Why homes are getting out of reach for the middle class and my there are no more true custom builders:

The last year I was in California was 1992, the year after Clinton was elected.  There were three zero growth or restricted growth propositions on the Riverside County ballot, all of which failed miserably.   The backers, a bunch of left wing Democrat's, swore on the LA ABC news, after failing to get more than 30% of the vote, to get involved in the building departments, the writing of the building codes, and local zoning, since they couldn’t get the misguided and uninformed voter’s to legally stop builders from building. They wanted to "compress" the population.  It’s taken 30 years, but the Fascist's have finally arrived in Pueblo County. They believe by making homes more expensive, this will force builders to "condense" the population by building smaller homes on smaller lots. Take a look around, and one doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to see that their efforts have worked.

Another reason for the code changes is the million dollar profits for the code writing companies.  They are "for profit" companies and there is no money in keeping the codes the same.  If they don't add pages to their books, no one will buy "more" new books, send inspectors to their schools to learn the new codes, or pay for the new expensive software.  The codes have become so complex, that it's taking at least a week of school just to learn the changes.  The more complex the codes, the easier it is for building departments to "interpret" the codes in their own ways, thus allowing for even more ridiculous requirements.  Also remember, that most of the manufacturers that make the products in your home, also have employee's on the payroll of the IBC, NEC, NPC, UBC, and every outfit that writes the codes, so noooooooo, there's no conflict of interest, no way.

All of my homes I built in the early 80's and 90's never burned down, still are energy efficient, been through earth quakes, tornado's, drastic heat and cold, and are still standing.  The 1990's codes worked.  There was never a reason to change the codes.

The following information is not intended to criticize the Pueblo building inspectors.  They are doing their job as dictated by the local Politician's and the head of the Building Department.  All of the Pueblo inspectors have always been professional and helpful in doing their jobs, so my gripe is not with them.

CODE: All toilets sold in Colorado must use no more than 1.2 gallons of water per flush.  It is illegal to cross state lines with a 1.6 gallon toilet, so be careful.  They want them down to 1 gallon, even for solid waste.
I have these new 1.0 toilets in my home and they are terrible.  There is not enough water to spin the sludge before flushing it into the pipes.  You now have a large clump of stuff sitting in your waste pipe, after the trap, drying out.  The next time you flush, the new clump has to go past the last clump, and so on and so on.  You also have more of a mess in your toilet bowl, since 1.6 gallons was barely enough water to clean the bowl.  Thanks to the liberal Democrats in Colorado, I now flush 4 times instead of once, or I can snake my pipes, (a plunger will not work since the sledge is beyond the trap).  Also, our CDC issued warnings to be careful when you flush because the Chinese (Covid) flu can be transferred via our waste and toilets were deemed unsafe..  I wonder how long it will take the Democrats to force Alexis and Google to monitor how many illegal flushes I do each day.  If I flush more than once, I'll be sharing a jail cell with Church Ministers and Restaurant owners.  Don't think that is not coming.  Overhead sprinklers are also coming, and the government will have to come in and check our homes, for the children's sake, of course, to make sure we are in compliance and haven't installed 1.6 gallon toilets and shut off the sprinklers, like I have. 

CODE: Dry wall must be installed on all basement ceilings when a gas appliance, such as the furnace, hot water heater, or a fireplace, is located in the basement. ( Forced by the Fire Departments and sprinkler companies.)
This requirement is ridiculous, as all new furnaces and hot water heaters have several auto shut offs when leaking gas or too much heat is present. This makes an unfinished basement totally impractical, because you'll have to tear all the drywall down later when you want to finish the basement.  The building department has suggested installing the furnace and HWH in the garage or attic, which would waive this requirement. This is ignorant. The garage is the worst and least efficient place to generate heat and hot water. And installing the furnace in the attic is crazy, as no one will ever change the furnace filter, it makes servicing the furnace a mess, it’s very inefficient, since heat rises and now you have to force hot air 2 floors down into a cold basement.

The entire staircase also has to be dry walled, even the side walls.  All the basement exterior walls must be insulated with R19.  I frame these walls instead of using the hanging fiberglass blankets because you will have to remove and throw out the insulation when the basement is finished.   Combining all this, the builder might as well finish the entire basement.  In earlier times, the basement served as an inexpensive part of the original home which allowed younger families to finish the basement later in life as their families grew.  Sorry folks, the government has decided you can't have that option anymore.  This is why so many new homes are built on concrete slabs or being down sized.  Slabs can heave and crack in our Colorado expansive soils, which make them a poor choice.  A condensed population is the result of more government regulations forced on us by anti growth liberal Democrats.   

CODE: All basement walls must be R-19 (2x6) walls.
This requirement is insane.  In Colorado, I'm not worried about heat, but the electric bill in the summer.  Since the soil temperature, below 2 feet, is always about 52 degrees, not using any insulation helps keep the basement cool by taking advantage of the passive soils energy.  More wasted money and space. 

