That has been my experience. When I was the general + electrical contractors on my office remodel I started putting the drop ceiling in before getting the ceiling insulation inspected. I had about 4000 sq ft done when an electrical inspector came in. "I don't see a sign-off on the insulation." I was like, "Ummm, insulation inspection?" He said, "You've done everything else properly, I'm going to ask that you secure the bond on that light fixture and then I'll sign off on the insulation too."
The building department really wanted me to get the project done.
OTOH, I was planting a tree and someone from the village maintenance crew came along and asked, "Do you know what you're doing?" I'm like, "Yeah, planting a fcuking tree." Pretty soon the village manager and a cop came along. I needed a $10 permit to plant a tree. :D

Steve, I spent too much time and love it here even with the crazy laws. Family, business, childhood friends are still here chipping away one stone at a time. Every cities throughout the US have theses dumb laws but no one enforces them until cities go broke then they start a collection fund to keep their big fat check rolling through their bank accounts. I live in a beautiful part of LA, with wild animals running through the back yards on our hillside. Quite, just like camping. Only that I have to get through a slightly rough neighborhood jsut so I can get home.

I discovered LA county volunteer us to be in a pilot program to build meth homes for meth heads. I told my wife, maybe its time to leave. She know we both live it here too much and would make a move like that. Believe me, I have thought about it many times. I am in my early 50s, I can't start up again somewhere else with what I do for a living. Sell everything and move to CO. I am from from a good old boy, but some parts of CO seems so nice with normal folks and politics.

Hmmm the question is are you on to me?

Of course you BOyz have thought of it yourselves...

I attended a County Board of Supervisors meeting the other night, but managed to find the person I needed to talk to prior to the meeting, so I didn't get to venture into "the big room". Outside in the lobby to "the big room", they've got a "big TV providing closed circuit audio and video of what is going on inside the big room hanging on the wall".

The meeting is called to order, and it is noted since our fine Governor has mandated no more than 10 people in a room, they will call the citizens in to address their issues one at a time. I count the number of board members already seated in "the big room" and they've already got 10 seated. Hmmmm.....

So I run into my friend Bob in the lobby. Hard to recognize him with a mask but sure enough it's my friend Bob. Bob has a couple or three very successful small BBQ joints in the neighboring County where he resides. He's opened his latest in the new neighborhood aka not his home County where this board meeting is taking place.

When it's his time, Bob walks in with the guy that wants to rent him "sign space" on the small metal sign on the Interstate at the exit for the highway. The ones you typically see going down the interstate. Bob also wants his spot on the board at the top of the exit with an arrow on which way to turn to get to his establishment, which is comparably "off the beaten path".

Discussion with the Board ensues. One lady immediately claims the sign at the top of the exit will be a hazard, distract drivers and be "clutter" so she makes the motion to decline the issuance of a permit to Bob for his sign. Discussion with the rest of the board ensues, they'd like to see the sign, Bob says it will bring business to the community, yada yada yada for 10 minutes.......before.......they come back around to the first motion on the table to decline......hold the vote and.....Bob is defeated.

I can't believe what I just watched "on the big TV in the lobby". Bob walks out and his eyes are like saucers. "Can you believe that *****?!" Bob says to me. I tell him "Bob! You just ran into THE BBQ NAZI! NO BBQ FOR YOU! He laughs and says "NO KIDDING"!

I went and had lunch today at one of Bobs establishments in our home County. I was hoping to see Bob but he wasn't there. So I left him a message:

"Hey Bob, this is John. Last saw you at the Board of Supervisors meeting the other night. You should have stayed. They approved me to Dance around in a one legged pig outfit with a sign in my hand next to a smoking grill at the top of the exit. When do we start and can I get an advance on Wednesday?"

Good stuff, thanks. I've never been involved in something like this, should be a learning experience. I just hope I don't have to learn from too many mistakes.

It's not a big project, just something to give me and the better half a little more elbow room now that we're home most of the time. We tend to get along lots better when we aren't in each other's way.

Unfortunately Inspectors have one job to do. And that job is to find something wrong with what you're building. Some are reasonable,many are not. Several years ago I built a two story home with a very short entry area. I've forgotten the exact rise/run/ rise measurement.about 26" I think. After he sat in his car reading the building codes book, he informed me I was off by 1/8 th inch and made me rip it all out. unbelievable

I am so much better at talking you through the process then typing. You all know my goddamn typing skills. interview your contractor and ask questions about his crew and his current jobs. Go and see it and you can tell how detail he is by the cleanness of the job. Talk to his current client. that will tell you a lot about him.

I met him through an old co-worker who he did an addition for and got great praise, and I checked on a project he's working now.
Plus he lives a mile away.
Still, gotta know the right question to ask.
I might be bugging you when we get there, still away out. The arkiteck is just starting to put put pencil to paper, probably won't start construction until later this year.

any sociopathic tendencies aside, you are mistaken about what they are supposed to do

Their function is to enforce code requirements, not help anyone build a dream home.

They did not create or write the code either.

How much discretion they have as to enforcement is limited (RealPolitik version: discretion follows money and power - the rich will get more as will the politically powerful)



That said, I've found the insectors here pretty helpful - you have to know how to approach them, and they can be an ally for a homeowner getting an addition, etc.

ok, how did you find one who still uses pencil and paper??

