Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Late last year, tired of enriching others unwilling to share, I started my own civil construction business. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It takes drive, money, perseverance, luck and faith in your abilities. It also takes a preternatural ability to deal with government. We hear about regulatory excess and bureaucracy all the time. Here’s a list of the various governmental entities I’ve had to register with since starting my business: the Arizona Corporation Commission, The Arizona Contractor’s Licensing Board, the Arizona Department of Revenue, The Arizona Blue Stake Utility Marking Authority, The Arizona Department of Economic Security, The Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles, the Maricopa County Dust Control Board, The City of Chandler (AZ), The Gila River Indian Community, The US Department of Interior – Bureau of Indian Affairs, The US Department of Transportation – Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, The US Department of Homeland Security – “e verify” program, The US Department of Treasury – Electronic Funds Transfer System, the US Federal Central Contractors Registry, The US Department of Labor - Employment and Training Administration, and the US Department of Treasury - Internal Revenue Service. I also have to comply with the regulatory requirements of the EPA (emissions, dust control, dumping), OSHA, the Arizona Labor Board, and the Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health.
My little company with some twelve employees and five trucks must register with 15 different governmental entities and at least 19 different agencies claim to have jurisdiction over things we do. Every single state and federal agency has a website designed to help register. When I used these web-based utilities, every single portal had a fatal problem. 1-800 help lines relentlessly point you back to the failed web portal. Persevere through the automated phone menus and the result is ususally death hold or disconnect. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so frustrating.
Where are all the bureaucrats when you need them?
In future posts, I’ll chronicle my regulatory registration and compliance activities. It’s the kind of stuff that inspires…
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May '10
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
But are you in compliance with the Bureau of Compliance?
Aug '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
No. I failed the audit. It seems I failed to keep my compliance log copies on file for the requisite 90 days.
Feb '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
I think the movie Brazil captures the bureaucratic nightmare many of us find ourselves in. I sympathize with you.
Oh, and if you'd like the Federal Gov't micromanaging every tiny bit of your small business, go to medical school!
Mar '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
All of that and yet even if every step could be completed flawlessly and with a minimum of distraction the entire litany of labor would not represent even a single moment of productive effort where you are actually running your business.
Still for armies of pundits and politicians our economy is still "unexpectedly" failing to generate new employment.
Sep '10
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Just wait until the Department of Jobs comes along. And now that you posted here, I'm sure the NLRB will be at your doorstep soon, wondering why you don't have union labor.
Jan '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Calling Rob, Peter or Prof. Rahe,
Please forward this post of Mr. Kimball's to some of your 'big wig-GOP' contacts. Stories like this and that farmer in Illinois that Obama told to just call the Dept. of Ag. are so very illustrative of the government choking economis activity.
Good luck to you Mr. Kimball.
May '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
90 days? That's just for on-site storage, right? Don't you have triplicate backup copies stored in a climate controlled vault somewhere for 10 years?
Oct '10
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Paul Erickson
90 days? That's just for on-site storage, right? Don't you have triplicate backup copies stored in a climate controlled vault somewhere for 10 years? · Aug 22 at 6:13pm
Simple, backup all data to tape or disk and have Iron Mountian do offsite storage it if is available there. Inhouse tech is relatively easy.
Impressive list of obstacles there, trust you will overcome the hurdles.
Best wishes.. Stiff upper lip and all that... Meeting the challenges is reward in and of itself worthwile.
Edited on Aug 22, 2011 at 10:22pmJun '10
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
I'm beginning to understand why nothing is ever "shovel-ready" anymore. Socialized medicine patients maybe, but nothing else.
Nov '10
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
:-) :-) :-)
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Can you give us a rough estimate of the amount of time you've spent doing this and the ratio between that and economically productive activity?
Mar '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
I would bet convicted sex offenders have fewer government entities to register with.
Edited on Aug 23, 2011 at 12:55amMar '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Maricopa County has a Dust Control Board? So all the dust in Maricopa County is a government problem, or are they promoting it? If the Maricopa County Dust Control Board ceased all activities, how long would it take anyone to notice?
Feb '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Percival: Maricopa County has a Dust Control Board?