The new codes also require, although the PCBD has not enforced as yet, the placing of 4" thick insulated foam board under the concrete slabs.  This makes it impossible to finish the concrete since concrete has a lot of water in the mix when delivered and it has to go somewhere.  Well, somewhere is up, since it will not go through the foam board.  It takes 10 times longer to finish since the concrete must rely only on evaporation through the surface, which causes it to constantly heave air bubbles to the surface.  This ruins the surface finish.  

CODE: All outlets must now be "child proof".
This has added at least $1,000. to the average home for an outlet that simply does not work.  Now, call me crazy, but what is a little kid doing sticking a sharp metal object into an outlet?  What is he doing with a sharp object, is a question apparently best not asked.  First, let me be perfectly clear, NO ONE has ever been "electrocuted" or in other words "killed" by sticking a finger into a 110 outlet. Popped a bit, but not killed. These so called child proof outlets are making General Electric rich, and they make it much more difficult to get plugs into and out of an outlet. 

Keep in mind that Mr. Imhoff, the CEO of GE, visited the White House over 50 times during the Obama years, as the head of the Obama Economic Commission.  The Obama stimulus money had a Presidential hook in it, that was that anyone taking the money, had to adapt all of the new codes as they came out, or no more free money.  Remember, Mr. Imhoff and his employee's are writing the national electrical codes.  We in Pueblo, and many other cities, are now paying the price for all those "free" roads and bridges being built.  Nothing is free.

CODE: Overhead sprinklers. Forced by the Fire Departments and Overhead Sprinkler Companies.
This IS in the new plumbing code, so it’s coming. Our Building Department has put if off for another year, but sooner or later, it will be required. This is wrong for so many reasons in residential homes. 

First, it’s expensive! To install a high quality commercial grade system, you’re looking at a minimum of 10k to 15k.  Sure, you can spring for the cheap plastic 5k systems, but when they spring a leak, who’s going to pay for the water damage? 

Second, how are we going to keep the attic water lines from freezing in the winter? The lines have to run into the attic to cover ALL of the insured areas, especially the attics, which is where many fires start.

Third, these systems, due to insurance liability, have to be installed by licensed sprinkler companies, most Plumbers won’t do these installs.  Sprinkler companies are much more expensive than your local plumber.

Forth, they require a one inch water meter and one inch water line to the house, to handle the water pressure required. Most homes in Pueblo West have 3/4" meters with 3/4" water main lines ( I have always installed a 1" line from the 3/4" meter to the house to increase the volume). This will add at least $5,000. to the cost of a meter for a new home.  Without it, you may not have enough pressure to run all the lines.  Another bit of info, the water department may not have enough water pressure at the street, so this may be a mute point, or they will have to spend even more money to force more pressure into the lines.

Fifth, something that bothers me more than anything, the Fire Department will now have a reason to go into your home and inspect your system, unannounced. Currently, all commercial buildings must allow the Fire Department access at any time, during office hours, to conduct fire inspections.  Now that residential sprinklers are in the codes, how will the Fire Department know if you are properly maintaining the system, or if you disconnected it completely, (which is what I'll do as soon as the inspector is gone)?  This means they must do random residential inspections, "for the safety of our children", of course, giving them random government access to your home.  I'm figuring Mr. Smith, Mr. Wesson, and me, will greet them, but you can figure they will have the full force of the Federal Government behind them.  And with the Chinese flu, we can see just how much power the Government has over us when it comes to our, "safety".

Most residential fires are fought from the windows or roof, depending on how long it takes the fire department to get there.  Most residential fires, by the time the Fire Department shows up, they are only trying to contain the fire so it won’t spread to other structures.  Most of these new codes will not stop fires or save the lives of any fire fighters.  And how will the fire department know if the home has a dry walled basement ceiling?  What if the home owner took it down, or it was built before the new code?  If the owner checks the smoke detectors on a regular basis, then that should get them out in time.  Drywall on the basement ceiling won't make any difference, it just raises the cost of a home.

Most people don’t keep Grandma’s antique dining set, or their rare expensive paintings, at work.  If their home system fails or if it goes off without a fire, the water will do far more water damage to a home than to a commercial building.  

If all the homes in the Colorado Springs Black Forest fire had sprinkler systems, their homes still would have burned to the ground.  There was never enough water pressure to run all of the home sprinkler systems needed to keep all of them from burning.  The fire departments didn't have enough pressure at the fire plugs.  There are other ways of preventing a home fire which are far more effective and much cheaper.

As a builder, I will not accept the liability for such ignorance, and will suggest to my buyers to disconnect the sprinklers a.s.a.p.. and will make the buyers sign a waiver so I don't get sued if they go off by mistake.

CODE: Blower Door Testing is now required prior to the final.
A wasted $500.00. If the home doesn’t pass, then start tearing down the walls to find the problem leaks. This is insane, and will not save the tax payer one cent. And what will stop the Department of Energy from raising the requirement of tightness even further than current codes. Their goal is to make all new homes "net zero" and one way is to door test and raise the requirements every year, making it even more expensive to build a home.

