The city currently has no law that regulates the interior decoration business.

The association's four-month survey of 50 firms, completed early this month, found that only three performed shoddy work.

But, insisted Xin Guoliang, association general secretary, "The problem is serious, and the scope of the problem is much worse than what we see with the spot check."

Xin added: "During the 11-month period that ended last month, we received 2,400 complaints from local families about problems that included cracks in the walls and floors and leaks from water pipes after a home was recently decorated. They said they could not endure the problems they discovered."

Association spokesman Xue Dexing said the organization, which was founded last March, is composed of 1,000 home-decoration companies in the city. Only 40 percent have been recognized by the municipal Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau as having achieved "qualified" status.

Xin added that there are even 360 unqualified companies - not subject to the association's professional standards - which are doing interior decoration work in Shanghai.

Xin said he isn't certain that the interior decoration work this year will be better. "Currently, most of the interior decoration workers are migrant workers who lack the necessary skills and training," he said.

(eastday.com March 14, 2002)