Oh, yes. There is little if any residential construction underway in Maricopa these days. There is some commercial however. During our sojourn down there last winter, I regularly drove past a small school under construction. There was a prominent sign proclaiming dust control compliance. The site work phase was hilarious. Dust control trucks would spray water until the site was a sea of mud. Then bulldozers and earth movers would slop the mud around until they accidentally ran into dry earth. Then the spray trucks would rush in to create more mud. Not even in New Jersey's idiotic regulatory environment have I seen anything so bizarre.
So far, the Maricopa dust control bureaucrats haven't figured out a good way to stop farm tractors from raising a nice cloud, but I'm sure they're trying to find ways. Once they do, it will be the death of what little is left of Maricopa agriculture. The daily contingent of dust devils must drive them to drink. Then there are the walls of dust that blow in from other counties. It's enough to make a dedicated government employee cry.
May '10
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Speaking of armies of pundits, one of the favorite memes of the conservative commentariat is "start your own business and be a big success." In the America of the past, that would be true. The chains of the regulatory state are now so onerous that the "luck" Mr. Kimball spoke of now represents the major part of what it takes to succeed in business.
Thus the glib pronouncements of the talkers sound as much as anything like the "crackling of thorns under a pot" (Ecclesiates 7:6).
Meanwhile hats off to Mr. Kimball for giving it a go, best wishes for success.
Feb '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Part of Arizona's problem is that it has been inundated by expatriates, especially from California. Like a swarm of beavers colonizing a virgin stretch of stream, that segment of the population, once settled, immediately sets about recreating in their new home the mess they fled. For a CoC violating tirade, ask a native Oregonian what he thinks of the influx from California. Equally instructive is the ghastly mess between Fort Collins and Pueblo at the foot of the front range.
Up in rural northeast Pennsylvania, the expatriates are from New York and New Jersey. If you go to a town council meeting, aside from a few old timer gadflies, the bulk of the activists are the urban/suburban exiles. The rural township in which I live was the scene of one of the great moments in municipal government. A recently transplanted activist rose to demand when the committee was going to institute zoning (we must be one of the last communities on Earth without zoning). A committeeman answered simply, "We already have too much government" and went on to the next question.
Edited on Aug 23, 2011 at 6:18amApr '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Mr. Kimball's nightmare is for a smaller business where you (in theory) purchase trucks, hire labor and away you go. Kudos to his perserverance in this climate. Imagine, however, trying to build an actual factory from the gound up to, you know, make something. My last company built a pharmaceutical mfg site in India (200,000 liter reactor capacity, which is huge). The entire facility was built in 6 months,add 2 months to install the equipment and 3-4 months to qualify the processes to meet QA standards. So from decision to go to doors open for mfg, less than 1 year. In the states, just the regulatory nightmare to begin breaking ground on a new site would take 9-12 months. These sites are not low-wage, unskilled labor intensive either, but manned by scientists and engineers making a good living. Talk about a boom to the local economy. In Europe it's even worse. They have the same regulatory nightmare, but at least in the States we can lay people off if business goes south. Over there, no chance, everyone is unionized. So companies don't even bother building. It's straight to China or India.
Mar '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
"In future posts, I’ll chronicle my regulatory registration and compliance activities. It’s the kind of stuff that inspires"…
...one to just start the business and wait for the regulators to catch up with you. It's always easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. How many "construction businesses" that stand outside the Home Depot every morning go through all this?
Jan '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
Heck with those regulations. You should be organizing a Ricochet meet-up over there in Chandler. Get some of those guys at Intel to come too. I'm not sure about a Starbucks but I think there is a Hooters nearby.
Aug '11
Re: Into the Bureaucratic Abyss...
In reponse to Percival, we have Dust Nazi's here in Maricopa county. One puff when loading a small dump truck and expect a hefty fine. Here's one for you - you can get fines if a business card penetrates the "sealing crust" (read: mud). They're out there armed with business cards pushing them into the earth, itching to write a ticket. In the meantime 10,000 ft haboobs dump inches of mud on the bottom of my pool and dust devils carry away outbuildings. The farmers go unregulated and trucks kick up a small storm when they race down our numerous rural roads. We all know, however, that when it comes to dust, the real criminals are contractors. We're even responsible for dust that might emanate from a jobsite on weekends. It's nuts.