"INSIGHT BUILDERS IN THE NEWS"
LIFE POST-K IS NO PICNIC FOR CONTRACTORS EITHER
Times - Picayune - New Orleans, La.
Author: Shawn Kennedy
Date: Jul 28, 2007
Section: INSIDE OUT
Budget-busting prices for home repairs, shoddy work, jobs left undone or not done at all: It seems that almost everyone in New Orleans has a contractor-from-hell story to tell.
But contractors have a few stories of their own. And homeowners can benefit from seeing the renovation process from their perspective, says Bradley Latham, a licensed contractor and builder in New Orleans with more than 25 years of experience.
"Contractors aren't cool now," said the Tulane University Adjunct Professor, who has worked throughout the world as a commercial and residential builder. Latham owns and operates Insight Builders.
In the post-Katrina world, he says, the reputations of even honest industry professionals have taken a hit. More often than not, however, he says contractors are simply trying to serve their clients as best they can and make a living.
Worth noting, Latham says, is that contractors and homeowners share many of the same problems, including a dearth of qualified workers, escalating costs of labor and materials and workers who sign on for projects and then disappear.
"A guy from Michigan or New York rolls into New Orleans and expects $25 an hour, where carpenters got $15 an hour before the storm and were happy about it," said Latham. Contractors also have responsibility for theft problems and workers' safety.
In Louisiana, licenses are required of professionals who bid or perform construction projects whose value is $50,000 or more. They must also have proof of general liability insurance of at least $100,000, as well as workers' compensation insurance.
"I don't hire subcontractors unless they have both, so if a workman clips through an electrical wire, that is covered, and if someone falls off a ladder, that is covered," Latham said. "This protection costs money. I compete against people who aren't covered but offer lower prices."
Moreover, individual testing is required of building professionals working in dozens of construction-trade categories, ranging from air conditioning to carpentry to drywall installation to swimming-pool installation.
"God bless the state board; they've made it tough to pass the tests," Latham said. "That is what homeowners deserve."
Work ranging from $7,500 to $49,000 in value can be considered home improvement projects. A license is required, but a contractor must also have and workers' compensation insurance.
In Latham's opinion, residents who try to cut corners by hiring contractors without the necessary licenses or insurance coverage are taking a risk.
"I've met with too many people who are just concerned about how much the job will cost and when will it be done."
Consumers can't do much about rising costs, says Latham, but they can take responsibility for other matters -- such as reading their contracts and asking questions.
"Building is like putting together a puzzle," he said. "There is a sequence that produces the best results. The plumber, electrician, carpenter and other members of the team need to work together. They should meet frequently. Communication is key."
One way that homeowners can stall the process, without even being aware of it, is to try to manage the job after hiring a contractor. They also should be realistic about the length and scope of the project.
"In a strange kind of way we romanticized how funky, ragtag and loose things were," Latham says. "Before, if you didn't have to have a straight floor, it would be OK. But the sins of the past have come back to haunt us."
Latham sympathizes with homeowners who are reeling from sticker shock when presented with the cost of rebuilding their homes to new standards and codes.
"It seems like so much money to be throwing at a job," says Latham. "But some work now is much more complicated.
"When you must bring a house up to code after 5 feet of water, the electrical system needs to be replaced, not just repaired," Latham said. "Or, you may open a wall and find rot or termite damage that wasn't evident before. So what seems like a straightforward job suddenly becomes a can of worms. I've been doing this for 25 years and I've seen problems I've never encountered before."
Latham cites a client in Mid-City whose two-story, two-family home had wind damage and 5 feet of water. The insurance money -- about $150,000 -- was to take the property back to its pre- Katrina state. The homeowner and her insurance company thought that could be done with rewiring, leveling the floors, new cabinets for the kitchen, fresh Sheetrock downstairs and new carpeting.
"The insurance company didn't see why much had to be done on the second floor because the flooding only reached 5 feet," said Latham. "But without making structural repairs to the second level, there was no point in fixing the first level."
The weight of an old brick chimney on the second floor, plus missing support pieces throughout the house, made the exterior walls vulnerable to collapse. "I had this huge fear while we were working that this house would fall down," Latham said.
Both homeowners and contractors have been frustrated by the slow pace of recovery. But taking one's time is not always a bad thing, Latham believes.
"We probably needed the lag time between the cleanup and the rebuilding to keep from doing it wrong, in a rush to do something," he said.