Letter to City Council Regarding Contractors' Misuse of Building Products

folks, this is what I spent my new year’s day drafting. after reading about country mouse’s plight with her contractor and a text a few minutes ago from a fellow brownstoner and her troubled efforts to find a contractor and/or engineer who has not been indicted for fraud, i have decided to push this forward for comment. if it sound’s good, i hope some of you will copy the text and send it on to the city council. Please know that the city council has a “consumer affiairs committee” and those members are Julie Menin (Chair), Gale A. Brewer, Shaun Abreu, Amanda Farías, Shekar Krishnan, Julie Won, Chi Ossé.

This city could do more to protect homeowners.

I welcome your comments.

Dear Council Member:

As a Licensed Home Improvement Contractor, I am aware of a NYC Department of Consumer Affairs directive that states Home Improvement Contractors “shall follow the rules of other agencies” (loosely worded and equally loosely enforced). I have long assumed that the word “agencies” means the NYC DOB. Unfortunately, this kind of language does not go far enough in pro tecting consumers from shoddy contractors. This is because, for the most part, the work Home Improvement Contractors perform is more like “finishing” work that falls outside of the jurisdiction of the NYC DOB. This kind of work includes such things as hanging of cabinets, laying of flooring (wood and tile), reroofing, painting and finishing wood, and EIFS. While not addressed in the codes, projects of this kind are addressed by industry standards and manufacturer’s directions. Because they often do not require inspection by the DOB, they are the kinds of projects that more often fail and end up costing homeowners a lot of money simply because a contractor wants to save money by not following manufacturers’ instructions (they skip steps in processes, use incompatible or incorrect products during assembly, or do not allow sufficient dry times for adhesives and paints, hang kitchen cabinets with drywall screws….the stupidity in this industry is infinite).

I have heard stories that when people attempt to sue these contractors in court, it is hard to do because the courts allow contractors a broad scope in how they perform their work and because neither the courts nor the homeowners seem to understand that the instructions on a can of adhesive or paint or industry standards for where a piece of plywood can be used are not guidelines but are the correct way to perform a task and that when these things fail, it was because someone did follow those instructions.

I urge the City Council to do the following for the benefit of all New Yorkers:

Issue a directive with the HIC licensing application ordering contractors to “follow all manufacturer directions and industry standards and notify the homeowner (in writing) when a change from such directions or standards must be made. Make such changes only in consultation with product manufacturer’s technical support team and with written approval of the homeowner”;

Order contractors to put the above-stated language in all contracts;

Recognize the failure of contractors to follow manufacturers’ directions or industry standards as “consumer fraud” and codify such activity as a criminal matter subject to investigation by the New York City Dept of Consumer Affairs Office with prosecution by the borough district attorney’s office;

Recognize the failure of the contractor to properly complete a project according to manufacturers’ instructions as an outright failure to complete the job and require the contractor’s completion bond to pay to correct the deficiency and recover damages from the contractor on behalf of the consumer.