Two Denver-area contractors, three firms in North Dakota, and three in Idaho have paid a total of $24,870 to settle allegations they violated lead-paint rules, the Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

Denver-based HomeWrights LLC paid $9,400 to settle claims it did a renovation and replaced windows on a pre-1978 home in Denver without being certified to do so under the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule. HomeWrights also was accused of failing to assign a properly trained certified renovator for the job, and failing to establish records it was complying with the rule.

Also in Colorado, KSK Builders LLC of Denver paid $2,000 in a settlement in which the EPA said it did renovations on the exterior of a pre-1978 home in Denver without getting RRP certification and without keeping compliance records.

In the North Dakota settlements, JH & JH Properties of Fargo paid $2,000, Clooten Siding & Window of Bismarck paid $2,800, and Buechler Construction of Bismarck paid $2,100. EPA said the allegations against these firms included conducting work on pre-1978 homes without getting RRP certification, failing to inform property owners and the public of potential lead hazards, failure to have a an RRP-certified renovator assigned to the project, inadequate record-keeping that would have shown RRP compliance, and failure to follow lead-safe work practices.

Meanwhile today, EPA's Seattle-based Region 10 announced three RRP-related compliance and enforcement actions that took place in Idaho between Jan. and March 31. In those, Dan Hemmer Construction of Boise paid $1,456, Superior Custom Homes of Boise paid $2,646, and Retro Rentals of Eagle paid $2,268.

Under RRP, contractors working on homes built prior to 1978 must test for lead in paint, or presume lead is present, and apply applicable lead-safe work practices to minimize the risk of toxic lead exposure. EPA says it has tried particularly hard to enforce the rules in northeast Denver neighborhoods where there are a lot of pre-1978 homes.

Visit Remodeling's stories on lead-safe practices.