Quote:
Originally Posted by TahoeJ
Hell yes, I've caught contractors trying to omit details and proper installation methods on more than one occasion right up from the footings in the ground.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TahoeJ
Hell yes, I've caught contractors trying to omit details and proper installation methods on more than one occasion right up from the footings in the ground.
I'm all for permits if:
1.) They are free. I'm planning on building a shop and the permit will be $1400. If I were to build a modest house (say 1500 sq ft) the permit would be over $2000. I don't think that is fair. That seems like a tax.
2.) There is a clear cut (and free) appeal process for all land use and permitting decisions. There should be a layer of transparency and accountability that currently doesn't exist.
3.) The permitting process only covers health and safety and is highly objective.
4.) Any fines, fees or penalties are assessed by an elected judge after a court hearing. Not some building inspector slapping someone with some giant daily fine for non-compliance and sending them a letter.
I have seen my local county use permits to hurt people and businesses that the commissioner or their family members don't approve of. I think zoning/permit reform is right up there with prison reform in terms of importance.
why should everyone else subsidize new construction via tax dollars? Everything costs something, you can't be a libertarian or believe in markets if you think shit should be "free".Quote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
i realize you don't actually want to debate this, but comeon. Shit should be free for you? gimme a fucking break.
^^ Yep.
They can't be free if you're going to employ a staff to oversee it. And anyone who doesn't think it's necessary has no idea some of the crazy (and unsafe) stuff that applicants submit.
^ My references are from a Canadian perspective, so I'm unsure if they apply, but...
1) there is a cost to having people review things. Free ain't going to happen. I don't know how municipalities/jurisdictions/etc determine their costs - I assume, like most governmental things, it is inflated. Part of life, move on.
2) I agree that there should be more transparency and accountability regarding not only the process and fees but also what the standards are - these can vary even within a jurisdiction, leaving contractors, owners, etc guessing as to what requirements will be.
3) What more should they cover than health and safety? Do you mean subjective? The rules should be objective, the same for everyone and easily obtainable to determine what the local requirements are. Again, this is not always the case.
4) No comment, this is different than up here.
Not that it will change any minds at this point (my own unapologetic one included), but El Chup did post the name of the street that bisects the property Dipshit is building on. There aren't too many lots like that out there. The county he lives in has an online map with a pin at every address with an issued or pending permit. It took me about 12 seconds and 2 mouse clicks to pull up the (public) record of the permits on the lot in question. My comment about the perc test was a summary of the back-and-forth between the Engineering reviewer, and the septic designer (comments and responses, which are also public record). All of the info I actually bothered to look up took me a grand total of about 5 minutes to find, and didn't involve any special municipal worker handshakes.
You guys should walk into your local Building and Planning Departments sometime to see just how much information they'll give you about any property in their jurisdiction, in most cases without even asking for your name.
In my previous jurisdiction, we would sit down with a roll of plans, a stack of application documents, and a random person who walked in off the street with questions about a property and sometimes spend an hour explaining details of what is being proposed, or what has been approved. Short of getting copies of anything signed or stamped, it's all out there in the open, and you don't even need to know an address: people who came in and pointed to a spot on our GIS system got the same info.
If you're going to let me get your panties that bunched up, at least let me gag you with 'em.
ETA: If you own real property, the jurisdiction you live in will give a whole lot of your information out to anyone who walks into their office, so if that makes your uncomfortable, you should probably set up an LLC through which you own your property.
uuhhmmmQuote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
2 things wrong here
1)day ticket
2) you can see it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fONweLj_X7kQuote:
Originally Posted by MiCol
^super true, one of the many reasons I do it, besides the fact I'm not a pass holder at LOT 4.
