NABCEP Update [RE-wrenches]

Tue Nov 19 16:58:52 PST 2002

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Amigos,
Last week I attended the NABCEP BoD meeting in Austin, TX. For those 
of you who don't know, I sit on that board along with Don Loweburg. I 
let myself get drawn in to the deal for several reasons.
1) the organized labor presence was too high and the RE Wrench 
presence was too low.
NABCEP recognizes this and we are taking steps to even it out. NABCEP 
is pretty committed to making sure that the Wrenches and 
non-traditional newbies have access to certification. The union reps 
were not happy campers with that position, but it is going forward 
anyway. Any of y'all who have read Chuck Marken's article in the most 
recent Home Power can probably relate to some if not all of his 
concerns. (Attaboy Chuck, your concerns needed to be expressed)
At this point, NABCEP has already dealt with some of them. NABCEP 
realized very quickly that the overwhelming union response to the 
original stakeholder questionnaire did NOT represent what was really 
going on in our industry and have greatly modified the requirements 
to sit for the certification test to include as many of us 
independent working Wrenches as possible.
2) Whether we like it or not, I believe that national certification 
is going to happen. Most of us OGs (old guys) can remember the happy 
days before NEC 690. While I still have some issues with that, I 
gotta admit that it is a good thing overall. Here's why it's going to 
happen and why we need to do it:
Money.
For RE to continue to go mainstream, we will need incentive programs. 
(Yes, I fully agree that if the oil, coal, and gas incentives went 
away we'd be cost effective tomorrow, but let's get real. That ain't 
gonna happen. Certainly not under Dubya or the Demos for that matter. 
Even if Ralph had won, I doubt whether he would have had the juice to 
stop them.)
Since incentive programs are funded through "public benefit" funds, 
ie the people's dough, it is reasonable and correct to require good 
value for money spent. A huge part of that is good design and 
installation. No arguments there, eh? While all states currently 
having RE incentive programs allow (and will continue to allow) 
owner/builder installations, some are now seriously looking at 
promoting certified Wrench installations in one way or another. As 
soon as the data is in from a few of these programs, we all know that 
it will show that real Wrench installations will overall outperform 
the others. Apparently in Florida there is already data to suggest 
that certified contractor installs cost a bit more but last far 
longer. It seems like a no-brainer to me that data like that will 
prompt other state programs to adopt similar provisions.
At the same time, some manufacturers are looking at programs where 
installations by certified Wrenches have increased warrantees. In 
some cases, if you aren't licensed and/or certified and trained in 
their products, there is NO warrantee. How 'bout them apples?
3) Pride. I'm proud of what I do and I'm proud of my craftsmanship. 
Aren't y'all? While I don't NEED another certification to do my job, 
if there is one worth having which will tell my clients to hire the 
best and forget the rest, I want it. I'm all over it. Bring it on.

So, one way or another, I figure we should do this. In the best case, 
it will put more money in our pockets and allow us to compete with 
(and hopefully say bye-bye to) the incompetents. I don't see this as 
putting the competent, but uncertified, shade tree Wrench out of biz 
at all. He/she just may not get the higher end jobs. Oh well.
In the worst case, our industry goes the way of most electrical and 
plumbing trades. Very controlled and hard to break into. I believe 
that by steering NABCEP we can avoid this. Looking down the road, if 
NABCEP is a hit, we can steer State programs to some degree as well. 
After all, are we or are we not the damn experts around here?
OK, I figure this is bound to spark debate. Let's have it. If Don and 
I are to represent the Wrenches effectively, we need to hear all of 
it. Just keep in mind, especially if you disagree with the whole 
concept, that we ain't the enemy...
Best, Bob-O

-- 
Bob-O Schultze, Electron Connection
PO Box 203, Hornbrook, CA 96044
800.945.7587 or 530.475.3402
fax 530-475-3401
www.electronconnection.com

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