Builders press commission to adopt UBC countywide

Builders press commission to adopt UBC countywide

June 19, 2001

By Jim Mimiaga
Journal Staff Writer

The local Home Builders Association pressured the Montezuma County commissioners Monday to enforce uniform building standards for residential structures in the county.

Representatives of the association, made up of real-estate agents and builders, said that for public safety and consumer protection, enforcement of the Uniform Building Code should take place in the county as it currently does in cities.

"There is a lot of building going up in the county that is unsafe and the county is where most of the growth is occurring, so getting this done is important," said Jim Candelaria, association member and builder.

"I drive around and see problems all the time."

Candelaria said that homeowner-built houses are the ones that most often do not meet standard safety codes, "because the builders just do not know (about the specifications)."

More soil analyses are especially needed before foundations are installed, he said, because the region has a lot of unstable soils that require a more engineered foundation.

"We’re not saying they cannot do the work themselves, but there needs to be a requirement to meet the codes, which are considered the very minimum standard," he said.

The HBA supports requiring that building prints be submitted and approved and that follow-up inspections be conducted to insure compliance with the code. The inspections would be paid for through permit fees collected from the builder.

Consumers need to be protected, the group said.

"Buyers are becoming very sophisticated," said real-estate agent Carol Click. "I have had six or seven buyers back out because of shoddy work."

But the commissioners said they need more evidence that there is a problem before they consider creating a building-inspection department, which would piggy-back onto the Cortez system if enacted.

"We want to hear from people who have bought a home and then suffered from poor construction like you are saying," said Commissioner Gene Story. "We have not heard that and we cannot impose regulations without a basis to do so."

The commission has been reluctant to require and enforce the UBC for residential construction, a topic they said is controversial for many private landowners.

Commercial construction does require UBC compliance under the county system, but enforcement of the code is difficult.

"We know it is there — how to get ahold of it is the $64,000 question," Story said. "To be successful we need to start off slowly and with a process that most people support."