Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Criticism
The mattresspolice.com site is a snarky, quite funny site. The link is an old post, but whenever I read stories like that it just makes me shake my head. Too often my fellow building inspection professionals forget that our job is to provide a service to the public. We are supposed to be making sure that any construction meets the minimum code requirements, not make life difficult for our customers.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Trying to get away with something
Well, it happened again. Some guy was arguing with one of our counter technicians about whether or not we required plumbing drawings for a residential permit. The answer is yes. It has been yes for a very long time. Now, the building code doesn't require plumbing plans fore residential projects, so many don't. They assume the inspectors will take care of it out in the field. We have great inspectors, but they have enough work to do without having to size pipes in their heads while inspecting a house. Plus, we like to see that the people who design the plans put some thought into all aspects of the construction. It makes the job easier for the plumber and everyone else on down the line.
But that's not the point. The point is that he was arguing with our wonderful counter staff about it. "I didn't have to do that for my last project." Bull. If your plans went through this office, it had to have plumbing plans. If not, we really messed up. It is good that the techs catch things like that, because it can actually make your plancheck go faster. We won't approve your plans until we have all the information we need. Better to catch it now than after we finally get to your plans, write a correction letter, then get to your revisions some time in the next two weeks or so.
Frustrated, she came back to our office to ask for some help dealing with the guy. Inspectorguy volunteered to go. As soon as he rounded the corner into view of the counter, the customer said, "I guess I'll go get some plumbing plans." I heard him and couldn't help but break out in laughter.
What is it with some guys that they just can't deal with women?
But that's not the point. The point is that he was arguing with our wonderful counter staff about it. "I didn't have to do that for my last project." Bull. If your plans went through this office, it had to have plumbing plans. If not, we really messed up. It is good that the techs catch things like that, because it can actually make your plancheck go faster. We won't approve your plans until we have all the information we need. Better to catch it now than after we finally get to your plans, write a correction letter, then get to your revisions some time in the next two weeks or so.
Frustrated, she came back to our office to ask for some help dealing with the guy. Inspectorguy volunteered to go. As soon as he rounded the corner into view of the counter, the customer said, "I guess I'll go get some plumbing plans." I heard him and couldn't help but break out in laughter.
What is it with some guys that they just can't deal with women?
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Screaming Will Get You Nowhere
Wow, I can't believe I haven't written in a month. There really hasn't been much going on with the whole housing slowdown. We have had to make drastic budget cuts which, thankfully, do not include personnel reduction. We're just stuck with our ancient computers for another year. I can live with that.
This week we had quite the winner. Normally I don't really notice the customers unless somebody requests for me to come out to the counter. That may have something to do with why my story fodder is lacking. I was at my desk when suddenly, from the other side of the office, I heard a guy yelling at the counter staff about how unfair it is that he has to get a permit and "Big Brother" is trying to control everything. I'm still not sure what a reality-TV show has to do with anything.(:-p) Then I heard something very interesting - I worked for [this governmental entity] for 40 years and never had to do this before!! I couldn't help but laugh. Usually it's "I've been a Contractor for 30 years. . ." By the time I got out to see what was going on, the offender disappeared.
When he was out of the building, everyone broke out in shocked laughter. Apparently he was the head of one of the departments in my building and had retired just the year before. Here was a guy who ran a governmental agency yelling and screaming about the government trying to screw him. According to several people, this is not the first time he has railed against the very government for which he worked. The people he supervised hated him. He went so far as to ban anyone from talking about anything that wasn't work-related. How would you like to work for that guy?
This whole uproar was over a residential re-roof permit, which is probably one of the easiest and cheapest permits to get besides maybe a water-heater or electrical panel swap. The first issue was that he was caught doing the work without a permit and one of the inspectors gave him a Stop Work Order. So Mr. Anti-Government was already upset coming in. The yelling started after we had him get an OK from the Planning Department. That is standard procedure for every jurisdiction for which I have worked. I have never seen a re-roof denied by planning. Sometimes there are minimum material requirements such as using dimensional composition roofing instead of the cheap three-tab, which I recommend for durability anyway. The department he ran is tied closely to ours, so it's not like he didn't know how the process works. He's just bitter and angry about something.
