A homebuilder's observation of the US hurricane season to date

Being a "weatherholic" I've watched hurricane Harvey and Irma coverage wall-to-wall.  The builder in me quickly picked up on the fact that the buildings on the Texas coast fared much worse than the buildings in Florida, at least those built after the building code changes prompted by hurricane Andrew in 1992.  It just goes to show that we CAN build homes that will stand up well to storms, short of storms of absolutely Biblical proportions, if we'll just embrace building codes as friends and not foes to be stonewalled.

The fact is, the prevalent mindset of most builders (in Texas at least) is to lobby against stricter codes as they cost money, and builders would rather spend money on shiny amenities like granite and stainless steel to entice buyers than on structural integrity.  "Sell the sizzle, not the steak" they say.  They do this because homebuyers are influenced by Pinterest and Houzz and other online sites, and "pretties" are all they care about.

It's increasingly rare to find an informed buyer who understands that if his/her house has a foundation broken in half, or is spread out in pieces over half the county after a storm, having pretty granite and stainless steel are meaningless.  This is how shallow we've become.

And zoning....how were places like Marco Island, FL, with a population of 18,000 and an elevation of 0, that's ZERO, ever allowed to be developed?  Politics!  With the availability of Federal Flood Insurance there's really little downside to the flooding they're now seeing there with hurricane Irma.  The city/county expanded their tax base dramatically, and developers and builders made bank.  Sure, homeowners will have to deal with the hassle of making claims and doing clean up, but they will eventually be made whole.

You do realize Federal Flood Insurance means the taxpayers are potentially on the hook for this, right?  Older developments already there, and in other coastal cities, sure, they should be extended Federal Flood Insurance, but why should we knowingly approve zoning for new developments, especially high-end luxury developments catering to the wealthy, that we KNOW will flood? It's really pretty easy to foresee using modern hydrological mapping.

My point is, much of the damage we're seeing now is caused by poor planning as much as by Mother Nature.  We should have known better.

S

A homebuilder's advice to hurricane Harvey victims

It was a heartbreaking event.  Hurricane Harvey has blown many homes away, and put many hundreds of thousands more underwater.  Property owners now have to decide what to do next.  Hopefully they have flood insurance, or if not, the financial ability to rebuild / repair out of pocket or with new loans.

Soon will come the next heartbreak.  Unscrupulous builders will be descending on hurricane victims like vultures on roadkill....they're easy pickings.  Already in a fragile state of mind, property owners will sign paperwork they don't understand and fork over what little money they have left, hoping to get their homes and lives put back together.  Here are some things property owners should know:

In Texas there is NO registration or licensing of builders.  Anyone can have some business cards printed that identifies them as a builder, and they're builders.  That's it.  Many people who might be plumbers or carpenters or painters (or insurance salesmen) might decide now is the time to try their hand at being a contractor, and these hurricane victims are their guinea pigs.  In addition there will be thousands of scoundrels from out of state who will show up, holding themselves out to be experienced builders.  They'll get as much money as they can up front, then skip town doing little if any of the promised work.

How do you know who you're dealing with?  For a start, check online here, enter the name of the contractor, and see if they are registered to do business in Texas.  On that page click "details" and see when they began doing business in Texas, their actual physical address, and the name of their principal / agent.  If they aren't listed, or if they were listed just recently....RED FLAG!

Beware of references.  Anyone can find 3 people who know them and will vouch for them. Even convicted felons have friends.  Instead ask for the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the last 10 or 15 clients they built or remodeled for, then call at least a sampling and confirm those clients are happy.  A reputable contractor should have no trouble providing that information.

Builders should provide you a current liability insurance certificate, and either a Workman's Compensation insurance certificate or have WC waivers signed by each vendor and subcontractor.

Ask where they do their business banking, and how many accounts they have.  They should have at least two, as it is illegal for a builder to co-mingle "construction funds" and "operating funds".  (Money paid to a contractor for work completed in stages MUST FIRST be used to pay for labor and materials.  Funds left over can then be transferred to an operating account and used to pay overhead and salaries.)

