Nov
15
Spending Money is Fun; Dealing With Building Permits Isn’t Fun
November 15, 2007 |
Despite the radio silence here, I’ve still been plugging along on the real estate front. I’ve been knocking out what I can at House #2, but had been a bit on hold as far as the timing of certain jobs, needing to sort out and finish A before beginning on B, then C, etc.
It took more than a few phone calls and getting blown off after scheduling meetings for estimates, but I think I finally found a contractor to tackle much of the framing work I need done for the bathroom addition, back porch, etc. He’s scheduled to start next Monday, so, you know, still plenty of time to flake out on me, but I got a pretty good vibe from meeting him, and hopefully this will work out.
He’s got 20+ years of experience of working construction for other people, but just started his own business this year, still looking to build up his business, doesn’t charge a ginormous amount of money, yada yada yada. He also needs a website designed and hosted for his business, and seemed happy to trade out some labor if I handle that for him. He was also willing to work on an hourly basis, and we’re basically going to proceed on a week by week basis. If I’m happy with the work, we’ll keep rolling on; if not, no harm, no foul, pay him for what’s done so far and that’s that.
Having a goodly amount of trouble with the city in regards to building permits and getting service turned on, but I guess that’s to be expected. It’s mainly the electrical that’s the problem, as I’ve been told three different things by three different people, okayed for temporary service to resolve various electrical issues at the service panel, then denied temporary service by someone else, and so on.
Same for getting permits, as far as going in, explaining my situation, that I’m a newbie at this, and basically begging for help and getting complete blank stares, and an application pushed at me with nary a helpful word. I take my best stab at it, pass it back, and it gets denied for lack of some minute detail somewhere. I address that, try again, get rejected again for something else. Rinse, lather, repeat.
I can empathize with the frustration of folks who work in that capacity as far as constantly dealing with difficult people who try to buck the system, but it baffles me as to why you’d completely stonewall someone who comes in and begs for your help, for what’s in the grand scheme of things a pretty small home improvement project. I mean, wouldn’t you want the idiot (me) to get it right, shut up, and go away and leave you alone? Seems like neither of us win when you take that approach, as I keep bugging you, bumbling around, and you continue to have to deal with my bumbling.
In brighter news, the new windows were installed at House #2 on Tuesday, with nary a hitch. Pretty pleased with how they turned out, and it’s nice to cross a major project off the list. I also got a project card at Lowes and ordered a butt-load of stuff to be delivered tomorrow, basically everything for the bath addition as well as all the Hardibacker I need for tiling, grout, mortar, lumber, sheetrock, French doors, vanities, you name it. Kind of scary to spend that much cash in one fell swoop, but I needed all of it, and since I had to get some stuff delivered anyway there was no sense in not just getting everything I know I’ll need at this point.
Still need to rustle up a plumber for adding some drains and other work, but that’s pretty much it, as I’ve got an electrician lined up, and all the other work is spoken and accounted for at the moment. It’s going to be tight, but I think I can squeak in slightly under $20K for the total renovation budget. Not so sure about when everything will be wrapped up, but December 15th is probably doable. I’m a little less stressed about maintaining that deadline as rushing to get it finished and listed then is pretty much pointless, with no one buying houses at that time of year, but it’d feel pretty damn good to be done with it by the end of the year, so I’ll probably push pretty hard to try to make that happen.
