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Since the housing market crashed in 2007, Chuck Day, construction director for Adair Homes in Vancouver, Wash., has tried to make sure his company would endure.

But sweeping changes to Washington鈥檚 state energy code are set to go into effect in July, and are anticipated to raise the costs of home building. Now, Day isn鈥檛 sure how much longer his home building company can hold on.

鈥淗ow does one anticipate and budget as a business for the thing that will eliminate your ability to remain in business?鈥� Day said.

Day鈥檚 largest concern regarding the code changes is that people who have planned, budgeted and secured loans for homes at certain prices will cancel their contracts when those prices increase. According to Day, the codes will increase home costs by 17 to 20 percent on average.

鈥淥nce a loan is funded, we can鈥檛 increase the amount we spend on the house,鈥� Day said. 鈥淎n immediate impact will be we will lose a good portion of the homes we have under contract to build. Even a 5-percent change in cost will eliminate 68 percent of the people we have been able to acquire loans for. It鈥檚 just going to devastate people.鈥�

But Rep. Bob Hasegawa, chairman of the state Joint Administrative Rules and Regulations Committee, introduced a bill Monday that, if passed, would hold the code changes until the Washington State Building Codes Council completes a new small business economic impact statement and cost benefit analysis, as requested by JARRC in October 2009.

Hasegawa says his legislation is not meant to delay the code changes, but rather to ensure that the WSBCC considers all of the information required by JARRC. The committee in October found that the WSBCC had failed to satisfactorily complete a small business economic impact statement before approving the code changes. In the submitted statement, the WSBCC says 鈥渢he number of jobs created or lost as a result of compliance with the proposed rule is unknown.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 a crucial question on the economic impact statement: What is the effect on jobs?鈥� Hasegawa said. 鈥淭hey left that blank. My thinking is that is a key piece of information when you try and change something like this.鈥�

A request from JARRC to Gov. Chris Gregoire asking to hold the code changes until a full economic impact statement could be completed was rejected.

Brian Minnick of the Building Industry Association of Washington said that he and other members have been frustrated by the WSBCC鈥檚 refusal to submit a completed economic impact statement.

鈥淵ou would think it would be a no-brainer to have a full analysis on the economic impact on small businesses,鈥� Minnick said. 鈥淭his is a bad time to add costs onto housing. I鈥檝e seen appraisals coming in on new homes that are less than what it cost to build it.鈥�

Even after Gregoire鈥檚 directive to increase efficiency in buildings by 30 percent over the existing 2006 energy code, the WSBCC determined that only a 15-percent increase was achievable.

鈥淭hat should tell us we鈥檙e putting the cart before the horse here,鈥� said Rep. Dan Kristiansen, a JARRC committee member. 鈥淭echnological changes should save money, and this doesn鈥檛 do that. If you pay thousands of dollars more to build a home to save a few bucks on utility costs, what鈥檚 the offset?鈥�

Still, proponents of the code changes such as Kim Drury, senior policy analyst with the Northwest Energy Coalition, say the changes are a done deal.

鈥淲e have been assured by the Senate energy chair and House energy chair that they would not allow any legislation meant to derail the code changes to go forward,鈥� Drury said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, the code will go into effect in July and it will be cost effective for the citizens of Washington.鈥�

In the meantime, Day and his company are reformulating their current home plans to comply with the new code, something he says is already a substantial expense.

鈥淲e can only ride so long bringing in fewer funds than it takes to run the business,鈥� Day said. 鈥淲e have nothing left to budget. How can we make it on anything less?鈥