New tough and expensive regulations kick in on Jan 1 2011. water consumption must be reduced 20% this is achieved by lower flow shower heads (we like 5 gpm the new standard is 2.5), 1.2 gp flush toilets that you will need to flush 3 times to clear the toilet, you must have installed at final inspection an irrigation system that automatically adjusts to soil moisture and a remotely located rain sensor that can communicate with the controller, stricter energy efficiency standards, caulks and glues must pass the sniff test of our friends at EPA, at the time of final inspection a booklet, or computer disk specifying the materials and operation instructions for the home, stricter regulations on paints, carpet must meet Green Label Plus program, (what ever that means), moisture content on wood must be tested and reported on each piece of lumber in the house, I cannot believe that somehow this is going to lower the cost of construction. I only wrote down some of the regs from a cheat sheet. The actual code is 64 pages long. You can read about it, Google cal green building standards code. Debra and I first heard about this when we attended the Pacific Coast Builders Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco this past June. Somehow imposing stricter regulations and adding to the cost of construction when the unemployment rate for trades’ people is extremely high does not make sense. It would make more sense to make it easier for builders by lowering the various agencies fees, or even waving them until housing starts approaches normal.

Skip Weahunt