CPHB Find a Builder

Builder licensing has been a long time coming for Georgia and, as a result, the building industry will enter a new era. The Housing Institute, Inc. (THI) has long maintained that state-level licensing should spring from the demonstrated desire of the building industry to maintain a professional level of excellence. Industry-imposed standards and guidelines are, in most cases, tougher than standards laid out by state governments across the nation because the marketplace has high expectations of builders and their work product. The goal of statewide licensing, just as it is with the Certified Professional Home Builder™ CPHB™ program, is to better serve the marketplace. The Housing Institute and the CPHB™ program – long before statewide licensing – were doing just that. Following is an excellent article by Frank O. Brown, Jr., who sits on THI’s Board of Directors, that shows “A Certified Professional Home Builder Is Much More than a Licensed Builder.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sean Doughtie, President

Mayfield Homes, LLC

        The Housing Institute, Inc.

A Certified Professional Home Builder is Much More Than a Licensed Builder

By Frank O. Brown, Jr., of Weissman, Nowack, Curry and Wilco, P.C.

The Certified Professional Home Builder (CPHB) program is a highly successful residential builder certification program that helps builders maximize their professionalism, customer service and homeowner satisfaction. With the onset of mandatory licensing for all Georgia builders, including CPHB members, the CPHB designation offers a genuine distinction between CPHB members and other residential builders. In the current slow and increasingly competitive housing market, that advantage is especially critical. 

By choosing a CPHB member when purchasing a new home, most of the leg work in research is completed for you. When you choose a CPHB member as your homebuilder, you have the following real advantages over most residential builders who are merely licensed under Georgia’s contractor licensing law (“Licensing Law”), in effect as of July 1, 2008. As you read these, consider where your builder fits in:

(1) Education: The Licensing Law may require residential builders to take only three education hours per year. In contrast, CPHB members must have 16 hours each year – more than five times as much.

(2) Code Certification: CPHB members must pass the ICC Residential Building Contractor C Exam or its equivalent. Many of the builders who will be licensed in July 2008 will be “grandfathered” in and will be exempt from taking the licensing exam.

(3) References: CPHB members must provide 14 references from: one financial institution; five homeowners; three trade contractors; three suppliers; and, generally two CPHB members. The Licensing Law doesn’t include a similar requirement for residential contractors.

(4) Experience: A residential-basic contractor must have two years of residential experience under the Licensing Law, while the CPHB Program requires at least three years experience in residential construction.

(5) Focus: The Licensing Law doesn’t require that a builder’s primary business be residential construction or remodeling. That is a CPHB Program requirement.

(6) Building Volume: In the preceding 12 months, CPHB members must have received five construction or remodeling permits or entered into or closed residential transactions of at least $750,000. Conversely, the Licensing Law requires most residential builders to only have significant responsibility for successfully completing two residential projects during the preceding two years.

(7) Insurance: CPHB members must have at least $500,000 of general liability insurance and builder’s risk insurance. For most residential builders, the Licensing Law requires only $300,000 of general liability insurance and no builder’s risk insurance.

(8) Code of Ethics: CPHB members must agree to comply with the National Association of Home Builders Code of Ethics, while the Licensing Law doesn’t mandate compliance with those standards.

(9) Membership in HBA: Builder members of local home builder associations generally have broader and more current industry knowledge and skills than non-members because the former interact with other builders, participate in industry committees and benefit from association educational programs. CPHB members must join their local home builder association. The Licensing Law doesn’t impose that requirement.

(10) Warranty: The Licensing Law has a warranty provision, but it doesn’t mandate specific coverage. CPHB members must use an approved warranty and warranty procedures or ones substantially equivalent.

(11) Home Inspections: CPHB members must allow a qualified professional home inspector to conduct a fair inspection. The Licensing Law doesn’t include this requirement.

(12) Mandatory Binding Arbitration: Arbitration is favored over litigation as a matter of Georgia and federal public policy. Its advantages include reduced cost and time and greater privacy, informality, flexibility and finality. CPHB members must offer arbitration to home buyers. A similar requirement isn’t in the Licensing Law.

(13) Better Business Bureau Rating: CPHB members can’t have a negative rating with the Better Business Bureau. The Licensing Law doesn’t have this requirement.

(14) Dispute Resolution Process: The CPHB Program has a dispute resolution process designed to assist in the informal resolution of disputes that may arise between CPHB members and home buyers. The Licensing Law doesn’t have a similar process.

(15) Renewal: CPHB members must renew membership annually. License renewal is every other year.