HOA's; YOU CAN SAVE A LOT OF MONEY BY HIRING UNLICENSED/ UNINSURED CONTRACTORS! Then you too can be liable for a workers injuries!

I saw this article at Community Associations Network (CAN). If you are an HOA, and don't make sure your independent contractors are licensed and insured, you'll deserve the same fate as these folks got...

Heimen et al. v Worker's Compensation Appeals Board

HOA Should Be Sure Workers are Insured California homeowner associations (HOAs) and HOA management companies will want to pay attention to a recent ruling coming out of the state's Second Appellate District. The case, Heimen et al. v Worker's Compensation Appeals Board, involved the claim of a worker injured on association property for worker's compensation benefits. Read more by clicking here.

So the lessons are that any contractor who will be working on your property must have;
workers comp
licensed
liabilty policy naming HOA as add'l insured
Auto Insurance.

You can get extra protection by buying a add on workers comp policy for around $500-1000 per year. Then if someones coverage was lapsed and something happened, you would still be covered. Your choice, pay a little or pay a lot...

A "NEW" Manufacturer, NEVADA COATING SYSTEMS, Makes It's Online Debut

, Da
Browsing the web this weekend, I saw a WICR, a competitor had finally put up their website...looking through, I saw they were a "Nevada Coating Systems" applicator...so I clicked the link to see what was there.

Nevada Coating Systems is an entity using an address down in Rancho Mirage, so I googled the phone/address and found that it is linked to Dave Krubinksi, a former Mer-Ko salesman and current Roof Consultant Institute member.

NCS is advertising their coatings for decks, liners, pools and many other areas that don't really interest me as I'm not in that line of work...they appear to have a Polyurea system, a 2 component system that is in heated tanks and is sprayed on using a gun that mixes the 2 parts as it's sprayed.

Polyureas have their place in many applications and their fast drying/curing makes a tough competitor for some other coating sytems for various applications...I'm just not convinced of it's use on decks as a long term solution...but that's just my opinion.

Despite an impressive array of testing done, the 2 most important tests for deck coatings at least, appear to be missing-Class A and One Hour Fire Testing. There is no that I can find at ICC-ES in Div 7 Traffic Coatings and so I would say that in my opinion, this product would not be a suitable candidate for decking where residential codes must be met. Ask about E109 and E119 testing when inquiring...

The stuck in my craw thing about NCS is their "sample warranty" which is more of a service contract, and the way it's written might be a Sherman Act or Magnuson Moss issue...at least in my opinion from reading through the FTC's website. Click here to read some interesting info on warranties and service contracts at the FTC website. I dunno, it's just a really stacked in the installers/mfg's favor warranty...the odds are far better for you to put it all on black in Vegas...

Attached is a picture of their warranty with my notes on it. We are publishing this under the Fair Use doctrine and have the right to publish, criticize, comment on and satirize it if we want, all protected by the doctrine of Fair Use. So despite the terms of use at their website...it's aconstitionaly protected use.

As of now, with the way this warranty is written, it's a bad deal for consumers in my opinion. It ties you to the original applicator for 10 years, giving them residual income for resealing your decks every 3 years...you get no choice as a consumer to have who you want service the decking. Imagine buying a Ford and you got the best deal at one dealer, but don't really like their service dept., but your warranty said you have to use that dealer, and that dealer only... pretty crappy terms.

This warranty is similar to the old Mer-Ko "warranty", whose terms were changed as soon as new Mer-Ko management could.

My opinion is to search elsewhere for other coating options due to the warranty restrictions.

Concrete Network to Feature Project Managed by Bill Leys

Coming soon to Concrete Network's California pages will be a pictorial/short story on a major renovation project recently completed in Long Beach.
The job was a 14,000 square foot courtyard over a parking garage that needed extensive renovations and then waterproofed.

Watch for it in the next couple weeks, we'll post the link from here!

CSLB PRESS RELEASE-Contractors State License Board Asks Victims of Elaborate Home Repair Scheme to Come Forward

Wow oh wow, read this sordid tale of rip off artist's who scammed thousands of customers a year for the last 4 years...

Contractors State License Board Asks Victims of Elaborate Home Repair Scheme to Come Forward

Judge sets aside $1.3 million for restitution after settlement of unfair business practices lawsuit

SACRAMENTO — The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) wants California consumers to come forward if they have been defrauded by certain home service and repair companies in the past four years. A multi-million lawsuit filed in San Diego County by Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has been settled and SRVS Charge Inc. (SRVS), the parent business, has been ordered to pay $3 million in penalties and restitution. This is the largest enforcement judgment in CSLB’s 80-year history.

Companies that were operated by SRVS engaged in a massive scheme to defraud thousands of California consumers out of millions of dollars by charging exorbitant fees for substandard electrical, plumbing and heating/air conditioning repair services that were not performed by qualified, legitimately licensed individuals.

"Anyone who believes they may have been ripped off by these companies should contact CSLB as soon as possible," said CSLB Registrar Steve Sands. "We’re ready to help consumers who have been harmed with the process of getting some of their money back."

An extensive CSLB investigation found that SRVS and its affiliated companies had been cheating some 6,000 customers each year for overpriced and substandard home repair work since 1989.

To stop the companies’ illegal practices and provide restitution to those who were victimized, CSLB and the Attorney General reached a settlement with:

FIND OUT WHO BY CLICKING HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE PRESS RELEASE

Interesting Article by Reporter Chuck Yarborough

Here's an interesting read by on the job reporter Chuck Yarborough...

Chuck Yarborough works as a basement waterproofer: On the Job Training

by Chuck Yarborough/Plain Dealer Reporter

Water is good if you're a boat. Water is not good if you are a basement.

But for more than 30 years, watery basements have been good for Willoughby Hills-based Adelio's Contracting Co., formerly Adelio's Basement Waterproofing.

Sergio DiFranco's dad, Adelio (hence the name) started the company in 1976, 10 years after immigrating to the United States from Italy. According to Sergio, who now runs the business, and Adelio, Italian immigrants at the time had two options for employment: concrete or basement waterproofing.

Me, I'm the kinder, gentler (lazier) type; I'd have gone for something easier, like milking alligators in a monsoon.

I gotta tell y'all, of all the On the Job Training chores I've undertaken in the 2½ years since this gig started, basement waterproofing is the hardest, most physically demanding. That's probably because Adelio's does things the old-fashioned way. Which is to say, the right way.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AND VIEW THE SLIDE SHOW BY CLICKING HERE

Visitor Traffic to Our Blog and Website's WAY UP

With Google analytics, I get real time reports on all sprts of stuff web site related...who visited, from where, how long etc.

So I can tell you we're really happy with the stats that show our sites visits are up 46% over last month here at our Blog page, and over 36% at Deckexpert.com.

Another interesting stat... over 53% of visitors are bookmarking us for future visits, meaning they found us interesting enough to come back...

With average visits exceeding 2 minutes, that means visitors are looking for and finding the information they need to make decisions on waterproof decking.

Thank you to all our visitors for coming by and please make sure to thank our sponsors by visiting their websites and purchasing materials-directly or indirectly...