Farmington contractor Darek Talewicz is among those who have taken the renovation course and registered with the EPA.
Darek Talewicz’s Farmington home improvement business is so slow he worries about how he’ll pay $1,400 in monthly health premiums for his two small daughters.
But by April 22 he must dig into his pocket for $500, plus forfeit a potential day of work, to meet a new lead paint requirement set by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.
Under the new EPA requirement, painters, electricians, plumbers, and contractors who renovate or remodel homes built before 1978 must be certified. That means sitting through an eight-hour class costing $185 to $195 to learn how to prevent lead contamination, then paying $300 to register with the EPA.
The new rule has many Connecticut contractors and handymen, including some who claim to be unaware of the regulation, worried about the cost and how it will impact their business.
“I think it’s a good idea that people know about lead and its consequences but right now it’s a lot of money for me,” said Talewicz, owner of Vento Home Improvement in Farmington.
In addition to the cost of the class and certification, contractors must invest more than $1,500 in equipment such as a commercial HEPA vacuum and filters, plastic, and a host of testing supplies.
Contractors say that the cost of the training, the equipment they must buy and extra time spent on a job will be absorbed by homeowners.
“The construction industry is in the tank and now there is this burden,” said Gene Burch, who teaches EPA lead certification classes at RTK Environmental Group in Newington.
Ron Locandro Jr., whose Mr. Handyman franchise employs five, paid almost $700 to attend the class with one of his employees and to register his business with the EPA. Those expenses will get passed down to his customers, he said.
“I got to charge more now. I’m going to spend an hour more on the job and it’s going to cost the customer,” Locandro said.
Bob Hanbury, past president of the Home Builders Association of Connecticut, fears customers will back away from a project or find a contractor who isn’t certified because the EPA hasn’t educated consumers about lead certification.
“People don’t trust contractors; they trust the government less,” Hanbury said. “The federal government hasn’t built a public awareness campaign. They put the regulation on file on the federal register and assumed they did their job.”
Customers aren’t the only ones unaware of the new regulation. Many contractors have never heard of it.
“I didn’t know about it, but it’s just typical of the government. Once again they are doing everything to destroy our industry. They should be helping, helping, instead they do nothing, nothing,” said Hartford builder Tony Scelza, owner of J.H. Scelza.
EPA spokeswoman Doreen Cantor Paster said her agency created the rule in 2008 because data shows that renovation can spread hazardous levels of lead dust in house built before 1978
The EPA will soon unveil, Paster said, a national public awareness campaign with radio spots and print ads to educate consumers about lead-certified contractors and how to protect their children and home.
“We didn’t want to unveil the campaign before there were certified contractors for people to find,” she said.
The agency will also reach out to contractors to tell them about the new rule. Certified contractors can advertise their services with a new lead certified logo the EPA designed for the program, Paster said.
Since the new rule took effect in January, the state’s Home Builders Association has advertised the regulation on its website and held training classes.
But with only a handful of EPA certified testing sites in the state, classes fill up quickly. Estimates are that only 298 of the 20,000 home improvement contractors registered with the state have taken the class, Hanbury said
Burch, the trainer, said classes fill up fast. He even gives private classes for companies so they can meet the April 22 deadline.
During the class, Burch goes over the hazards of lead and a contractor’s responsibility under the new rule, which includes giving homeowners a brochure on lead and posting warning signs around the property.
Contractors can’t disturb an interior space larger than six square feet or 20 square feet of exterior without a certification. Violators face a $32,500-a-day penalty.
The rule extends to property managers and those who work on child-occupied facilities built before 1978. That includes day care centers, preschools, and kindergarten classrooms, Burch said.
Talewicz, the Farmington remodeler, says he’ll get certified because it’s the law.
“I can cry and get mad,’’ he said, “but I’ll have to find a way to pay for it.’’
