Remember ARRA & that little February 17th, 2017 deadline? Wonder where the states stand & where they are headed? Just how can one keep up with all the legal, financial, regulatory & other code changes that seemingly just pop up? Well this week I am honored to do my 7th musing which covers this subject over […]
Employee or Contractor? New Illinois Construction Reporting Requirement
For many small business owners when it comes time to grow one of the questions is do I hire employees, should I just hire subs, or… Needless to say when one starts adding up the cost of Workman’s comp, FICA taxes, etc… subbing it out starts looking more and more attractive. Unfortunately whether it is due to confusion, […]
From the Fiscal Cliff to Commercial RRP – Heads Up
Wow what an interesting start to this New Year – if we didn’t have enough regular mandated changes slated for the start of this year, a few more managed to pop up quite quickly. With that here is a quick recap of some of new & some of the most major impacts that affect almost […]
State by State Residential Contractor Licensing Recap & Alabama’s Limited License
It seems like the first thing off everyone’s lip before hiring a contractor to work on a house is “make sure they are licensed”. Well would it surprise you that 15 states do not require one to be licensed, another 6 states require it only if you are doing $10,000 of work or more on […]
Is it Trash or Hazardous Waste?
Ahhh spring cleaning time… what a wonderful time of the year, when your significant other & the kids scatter like mice… Besides the whole house getting a major clean out (once you find all your helpers), the pantry, under the sinks, medicine cabinets, garages (maybe we can get a car back in there…) & sheds […]
Alabama Storm Water QCI Training
This week instead of heading to Austin for the RESNET conference, I choose to head south to Montgomery to ABLE aka Alabama’s Better Living Expo. One of the reasons was to catch up on the updated Storm Water codes & regulations that apply here in Alabama (and the rest of the country). Like many EPA […]
Let’s Blog Off: How much should I charge…
This week, the Let’s Blog Off crew threw us an interesting twist, and it all started with them using a statement for the title instead of the normal shortened question, namely “If you can’t afford the tip, you can’t afford the meal.” They then proceeded to ask quite a few hard hitting questions on dealing […]
LEED Lawsuit Updated, the Better Building Initiative, and some Common Threads
In case you might have missed the news, this Monday, the ongoing soap-opera lawsuit between Henry Gifford and the USGBC was modified. Last Thursday, the White House released its Better Buildings initiative, which is primarily aimed at the Commercial sector. While these two items may seem worlds apart, they are in some ways remarkably similar. […]
Recovery through Retrofit: The Workforce Guidelines
While I was originally planning to do a Clif Notes version of the Workforce Guidelines, that idea was looking less & less likely after hitting two pages of notes. When I was less than 200 pages in & a computer problem destroyed over three pages of notes, the idea officially hit the scrap bin. As […]
Recovery through Retrofit: The EPA’s Part
In case you missed it, last week VP Biden announced the new Recovery through Retrofit program. In it there was four main items that were all wrapped together. A new Home Energy Scoring Tool, Financing, DOE’s Retrofit guidelines, and an often-overlooked one: The EPA’s “Healthy Indoor Environment Protocols for Home Energy upgrades” Seeing that the […]