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Builders Outlook
President’s Message Greg Bowling President, El Paso Association of Builders
It’s hard to believe that the end of 2011 is already here and with it the end of my year as President of EPAB. In late 2008 I started this journey when I agreed to serve on the Executive Ladder for EPAB. As I think back to where we were as both a Home Building industry and an Association in late 2008 and to where we are now, I’m shocked at how much has changed and all we’ve endured. Three years ago we were still experiencing the tail end of one of the greatest housing markets in the history of our country. Little did we know at the time that the housing bubble was bursting and the “Great Recession” was just beginning. And with this Great Recession was one of the worst and most prolonged down housing markets in the history of our country. As builders we’ve had to navigate this economy while losing instruments such the Texas Residential Construction Commission and to trying to absorb or fend off what seems like an attempt to implement every fee, tax or added cost possible on the building and development industry. Just like our personal businesses, EPAB has also had to navigate this terrible economy. We’ve been stuck trying to offset or absorb the loss of revenue and membership that comes with a bad economy. We’ve had to deal with turnover on our Executive Board, paying for a new building, and most importantly trying to do all we can to serve our members with limited resources.
To say it has been a challenge to us all both professionally and as an Association would be an understatement. Yet somehow, through all this our Association has not only survived but it has also found ways to thrive. Let’s look back at just a few of the things we’ve still managed to accomplish over the last few years: On the national level the National Association of Home Builders remains one of the largest lobbying associations in the country today. Through NAHB’s lobbying efforts FHA loan limits have been raised, they’ve fought to keep the mortgage interest deduction for home owners, and they are currently working on improving the appraisal process for all of us. They do all this nationally while constantly working with agencies like OSHA and the EPA for a more beneficial relationship. A relationship that works towards accomplishing the things those agencies are established for-things like jobsite safety and environmental protection, rather than just using their power to exert fines to raise money to fund their bloated agencies on the backs of our homebuilding and development industry. On the State level the Texas Association of Builders (with the help of many of our local members taking the time to travel to Austin on their own dime) has helped lead the way in keeping Texas the most builder friendly and business friendly state in the country. TAB has worked in recent years to keep things like fire sprinklers as an option in single family housing rather than making it mandatory in Texas. TAB has been instrumental on limiting the government eminent domain powers for public use projects only, and has helped back many of the Tort reform laws that have been passed in Texas like our new loser pays law. Lastly, TAB has helped stop county ordinance making authority which we fear will only
impose more fees and unnecessary costs on builders and developers. We’ve given the builder’s perspective that enforcing existing laws to stop bad building practices is always better than establishing more government agencies and bureaucracy. Finally on the local level, our Association members represent our interests on numerous Council and Advisory Committees to make sure our voices are heard. We were instrumental in keeping impact fees reasonable and making sure state laws are followed in the enforcement of these fees. We’ve worked with the City to allow 3rd party plan review and inspections for our homes, and we continue to work with them on how to make the ordinance better for both the City and our industry. We participated in the review of the new 2009 Residential Building Code before it was put into place and worked with the City on local enforcement policies and local amendments to this code. We have worked to keep government imposed costs from affecting housing on all levels such as keeping sidewalks at 5 feet rather than 6 feet, and working with City planners to not make almost every floor plan built in El Paso obsolete by requiring the front door to be the furthest thing forward on a house. Our Land Use Council has put in countless hours working on the subdivision rewrite committee and working with the new FEMA maps to help make sure that building and development in certain areas of El Paso is still possible. We shed light on the negative effects of the recently imposed $50,000 surety bond for builders in El Paso and got the City to agree to reduce it to $25,000 and to exempt contractors for many smaller jobs. We have provided education for our membership, webinars, networking opportunities, and fun events that benefit our community such as participating in the Sun
Bowl Parade and sponsoring the Adams Golf Tour Desert Classic which is the only professional golf event in El Paso. Lastly, we held our first ever local Rally Day where together with that event and through our Political Action Committee (Build PAC) for the first time in a long time, we helped make sure that this most recent local election affected our industry and all business in a positive way rather than negative. As you can see whether you’re a builder, developer, or one of our associates you only have to start putting dollar amounts to all that’s been accomplished the last few years to see just how much EPAB does to keep home construction a viable industry. Can you imagine what the home building industry would look like today without NAHB, TAB, and EPAB to advocate for it? The industry as we know it simply would not exist. Unfortunately as we all know, some in our industry choose to take a free ride and not be members of our Association. Luckily for them, they have all our members who choose to carry the load and pay the bill for everyone. So in my last monthly article, if I could ask one last thing of everyone going forward: I ask that you please support our association, support our members, and make it a policy to only do business with members of EPAB. Because without our Association the single family housing industry that we all know and depend on simply would not exist in the fashion it does. Lastly, I want to thank all of our Board members, Executive Board, Past Presidents, financial supporters and EPAB staff for 2011. You served our industry and your Association well and made this an incredibly successful year. I feel confident that we’ve left this a stronger and better housing industry and EPAB than we found it and I thank you all for that. Now on to bigger and better things in 2012!