Proposed law protects home buyers

To the editor,

There are two bills before the Legislature that have been in the works for some time. SB 161 and HB 81 is a good law that will provide protection for Alaska home buyers. We are totally in support of these bills.

I am a home builder that specializes in disaster restoration and remodeling, we have been in business in the Valley for almost 30 years. We have a better perspective than most because often we deal with phone calls from frustrated home owners who bought a brand new home only to find it has many problems. Examples include poor plumbing, bad electrical installs, and septic systems that do not work and the builder is nowhere around.

These bills do not prohibit anyone from building their own home! That is still the law in Alaska and we take pride in that law. What these bills do is help keep unscrupulous builders that hide behind the allowance from being a track home builder without having a license, bonding or insurance. All this law demands is for the self home builder to notify the state that they are building their own home and/or selling it under the two-year period. This will keep the tract builders from using the existing law to circumvent the rules to fill their own pockets.

Contrary to the scare tactics out there about this bill, this is a consumer protection issue that adds security to home buyers and we ask the people of this borough to support it.

Richard Carr

President

Mat-Su Home Builders Association and BEMA Construction Company

Wasilla