This Should Help Michigan's Booming Construction Industry

or, maybe not.

You just gotta love those bureaucrats in Lansing.

Everyone down there has noticed that our state is struggling. Seriously. They really have. I know they have noticed because they just recently raised our taxes in order to make their ends meet. But, what the doofuses that work there have not yet figured out is that their rulings and regulations do have a serious impact on the business that is conducted in this state. Well, maybe they have figured that out too but are more prone to callous arrogance than outright ignorance.

Even though they know the economy sucks, many of our rulers in Lansing don't seem to care too much, and why would they, they already have great jobs with great pay and the sort of lavish benefits package that those of us in the private sector can only dream about.

Rules and regulations get passed all the time that have serious impacts on private industry. This latest one might be the one that kills us.

By us, in this context, I am referring to Michigan's residential building industry, the industry in which I am employed. An industry that, I will add, is creeping along so slowly that construction companies, carpenters, suppliers, and manufacturers are suffering. (That is unless you happen to have a juicy government building contract somewhere.) There have been many lay offs and business closings. People have moved and more are considering moving. This includes me. (By the way, how much will I pay in Michigan income taxes after I am forced to move to Texas?)

In February of 2005, a collection of geniuses at the state decided that Michigan should be subject to Chapter 11 of the International Residential Code for energy efficiency. The Michigan Association of Home Builders filed a lawsuit to block the implementation of the change because, they said, that the new rules would not be cost effective, a requirement of making changes to the Single State Construction Code.

At that time, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk granted an injunction to the ruling. [link is to a cached article]

Draganchuk ruled that the builders' group would likely win its case on its merits and that home buyers and small builders could suffer irreparable harm if the new standards took effect before the issues were hashed out in a trial. That trial hasn't yet been scheduled.

The home builders sued the state Feb. 4, claiming a decision to incorporate a provision of the International Residential Code into the Michigan Uniform Energy Code would result in exorbitant cost add-ons for new construction and remodeling. The builders said it would take 22 years of energy savings for a home owner to recover those costs, while state law requires a seven-year payback.

The new standard could effectively price prospective home buyers out of the market, the group has argued. The builders argue a 998-square-foot ranch would cost $5,162 more to build, and a 1,629-square-foot colonial would have $6,346 in extra costs.

The state has argued its proposed energy code changes would meet the seven-year standard.

"On average, we found (net) benefits totaling $1,046 over seven years," said Tom Martin, director of the labor and economic growth department's Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs.

Martin rejected the builders' argument that changes to the energy code would slow home growth, saying that housing starts increased in both Wisconsin and Minnesota in the year after those states adopted a national energy code.

"We're disappointed," Martin said, when asked about Draganchuk's decision. "Both sides go into a preliminary hearing like this expecting to win. I don't believe this is the end of the story."

Well, Martin might be a horse's ass, but he was right about one thing, the 2005 injunction was not the end of the story.

From a portion of a fax I received from the Michigan Association of Home Builders yesterday comes the latest:

Three and three-quarters years after it was first issued in February of 2005, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk has dissolved the injunction against the enforcement of Chapter 11 of the International Residential Code as the state's new energy code. This clears the way for the new energy code to go into effect. While it was in place the injunction reduced the construction cost of new homes by over $561,000,000 (561 million, 600 thousand dollars).

This is not the kind of help that Michigan's building industry needs to be getting from our benevolent overlords in Lansing; stricter building codes that will increase the costs of residential building.

Idiots.