NKBA members, be sure to register for the free webinar, Selling Your Expertise, available on February 28 and March 13 at 1:30 p.m. EST.

Selling Your Expertise provides an interactive platform to discuss selling your current expertise and credentials. This course will also discuss the importance of establishing a personal brand and crafting a mission statement. You’ll have opportunities to complete a personal analysis to identify strengths and development opportunities, create an action plan, and determine your next steps.

This webinar is only free to NKBA members who’ve renewed for 2012. To register for Selling Your Expertise on either February 28 or March 13, please contact NKBA Customer Service at 1-800-THE-NKBA (843-6522). Don’t delay- space is limited!

Congratulations to Front Range Community College on becoming accredited with the National Kitchen and Bath Association!

Front Range Community College has three campuses and is the largest community college in Colorado. They are committed to technical education with strong ties to various industries. The kitchen and bath program will be offered at the Fort Collins campus only.  Ms. Claudia Romero serves as the department chair and Ms. Nowell Vincent serves as the full time faculty program director.

Has your company considered offering internships to students?

There is always a need for internship opportunities and it’s a great way to give industry experience to future kitchen and bath designers.  Interns can also benefit your company by raising awareness of your company on campus, and providing a great way to recruit potential employees.  By providing your expertise to the educational community you can elevate your reputation in the industry.  Learn more about the NKBA internship program at: http://www.nkba.org//Participate/Intern/Overview.aspx. Chapter members are encouraged to list jobs/internship openings and opportunities on the NKBA website at www.nkba.org/students_careers.aspx. Students can get career information at www.nkba.org/students.aspx.

Here’s to a great 2012 and we look forward to assisting with the success of both our industry and student members.

DeaAnna Call

VP Academic Relations

NKBA Rocky Mountain Chapter

The Holidays…

If you are of a particular religion, the Holidays mean something different for you versus someone of another religion.  Be it Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanza, the Holidays do have a few things in common: Gift Giving, Generosity, and attempts to make others happy.

Here’s a gift that costs you very little: Smile at others.

It may pain your face if you haven’t smiled in awhile, but your smile generally gets returned by those you smile at, and when that happens, you return their smile a little wider.

Smiles make people feel better, they help reduce stress (who couldn’t use less stress these days), and best of all, they cost very little.

Why do I say they have a cost?  Because you have to take a moment to consciously act to make a smile.  A little precious moment that interrupts your thought processing about you and what is happening to and around you.

Having trouble making a smile?  Try this: Think about something you really enjoy.  Unless you are Dexter, a hint of a smile emerges when you think about something truly enjoyable.  What is really amazing is that when you think a happy thought around others, they smile and maybe even a group laugh emerges.  How Fun!

Share the Holidays and SMILE

As outgoing VP for Government Relations, I want to extend my appreciation to those that let their voice be heard, whether opposed to or in favor of, the CIDC and ASID Colorado proposition this past spring to have registration for Interior Designers. This registration proposal failed in committee.

I expect that the CIDC and ASID Colorado are planning on introducing State legislation this coming year for registering and/or licensing Interior Designers.
PLEASE NOTE: Within the Colorado licensing law for architects – Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 12, Article 25, Part 3 Architects: #303 Exemptions #(6) – allows Interior Designers to present plans for Building Permit(s) under specific conditions.

According to the CIDC and ASID Colorado, the reason for desiring “registration of Interior Designers” is to create a database for Building Officials, within the State purview, for access to verify compliance with the statute referenced in the previous paragraph.

What is happening according to CIDC and ASID Colorado, is that Building Officials are disallowing Interior Designers from presenting plans for permits even if the plans presented are in compliance with the above noted statute, OR are requiring review by an architect or professional engineer.

What ASID national is pushing for is any recognition by the individual States, be it registration, licensing or other forms of legislated recognition. Colorado is the only State to allow Interior Designers to apply for Building Permits – under special conditions as stipulated within the referenced Statute.

The CIDC and ASID Colorado want State registration or licensure for the “recognition value”. What they overlook is that groups that are licensed became so regulated by violations of fiduciary obligations, or that the health, safety, and welfare of the public were at risk without governance.

Now, why is NKBA opposed?
1. The issue with the Building Departments and Officials does not require legislation. The CIDC and ASID Colorado need to resolve the matter with the Building Departments and Building Officials. In 2008 and again in 2011, The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) looked into the claim brought by the claimant/applicant (CIDC and ASID Colorado). DORA was unable to substantiate the claimant/applicant statement that Building Officials disregarded compliance with the aforementioned statute for either year.
* For those interested in reading more of DORA’s findings, see below the end of this review.

2. Having State recognition increases benefits to a few – those that comply with the stated statute – and diminishes the value of certifications by other organizations (of which there is a very large list). For example, lighting engineers that have certification or organizational accreditation. Space planners for office partitioning have certifications. NKBA certifications are also a case in point.

3. Creating a bureaucracy to oversee or even having the database to maintain and confirm/or not confirm that a specific Interior Designer (or ID firm) is “registered” is an added cost to State government(s) in a time where budget cuts are the rule. Colorado remains looking for multi-millions to cut in 2012 alone.
This argument does not mean that such registration legislation should pass in the future when times are more economically favorable, it simply questions the timing of presenting any legislation that will cost the State money now and in the future.

4. The field of Interior Design is so broad – from non-structural artistic design/display within enclosed commercial open spaces to showroom design/space planning for retailers, to restaurants/food service planning and design, to office space planning for partitions and furniture placement – that creating a list of certain criteria within the specified statute in Colorado ignores so many other professionals within “Interior Design” that such list would grant ‘exclusivity’ versus the open market we presently have.

5. Building codes allow that any person can present plans for Building Code compliance. Certain segments within specific codes allow owners to present plans for review. Such provision(s) do not negate the fact(s) that codes must be complied with AND that the Building Official has the right and duty to require compliance. If compliance can only be assured by an architect or professional engineer stamp, the Building Official has full authority to make such a call.
There is an appeal process for the party denied the permit. This process involves taking the matter to the overseeing body responsible for the Building Department – a town or city government, or a county government, or in very special cases, a State Agency.

6. During an exhaustive research in 2008 by DORA, not one incident could be found nationwide where actions of an Interior Designer adversely effected the health, safety and welfare of the public.

Other noteworthy items:
1. Lead paint abatement became a matter for both Designers and Contractors during the last two years. Essentially, homes being remodeled that were painted in years past – FHA required lead-free paints starting in 1975, but the supply of paints containing lead continued within the product supply for some years after. Homes constructed even into the late 80’s and early 90’s may have been painted with lead-based materials since conventional lenders and banks did not have to comply with FHA standards until those standards were adopted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – quasi-government agencies that underwrote loans for bond/investor pooling.

2. EPA created lead abatement standards and allowing contractors to take abatement instruction with passing same allowing contractors to advertise lead abatement qualified. Such contractors must keep detailed records and history in the event of an EPA audit.

3. The Internal Revenue Service continues to examine companies claiming to have “independent Contractors”. Make sure you know the rules for engaging ‘independent contractor’ services.