Property owners should understand that in Texas, even if they pay their contractor for work competed, if the contractor fails to pay for the labor or materials used, those unpaid vendors can turn to the owners directly to get paid.  If the vendors don't get paid, they can file liens on the property.  To prevent this, owners should insist the contractors provide them notarized "lien waivers", which are signed by the vendors acknowledging they have been paid.  And finally, when all work is completed and the final payment to the builder is made, insist the builder simultaneously provide a signed and notarized "all bills paid" affidavit.  If the builder signs and all bills have not been paid, he has committed a criminal offense.

New construction and remodeling contracts must contain certain specific verbiage mandated by the Texas Legislature.  A check with an attorney or perhaps a title insurance company can confirm if the contract meets the state requirements.  If it doesn't comply, that might be a tip-off the builder is less than professional.

Beware of builders from out of the area who come in to do repairs as they will likely not know reputable local building tradespeople.  Understand that builders generally don't "build" anything themselves.  Builders just schedule and arrange for the right materials to be at the right place at the right time for the right trades.  They hire local plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, etc to actually do the work.  

When an out-of-town builder arrives, how does he know which are the quality local carpenters and which are the "wood butchers"?  Unless he brings his own vetted, trusted subcontractors with him, it's likely that you'll get at least some shoddy workmanship along the way.  And once the job is completed, who will be there to honor the warranty when the builder is back home in Dallas or Little Rock or Atlanta?

Understand that building tradespeople will be in very short supply, and that the building process will likely take much longer than it would have during normal times.  Be especially aware of work done by unlicensed or unsupervised plumbers and electricians.  These critical trades require a state license.  On-site work must be done or at least directly supervised by someone with a Master's or Journeyman's license.  If stretched too thin, unlicensed rookies will be dropped off to do the work, and then a license-holder will drop by every few days for a cursory look.  Not good.

Don't put too much stock in municipal building inspections.  Larger cities generally have specialized, experienced inspectors who actually know the International Building Code(s), but the smaller jurisdictions might just have jack-of-all-trades inspectors.  And even in the large cities, they will likely be overwhelmed with the volume of work needing inspecting.  They'll pull up, run in, do a 360-look-around, leave a green / red tag, and then go on to the next one.  They'll see the critical things, but might miss some of the deficiencies they would have ordinarily caught in calmer times.  This is just going to be a by-product of the crisis.

I hope this gives the victims of Harvey at least some idea of what to look out for and what to expect.  I have nothing to gain or lose by passing this on as I myself am (semi) retired and have no intention of going to the storm area to work.  Feel free to pass this on to anyone you might know in those affected areas, and give them my best wishes for a happy ending to this horrible disaster.

S

Hurricane Harvey strikes again...and again...and

It's hard to believe we've been watching and talking about Hurricane Harvey for a full week now.  First we watched it churn its way across the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico towards Corpus Christi, TX.  Firefighters with fast-water rescue boats, EMT's, and utility crews were sent south from all over Texas well before landfall.  Entire neonatal units were airlifted out well in advance to hospitals in Ft Worth and Dallas.  Harvey, which blew up into a very dangerous Category 4 storm right before it came ashore, missed the mid-sized city of Corpus and instead blasted nearby Rockport with 140 mph winds. 

If at that point it had acted like a normal hurricane and just gone inland and fallen apart in a day or two, the local / state authorities could likely have handled it.  But instead it went inland, dropped anchor, and just sat there, slinging rain bands further up the coast toward Houston.  

50-60 inches of rain later, 6 million souls in the Houston area were abandoning ship.  There was no way this could have been dealt with by local authorities, even with state backup.  To my fellow Texan's great credit, the good 'ol boys got out their fishing boats and monster trucks capable of wading through high water and proceeded to save lives.  Black lives, White lives, Asian lives, Democrats, Republicans, Christians, atheists, Muslims, young, old....it didn't matter.  

And it wasn't just Texans.  A similar bunch of "le good 'ol boyz" from Louisiana brought their boats down (christening themselves the Cajun Navy) and began helping, too.  It was the absolute best of humanity working side-by-side....soooo impressive!

Then $%#^* Harvey moved up the coast even further and has now completely inundated Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange, TX, and Lake Charles, LA.  Never heard of them?  You will, as that's where a HUGE number of America's oil refineries are located.  (Gas in my area has already gone up $.30 a gallon in two days.)  Those areas are now at least as bad off as Houston.  HELP!

