NAHB in Northern California

[Dick Seibert]

Hey Guys:

I have been particularily impressed with what Allan has said about the Houston Chapter of the NAHB, but Northern California has no Custom Builders or Reomdelers councils. I have contacted them and they don't seem interested; however, I got an invitation to an Open House during their membership drive on May 21st in San Ramon. I intend to go, and I'd like other forum participants to join me. I can't do this alone, but with your support, maybe we can join, form a combination Remodelers and Custom Home Builders Council and run the damn thing. Steve, Lance, Fred, why not join me? All the things we talk about here stand a chance of implementing if we had a National Organization behind us. I have scanned and copied the invitation below, but as you know it's pretty hard to post flyers on this forum. Bob,if I E-mail it to you can you post it in your library?

HBANC OPEN HOUSE
CELEBRATING
NATIONAL MEMBERSHIP
MONTH!!!
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Enjoy a “Morning Coffee Break”
hosted by
101.7 KKJQ!!

JOLZKKIO F
HOME
BUILDERS

ASSOCIATION

EL
OF NORTHERN CAIIFORINIA

10:00am to 4:00pm

3 $10000

Raffle HBANC Regional Office

Drawings for 200 Porter Drive, Suite 220

New

Members & San Ramon

Sponsors

“IT ALL BEGINS WITH MEMBERSHIP”

HELP HBANC ‘BUILD OUR FUTURE ONE MEMBER ATA TIME”
BY REACHING THE MEMBERSHIP GOAL OF 1,100 FOR 2003
As of March 2003 = 962 HBANC Members ...Associates 863 /Builders = 99

—K—— THANK YOU RAFFLE SPONSORS!

Chicago Title Company

3 or more New Old Republic Title Company

Members earns you North American Title Company

an NAHB Golf
Windshirtl

Refreshments * Prizes * HBA Tote Bag * FUN!!!

WHO’S INVITED??
PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS (Come Join), NEW MEMBERS (Get Involved),
CURRENT MEMBERS (Learn More about Member Benefits),
and PRIOR MEMBERS (Come Rejoin)!!

B5&

ASSOCIATES
PG Uusiitc,s with Member
NOW’S THE TIME TO GET INVOLVED IN
YOUR ASSOCIATION!!!!
V.

fl.4,

[Bob Kovacs]

Dick-

Here's the link to the flyer pages. Sorry it took so long.

Bob


NAHB Flyer

[SJP]

Dick

Sounds interesting. What are the pros and cons of belonging to such an association? (please excuse my ignorance)

Steve

[Dick Seibert]

Steve:

I haven't belonged since the early 70s, I was an active member in the 60s, but dropped out when the tract builders had too much power and we were basically ignored. The same situation now exists, but according to Allan it is quite a bit different in Houston, and very worthwhile.

Unfortunately all of these things that we go on, and on, about on these forums are things we can't do anything about, and we are just wasting our time letting off steam, and it is an impotent approach to the real problems we face.

I have talked to the powers that be in San Ramon, and they invited me to join and form a remodelers and/or custom builders council last year. I felt that I couldn't do anything alone, but when I received this invitation I thought that if a few of us joined we could put together a council and get some political/legal clout to address our issues, not just tract builders' issues. They have the money and legal power to do things, including high paid lobbyists in Sacramento that could argue for, and fight, legislation that is, or is not, in our best interests. Since we would be starting our own council within the Northern California Chapter, we could direct the courses of action regarding remodeling and custom building.

The reason I need you, and others like you, to attend is that I want to convince them that we would be successful and get them to commit the necessary resources to us to achieve our goals. What is said here within these many forums goes all over the world, but goes nowhere. We need political power to change laws and influence legislation.

I would invite Allan to directly answer your question, and tell us what he sees the pros and cons are in Houston, where they do have such councils.

[Allan]

Dick:

I am big proponent of the home builders association. By joining your local association, you automatically become a member of your state and national association, better know as the NAHB. Here in Houston, where we build on average 20-30,000 homes per year, the local association is very active. I am not that much of an active participant, I don’t belong on any committees, and I don’t attend the annual golf tournament. I do contribute to our PAC, and I belong to a subset of the local association called the “Custom Builder’s Council”. We have monthly meetings on issues ranging from code issues to contracts and speakers come in every month. Very informative. We also have a co-op set up where builders buy material in bulk. I do not participate in this. We hired an attorney to write contracts for us, giving us an excellent contract covering many issues particular to how we build. One of our past presidents has established a warranty company that a lot of builders now participate in. We have a governmental lobby who deals with local municipalities on ordinances and codes.

Several years ago our state association was instrumental in re-working our worker’s comp insurance. My workers comp insurance is now very affordable. We also were very active in writing laws that are now very builder friendly. Let me quote an article I saw last week by a local attorney who writes a weekly question and answer column. A person wrote in and asked a question to this attorney about whether or not something was covered by the builder’s warranty. Now believe me, I give and believe in good customer service, but I want a warranty that is limited and specific. The attorney answered as follows:

“The answer depends on your warranty documents. Even if the warranty did apply, it may be difficult to enforce your rights because the Texas law known as the Residential Construction Liability Act makes it difficult for consumers to protect themselves. Builders who avail themselves of this act’s protection can greatly limit their exposure to liability for defects. Homeowners are at a severe disadvantage when trying to assert a complaint against the builder. Many warranties contain arbitration clauses making it uneconomical to sue the builder.”

This law, the RCLA, was promoted by the builders association.

I would encourage membership in your local association. Our members include not only homebuilders, but suppliers, remodelers, developers, lenders, attorneys, CPA’s, and insurance companies. It is the only organization that represents what I do.