Proposed New laws for Owner Builders

[Peter Epperson]

I don't really see this law as so much different than the law passed a few years back requiring any work done by an unlicensed contractor to be less than $1000. I never understood that one, it was a compromise decision, but ostensibly the original idea was to protect the homeowner from lawsuits should the employee become injured. It seemed to me that doing $1000 worth of labor would offer lots of opportunities for a laborer to get hurt. You could hire someone to powerwash your roof. They fall off the roof and you are liable for their injuries. I am a licensed contractor and I pay a load of dollars for insurance every year but I sure was thankful for it when one of my employees fell and bonked his head. He was knocked out and when he came to hours later he had complete amnesia for 3 weeks. A hospital stay and lots of follow ups with doctors. He's fine now but I can't imagine what that would have cost me, especially if things had gone worse. I've worked on some jobs for wealthy people that have had many additional requirements to protect themselves. Believe it or not there are some unscrupulous types out there who would like to get hurt on a job while working for wealthy people. I'm not sure what prompted this particular legislation but I suspect that this whole liability issue played a part. Lawmakers and contractors are not entirely evil people.
Some years back, in Puna, a guy was working on a roof and had the foresight to tie himself off in case of a fall. He had a harness and was tied off to the pipe rack of a pickup truck in the driveway. All was fine until his girlfriend jumped into the truck to go make a beer run. Off went the truck and down went the roofer. Life's a bitch.