Update: 2/1/2018.  As I predicted 2 years ago, starting January 1st, 2017, the Feds lowered the allowable air infiltration rate from .5 ACH to .3 ACH (air changes per hour).  This means a lot more insulation and more expensive windows, doors, etc. must be installed to get a home down to this number.   The DOE wants that number to be 0.0, which means absolutely no air is leaking into your home.  So now we need to install an ERV (energy recovery ventilator) because the home is considered too air tight, which if you don't install, you will see mold and mildew to build up inside the home, create condensation on the windows in the winter, and even more problems for the owners.  Expensive electronic equipment must be installed to maintain these new "energy efficient" homes, which will be expensive and time consuming to keep maintained for the life of the home.  And what happens when the house gets old and you can't get parts for such equipment, and what happens when the home owner can't figure out how to fix this computerized junk.  Pay even more money.  I have a difficult time getting my home owners to just change the air filters, how does anyone expect the public to do the required maintenance on this electronic junk.
UPDATE FEBRUARY 2020: My electric bills on my new "energy efficient" home with an ACH of 1.6 has doubled over my older home, which was built prior to the new government energy mandates.  And my gas bills have gone up by 15% to 25%.  Thank you Federal Government.

CODE: Duct designs and energy calcs are required.
The Federal Government is now dictating to me what size air conditioner and furnace I can install in my homes. When I want to install a 5 ton unit, so the home owner can make it snow in the kitchen in the summer if they so choose, the Department of Energy says no, you don’t care about man made global warming, so you’ll just have to suffer with a 2 ton unit.  I can't even move or add a duct without having to rewrite and resubmit the duct design to the building department.  These systems are figured so close to maximum output, that if you have a few more people or flat screens in your home than what the DOE's "standard family" is, you will not have enough air conditioning to keep the home at 78 degrees when it's 100 degree's outside, even when the system is running 24/7.  The DoE forces this by writing certain requirements into the software used to do the duct designs and energy calc's.  They are even deciding on how big my windows can be, since glass is not as efficient as a 2x6 wall.  If I have too many windows, the DOE requires I delete such windows, until I comply with their requirements.  We "Peasants" are not worthy to take advantage of our beautiful views, or should have a custom home on a one acre lot.  The only way around it is, since it is deliberately a "trade off" system, is to install such feel good things as: solar, wind mills, Geo thermal heating/cooling, top of the line ac equipment, etc.  So the wealthy get all the windows they want, so long as they are saving the planet.  The pheasants just have to do without air conditioning or windows. 

The cost recovery will take at least 40 years or more for these new regulations to pay for themselves, if then.   And that's if the Utility "for profit" Companies don't have to raise prices, since we are buying less and less electric and gas.  Their cost's are going up, not down.  And the middle class shall be condensed into smaller and smaller housing, just like in Russia, China, Cuba, and every other third world toilet. 

You will be assimilated, resistance is futile.  That’s all for now, but lots more coming when time allows.  I'm just getting started.

Update February 1st, 2020.

CODE: We are required to install the bath fan and light onto one switch. 
What a waste of money and electric.  They want the bath fan connected to the light switch, so it has to come on when you use the light.  Most people do not always need the bath fan when they use the bathroom, so now we waste more electric and burn out the fan sooner.  I thought we were supposed to be saving energy?

We also are back to setting the furnace prior to getting the rough heating inspection.  This serves no purpose except that I have to spend the money to set the furnace, then remove it so I can drywall and paint the home, then reinstall it prior to the final.  Most buyers want a furnace that looks like it's new, and it is impossible to keep a furnace looking new during the mess we encounter during construction.

Update March 15, 2021
So now the codes are going to require an ERV in every home.  Nice, except it will add $3,000. to the cost of a new home and will require service every 6 months.  Also will be expensive to replace if needed in the future.  I'm thinking that our government can surly figure out how to come into our homes and "check" the system to make sure it has been serviced properly, for the sake of the children.

Update January 2nd, 2018. 

Footings and are 10" rather than 8" thick:
Most engineers are now over designing the foundations with 10" thick footings which adds at least 4k to a home.  I have, for 25 years used a wall on grade with concrete pads or caisson's under the walls and all of them are still standing with no problems.  Even using a 10" instead of an 8" thick footer is a huge waste of concrete.

The garage header walls, when 24" wide or less, now have to be over engineered with huge anchor straps or hold downs and full length headers with large metal straps.  I have homes 30 years old with 18" walls and all are still standing, although I have always built the garages the way they should be built, with correct nailing and lumber.

Windows:
Our government is raising the window efficiency above an already ridiculous rating system.  They are too tight now.  The next step is triple pane windows, and that will double the cost of windows!  I am being dictated to how many and what size windows I can install by the Dept of Energy.  Have a nice view, too bad, only the wealthy should have large picture windows, not us low life, middle class.

If anyone believes I'm not correct or thinks I should be slapped silly for telling the truth, you can email me at builtbest@msn.com anytime and I will respond as soon as I can.