ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on June 14, 1996.
Class C contractors are not licensed by the state, but they are
certified. A story on the June 5 Business page misstated the state Board
for Contractors' requirements for Class C contractors. They may perform
single construction projects with a value between $1,000 and $7,500, and
they are limited to an annual volume of $150,000. NOTE: Story ran June
6, 1996.
The chairman of the Virginia Board for Contractors likes to think the board's purpose is to make sure "that a license means something" to the builders and tradesmen who earn one.
Earle H. Shumate, vice president of Building Specialists Inc. in Roanoke, will leave the board at the end of this month after more than seven years. He has been its chairman since 1992.
A major change he's seen is the testing of contractors in areas of business operations and state law affecting them.
When Shumate joined the board, an aspiring building contractor only had to prove his financial responsibility. But most problems with contractors arose not from lack of skill but from "a lack of business sense," he said,
So that the contractor's license means something, Shumate said, contractors now must take a test to prove their ability to handle a business and their knowledge of ethics and the law.
Class A contractors are authorized to do any project, while Class B licensees can do jobs costing $1,000 to $70,000. Class C contractors are limited to work costing $1,000 or less and do not need a license.
The board also supervises tradesmen - plumbers, electricians and heating-ventilating-air-conditioning installers - who usually work for contractors. They must pass tests of their skills.
At the end of May, the contractors board supervised 67,943 contractors and tradesmen.
What he tried to bring to the board, Shumate said, was an effort to make its activities "more responsive to the public, to make it more user-friendly."
People who come with complaints about contractors should get quick action from the staff and an understanding reaction from the board, he said.
"Up to the budget cuts, we did a good job," Shumate said, referring to impacts on the state bureaucracy of cuts in state spending.
After that, he explained, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation was reorganized. That means investigators now handle complaints from all boards supervised by the agency, so that one day they may look into a problem with a cosmetologist and the next day a complaint about a real estate agent. The staff also has been reduced through attrition.
As a result, he said, the work is centralized with the staff cross-trained, replacing a system of investigative specialists.
Complaints about contractors go first to the staff and then to a committee of the 13-member board. Shumate is not a member of the disciplinary committee.
But he has heard many public complaints.
"There are bad contractors and difficult customers," Shumate said. "I made a real effort to listen to both sides and treat everyone fairly." He said he tried to reach a decision that was "balanced."
The board has received 150 complaints since this fiscal year started July 1.
The board can suspend or revoke the license of a contractor. In addition, it can impose fines if the board feels that penalty is warranted.
But a client of a contractor cannot recover damages through the board. Shumate said the client must sue for that, then prove his case against the contractor in court.
If the client gets a court judgment, the board may again play a role. Shumate said anyone with a judgment who is unable to collect from the defendant-contractor can be compensated from the Contractors Transaction Recovery Fund. People holding judgments against a licensed but insolvent contractor can recover up to $10,000.
It is, Shumate said, "a fund of last resort."
As of the end of February, the fund had paid out 66 claims totaling $399,000.
Money in the fund comes from fees that contractors pay to take the licensing examination. In addition, Shumate said, all contractors are required to make a contribution to rebuild the fund whenever it falls below $400,000. The last assessment of $50 on each licensed contractor was imposed in March.
Shumate has been a Virginia contractor since 1982, when he graduated from the University of Virginia and went to work for Building Specialists, a company that specializes in home improvement and restorations.
He is the board's only member for the Roanoke region: "Pretty much, I'm it."
The board is not organized geographically, however. When the board was enlarged from nine to 13 members several years ago, each of the three trade groups - plumbers, electricians and heating-ventilating-
air-conditioning installers - was guaranteed a seat.
Traditionally, home improvement contractors have been guaranteed at least one place on the board. Shumate occupies that industry's seat.
Shumate said he "learned a lot" on the board. "It's really fascinating to do this."
What he won't miss when he leaves the board June 30 is the amount of time he devotes to the job and the long drives to Richmond for meetings. "Our board makes us work hard to be prepared for meetings," Shumate said.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Earle H. Shumate will have more timeby CNBto spend at Building Specialists' Roanoke headquarters after he
leaves the Richmond-based Virginia Board for Contractors. color.