by Jim Buchta
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star TribuneGot a black patch on the wall that's spreading like a bad velvet painting? A nagging water leak? Siding that just won't hold paint?
A decade ago, you'd probably call your builder or just put up a for-sale sign. Today, you can't swing a moisture meter without hitting someone who's offering to cure your ills.
Growing consumer awareness, a rising number of lawsuits and, quite simply, a jump in the number of home-based ills have helped spawn a new industry: home diagnostics and performance testing.
Because of the industry's fledgling nature, its size is hard to pin down. What's clear is that the market for the services of such house diagnosticians, performance testers, mold remediators and building scientists, among others, is big and growing. New and old houses alike are being plagued by a whole host of ills that have emerged in the past couple of decades.
"There's a whole business category right now that doesn't exist," said Linda Wigington, who founded the nonprofit Affordable Comfort 18 years ago in Waynesburg, Pa. "Ideally, you'd have as many home-performance contractors as you'd have plumbers."
The industry's growth is propelled by a combination of factors, according to Steve Wright, who two years ago cofounded Building Knowledge, an Edina, Minn.-based one-stop shop for people with "home-performance problems."
In recent years, the combination of new building materials, inexperienced builders and trades people and varied climates have produced complex and sometimes toxic home environments, said Wright, adding: "Now we're paying the consequences."
In Woodbury, Minn., alone, more than 30 percent of all stucco houses have required stucco repair due to moisture damage, according to the city's building inspections department. Many of those problems were caused by water getting into places it shouldn't: around windows, into wall cavities and on other sensitive structural elements including wall sheathing and floor decking.
That's why home-performance companies are finding a ready market among builders, subcontractors and consumers.
Mac Pearce, an environmental health consultant who has been testing for mold spores for decades, said the industry is simply responding to market demand.
"Every new home and building is a science experiment ... There's a lot of money being flushed down the toilet, and people are angry about it," Pearce said. "It used to be that if people had a mold problem, there were three or four people in town (they could call). Now there are people actively marketing themselves as mold experts, there are now mold franchises--experts of every sort are popping up."
The industry is booming partly because the problems it addresses can be so insidious. Water can get into places where it shouldn't be from the exterior and the interior, and around poorly installed flashing materials and windows. Often, the damage isn't apparent for several years, by which time it may be extensive. Finding someone to diagnose such problems though, has never been easier.
Dennis O'Connell had heard about the problems in Woodbury and knew that a simple test could be done to help determine whether moisture was causing the strange, shadowy cracks in the stucco on the walls of his nine-year-old house. A friend put him in contact with Paul Ellringer of Air Tamarack in St. Paul, Minn., who showed up with his moisture meter and started drilling holes in the stucco.
What Ellringer found was chilling. The $560,000 house still is being evaluated to determine the source and extent of the problem, but Ellringer, whose business has grown tenfold in just a few years, estimates that the damage will total $350,000 to $400,000. The damage could have been even worse if the problem had been detected later.
O'Connell contacted his builder and is facing the prospect of having to deal with no less than six insurance companies. "It's quite devastating," O'Connell said. "I've prepared myself for the worst ... I have some good equity in my home, and now it's all gone."
Insurance companies and lawyers also are fueling demand in the industry, according to Steve Klossner of Advanced Certified Thermography in Afton, Minn. Hundreds of companies are competing for business, and there's no shortage of work, Klossner said.
"Last time I was at a job site, there were probably six or seven consultants on one site, and that's not unusual," said Klossner, who charges $150 an hour. "Each party has their own insurance company, and each insurance company has its own attorney, and each attorney has its own consultant."
The heightened awareness is a good thing, said Remi Stone, public policy director for the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. At the same time, she noted, there's room for unethical behavior. Like many new industries, this one is unregulated, and there currently are no standards for testing.
"I do have anecdotal evidence that suggests that just like we saw a burgeoning of 'mold is gold' continuing education courses, we're seeing a continued increase in people who hold themselves out there as certified remediators," she said.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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