Reinforcements are now arriving by the hour.  There are over 100 military and civilian helicopters rescuing people, with more on the way.  The Feds are sending another 100 shallow bottom boats and 100 trucks capable of wading through high water.  Shelters are opening up all across the state, and the ANG is airlifting victims in to fill them.  All 14,000 Texas National Guardsmen, and another 10,000 from other states, are coming to the rescue, too.  Thanks to ALL!

What eats at me is, here I sit high and dry 300-400 miles away, and I can contribute very little.  They say to NOT send diapers, blankets, canned goods, etc, as all roads into the area are closed.  We could easily send 500 tractor / trailer loads, but they just can't get there.  They say just send money instead, which of course we did, and they'll buy stuff in bulk.  (Could you spare a few $$$ also?  PLEEEESE?)

The recriminations are yet to come....should they have had a mandatory evacuation?  (Six million people?  There would have been a 200 mile long / 48 hour traffic jam, with people starving and dying en route.)  Were the authorities caught flat footed? (No, not flatfooted, just overwhelmed.) 

But there ARE  lessons to be learned, namely that YOU are responsible for YOU.  Some how, some way, find a way to keep at least a weeks worth of food and water on hand, for both humans and pets.  Have plenty of any maintenance meds on hand, and some CASH, too.  And of course the typical batteries, flashlights, emergency radios, etc.  Go online and look up "prepping" for instructions and ideas.  (It isn't just for wacko's anymore.)

Whether you live in hurricane country, tornado alley, earthquake territory, or a giant metropolis that could all just explode some day for reasons beyond your control, be prepared.  Don't count on someone else to come save you.  

And tell me again how there's no such thing as "climate change"?  Weren't we warned years ago to expect more serious and more frequent violent weather patterns?  Well...TA DA!

S

History is messy

 Ours has been a messy history.

Americans like to think history is all about the good guys vs the bad guys, and of course we're always the good guys.  Always.  We believe we are clean and pure and virtuous, when in fact, we've stumbled often.  Ours has not been a linear march to greatness.  "Yes it has been" you might say, "except for that slavery thing 150 years ago."  Oh dear, you'd better sit down.

We got off to a fine start when colonists arrived from Europe seeking a new, better life.  They built living quarters, planted crops....and eventually had to resort to sending raiding parties to demand food from the Native Americans, and in the process burn down their homes.  The Native Americans returned the favor by laying siege to Jamestown where many colonists died during the "starving times".  

The original colonists went on to established a democracy that has stood the test of time and been a beacon of hope for the oppressed of the world.  Yea us!  We also spent several Centuries systematically uprooting the Native Americans off "their" land and pushing them west so we could make it "our" land.  It was messy.

Fast forward 150 years to the Revolutionary War period when the locals objected to paying taxes on various commodities to help pay for Britain's war debts and for keeping a force of 10,000 troops in America.  Sam Adam's Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians, boarded three British ships carrying tea and chunked it into Boston Harbor in protest.  Patriots or delinquents?  Lets just say the King wasn't impressed.  Relations between the colonies and Britain went steadily downhill until the time of the Declaration of Independence....George Washington's Continental Army....we won....big parade. 

Sam Adams, George Washington, and the boys were revered heroes that we still celebrate today.  But had the British won, Sam, George, and all our Founding Father's would have been hunted down and likely executed as traitors.  It could have been very messy.

For the next 75 or so years, the North developed considerable industry while the South remained overwhelmingly agricultural.  The South needed lots of cheap (slave) labor, the North didn't.  The South sent much of their crops to Europe in exchange for finished goods, which upset the Northerners who wanted the South to buy more of their finished goods from them.  The north wanted import tariffs to help their industry, the South didn't.  Great animosity arose. 

Leading up to the Civil War there was certainly tremendous and proper condemnation of the institution of slavery in the North, but an often soft-peddled fact was that the Northern money interests felt they were leaving money on the table, which chapped them greatly.  It was an incredibly sad, messy bit of our history, but thankfully we got it right.

The North of course won, making Grant and Sherman great war heroes, never mind that Sherman slashed and burned his way across the South to the Atlantic.  Hero or villain?  Depends on who you ask.  It was messy.  Then came Reconstruction, a period of great hardship for the average Southerner, and a period of great prosperity for Northern-backed carpetbaggers.  Oh, and how about that little Ku Klux Klan thing?  Nasty messy! 