my last and or most memorable interactions with building depts, engineering depts, p&z, etc:
(#1-#4 for the most part always hard assed , unapologetic, threatening diks)
1) received a posted stop work order on a lot for no excavation permit. i had cut deadfall on the ground on a big downslope lot and hauled all the wood to street level with a bobcat. engineering dept said: "i saw stumps, you cant pop stumps" all stumps were from trees cut 20+ years ago that the bobcat popped out of the ground while moving over them. I asked if inspector saw any fresh dug out stumps, "yes" meet me there then....all were 20 yrs+ old, he said ok never mind youre ok
2) engineering dept said no driveway on this road, cant use roughed in driveway that has been in place for 30 years and actually had a drain tile built into it from the county that they needed, not me, and it had no easement or right of way to be there. "we will not give you a variance for the drive way. "I will seek a variance" "no one has ever done that", "well I am", on to county commission, 1 year , 1 lawyer, 1 engineer, studies, $15k , and my own 40 page powerpoint presentation, I won .....for a frikken drive way that was already there.....and those dept's all looked like petty fool jongs
3) same engineers from #1 approved a silt fence 6 doors down that was put in backwards...i took pictures of their sign off, the fence, and laughed....lol
4) a former 8 year building dept veteran turned home inspector 1) wrote up a non working indoor jacuzzi tub - big switch on wall with label machined lettering that said turn this on before pressing on button in tub....lol......2nd) said no GFi on three sink recepticles, originally built in 1984, all were on a homerun gfi'd circuit at the panel and grandfathered....lol.....i could go on......
5) building 30,000 sf footprint garden style, 42 units per building, affordable housing, new construction to be govt owned.... inspectors hardly ever came to the site except for finals and never failed to sign off first time on anything. .....friendliest fuckers ever.....lol felt like i could have gotten away with murder.....needless to say, calls were made (inter govt), this project was smoozed in by their own people from the getgo..... are you fukkin kiddin me??
no need to wonder why these departments are frowned up on by both professionals and public
^ Were those people actually engineers? Just curious - the term gets thrown around often for people who are not actually engineers.
that dept had 3 "engineers" one of them was the head of the dept. I looked up the other 2 and all were licensed engineers, however ones main experience prior to joining the dept on linkedin was slump testsQuote:
Originally Posted by shafty85
I'll believe contractors don't need to be inspected when people with 20+ years of experience stop trying to slip shit past inspectors. Happens every week. Even with the good contractors.
Friggin epoxy cucks is what they are.Quote:
Originally Posted by TahoeJ
You look like a poser who probably framed this photo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
artisan beard cream merchants need suckers to sell their overpriced shit to, too.
Confident stare into camera? Check.
Flannel shirt? Check.
Beard trimmed and moisturized? Check.
Pre polished Bern helmet? Check.
Ready to go do some pole whacking on the gnarly l'internationale cornice. And maybe some more photos.
I've never used beard oil, seems like a gimmick.
Adding a data point, I’ve been involved on a project where permits were all pulled, inspected , and approved followed by shit hitting the fan in major ways because contractor and inspector fucked up. Health of many and $millions$ at stake.
You look like the Great GazooQuote:
Originally Posted by Leavenworth Skier
Attachment 251191
Highly Unlikely. It is a calling for that type. I deal with them all the time. You better kiss their ass, and do what they tell you, or the red tags come flying. A miserable species that never wants to be proven wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by teleee
Is the answer... Houston?Quote:
Originally Posted by acinpdx
I know they don't have zoning but things still need to be built to code, don't they?Quote:
Originally Posted by Self Jupiter
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
https://kinder.rice.edu/2015/09/08/f...zoning-sort-ofQuote:
What Houston might have is the worst of both worlds: all the burdens of regulation and none of the foresight to use it effectively. “It works like zoning,” Festa said, “but it’s not the product of a comprehensive plan."
Yes, local building codes are modeled on the International Building Code...meaning it’s pretty standardized relative to other states, just some details with different standards
I think you're kind of missing the point here, glade.Quote:
Originally Posted by glademaster
Oh believe me I know the type. They aren't any better in the bridge world, I was just hoping my little tucked away county in the middle of no where would be better, probably wishful thinking. The bridge world is full of idiot inspectors, I tell my guys all the time they just have to go along with them, stroke their fragile little egos, they don't get paid shit so they only do the job for the sense of power it gives them. There are some good inspectors out their, who have common sense, real world knowledge and actually care about the outcome of the project. They are far and few between.Quote:
Originally Posted by warthog
As we like to say, those who cant build, inspect.
Funny, that's a go-to line of mine when discussions about zoning and property rights come up. That city is such a fucking mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by Self Jupiter
If were complaining about inspectors, a friend lives next door to an inspector and the inspector has tons of shit not up to snuff and is a general jerk. Very unfriendly and general aggressive personality. Won’t provide/allow for legal easements, lots uncoded (and not up to code) structures, truck apparently without cats, fencing encroachment, flood lights directed onto neighbor’s property. This is in a rural wooded area with 2-5 ac lot sizes.