At the end of the process, he threw the check at the counter staff, grabbed the paperwork after refusing to sign it, and stormed out. Wow. This isn't a big town, and people love to talk. I'm sure half the town knows about it by now. The strange thing is his wife is known as a very sweet woman. I don't know how she puts up with him.
I praised all involved here for keeping their cool and staying professional through all that. Especially the one who used to work for him. I aspire to never be like that guy.
This week we had quite the winner. Normally I don't really notice the customers unless somebody requests for me to come out to the counter. That may have something to do with why my story fodder is lacking. I was at my desk when suddenly, from the other side of the office, I heard a guy yelling at the counter staff about how unfair it is that he has to get a permit and "Big Brother" is trying to control everything. I'm still not sure what a reality-TV show has to do with anything.(:-p) Then I heard something very interesting - I worked for [this governmental entity] for 40 years and never had to do this before!! I couldn't help but laugh. Usually it's "I've been a Contractor for 30 years. . ." By the time I got out to see what was going on, the offender disappeared.
When he was out of the building, everyone broke out in shocked laughter. Apparently he was the head of one of the departments in my building and had retired just the year before. Here was a guy who ran a governmental agency yelling and screaming about the government trying to screw him. According to several people, this is not the first time he has railed against the very government for which he worked. The people he supervised hated him. He went so far as to ban anyone from talking about anything that wasn't work-related. How would you like to work for that guy?
This whole uproar was over a residential re-roof permit, which is probably one of the easiest and cheapest permits to get besides maybe a water-heater or electrical panel swap. The first issue was that he was caught doing the work without a permit and one of the inspectors gave him a Stop Work Order. So Mr. Anti-Government was already upset coming in. The yelling started after we had him get an OK from the Planning Department. That is standard procedure for every jurisdiction for which I have worked. I have never seen a re-roof denied by planning. Sometimes there are minimum material requirements such as using dimensional composition roofing instead of the cheap three-tab, which I recommend for durability anyway. The department he ran is tied closely to ours, so it's not like he didn't know how the process works. He's just bitter and angry about something.
At the end of the process, he threw the check at the counter staff, grabbed the paperwork after refusing to sign it, and stormed out. Wow. This isn't a big town, and people love to talk. I'm sure half the town knows about it by now. The strange thing is his wife is known as a very sweet woman. I don't know how she puts up with him.
I praised all involved here for keeping their cool and staying professional through all that. Especially the one who used to work for him. I aspire to never be like that guy.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Homeowners Beware!!
While I don't go out of my way to watch it, one of my favorite shows on TV is Holmes on Homes, shown on the HGTV network. The premise is that he goes around fixing the mistakes of lousy, lying, and often unlicensed contractors. Sometimes I wish I could crack those thieves posing as contractors over the head with something heavy.
We had a woman come in upset over a contractor who had required a large down payment for the work, started tearing things apart, then disappeared. First of all, you should never pay more than 10% of the job cost as a deposit. If they want more than that, they are often in financial trouble and that should be your first clue that something is about to go wrong. There are exceptions, of course, but it's a general rule of thumb.
Unfortunately, there's really not much we can do about it, but we do what we can. So, we looked up the license number the "contractor" gave the woman and it was for a man with a completely different name from a town 100 miles away. Our state's Contractors License Board listed the license as a "sole proprietorship," so we knew he wasn't an employee. Just to make sure, we called the owner of the license and he said he had met the thief a while back to discuss a possible business deal, but got the impression that the guy was a creep so he quickly declined. Instead, the slimeball just started using the legitimate guy's license number.
Man, that pisses me off. We notified the License Board and our local District Attorney. That's really all we can do. Unfortunately, that woman will probably never get her money back.
