ignored by the builder who ignored the decision of TRCC. After the process TRCC officials told homeowners they couldn’t do anything to enforce the findings and homeowners were advised by TRCC to get an attorney and go to court.
TRCC is an agency that serves the Building Industry · TRCC Report on Phone Calls to the agency provides an insight on who TRCC serves. As of March 16, 2005 Builder called TRCC 28,834 times - Homeowners called 7,754 times
· The Big Question: What does a builder have to do differently than they did before TRCC?
·Pay $125, provide a social security number and register the houses they build. The Best kept secrete in Texas - Builders don't need to comply with Building Codes When the builders wanted to pass HB730 the proposed bill that created TRCC they stated, that for the first time International Residential Code would apply statewide, including out in the counties.
After it passed they praised the new law, the wonderful TRCC commission, the wonderful dispute process that would keep people from filing lawsuits and that for the first time in the history of Texas– all registered builders were required to build homes in complia
nce with IRC.
Fooled again…Builders are not required to comply with IRC outside the city limits...
The Commission failed to adopt them as a requirement. Now thousands of have been legally built without being in compliance with any Building Codes and the State (TRCC) has condoned it.
Again, what does a builder have to do differently than they did before HB730?
In Conclusion
Texas is the only state in the nation that does not require builders to comply with
minimum building standards.
TRCC regulates homebuyers and encourages arbitration and law suits. It appears that even homeowners who seem to be happy with TRCC have an attorney and are going to arbitration or filing law suits after the SIRP process. Even they agree TRCC was a waste of time and they could have done without SIRP.
It appears that builders are snubbing their noses at TRCC and forcing homeowners to go to arbitration or court. Contrary to its purpose and builders are still not regulated.
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