Wednesday, June 27, 2007

 

The Renovation That Wouldn't End

A few days after I wrote the last post I went in to City Hall with the revised plans now that we've scrapped the bidet and moved things around. The girl I spoke to told me that I might just want to check with our inspector to see if the revisions will require the building department to rubber stamp the new drawings or not. You see, if the building department has to revise the issued permit, there is a $300 fee. Exfuckingcuse me? $300? The initial permit was around $180. A second look will cost that much? Ridiculous. I think it's a bit of a scam to have people apply for a permit prior to any work, then when you start to tear down walls and pull up floors and discover that the structure below requires you to make changes, they stick you with another bill. It would be cheaper to have them throw out the original plan and apply as if it's a new permit application. But I'm sure that isn't allowed. Bastards.

I drove back home, called the inspector and left a voicemail message for him asking for his opinion on the situation. Needless to say, Eldin...er...Joe had to put the work on hold until we got word from the inspector so he....well, I'm not really sure what he did instead. I finally heard from the inspector that night and he said it shouldn't be an issue since we're not changing the structural work of the room.

This meant that work was backed up, so I informed the inspector that we'd better reschedule our inspection for that Wednesday to another time. He was free Friday, so we went with that. By the time Thursday rolled around, Joe realized that he wouldn't be ready for Friday either, so I had to call the inspector again and just put him on hold. I told him I'd call him when we were ready. I can just imagine what that guy's calendar looks like if everyone out there has to reschedule.

On the upside, the walls are going up and we had our bathroom guy in to measure for our cultured marble shower base, so that's moving along now. However, when I got home last night, the only progress I noticed in the ongoing project was that a hole was cut through a joist to allow the shower drain to pass through. I'm not sure, but I think he used a spoon to bore that hole. Here I was expecting to see all the copper lines installed, but no such luck. Maybe by the end of this week. Although, we've got him on loan to Weezie right now for the day to fix a door and do some painting at her cottage in preparation for Brynn's 1st birthday party this Sunday. I'm hoping he gets that done today. If not, the copper in our bathroom will have to wait until next week.

Kill me.

Comments:
The city where I live you need to pull a permit to replace your hot water heater. How stupid is that? And the cost? I heard it's $250. RIDICULOUS!!! It's not like it's something frivolous!!!
 
Wow! And I thought this city was pulling a cash grab. $250 for a permit to change a water heater? That's highway robbery.
I need a government job.
 
When I read tales of woe such as these I am eternally grateful to live in the sticks - and outside the jurisdiction of greedy inspector bastards.

How do you format a picture in jpgjm?
 
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