Summary of Public Comments
received by the Sunset Commission

The Sunset Commission received over 250 public responses to the Sunset staff report, most of which were form letters. They overwhelmingly recommended abolishing the TRCC. We saw only 3-4 comments opposing the staff report and arguing to keep the Commission, and they came from the Commission itself and the Texas Homebuilders Association.

The Sunset Commission staff has posted a subset of actual responses online, and HOT extracted the following quotes.

[highlights added]

• A. Duane Waddill (TRCC Executive Director) as he argues to revamp his agency rather than abolish it 

"The absence of an agency dedicated to assisting Texans who have disputes with builders would leave a great number of Texans in need with 'no option' other than binding arbitration."

• The Honorable Dora Olivo (State Representative, Texas House of Representatives) 

"Some will say the TRCC needs to be revamped rather than abolished. However, the findings of the Sunset Advisory Commission Staff Report clearly establish that no mere tinkering with TRCC policies or procedures can create an honest, fair process capable of addressing the harm done to homeowners who have been cheated out of their hard-earned investments."

"Not only are individual homeowners irreparably harmed, but the loss in property values resulting from substandard, incomplete and unsafe construction erodes the local tax base. These are the tax dollars that educate our children and safeguard our communities."

• Michael A. Young (President and Owner McComis Inspections, Inc.)

"The plumbing system below the house foundation system is a critical and absolutely essential system that must be correctly installed. There is no possible way to verify this without a proper inspection made prior to the backfilling and concealment of the plumbing system to verify that the drainage system will function as intended or even meet code." 

• Pamela J. Bolton, (Director of Policy & Research Texas Watch)

"The TRCC does more to protect the interests of the industry it purports to oversee."

• Carolyn Becka (Vice President Take Back Your Rights PAC)

"It is refreshing to see the Sunset Staff Report added to the list of state agencies (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Report) and Texas State Auditor's Office Report) that recognize the severity of the problems with the TRCC."

"At its inception in 2003, the Texas Residential Construction Commission was disguised by the homebuilding industry as a means of dispute resolution between homeowners and homebuilders. The TRCC was cleverly crafted and structured by the homebuilders' attorneys to appear as a common sense alternative to costly litigation and arbitration. In actuality, it has proven to be an obstacle and lengthy frustrating delay to the resolution process."

• M. Scott Norman, Jr. (Interim Executive Director and General Counsel Texas Association of Builders)

"TAB respectfully disagrees with the Sunset staff recommendation and conclusions, as the Texas Residential Construction Commission ("TRCC") is, in its short lifespan as a new regulatory approach, protecting consumers and providing safeguards against bad actors in the residential building industry. For that reason and reasons enumerated below, the TRCC should be continued, with any needed changes, for the benefit of consumers and home builders alike."

• A.J. Hohman, Jr. (Hohman, Georges and Gehring, L.L.P.)

"The Texas Residential Construction Commission Act is, arguably, one of the worst and unfair pieces of legislation ever enacted in Texas. The 2007 amendment to the Act has done little in the way of change because the TRCC still lacks authority to compel a builder to repair a defective home."

"Many of these types of cases are handled on a contingency basis so the argument that a homeowner will incur attorney's fees he or she cannot afford does not have substance. ... The TRCC process is usually much slower than handling the case in court."

• Janet Ahmad (National President Homeowners for Better Building)

"By establishing TRCC as a burdensome process daunted with bureaucratic roadblocks for homeowners; fearless and confident bad builders simply ignored their customers. To that end TRCC aided in pushing 88% of aggrieved homeowners into costly binding mandatory arbitration, protracted legal disputes or to simply give up in submission; setting an historic hallmark for bad state policy."

"Nationally, no other states public policy poses a greater burden for defective homes squarely on homeowners like Texas. Anything short of repeal of TRCCA would be an injustice to families of Texas."

• Rosa Rosales (National President League of United Latin American Citizens)

"In Texas LULAC has witnessed a disturbing trend in substandard new home construction, which can be attributed to the lack of adequate inspections during construction, lack of effective new home warranty protection, home durability as well as lack of consumer redress for defective new home construction."

"Texas is grossly lacking when it comes to new home buyer consumer protection laws. The industry-wide use of Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA) clauses in new homebuilder contracts and third party warranties further deny home buyers their constitutional rights of holding a builder accountable through the courts."