How about America's industrial coming of age post Civil War?  Andrew Carnegie built an impressive steel empire worth over $300B in current dollars, and gave away much of it to charity, building thousands of libraries that still bear his name to this day.  What a guy, huh?  Oh, and he was a staunch anti-unionist who hired Pinkerton thugs to keep his workers in line, killing more than a few in the process.  His story was a messy one.

John D. Rockefeller cobbled together the modern oil industry, giving us cheap kerosene for lighting and later, gasoline.  His influence was immeasurable, right?  Yes, but he got where he was by "buying out" (under extreme duress) any small refiner who dared to stand in his way.  OK, honestly, he squashed competitors like bugs.  He got what he wanted, by whatever means were necessary.  His story was messy, too.

And don't forget Henry Ford.  He's the guy who established the original "living wage" and created America's middle class, put us all on wheels, which necessitated a large road network, making suburbs possible, and more.  He was a true visionary.  And BTW, he was also a staunch anti-Semite, anti-unionist, and like Carnegie, employed toughs to keep his employees in line, killing many.  Oooo....messy indeed.

FDR's Alphabet Agencies eventually got Americans back working during the Great Depression....the WPA, TVA, CCC....and the FDIC, FHA, and Social Security, as well.  He was admired by millions, and at the same time widely criticized by many (to this day) for leading America down the road to "Socialism".  Hero or villain?  Messy.  There are still fist fights over this one.

We defeated the Nazi's and the cruel Japanese Empire in WWII.  Surely we get a World Class pat on the back for that one, right?  Umm....ask the decedents of the120,000 Japanese Americans who were interred for the war's duration because we were scared of their names.  DOH!  Otherwise, *fist bump*

But we started the Marshall Plan to keep war ravaged Europe from starving and to help them get back on their feet.  Aren't we nice guys?  Absolutely.  Although our ulterior motive was to keep the Soviets out of our post-war sector of influence, and to create markets for US exports as Europe recovered.  Nothing is as cut and dried as it seems.  Messy.

Late 60's and early 70's....tens of thousands of Americans died in Southeast Asia fighting to stop the spread of communism.  We lost.  Yet we still came back home and built a well deserved tribute on The Mall to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsman who died there.  We celebrated defeat?  No, we honored sacrifice.  Win....lose....history is messy.

The world is seldom a simple good vs evil proposition.  Its evolution is essentially two steps forward and one step back.  Don't jump to conclusions, regardless of your views on history.  The truth is messy.  Look at all sides, and be benevolent winners and forgiving losers.  Life is too short to do otherwise.

S

The new American conundrum

Our conundrum: People have a constitutional right to protest, I get that. Right, left, pro-life or pro-choice, Pro-Bernie, Pro-Donald, etc, sure.  Wall Street elites and the Occupy Wall Street movement go after each other every day, too. How can we pick and choose who to deny? 

If anyone deserves to be silenced, it's these White Supremacist's and neo-Nazi's. But the courts have said the right to protest is an all or nothing thing. Who should get the right to decide how much is too much?  The Supreme Court?  And who chooses them?  Right wing or left wing politicians, depending on which is in control at the time, that's who.  Justices are supposed to be impartial, but that line is becoming more blurred every day.

Maybe we could put them all in an arena, the pro's and anti's on any subject, and let them duke it out.  They could be 21st Century Gladiators, winner take all.  

No, wait....Charlottesville.  Bad Idea.

S

We're from the Government, and we're here to help

Did you hear about this?....

"On 17 July, the DoJ served a website-hosting company, DreamHost, with a search warrant for every piece of information it possessed that was related to a website that was used to coordinate protests during Donald Trump’s inauguration. The warrant covers the people who own and operate the site, BUT ALSO SEEKS TO GET THE IP ADDRESSES OF 1.3 MILLION PEOPLE WHO VISITED IT, AS WELL AS THE DATE AND TIME OF THEIR VISIT AND INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT BROWSER OR OPERATING SYSTEM THEY USED."

While I don't support anyone who wants to foment violence, for any reason, going after anyone who even visited the site just smacks of 1930's Germany.  What happened to "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer"?  Our Department of Justice, who is supposed to be safeguarding our rights, is now violating them.  WTH? 