Moral of the story? Background checks are very easy to do in the Information Age. Before you hand over your hard-earned money, make sure you do your research first. Sometimes even that doesn't work, but it certainly can't hurt. There are many great contractors out there, and I hate that scum-sucking ******-******* ******* @#%(&*^ *$%&$#@%& out there ripping people off ruin it for the good guys (and gals) and make us have to go through such a process.
Be careful out there, and remember that your project probably needs a permit. If your contractor says you don't, give us a call, then fire him/her if they have lied to you.
We had a woman come in upset over a contractor who had required a large down payment for the work, started tearing things apart, then disappeared. First of all, you should never pay more than 10% of the job cost as a deposit. If they want more than that, they are often in financial trouble and that should be your first clue that something is about to go wrong. There are exceptions, of course, but it's a general rule of thumb.
Unfortunately, there's really not much we can do about it, but we do what we can. So, we looked up the license number the "contractor" gave the woman and it was for a man with a completely different name from a town 100 miles away. Our state's Contractors License Board listed the license as a "sole proprietorship," so we knew he wasn't an employee. Just to make sure, we called the owner of the license and he said he had met the thief a while back to discuss a possible business deal, but got the impression that the guy was a creep so he quickly declined. Instead, the slimeball just started using the legitimate guy's license number.
Man, that pisses me off. We notified the License Board and our local District Attorney. That's really all we can do. Unfortunately, that woman will probably never get her money back.
Moral of the story? Background checks are very easy to do in the Information Age. Before you hand over your hard-earned money, make sure you do your research first. Sometimes even that doesn't work, but it certainly can't hurt. There are many great contractors out there, and I hate that scum-sucking ******-******* ******* @#%(&*^ *$%&$#@%& out there ripping people off ruin it for the good guys (and gals) and make us have to go through such a process.
Be careful out there, and remember that your project probably needs a permit. If your contractor says you don't, give us a call, then fire him/her if they have lied to you.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Theological World View
I ran across an interesting quiz today through a link from http://snarkybastards.com/ . It seems to be quite accurate. Here are my results.
You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan, You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Things are slowing down/Some day I'll own a house.
Everybody is impacted by the housing slowdown. Contractors are out of work, truck sales are slowing, people who bought investment properties last year owe more than their houses are worth now. . .
However, for some things that is good. If you are planning to build something right now, we are getting the plans turned around fairly quickly. At one point we were returning plans within three weeks, which isn't too bad when you consider that several governement agencies other than us look at your project.
My wife and I are excited because if prices keep going the way they are, we might actually be able to afford our first home in a couple years. Maybe. As an inspector it could be a bit difficult because I am going to be very picky about the condition of the house and will probably research it to death. I also have some particular requirements for the layout because I have too many hobbies and my wife is a fantastic cook. Let me dream a bit: it needs a nice, open layout for the kitchen; a living room that will allow for a home theatre layout; and either a big garage or enough property to build one.
Most important are the structural aspects of the house. First, I would never, ever buy a house with a 1-coat stucco exterior. I don't really care for stucco in the first place, but that stuff is terrible. For those who don't know, 1-coat stucco is a system used here in California (I don't know about other places) where a special high-density foam board with wire attached is nailed to the exterior. Then, one 3/8-inch layer of stucco is applied with a thin color topcoat after that. It is much better now than it was when introduced 20 years ago, but it's just too fragile for my taste. The neighbor kids were playing baseball in the street the other day and put a dent in the stucco of the rental house we are in now. I suppose it's better than a window. My favorite siding right now is any of the products by James Hardie Siding.
Speaking of windows, that is the other priority for me. I don't like wasting energy if I can help it, and windows are very good at doing just that. Old-style single-pane windows just don't work anymore, and can be expensive to replace. Most newer homes have double-pane vinyl windows at a minimum, which work well but lack character and style. They are more expensive, but I prefer wood windows with either vinyl or aluminum cladding on the exterior.