• Larry and Lynda Restine (Spring Branch, Texas)

"We are victims of an unscrupulous builder who failed to pay the subcontractors or finish our home. ... The TRCC has no authority or enforcement ability with registered builders."

• Barry S. Thombs (Vice President & Co-Owner The Rockaway Company, Inc., an upscale remodelling company)

"...we were finishing jobs for so many people that had been taken advantage of. It's truly heart-breaking to go to someone's home that is in total disarray and explain to them that most of the work that had been done will need to be redone. These homeowners have paid thousands of dollars to someone who didn't finish, didn't know how to estimate work, didn't return calls, didn't have a permanent location to reach them at. The only information the homeowner had on their contractor was a business card usually containing a phone number that had been disconnected. The homeowner had a feeling of being raped with no recourse but to live with it and pay more money."

"I do wish that a test or exam was also required to register and that proof of at least $2,000,000.00 worth of umbrella insurance were included to register with the State of Texas."

• Lou McCreary (Law Offices of Lou McCreary)

"It is my considered opinion, shared by a number of attorneys who are familiar with the current residential construction dispute resolution process, many of whom have declined to represent homeowners due to the confusing nature and futility of claim resolution before the Commission, that the TRCC be abolished or if not abolished, greatly reformed to achieve justice for the homeowners of Texas."

• T. June Melton, PE (Amstar Engineering, Inc.)

"Rules and procedures developed by the Texas Residential Construction Commission do nothing to protect the home buyer. The builder constructs the foundation, not the home buyer, and deficiently designed and/or constructed residential foundation systems are almost impossible to repair economically. My opinion is that any builder selling a home with a deficient foundation should be required to buy the house back and reimburse the owner all costs."

"TRCC provides a list of "registered" inspectors who might not be professional engineers and are therefore not qualified to inspect foundations but whom TRCC recognizes as qualified anyway."

• Margie Raborn (Alleyton, Texas)

"When looking at the bias represented on that Commission, I cannot help but wonder, if they are not simply trying to shut down their own competition. ... It appears to me the paid staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission may be working harder for the ordinary citizens of Texas by their recommendations, than our own elected representatives; who do not seem above playing politics. ... Please follow the recommendations of your own staffs reports!"

• Mary Henderson (Austin, Texas)

Mary's comments tell of severe problems with her own new home, which was never in good enough shape to get a Certificate of Occupancy or utility hookup.  

• William D. Pearson (W.D. Pearson & Associates)

"It was quite obvious from the outset that the TRCC was the hand maiden of the Home Builders."

• Jordan Fogal (Houston, Texas)

"I hope in some small way, the horrible way they [TRCC] have treated those of us who got stuck with defective Tremont Homes, helped you to make your decision. Something good has to come out of our pain. I wish no one ever had to go though what the TRCC and the arbitration clauses have done to us. ... Abolish the TRCC. You can't fix an agency that has as it's intent to protect the builders at all costs."

•  Richard Lackey (Austin, Texas)

"The last 3 years has been a nightmare dealing with so-called custom home builders. ... The registration process results in TRCC receiving a registration fee even if the registree is not a qualified and competent builder. ... It is strongly evident the Act/Rules, etc. was designed to PROTECT THE UNSCRUPULOUS BUILDER(s)!"

•  Douglas A. Garrett (Building Performance & Comfort, Inc.)

"I am a self employed building scientist, home inspector, forensic engineer and code specialist with over twenty five years of experience in Texas residential construction. I have never encountered a single homeowner who after working through the TRCC process felt anything but abused, taken advantage of and angry with the Legislature for creating the TRCC."

Douglas then goes on to offer many suggestions of what to replace the TRCC with.

• Ben F. Marshall (Schertz, Texas)

Ben describes problems with his own home including... "After the state inspection, it was determined that the builder's inspector was either lying or incompetent, and that the slab had failed. However, the true colors of the TRCC came through with the rest of their findings. Echoing the state engineers comments, the State (TRCC) said that although the slab has failed, the builder was only liable for the cosmetic damages. The TRCC stated that any repair action at this point would cause more damage than currently exists."

"I cannot sell my house because the slab is cracked, by order of the state, yet the builder does not have to make good on the 10 year warranty that is supposed to cover this exact type of issue."

•  Robert Allison (New Braunfels, Texas)

Robert describes himself as a custom builder with an excellent reputation, yet he endorses the Sunset recommendation.

"I fully support abolishing the TRCC. I see it as an ineffective agency that is more concerned with collecting fees and creating hurdles than a protective agency."