Contractors Wary Of Looming Calif. Home Improvement Law

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) If youre planning to remodel your kitchen or make other home improvements in 2014, it could cost you more than youre willing to spend.

Effective Jan. 1, 2014, a 2009 state law introduced by a Southland lawmaker will require some homeowners to install water-saving fixtures on toilets, shower heads and faucets throughout the house.

After youre done with your regular inspector you deal with the green inspector. They double-check certain things that maybe the regular inspector is not looking for, said Alan Erdy, whos remodeling his two-bedroom home in Studio City.

Senate Bill 407 (PDF) calls for any residential and commercial property built and available for use on or before January 1, 1994, to replacing plumbing fixtures that are not water conserving.

Authored by State Senator Alex Padilla, the bill was initially crafted by Sacramento lawmakers with heavy support from state water agencies to reduce urban water consumption and work towards slashing water use statewide by 20 percent by 2020.

The bill calls for low-flow fixture upgrades in all homes, apartments and commercial buildings built in 1994 or earlier about 11 million single-family homes and buildings statewide, according to U.S. Census data, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Gone are the days of the car-wash shower.

You cannot have that on because its too much water, youre wasting a lot of water, according to Diane Gonzales of Universal Kitchen and Bath.

Gonzales said some customers arent taking to the news too well.

Especially on the toilets, theyre like, Whoa, wait a minute! she said.

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Contractors Wary Of Looming Calif. Home Improvement Law