The American Dream is not a passive inheritance, but a rigorous social contract. It’s a promise that if you outwork the field and play by the rules, you can build a better life. But in California, too often, well-intentioned rules have become barriers to advancement for small businesses, workers, and the communities that they support.
We learned the fine print of this contract from the bottom up. Before Interior Removal Specialists (IRS Demo) became a pillar of the Southern California regional economy, it was an operation born of necessity in Los Angeles. The team often reflects on the early experiences of its founder, Carlos Herrera, who spent his youth recycling bottles and newspapers to make rent and operate elevators in the very high rises he would later be commissioned to renovate. In the demolition and removal business, reputation and quality of work are the key assets more durable than the demolition of commercial interior space. From the beginning, IRS Demo was built on the principle of doing things “the right way,” not just as a moral choice or as a competitive one, but with business ethics and integrity as its cornerstone.
Thirty years later, IRS Demo supports over 200 families and serves 700 clients across the West Coast. While a version of our American Dream has been realized, but it is increasingly being suffocated by a blanket of state regulations and practically void of enforcement
We believe in smart, fair regulation. In an industry that manages Universal Waste, fire and electrocution risk, and structural hazards, safety protocols are essential guardrails of public health. However, California has inadvertently allowed a two-tiered reality to take root and punish those who follow the rules.
Companies like ours bear the immense compliance tax of gold-standard workers’ compensation, rigorous California State-mandated recycling, and exhaustive adherence to Cal/OSHA and SCAQMD standards. The unfortunate reality is that we also compete with unscrupulous operators who bypass the permit desk, ignore environmental safeguards, and undercut legitimate bids by treating the law as a suggestion. It comes down to the need for enforcement of the laws and regulations already on the books to protect everyone.
For a mid-sized business owner, the pressure is immense. We are squeezed from above by massive corporations with compliance departments the size of our entire field staff, businesses that can easily absorb a six-figure administrative fine. Simultaneously, we are squeezed from below by those who operate outside the law entirely. Enforcement of the laws and regulations is critically important for the industry environment.
The compliance tax is already staggering, but a looming legislative shift threatens to turn success itself into a liability. The California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) advanced unprecedented recommendations that would strip away traditional “market-power thresholds” for antitrust scrutiny; those recommendations are enshrined in CA AB 1776 by Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry, currently being considered by California lawmakers. In a classic case of a well-intentioned proposal destined to backfire, this expansion means a mid-sized, family-owned firm like IRS Demo–simply by being a Southern California leader in a niche industry like interior demolition–could face aggressive litigation for “restricting trade” without ever holding a dominant market share. By removing a meaningful “size floor,” the state isn’t just targeting monopolies; it is setting a trap for the very businesses that have managed to scale. AB 1776 is a “Job Killer” in the truest sense, and will result in transforming the hard-won growth of a local employer into a perpetual legal target. This proposal proves that in California’s current climate, the reward for doing things the right way is often a bigger target on your back. This is just another attack on businesses that undermines support for employment and wage growth, and as a significant taxpayer.
This is not an ideological or partisan complaint; it is a plea for operational sanity. When the cost of doing business “the right way” becomes a disadvantage, the state’s economic soul is at stake.
To restore the integrity of the California market, we need the following:
- A streamlined licensing process that rewards proven safety records and prevents bureaucratic stasis from handing a time-advantage to non-compliant competitors.
- An implementation of practicality over performative policy. Meaning, every regulation must be stress-tested against the reality of the job site. If a rule makes it impossible for a legitimate actor to compete and grow, that rule is failing the public.
At IRS Demo, we are proud to “demolish with care” and with industry-leading C&D debris diversion, doing it the right way in full compliance with the laws on the books already. It is time for California to ensure that our commitment to the rules isn’t the very thing that breaks us. Let’s level the playing field so the budding business entrepreneur is not overly restricted by counter-productive legislation.
Bio: Rich Grimes, J.D. is an industry leader, currently serving as the senior advisor to the Herrera Family Office (IRS Demolition) and the Managing Principal of Tournament Advisors, LLC, a firm with over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications and infrastructure industry. Rich has worked with clients such as Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, pioneering innovative business models throughout America. He is a recipient of Homeboy Industries’ Lo Maximo Award, and was Santa Clara University’s Santa Claran of the Year.
Written in partnership with Tom White
