MN Radon Licensing Act meeting announcement...

March 4, 2016 Meeting re. The MN Radon Licensing Act

Greetings to All Radon Mitigators, Radon Testers, Home Inspectors, Realtors, and Building Officials,

You are strongly encouraged to attend a meeting sponsored by the newly formed Minnesota Association of Radon Professionals.

Find out how the new MN Radon Licensing Act and law, to be implemented by the MN Dept. of Health in 2017, will dramatically change who can be involved in Radon Testing, Radon Mitigation and fees attached to it. This new law will have a profound impact on the way you do business and those who work for you and with you.

Speakers at the March 4 meeting will include Lawmakers, Code Officials, Attorneys, Realtors and Mitigation Professionals. Topics will include options for going forward with professional designation and common sense approaches that limit government intervention, minimizing administrative and redundant costs. We will also review the option of repealing and replacing this law.

This is your best opportunity to become comprehensively informed, learn how to get involved and be heard.

When: 9:00am, Friday, March 4th, 2016
Where: Maple Grove Government Center, 12800 Arbor Lakes Pkwy N., Maple Grove, MN 55369
Cost: This meeting is FREE. Seating is limited.

Please RSVP asap to: noah@rouengroup.com

For more information contact:
Walter Donnay 612-490-1295
Mike Hogenson 612-369-5433
Noah Rouen 612-419-6909

NOTE: Please do not reply to this email. To reach Mike Hogenson, please send email to mwh@standardwater.com

Radon laws are worthless. Here in Kansas, they are not enforced, policed, and many radon “testing professionals” do them for free, whether or not there is radon in the home tested. Many mitigation companies then get the “free” fees back from mitigation revenue.

Huge conflicts of interest abound when testers do the testing and mitigation. Laws just allow for games to be played, and push the little independent testing people out of business. It is a racket, very similar to HI licensing.

It is all about the state and CEU testing schools to make money. That’s all.

That’s how I feel about it also.

Worthless or not, like it or not, it has come to Minnesota. The question is, what the heck are we gonna do about it?

If what you’re saying is true it sounds like Kansas has a very crooked government that is worthless. Not the licensing laws in general.

Nothing. Let the mitigation guys do free testing.

Homeowners lose big but that’s how laws work in Minnesota.

And in every other state as well. Laws are only implemented to satisfy and benefit the ones who put them into play. The laws are purchased by lobbyists and special interest groups to add revenue to the business that want the laws, and push the honest, small business out of play. The consumers are the ones who lose.

Now you know why the race for the Presidency is so rough.

Latest Update: Received 01/25/2017:

I have a message for Minnesota lawmakers. I can save you millions.

Just let the real estate agent office brokers set the requirements for radon testing for homes of their home buyers. Testers should have insurance, proof of educational requirements, and signing of a waver by all radon testing companies guaranteeing no conflicts of interest, and testing of radon by EPA protocols. Let the office brokers monitor the requirements and the performance of the testers, and any other tradespersons for that matter.

Put it on them. Besides, they are the ones who most likely want the laws anyway. Think about that.

Update:

Thanks for the update Jeff.

Update:

update:

UPDATE: May 24, 2018

Update:

This discussion should move forward to dealing with the law. I, for one, am now licensed. The difficulty I have is quality assurance in a market where I might see a total of 20 or 30 radon tests annually. My community is very small and rural.

Carbon canisters and QA were two huge conflicting issues. It’s so easy to tamper with carbon canisters, and even the realtors tell sellers what to do (open windows periodically). Yes, one can have a QA program with carbon canisters, but it involves tamper tape and lots of other hassles. I decided to go with a CRM instead, because of the QA/tamper issues.

Price then becomes a huge issue due to low anticipated volume. Leasing programs for CRM’s were out of the question, at $150 +/- for monthly fee. Then, for multiple foundation types, I’d end up back with carbon canisters or need a second CRM. Carbon canisers, and once again the QA program hassles become a huge issue.

I finally decided to purchase two CRM’s and finance over a 2 year period in order for the “lease” cost to cash flow, based on my estimated revenue. This was a long decision process, but at this point I’m satisfied with the chain of decisions.

I considered at the end both the Sunnuclear products and Airthings. Both would work for my cash flow and financing choices. I did not find any other CRM’s to consider for purchase.

I am waiting arrival of my devices, I have received my license, and I’m about to market to my local realtors. Good thing is I have a good relationship with my realtors and several encouraged me to do this. I’m also the only licensed measurement person within 100 miles.

With out of pocket costs for training and devices, I have $3500 in to this endeavor. The value of my time in lost revenue is not included. Time will tell how this pays out. Part of the reason I decided to get radon licensed is to nudge more realtors to use me for home inspections.

I’d be interested in hearing how others are approaching this issue. It is here to stay in Minnesota, and definitely a risk to undertake as a business in rural Minnesota.

It will also be interesting in how realtors approach this issue. I know one realtor who told one buyer to place the carbon canister in the home and then send it in as a private party. There will be ways around this, but that’s always the case.

I no longer offer Radon testing in MN.

I am willing to arrange someone else doing it.

Sold my CRM’s and if I do an inspection with radon I sub it out for $125 and charge $150.00. Way too expensive in time and money to do radon myself. There are lots of people who are certified that charge $125.00. Just another example of government overreach.

Overreach? Really? How’s that? Is this fine with you: Buyer has realtor place carbon canister devices and the realtor tells seller to keep windows open, reducing the reading.

Radon is #2 cause of lung cancer death, behind smoking and ahead of second hand smoke, and the public is not aware (is this an issue of personal responsibility or is it an issue of government responsibility for the public good and defense?). Who is responsible for informing the public? Government, another entity, or the unknowing individual?

Who is advocating for the buyer? We may differ, but I do support professional licensing to establish minimum standards (building contractors, home inspectors, radon testing professionals to mention a few). At the same time, the purpose of InterNACHI is the same as government licensing, to establish minimum standards. Like government licensing, I don’t see InterNACHI’s role in setting standards as overreach either.

I know this forum gets pretty snippy, but the intent of my post is to share information between those who accept the licensing of radon professionals in MN, and how they are addressing the issues of the business. Licensing is here, whether you think the government is overreaching or not. Hopefully this discussion can move forward from this reality. If not here, I’ll continue to look for spaces where this kind of discussion can happen.

Calm down kemosabe, yes government overreach. I didn’t say not to test because you are correct, radon can cause lung cancer and having survived cancer I am the last person who would say don’t test for radon.

Problem in my opinion is radon test licensing was successfully lobbied for by companies who would benefit from licensing and like contractor licensing it adds time and expense but does little to protect consumers.

As far as anyone being snippy, see whos looking at you the net time you shave.