RENOVATION, REPAIR AND PAINTING (RRP) IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS

Background

Lead paint poisoning affects over one million children today. Adverse health effects include learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and speech delays. If not done in a lead-safe manner, renovations and repair activities that disturb lead-based paint can expose children, as well as adults, to harmful levels of lead dust.

On April 22, 2008, EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe work practices aimed at preventing lead poisoning in children. On April 22, 2010, the rule became effective and firms performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified, individual renovators must be trained by an EPA-accredited training provider, and the firms and renovators must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. EPA estimates that the costs to contractors to follow the work practices will range from $8 to $167 per job, with the exception of those exterior jobs where vertical containment would be required.

To become a certified renovator, individuals are required to take eight hours of training, of which two hours must be hands-on training, to become certified. This training is good for five years. The cost of this training is set by individual training providers, not by EPA. In addition, renovation firms must be certified by EPA or by a state authorized by EPA to administer its own program. Firm certification is easy; firms need to send in a two-page application to EPA and pay a fee of $300. Certification is good for five years.

Training Capacity

EPA has approved 561 training providers. Of these training providers, 342 are accredited to provide training in multiple states. A number of industry organizations are accredited training providers and are expected to train large numbers of renovators in their industry sector. For example:

-- A large window manufacturer and installer is an EPA-accredited training provider and has scheduled trainings in multiple states.

-- A number of non-governmental organizations and private vendors are EPA-accredited training providers and conduct trainings in multiple states across the country. You can search for an EPA-accredited training provider near you.

Even states that do not yet have fixed training providers in their state have had multiple training courses offered in their state.

www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/pubs/lscp-press.htm

Remodeling your kitchen may sound like a big task, but it probably won’t be a difficult as you think it will be. Also, you’ll find that remodeling your kitchen can also bring you many bonuses. Here are a few of the great benefits you can enjoy when you decide to remodel your kitchen.

Increase the Value of Your Home
One of the best benefits of kitchen remodeling is that it will actually increase the value of your home. Most people don’t want a home that has an old style kitchen. When you remodel, your home value will go up and it will make your home more sellable as well if you ever need to sell.

If you are planning on selling your home in the future, no doubt you want to do everything possible to get a great deal. So, when you remodel the kitchen, you’ll be investing in your home and making sure that the home value goes up.

You Get a New Kitchen
Another great benefit of remodeling your kitchen is that you will essentially be getting a brand new kitchen. If you go the whole way with the remodel, you’ll feel like someone gave you a new kitchen. This may renew your love of cooking and will make the kitchen a much better place for everyone in the family to enjoy.

Update Appliances
You’ll get an update in appliances if you remodel your kitchen, which is another great benefit. If you’ve been cooking on those prehistoric burners or an oven that is from the dark ages, you’ll be thrilled with the great new appliances you get when you remodel your kitchen. Now you may be able to turn out a dinner that is edible instead of setting off the smoke detector each time that you cook.

Get a Fresh New Look
A fresh new look is another benefit of kitchen remodeling. Tired of the way your kitchen looks? Perhaps it’s still decorated in the old oranges and yellows that were so popular in the late 70s. If this is the case, you’ll love the new look you get when you do a kitchen remodel in your home.

Add More Space
With a new design that makes the most of all the space in the kitchen, you’ll be able to add more space. You’ll get more space to move around and you’ll probably even get more space for storage as well.

These are just a few of the great benefits of remodeling your kitchen. So, why keep living in a kitchen that looks like it belongs to a cave man? Go ahead and start a remodel and enjoying watching your new kitchen take shape.

www.investmentpropertyhelp.com

AB (Alvin) started the paving company with one dump truck hauling stone.  From there, he grew the operations to a full service asphalt company.  The company was located off of Route 28 in Rockville, MD by exit 6 on 270.  The area used to be the Veirs farm, but has since been sold and developed into the Rockshire neighborhood.  We (Michael, Billy, and Jimmy) grew up working for the company right in our own backyard.  In 1980, the three brothers started managing A.B. Veirs, Inc.  Then in 1990, we achieved full ownership, and it became A.B. Veirs and Sons, Inc.  At that point, we moved operations to our current location in Gaithersburg, MD.

Throughout the years, we have had the privilege of working with some excellent employees who are the best at their jobs as we have ever seen.  Our current crews are even better than ever, and we have all managed to keep two things consistent: our commitment to quality and our corporate culture.  Our culture is best described as a large family: a lot of fun, strong relationships between everyone, and no fear of politely notifying another employee if there is a better way to accomplish the task at hand!  And we do have fun on the job - on a lot of jobs, we will be out there with our guys helping out as an operator, laborer, grade setter, truck director, or a supervisor discussing the plan with the owner.  We strongly believe that our culture and heavy involvement in every job has led to our consistent reputation and ability to produce the highest quality outcome.

Our current quality and attention todetail is higherthan ever.  We are the proud employers of the third generation of "Veirs" working in asphalt.  Their job descriptions include everything from laborer to operator to foreman.  This ensures the "grass-roots" approach to maintaining our culture and quality.

Our sense of pride is contagious to all of our employees.  This empowers every employee to feel a sense of pride and ownership in their work.  This combined with their experience and training proves them to be a huge asset to our company.  We believe that if our employees come first, you as the customer will get the best products and service in the industry.

 www.abveirs.com