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The Newsroom - 2002 |
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Coalition outlines objectives: Group aims
to ally builders, home owners
September 27, 2002 - Southern Nevada's home-construction industry has undertaken
grass-roots efforts to rectify problems stemming from construction defects,
including the unavailability and skyrocketing cost of liability insurance and
excessive litigation, an industry representative said Thursday.
Steve Hill, chairman of the Coalition for Fairness in Construction, said the
industry needs to rebuild its relationship with homeowners and come together as
one voice in Carson City for next year's Legislature.
"We're at a point where homeowners and builders are upset with each other," Hill
said during a meeting at Cashman Field Center attended by about 300 people.
"We need someone to get in the middle of that, and we feel that should be the
(Nevada) Contractors Board."
An independent, third-party inspector who understands construction is needed to
visit a home, survey the problem and help mediate a solution, he said.
The coalition's intent is to make sure home builders and subcontractors are
given the "right to repair" a construction defect before they're slapped with a
lawsuit and hauled into court, Hill said.
As it stands now, the builders are often not made aware of the problem until
they're served with a lawsuit.
The result of this litigation is that the cost of housing goes up, condominium
and town-home projects have dried up and insurance companies are pulling out of
the market here, Hill said.
"Construction is 10 percent of the jobs in Nevada. When our industry suffers,
the whole state suffers," he said.
Jeremy Aguero, principal of Applied Analysis, said the price of housing has
increased at a rate faster than inflation and income growth. |
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"Much of that is tied to you folks paying exponentially more for insurance," he
said.
Nevada home ownership is at about 61 percent, which is 5 percentage points below
the national average, he noted.
"As your insurance premium goes up, that translates into prices of
houses going up, and that translates into people being priced out of
the market. If we don't solve this problem today, it's going to be
bigger tomorrow," Aguero said.
There were 220 claims filed last year for construction litigation,
he said. "If you look at the curve, you'll find it's a phenomenal
increase."
One member of the audience said the coalition is on the right track
with its legislative efforts, "but I'm sorry to say it's too late.
By the time you get to the Legislature, 15 to 20 of you in this room
will be out of business because you won't have insurance." He said
"trial lawyers are coming after us with a vengeance, and we've got
to get tough."
Billy Vassiliadis, hired by the coalition as a political lobbyist,
said legislators care about homeowners, not about big builders such
as Pulte or KB Home.
They hear the construction industry slamming trial lawyers for
so-called "frivolous" defect litigation, "then they get a call from
a homeowner whose roof leaked on their Christmas tree on Christmas
Day," he said.
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Article Copyright ©: H. Smith, Las Vegas
Review-Journal |
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