To protect against the risk of renovation activities causing hazardous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe practices.
The rule, which began April 22, requires contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects in homes, facilities and schools built prior to 1978 to be certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.
Greentree Environmental Services Inc. in Portage is the second approved training provider in the state where contractors can become certified renovators via an eight-hour training course.
"Not everybody knows about this new RRP rule," said Robert Hallmen, Greentree co-founder and vice president. "I would estimate about 20 percent of contractors even know about it."
Hallmen said the trickle-down effect of the rule means it will encompass landlords.
"If you receive any compensation at all for a pre-1978 property, you have to be RRP certified to do renovations," he said.
Greentree Environmental was established by Hallmen and his brother, John R. Casey, the company's president, in 1996 when the EPA started requiring disclosure on real estate transactions.
"When you rented a piece of property that was built prior to 1978, or sell it, you have to hand out a booklet to the new owner along with any knowledge of lead-based paint on your property," Hallmen said. "We saw an opportunity knocking, so we figured there was going to be testing coming up due to disclosure in 1996."
Between 1997 and 1998, testing was supposed to start on federally-subsidized properties, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development kept adding extensions before municipalities had to comply with the rule, Hallmen said.
"It never happened right away," Hallmen said. "We didn't always make a good living doing this."
It was during those challenging times that the brothers utilized their construction backgrounds and opened a home inspection company.
"That's actually what kept us alive until things started getting fired up with the lead," Hallmen said. "What we originally thought would be a market for what we were doing rather soon after we opened up ended up being about five years."
Greentree Environmental has provided lead-based paint and mold services to private companies and individuals, state and federal agencies, as well as municipalities including East Chicago, Hammond, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Madison, Muncie and South Bend.
The recent recession presented some challenging times for the company, mainly when it comes to testing HUD properties as soon as the agency acquired them.
"Just recently in the last year they've actually looked at saving money in that department, and we don't test them until after they get offers on the properties," Hallmen said. "But our testing did pick up in some areas because of the economic stimulus dollars out there - there's a lot more money flying to economic development departments."
Greentree Environmental opened an office in Cape Coral, Fla., in 2009.
