A few weeks ago I wrote about the city's ridiculous move to a $50,000 blanket bond for anyone looking to pull a permit. The El Paso Times wrote another article about the issue and by God it proved me right... again.
Do you remember when I told you that the higher bond would attract attorneys and inspectors looking to turn some quick profit? Well you can see me vindicated HERE.
Anybody who has been involved in any level of the construction business knows that the roofing sector is the most controversial. Often people have their roof replaced after it's damaged by weather. Those cases involve insurance companies and it's the dirtiest thing you don't ever want to know about. However, this article and this issue isn't about those cases. When your insurance company pays, they do the fighting with the contractor. This is about your average homeowner doing what they think needs to be done and it's often right around the time the out-of-town roofers invade El Paso after a storm. You may have had a neighbor who is getting their roof done because of storm damage and that roofer goes to your house and offers you a screaming deal on a new roof. After all, they're already there - they might as well hit you up because they know that people get in the mood when they see the work being done close by.
anywho...
The real story here is that you have an attorney and an "inspector" who make their living suing roofers. The huge blanket bond makes their quick cash lawsuits all that much easier to prosecute. We're talking a couple of hours work time for the "inspector" and lawyer and they get as much as 30% of whatever they take from the surety. Now that the bond is $50 grand the "inspector" and lawyer can go find multiple "victims" that hired that same roofing company and go after $50k now instead of a paltry $10k. Their profit margins from filing numerous lawsuits just hoping for "go away money" just went up 500 percent.
The move wasn't made by the city to make this lawyer rich. It was done to stop the phone calls bitching about bad roofers. Too bad it won't stop the calls.
The bad news for the consumer is that the new bond requirement along with an even more active market for frivolous lawsuits will drive up the price of a new roof. It will drive it up so high that you insurance company will not pay for the whole roof - possibly leaving you out more than a deductible, but more like $3 thousand bucks. That's what you don't see. Insurance companies are only willing to pay so much for a roof and they don't give a damn about extremely high blanket bonds or litigious markets.
The issue is obviously centered on roofing and the city wanting to limit the amount of complaints they get. What they don't realize is that small contractors who do little jobs that require permits are either going to charge more, or do it without a permit. Both scenarios are playing out right now. Like I wrote before - thousands of contractors haven't signed up for a blanket bond in order to pull permit due to the new bonding requirements. It's doubtful these contractors gave up their trade and moved on to something else. Their doing what they've always done and their doing it without a permit now.
The good news is that the 5th floor is a lot less crowded than it used to be. The revenue from permitting construction projects must be way down. I'm not sure if anyone realized that would happen after they did this.
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Sorry if tihs makes no sense... so much going on around the house tonight.
The inspectors here in El Paso are the biggest joke I have ever seen. My roof was done 3 1/2 years ago. Every one thinks that it is 20 yrs. old. The roofers did a very poor job, and did not finish some work. They also screwed up by tearing many other things up there. Also drove nails down and showing all over my patio and side of the carport. I went to a lawyer and he had them band-aid my poor roof. many other things happened and my lawyer said to go get several things including paying $75.00 that I had to borrow in order to pay the inspector to come and look at the roof. The man took 1 min going up the ladder and 1 min to come down and that was it. He said nothing was wrong with the roof. I am not a roofer but, my dad was a master carpenter and showed us kids a thing or two. This inspector gets paid for doing nothing but climbing up and down a ladder. Everyone that has seen my roof tells me how I got screwed. The lawyer 5 months before the statute of limitations is over decided to hand me all the paper work I have and told me to find another lawyer.
This city is the most corrupt city in the whole wide world as far as I am concerned. And believe me I am letting other people in the states know about it. I have a friend whose daughter has a husband that was supposed to be a big shot here in El Paso. Guess who stopped them from coming down here!?!?
Posted by: Lupe | April 25, 2011 at 12:47 PM
Were you at the house when the roof was being replaced? Did you notice the shoddy workmanship like the nails and stuff when it was happening and if so did you say something to the workers/foreman and ask that it be corrected? You don't say whether the roof leaks or not. City inspectors don't inspect for quality of construction - they inspect to make sure the correct materials were put on in compliance with the building code. At some point citizens have got to quit expecting government to take care of them even when they pick marginal or dead beat contractors. A contractor can have the bond and the license but that doesn't mean they have a clue what they are doing. Homeowner beware and make sure you thoroughly check out anyone that you hire to work on your house. I'm sure the Better Business Bureau has a lengthy list of roofers that people filed complaints against. Check it out before hiring someone and don't expect the government to tell you whether it was a good or bad job. It's not their job to manage your construction. You have to do it.
Lupe you have nothing nice to say about El Paso - you think everyone is corrupt you brag that you kept people from moving here because it's so awful - so why the hell do you live here? If I hated this place as much as you I would sure go somewhere else. Life is too short to hate so much.
Posted by: buyer beware | April 25, 2011 at 04:57 PM
I can believe that Lupe got a bad roofing job...
I can also believe that her attorney quit and told her to find another one...
What I can't believe is that she didn't find a way to blame Dee or Adair Margo for her bad roofing job...
Posted by: Robnelp | April 25, 2011 at 10:23 PM
I do not put blame on people that have nothing to do with a problem. I can only blame those that are involved. Yes I tried to look at everything they were doing but was unable to do much. I have no hate for any one or anything, if I did than I would be hating myself. That is what hate is. I went to the BBB before I hired the contractors/roofers whatever. They said that this company was A-1. Unfortunately that is another thing I have found out, they do this to a lot of women that live on their own. And why I stay here is nobody's business. It is my problem and I live with it everyday. So mind your own business as to why I stay here or not. And and again, I do not hate it is beyond me to do that. Sorry!!!
Posted by: Lupe | April 25, 2011 at 10:49 PM
You stop someone from coming to live in El Paso but you do not hate it? Makes no sense.
Buyer Beware is right. It is not the government's job to babysit each individual. If you get different quotes for a job and one is really lower than the others, have some common sense.
Seems to me like you carry a lot of anger and hatred. You seem so proud that you stopped someone from moving here and instead, you should be feeling ashamed of yourself.
Posted by: Diana | April 27, 2011 at 08:29 AM
I stop someone from grievance and you say I should be ashamed. I do not lie and you want me to be ashamed. You do not know my circumstances and yet you judge. Sorry Diana, but God is my only judge and you can take that to the cleaners!!!
Posted by: Lupe | April 27, 2011 at 11:23 AM
"I stop someone from grievance"...what the heck does that mean?
Posted by: huh??!?! | April 27, 2011 at 05:23 PM
"I stop someone from grievance"...means that I need to see her Birth Certificate...to see which distant planet she's from.
Posted by: (:-p) | April 27, 2011 at 10:31 PM
:-p stop trying to be funny cause you are not!
Posted by: Lupe | April 28, 2011 at 12:25 AM
Sweetie, on my best day I could never be 1/100th as funny as you are. You make it look so easy...so natural. You don't have to be Nostradamus to see that you have a bright future as a stand-up. Just be you.
Posted by: (:-p) | April 28, 2011 at 02:33 PM
There is an item on council agenda for 9/27 which might be changing the construction blanket bond limits for certain types of contractors. Attachments to the agenda will be available to view on Friday for details.
Posted by: contractor | September 22, 2011 at 04:15 PM