I feel like I’ll trip over my words - calling a dentingeneer to line 1Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
There are a lot of engineers, architects, contractors, and inspectors who suck at there jobs. Unfortunately, the only one without accountability is the inspector. Around here, I'd say the system works OK. In the last building boom a lot of shit went un/under inspected. Lots o law suits. The governing municipalities didn't pay a penny.
That said, I think the system is necessary and I wish for consistent application and enforcement of the rules. The inspection process is not really for the benefit of the homeowner so much as the benefit of the property and any future owners. How would you ever buy a house is there wasn't some type of assurance that say, the footers and below frost line and the foundation has rebar in it?
I’m with glade on this one. Chup was the one who provided the excess personal information that made his searches possible. I thought that thread was a bad idea when he started it. Don’t blame him for deleting it. Don’t know that we need to keep rehashing it. But ragging on building permits and inspectors is a useful diversion I suppose.Quote:
Originally Posted by The AD
Move to large parts of the country and you can find out. The vast majority of houses around me aren't subject to any building codes or inspections. If you live in the county, there aren't any inspections (with some relatively minor exceptions; DEQ inspects septic, Planning and Zoning keeps an eye on setbacks). Theoretically, houses are still built to code because the builders are liable if they build something sketchy. Realistically, not so much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles
We have enough hacks around here posing as contractors that if left to freewill would be downright scary.
in victor, ID a woman built a house next to my brother's lot and the house looked scary, 2 floors, straight up leanedQuote:
Originally Posted by toast2266
she asked if she could plug in extension cords to their house and split the electricity lol
South Florida’s Hurricane Building Code is Strong—And North Florida’s Could Be Stronger
https://s.w-x.co/wu/mexico-city-dama...-new-835px.jpg
[Above: Homes and businesses along U.S. 98 are left in devastation by Hurricane Michael on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Mexico Beach, Fla. The deadly hurricane made landfall along the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10 as a Category 4 storm. Image credit: Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images.]
South Florida has gotten plenty of accolades for the very strong building codes it has adopted and maintained since Hurricane Andrew laid waste to the southern Miami metro area in 1992. Florida is a big state, though, and it’s all hurricane-vulnerable. What about the northern stretches of Florida, including the Panhandle coast slammed by Hurricane Michael last week? The standard code for buildings in this region is much more lenient, and even that looser standard is now at risk of falling behind international code.
Make no mistake: Florida’s statewide building code, adopted in 2002, has made a real difference. A 2017 working paper for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, led by James Done (National Center for Atmospheric Research), concluded: “A multiple regression analysis finds homes built after implementing a statewide Florida Building Code (FBC) in the early 2000s experience significantly lower losses than homes built in the previous decade, in agreement with previous literature.”
Miami-Dade and Broward counties are part of a High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, where local code requires that a building’s entire envelope (including windows, doors, and eaves) incorporates lab-tested, wind-resistant design. Elsewhere in the state, the requirements vary, based on expectations of where peak winds will be the strongest. ...
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/So...ld-Be-Stronger
Quote:
Originally Posted by highangle
Braced wall design is now a part of most competent building codes, especially if you're in a high wind zone
this one's about a owner that asked for better-than-code structural design, and his house survived Michael
they designed a breakaway stair, so that needs replacement, but otherwise doing pretty darn good
(and his neighbor on the lee side better buy him some high class hooch...saved his ass too)
https://nyti.ms/2QVv9nl
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018...SE-1-jumbo.jpg
he's probably one of the few who actually could have stayed
Makes a difference how you build 'em.
https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/home...ed_4x3_992.jpg
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/u...ach-house.html
edit: dagnabbit, too slow!
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
Got a buddy who worked for a timber frame co. They built two timber frame homes for a developer on the Gulf coast in Mississippi I think. after Isabell in 2002 they were the only 2 homes left standing, and intact for a couple miles in each direction. Business boomed after those pics made it into their marketing.
It costs more, but you can hurricane proof a structure (too a degree of course).
Why not just poured concrete houses?