Well, that's enough for now. Sorry I don't have any interesting stories for this post. It has been slow, as I mentioned, and as a result many of our more interesting characters have been staying away.
However, for some things that is good. If you are planning to build something right now, we are getting the plans turned around fairly quickly. At one point we were returning plans within three weeks, which isn't too bad when you consider that several governement agencies other than us look at your project.
My wife and I are excited because if prices keep going the way they are, we might actually be able to afford our first home in a couple years. Maybe. As an inspector it could be a bit difficult because I am going to be very picky about the condition of the house and will probably research it to death. I also have some particular requirements for the layout because I have too many hobbies and my wife is a fantastic cook. Let me dream a bit: it needs a nice, open layout for the kitchen; a living room that will allow for a home theatre layout; and either a big garage or enough property to build one.
Most important are the structural aspects of the house. First, I would never, ever buy a house with a 1-coat stucco exterior. I don't really care for stucco in the first place, but that stuff is terrible. For those who don't know, 1-coat stucco is a system used here in California (I don't know about other places) where a special high-density foam board with wire attached is nailed to the exterior. Then, one 3/8-inch layer of stucco is applied with a thin color topcoat after that. It is much better now than it was when introduced 20 years ago, but it's just too fragile for my taste. The neighbor kids were playing baseball in the street the other day and put a dent in the stucco of the rental house we are in now. I suppose it's better than a window. My favorite siding right now is any of the products by James Hardie Siding.
Speaking of windows, that is the other priority for me. I don't like wasting energy if I can help it, and windows are very good at doing just that. Old-style single-pane windows just don't work anymore, and can be expensive to replace. Most newer homes have double-pane vinyl windows at a minimum, which work well but lack character and style. They are more expensive, but I prefer wood windows with either vinyl or aluminum cladding on the exterior.
Well, that's enough for now. Sorry I don't have any interesting stories for this post. It has been slow, as I mentioned, and as a result many of our more interesting characters have been staying away.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Then why did you ask?
People are funny. As mentioned before by Inspector Guy, you probably need a permit for that project you have planned. If you are unsure, just give us a call - we'll be happy to answer your questions, mostly. I say mostly because it can be frustrating when homeowners who don't know a thing about construction ask, "I want to build a garage. Is this plan I drew on a napkin good enough?" Well, it's a start, but have you considered calling a professional? It is tough explaining things like braced walls and foundation design with someone over the phone. Sometimes it's just as difficult explaining it to someone in person.
This post came about from a woman who called asking if she needed a permit for one of those open-sided metal RV carports. Well, yes, technically you do. I need to see the plans from the manufacturer and the foundation design from you. It gets pretty windy here, so I want to make sure the thing won't blow away. Then starts the whining. What if I do this? What about that? But none of the neighbor kids got permits for their carports. That's nice. You asked - I answered. We haven't heard from here since, so I'm assuming it has already been installed.
My jurisdiction isn't very picky about those open metal carports, and we don't have time to go around looking to bust people for them. However, not having a permit increases your liability if anything were to happen. If it flies away in a wind storm and damages something, your insurance probably won't cover it. If it violates a zoning or planning code, the code enforcement people go after those more often than we do. And any time a neighbor calls in to complain, we are obligated to investigate it.
This post came about from a woman who called asking if she needed a permit for one of those open-sided metal RV carports. Well, yes, technically you do. I need to see the plans from the manufacturer and the foundation design from you. It gets pretty windy here, so I want to make sure the thing won't blow away. Then starts the whining. What if I do this? What about that? But none of the neighbor kids got permits for their carports. That's nice. You asked - I answered. We haven't heard from here since, so I'm assuming it has already been installed.
My jurisdiction isn't very picky about those open metal carports, and we don't have time to go around looking to bust people for them. However, not having a permit increases your liability if anything were to happen. If it flies away in a wind storm and damages something, your insurance probably won't cover it. If it violates a zoning or planning code, the code enforcement people go after those more often than we do. And any time a neighbor calls in to complain, we are obligated to investigate it.
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