UNRAVELING THE CODE OF CONFUSION

Planning on building a new home in the New Year? Think again. Local contractors are saying Tri-parish residents constructing their own homestead should expect many challenges from contracting work to forking out thousands for their new home.

Because of the damage hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused to homes along the Gulf Coast, legislation was passed in 2005, implementing a new set of comprehensive international building codes across the state.

The legislation was intended to weed out uncertified contractors and to prevent homes maintaining sub-par hurricane protection measures. Karl David Kohmann of Reliable Home Builders, Inc., located in Houma, agreed that something had to be done to heighten contractor standards but said the oversight of the new codes is harming the local housing industry.

“They went from zero percent to 200 percent,” said Kohmann, “and the oversight is killing every person in the industry, not just contractors n architects, engineers, surveyors, anyone involved in building a home. It’s become too complicated and too costly and now no homes are being built.”

Extra regulations, some of which Kohmann deemed illegitimate, like third party contracting and higher insurance rates, continue pushing the building price higher and higher. Last year, Kohmann built homes at a rate of $105-per-square-foot. Now, with prices of material and labor going up, he builds at $115-per-square-foot. With the new building codes he said he estimates the lower end of building a new home will be $125-per-square-foot.

In addition to price of extra materials and labor, insurance is requiring a dollar of insurance for every dollar spent on the structure.

“It is incredible. We are spending thousands per house,” he said. “I don’t know how people, especially young people just getting started even with decent jobs, will be able to afford their own home. It’s sad.”

Not only is the price of building a home in flux, but also Kohmann said the integrity of skilled contractors who have been in the business for many years is in jeopardy.

“These people on the boards making regulations have never built a home, not a day in their life and now they are telling me how to build a home n what I can and can’t use and what is the best way to do it. I have been doing this for so long, I can tell you what types of wood will work for a Louisiana home just by touch.”

Building a home on Louisiana delta is much different than building homes in any other part of the country and Kohmann said the professionals with the know how are the builders who have been doing it for a number of years.

“Some of the people on the boards are from Canada or other parts of the country and they pretend to know how a house should be built here. Some of these codes are so ridiculous and unnecessary. Let the builders, who know what works best, decide. Not the politicians; the politicians have no clue about building a home.”

Luckily, Kohmann had signed a number of contracts in the last quarter of 2006 and will be grandfathered in the New Year, giving him enough work to keep money coming in until he can find new contracts. Some who did not understand the consequences of the new codes are having a hard time getting permits and finding work, Kohmann said the process could take months.

The South Central Planning and Development Commission has come up with a plan to implement codes through intergovernmental strategies to ensure permits are out in timely fashion and to bring building costs down for consumers.

Some 369 separate entities around the state had to implement the codes by Jan. 1, said Kevin Belanger of the SCPDC, and this posed a major problem for anyone wishing to build a new home.

“There was $11 million in funding exclusively dedicated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help get this codes up and running but with all the separate bodies, the money was virtually unusable. We came up with a regional initiative that will work along with city and parish governments to help get these codes implemented and people building,” said Belanger.

The commission’s $1.75 million proposal will be at no cost to local governments but will be a cooperative endeavor to initiate standard operating procedures. Six parishes are currently involved with the SCPDC, including the Tri-parishes.

Because the commission had a plan on the table before the Jan. 1 deadline, funding will not have to wait and building can start as soon as contractors get permits. Many cities and parishes around the state are in a bind because the codes now are under way, but with no plan for implementation building has come to a halt.

Randy Noel, chairman of the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council, said the SCPDC has been a leader in getting back to building and many parishes and regional development organizations are following their lead.

“Because Kevin had a consolidated plan, instead of all those separate entities, the money could get to the people quicker,” said Noel. “Funding was the biggest issue and now we just need to find the human resources to get everyone on the same page. Some allowances are being made on construction time because of the vast amount of people still waiting on contractors.”

Noel said the effects of the code on permit registration will not be seen until mid-year of 2007.

Disheartened contractors, like Kohmann, would like to see the current law repealed but Noel did not know for certain whether that would happen. He advised homeowners to build by the new code, as insurance companies will not cover homes not built to state regulation.

“I hope these boards [the SCPDC] can get something changed because if not, no homes will be built, and the housing market is the number one indicator of our economy,” Kohmann said.

Andrea Carlson can be reached at andrea@tri-parishtimes.com.

Staff Photo by ANDREA CARLSON * Tri-Parish Times * On the heels of the 2005 hurricane season, lawmakers adopted a state-wide building code intended to protect homeowners. The extensive code calls for new construction to be able to withstand Category 3 storms at a minimum, and places restrictions on contractors among a number of other changes. But the real end result in the Tri-parishes has been skyrocketing building costs and a slow-grinding permit process, leaving many to wonder if the new law isn’t squeezing many would-be homebuyers out of the market.