Big difference between plan check and the actual inspectors. Inspectors are general pretty good and down to earth. Those plan check "engineers" but difficult to deal with. they don't care pretty much sums it up.

I still do most of my planning with a pencil and paper. That's the way I was taught back in Architect class back in HS and college. If I did it for a living, you bet your ass I will be on a computer. CAD really started when I entered college. Great stuff, I tell ya. I know a couple of old architect still do it that way, and their plans are really pretty to look at. I jsut love seeing the lettering.

You need to get to know the councilman or mayor in the jurisdictions that you do the most work. Try to contact the municipal purchasing department to buy the city or county phone directory. They don't publish that information online. The key is relationships with department heads, not the worker bees. If you prefer to work with staff, which LOOKS easier, then you'll never be able to get stuff done. Sometimes a new city manager or department head comes in and is just plain capricious and cynical. In that case, you have to be prepared to take your case to a councilman or mayor. I would also suggest attending fundraisers, because this is an election year.

I think you are wrong. I've seen this work: you move to a new location that is ripe with new development. You start building a house for yourself. You are getting acquainted with the locals, the subs, the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) and local residents, many of who may be from CA.

In comes more transplants looking for a new home and there you are sitting in the catbird's seat. When there's more work than the existing builders can handle (you need to know that going in), no one is gonna get angry that you're taking some work. You also need to know the going rates for all the local trades. We in CA and others in NYC and such places are used to huge sq ft figures.

In the rest of the Southwest, Midwest, the South and many other places the costs are lower. Not so much in metropolitan areas but that's not where the transplants are looking into.

Be visible, be friendly, pay fast and you're golden.

If it doesn't work out, sell the house as a spec and relocate. It takes 9 months to a year to build a house, so you need some capital to live on. Leaving CA you ought to have bags of money from your real estate sales here. I think you have a rental. I'd keep that as collateral. Easier to get a construction loan.

BTW, that's another good business. You can charge higher interest for a construction loan. Friend of mine built 30 houses in Mt Washington in L.A. He couldn't have done it w/o the guy that put up the money. It was just factored in and he made money on every one, some more than others as he built there for over 25 years during the ups and downs.

Another story.

I bought a fairly new house a couple of years ago, no front fence.
Council inspector turned up "You have to have a front fence".
I said "Why? None of the other houses in the street do."
He said "The previous owners applied for an exemption so they could have a fence."
"No worries" I said, "I don't want a fence, Council doesn't want a fence, everyone wins!"
He said "You don't understand. They applied for an exemption to build a fence, we granted that exemption, so now there HAS to be a fence."

The less important some-one's power actually is, the more vigorously they will try to exert that power.

I sent photos of the other 17 fenceless houses in the street to the Council requesting an exemption to the exemption, which was granted.

I have several stories like this one..............

But they don't enforce the code. They enforce made up nonsense. Inspectors aren't always the problem. It's the cubicle trolls that are the problem. Believe me, if you were to see what goes on here, you'd change your tune. It can take 5 years to get a building permit for a simple house. But it usually only takes 2 to 3 years.

Nope. The higher ups around here care less than their minions. It's criminal.

I’m building homes in Hanahan, SC. A small “city” outside Charleston. They have one inspector who is a complete ass and on a power trip. Reading his bio on the town website, he was in the band in high school and worked in a steel mill for 10 years. Nothing about a degree or housing experience.

That said, he’s constantly inconsistent and has a reputation of being obnoxious. At one house, he wants this. At another house, no mention of it. At a final power inspection today, my electrician was finishing up something and told the inspector. It was done before the inspector left. The inspector wrote up that one item and failed it.

I had a house today where the special fireplace is backordered, but I need my framing and rough in inspection. The house looked great otherwise. He walks in, sees no fireplace and walks out. He’d spend the same amount of time either way if he looked now or later.

In another county, I had an inspection fail at framing and rough in because it didn’t have the cardboard insulation rulers in the attic. WTF? That’s all their was. I called her boss and he passed it.

Those who can’t build, inspect.

well, I dunno about there

But when I ask them to point out which code provision - or, in one case, to come on out and mark where exactly the vegetation encroached on the right of way - I get results. Backpedal fast is the result. But, I think they know what I do for a living too...

Pretty much
I have grandkids that I could easily ride a bike to their homes in 5 minutes for one and 15 minutes two others, I loved Texas but it is nice to see them a couple times a week. I guess I could pack up everyone, sell everything and take the whole clan to a compound in deep East Texas.

I actually know of a place that was sort of like the one Burt and Heather had in Tremors. Michael Gross' character, crazy survivalist married to Reba McIntyre where the monster breaks in through their basement wall and they end up stopping it with some giant elephant gun. 20' perimeter fence, video cameras inside and out, air filtration system, backup generators, a well and septic system. It was a reinforced concrete building, most overbuilt structure I have ever seen. 2 story, had to have been at least 6 or 8 thousand sq ft. Had a huge kitchen, no idea what it was originally built to be, but it was being sold as a home/office deal, realtor friend showed it to me. It struck me as the sort of place you would build if you were really rich and more than a little bit paranoid.

That is no good though, the kids have their own lives to live


Oh, and your auto parts store manager guy you told us about, that is nascent sociopath, a little initiative and he will be burying prostitutes in the woods.