Roger, as much as I appreciate your words, I have to disagree with much.
I know far too many one-man proprieters in this area alone who would not and could not be able to comply without dire threat to immediate livlihood and ultimate surviveability of their business. Most here are, and have been, hand-to-mouth operations; There is no means to pay the ridiculous fees inflicted, write-off or not. They have rent or mortgage payments and groceries and heating oil and such that are a constant, immediate monetary concern. Many are charging below-grade fees as it is just to get business in the customer base they patronize.
This rule takes nothing into consideration but what the government wants. They have obviously not canvassed the industry to guage how the trades would be able to absorb these costs or have the ability to conform. This is bureacratic ignorance at it's finest level. As Chris stated, there are going to be unknown costs in what ridiculous equipment we will have to have ON HAND in order to handle any of these "critical" situations, not the least of which may well be an investment in a vehicle large enough to carry even more gear. Once the EPA augers this unrealistic rule into our lives they will have carte blanche to arbitrarily dictate, on a whim, new and more expensive equipment. Who knows when they'll force us to have our own testing gear? After the last year of government insanity I have no faith or trust that we will be well served by this.
We have a lot of high end painters here and I know that they are very conscientious in regards to their client's homes. Certification could be an asset by acknowledging work procedures that you have always pretty much followed anyway.
Conscientious yes, and we know far better than Joe Homeowner to protect ourselves and our clients. So why then, is the government NOT targeting the ignorant? Because
that is not the goal. A moment of objectivity will more than display the true nature of this kind of regulation. This is another in a long list of infringements on people who can (and HAVE) been, without the thumb of government, practicing good stewardship of our livlihood.
I would be greatly interested in knowing exactly who wrote this tripe. Guaranteed it was no one even remotely familiar with our practices.
This is not a barrier, it's just a bump in the road, turn it around and make it work for you and your business.
I disagree. This was
designed as a barrier. This is nanny-state-ism that will hurt a lot of otherwise independant, self-dterminate hard working tradesmen (and Lynjo)...