It's the Chicago Way!

[William J. Decker]

Interesting article about the accountability of the so-called Stimulus money with regards to the "winterization program" in Chicago.

Guess what? There was widespread fraud, sub-standard workmanship, overbilling and safety hazards.

I would have never guessed

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...105300303.html

[William Warner]

hmmmmm... imagine that!

[Jeff Merritt]

Da boss needs da cash.
I just got a parking ticket for having a plastic cover over my license plate, $50.00

[Gary Farnsworth]

Nick sent me a NACHI plate cover, but I could not use it. It covers up the state name and truck tag.

No surprise. This stuff happens everywhere, especially in this administration, and no one gets arrested.

But we, as inspectors, the only true honest industry left, have to now be licensed in most states, so we can write soft reports, legally. Quite a racket we have going on in the U.S. Banks, foreclosures, stimulus fraud, our new way of life. Sad. Our country is not what it used to be. Change we can believe in. November 2nd cannot come soon enough.

[William J. Decker]

Hey, they are fining any painter or remodeling contractor who is not RRP certified $37,500 PER DAY fer crying out loud.

The feds want money, not just the city.

And what is it with this new 1099 law? If you gas up at a local station, and spend more than $600 per year, you gotta send them a 1099.

What's with that?

[Gary Farnsworth]

"Yep, I know of it. I can only hope that Congress repeals that portion (if not all) of the health care bill.
It will be a massive headache and there is no way on God’s green earth that the IRS will be able process all that paperwork if it does happen.
Until they change the law, starting Jan 1, 2012, you will need to collect the FEIN and corp. mailing address for every expenditure made through the company “just in case” you go over $600 from that vendor/supplier during the course of the year.
Nightmarish!!
The only hope the IRS has of processing these is to ABSOLUTELY NOT allow anyone to file these on paper. It will generate literally a billion pieces of paper for the IRS to process for the 2012 tax season – they should have that done sometime within the next 10 years!
Write your Congressman, do whatever, but if they don’t change it we will just have to prepare starting Jan 1, 2012 and be ready."


My accountant response.

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by gfarnsworth

"Yep, I know of it. I can only hope that Congress repeals that portion (if not all) of the health care bill.
It will be a massive headache and there is no way on God’s green earth that the IRS will be able process all that paperwork if it does happen.
Until they change the law, starting Jan 1, 2012, you will need to collect the FEIN and corp. mailing address for every expenditure made through the company “just in case” you go over $600 from that vendor/supplier during the course of the year.
Nightmarish!!
The only hope the IRS has of processing these is to ABSOLUTELY NOT allow anyone to file these on paper. It will generate literally a billion pieces of paper for the IRS to process for the 2012 tax season – they should have that done sometime within the next 10 years!
Write your Congressman, do whatever, but if they don’t change it we will just have to prepare starting Jan 1, 2012 and be ready."


My accountant response.

Not 2012, but 2011. You must start next year.

[Peter C. Russell]

Originally Posted by wdecker

Hey, they are fining any painter or remodeling contractor who is not RRP certified $37,500 PER DAY fer crying out loud.

The feds want money, not just the city.

And what is it with this new 1099 law? If you gas up at a local station, and spend more than $600 per year, you gotta send them a 1099.

What's with that?

This is why I'm in the process of closing my construction Business. Went from 8 employees 2 years ago down to 0. Here are a few more reasons why small businesses can't make it today.

Legal fees
Accounting fees
Liability insurance
Workers comp.
Payroll fees
Vehicle costs
Employees screwing the system, stealing, ripping off unemployment
Customers screwing you, not paying for extras, ETC
Low ballers, seems like 5 per job now.
Material costs.
OSHA
EPA

Let see...... did I miss anything?

Pretty soon all your home needs will come from Sears, Lowes, Wal-Mart and home depot. Sell it cheap but a lot of it.

[ldapkus]

Are you getting out of the weatherization business Peter?

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by prussell

This is why I'm in the process of closing my construction Business. Went from 8 employees 2 years ago down to 0. Here are a few more reasons why small businesses can't make it today.

Legal fees
Accounting fees
Liability insurance
Workers comp.
Payroll fees
Vehicle costs
Employees screwing the system, stealing, ripping off unemployment
Customers screwing you, not paying for extras, ETC
Low ballers, seems like 5 per job now.
Material costs.
OSHA
EPA

Let see...... did I miss anything?

Pretty soon all your home needs will come from Sears, Lowes, Wal-Mart and home depot. Sell it cheap but a lot of it.

We need less government but we want it's help also.
Rock and a hard place.

[Peter C. Russell]

Originally Posted by ldapkus

Are you getting out of the weatherization business Peter?

Already have with the state. What a cluster f*ck

[ldapkus]

Originally Posted by prussell

Already have with the state. What a cluster f*ck

Yeah, I stayed away from it 'cause I just had a bad feeling about getting into it. I actually had registered for the energy audit certification course and got out of it after the class was postponed due to lack of participants. I'm glad I didn't follow through with training and investing in equipment.

[Peter C. Russell]

Linus, one thing I don't regret is the experience I got. It really opened my eyes to the use of T I, blower doors and building science in general. As you know I've been doing this for about a year and a half and have retrained myself as far as home performance goes.
To be able to walk into a house, set up the blower door, do the thermal imaging scan, correct the problem with air sealing, insulation, weatherstripping, ETC and then test out and see the result was worth all the headache's.