Why now?  True, Dubya Bush got some extra-special permission (the Patriot Act) to pierce some of our privacy laws after 9-11, but it was in DIRECT RESPONSE to terrorist attacks on our country.  But today, who is under "attack"?  Donald Trump? 

So if someone dares to object to something Prez Trump says, it's now OK to....what?  Invade their privacy?  Order an IRS audit of them?  Prohibit them from getting a student loan, or vote, or suspend their Constitutional Rights? 

Somebody who has a better understanding of the law, please tell me this is unconstitutional.

S

Why it's important to know history

Last night I saw an interesting show on TV about the origins of the American auto industry.  I pretty much knew the story, but a couple of things that were pointed out brought into focus for me how we got to where we are today.

Before cars, city streets were largely dirt, horses and buggies were common, and cleaning the streets and disposing of the constant horse excrement was an industry in itself.  Then came the Model T.  People now had wheels!  Roads needed paving, which required concrete, creating two new industries. And gas stations, and much more oil refining capacity.  And dramatically more steel production, and lots of tires, too.  Everything was inter-connected.  New industries and jobs were appearing everywhere.

Henry Ford was a visionary.*  He was the first to adopt the modern assembly line (from the meat packing industry) for industrial use.  The repetitive work was boring, but wow, could they pump out cars!  So fast, the unit cost to produce a "T" was cut in half.  

Here's were it got interesting:

Instead of just pocketing the savings for himself (and his rich shareholders), Ford DOUBLED the pay of his assembly line workers, to $5 a day.   Henry Ford shared this improved productivity windfall with his employees, and this was the birth of America's middle class.  All of a sudden the repetitive work seemed more bearable.

People were literally walking off other jobs to go stand in line for a position with Ford.  Other employers eventually were forced to increase their pay to match Ford's or lose all their workers.  It was a ripple that became a tidal wave.

More people making more money bought more "stuff", which created even more jobs.  America's middle class / consumer driven economy became a juggernaut the likes the world had never seen, all because Henry Ford shared with his employees the savings realized from his more efficient assembly line.  Ford's workers could now afford to buy the cars they were making.  By "sharing the wealth" with his employees, Henry Ford didn't lose money (as his shareholders and Board of Directors feared) but made even more money for them all. 

Sometime after WWII things changed.  Companies began seeing great savings thanks to technology developed during the war.  But unlike Henry Ford, they kept their productivity  windfall for themselves.  By the 1980's the rich were just getting richer, while the middle class began to stagnate.  The wealthy business owning class obviously didn't recognize the problems they were creating.  All they cared about was maximizing today's profits.  This marked the beginning of the long decline of the American middle class.

Factories began moving out, cities went into decline, workers lost benefits such as health insurance, etc.  It was the exact opposite of the economy Henry Ford created.  This trend, too, began as a ripple, but grew into a tidal wave.

An increasingly fragile and unstable middle class has now turned mean, blaming "others" for their difficult situations, and are voting for candidates who promise to "get even" for them.  We've developed an "us vs them" mentality.  The number of hate groups is rapidly increasing, resulting in confrontations such as what we saw in Charlottesville, VA over the weekend.

Any student of history should have learned from Henry Ford that spreading the wealth is a net money-maker, not a money-loser.  My personal corporate hero, Southwest Airline's Herb Kelleher, saw this and shared SWA's wealth with his employees, and they've been on 40-year profit roll!  

But most of the rest in industry didn't, and their greed is directly responsible for the currently declining American middle class.  If it wasn't for cheap foreign labor, "creative" accounting, a rigged tax system, and easy credit, most would already be underwater.

Contrary to what Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) said in the movie Wall Street, greed is NOT good.  It's taking the middle class down, and will eventually precipitate a revolution (in some form) that will take down the upper class, too.  Of course it's much more complex than what these few paragraphs might suggest, but still, greed is at the core of it all.

Capitalism is great.  But capitalism corrupted by greed can eventually ruin it for us all. 

I myself may not live long enough to see how it all plays out, but things can't go on the way they are now.  The shrinking middle class will eventually stand their ground. 

S

* He was also an asshole, an anti-Semite, and more, but that's for another blog post.