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<p>Of course I don’t know for sure – nor do you – but is it possible he’s pulling the “I’m the only one in the world who understands this stuff” kind of crap with you? It’s what I used to call the BSD method. (BSD means something very vulgar which I am not permitted to say here. Look it up in Urban Dictionary.)</p>
<p>My draftsman recommended a structural engineer that he works with all the time. I had tried to hire him several weeks ago but he was too busy. We have convinced him to meet us at the project this afternoon at 5pm $$$$ to try to get both these guys out for a project site visit.</p>
<p>I’m afraid this guy might have a day job and does residential projects in the evenings. He keeps mumbling he might be able to get the structural review and calculations done over the weekend. We are definitely bleeding into December real quick here.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, cancelled the other guy with a nice email. Thanks but no thanks. There’s probably some type of invoice in my future for his cursory review.</p>
<p>Ouch.</p>
<p>Cb, if I feel that my BP is too low, I read your posts about your permit woes… No meds needed. Hang in there!</p>
<p>I feel that some investigative reporter needs to get involved… the insanity of the process is just beyond absurd (the FAA - holy guacamole!!!).</p>
<p>Finished meeting with Engineer and draftsman. The engineer is very reasonable man but he’s worried about needing a shear wall across the whole house in the middle, across the fireplace wall. This means I am going to lose beautiful French door in living room to courtyard. Not to mention the $1,000 custom 48" glass door sitting down in the garage!!</p>
<p>Guy is charging me $300 for site visit and $3,000 for review, calculations and stamp on the plans. He was worried about his liability if he stamped the FAA self certification on the plans.</p>
<p>And now I find out hes a City Engineer (not City of San Diego) with a regular day job and he "might " be able to finish his review by the weekend. Then I have to drive his marked up plans up to North County for changes. Wait for corrections and then drive new prints back to this Engineer’s house to get them stamped. Then Thanksgiving and then maybe I might get an appointment at City.</p>
<p>This is definitely going into December.</p>
<p>What a hassle! Document it all, and once the house is sold, call the mayor’s office. Yes, I know how big San Diego is…and I also know that if you call the office, it’s likely a staff member has been assigned to this type of situation. Our D is in school in LA, and LA DWP failed to provide a bill for over 8 months. Once I called the mayor’s office (speaking to the assigned staff member), suddenly I had a phone number that did not include an hour wait on hold, my phone calls were returned and the problem was resolved. Including a significant discount because they didn’t solve the problem in a timely fashion. It’s worth the call, after the house is done/everything signed off/sold. </p>
<p>Especially if you ever buy here again. </p>
<p>I think I am going to have to do something I never wanted to do… I’m going to have to send my permanent crew (two guys) home for awhile until we can get some permit approval. Once we have that, it’s going to be working 6 days a week through all the holidays. They are not going to be happy, but that’s life. I just cannot keep making up landscape, drainage and exterior work anymore and keep paying wages.</p>
<p>One of them works under the table (refuses to go onto payroll because I think he owes some medical bills that will be garnished from his wages) and my main guy works on payroll so I can have worker’s comp and all kinds of other protections for him. </p>
<p>Regarding buying again. I am going to add a whole new layer to my analysis on future purchases (as if I don’t have enough things I have to research and consider on each purchase). Neighborhood and likelihood that there is a lot of construction and a lot of nosy neighbors that will turn me in, even if we are only changing out windows or putting in new kitchen cabinets.</p>
<p>Prior to this transaction, every single neighbor has been so grateful that someone is coming in to fix up an eyesore on their street. They are all fascinated and want to see the progress. They are always very happy on the care taken to make sure the infrastructure is safe and solid. They are always the first in the door for Open House to see the final product and so happy when the house sells for a really high price, improving their values.</p>
<p>The Listing Agent called me a couple of days ago, most likely fishing to see if I am done yet to get the sales listing. I shared with him the issue I am facing with angry neighbors that turned me in to the City and I am still waiting for permit approval. </p>
<p>He told me that there were two neighbors that were interested in buying the property. One submitted an initial offer of $475,000 and was very aggressive about closing the deal immediately at that price. Of the two, only one returned a second offer during the ‘Highest and Best’ deadline. They were still down at the $475,000 and my offer was $75,000 higher than their offer and definitely the highest and best for the Seller.</p>
<p>So, I think it is just sour grapes at this point. The Listing Agent accepted their highest and best offer and they were just very short on their offer price.</p>
<p>I can understand their being annoyed that they lost out on the house, and i can certainly understand their being annoyed with you about that but I can’t understand their trying to hassle you while you make improvements that will benefit their neighborhood and property values. That seems like they’re cutting their nose to spite their face.</p>
<p>PERMIT UPDATE
Another small victory today. I emailed the Zoning reviewer and the Building Code reviewer and they both said that they could review and approve the revised plans without the structural calculations or engineering stamp. So, I made a quick appointment with Building Code reviewer. Sent the revisions electronically to blueprint shop and confirmed by phone that I could pick them up right at 8am when they opened.</p>
<p>Arrive at 8am and, of course, the printer is broken!! Spent a nervous 30 minutes waiting for the plans and then I had sheets all over the place because I had to replace some old with new, etc. Rush over to City Building to find out that today is Naturalization Ceremony Day!!! lines down the street and not one parking place to be had. Finally I found a slightly illegal parking spot 6 blocks away, running to Building Department so that I don’t piss anyone off by being late.</p>
<p>Easy breezy, the guy was very nice. Looked through the energy Title 24 calculations that cost me $220 to get put onto the plans and red stamp and signature and ‘approval’ in the computer. Hallelujah. Now I have to preserve the two front pages he signed and keep moving them over to the final set of plans with the structural stuff.</p>
<p>Run back to truck to make sure it is not towed and it was still there! What a great day!!</p>
<p>9am Thursday with Zoning reviewer who is the one that can ‘bless’ the bathroom in the Non Habitable space !!</p>
<p>YIPPEE!!! Sounds like things are FINALLY going your way! Will keep my fingers crossed for you, as you have worked SO hard and are really treating Walter properly and improving this property greatly! It’s always so nice to have things go the right way!</p>
<p>Really glad to see things finally moving ahead, coralbrook.</p>
<p>Wow!!! Good luck with the blessing of the bathrooms! :)</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for you!!!</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for you CB.</p>
<p>Permit Update</p>
<p>Boy, this is a grueling process! Another small victory today! Had to get to County Building before 8am today and stand there waiting for Notary Public to open. Notarized the “Non Habitable Accessory Structure Agreement” for the City. </p>
<p>Zoning has approved and stamped the plans! This means bathroom in accessory structure is approved, laundry addition is approved and front porch conversion is approved. Now i have to wait for structural engineer to tell me if i am losing my French door to courtyard or some other nonsense.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Zoning guy called and left me a message. He accidentally charged the $100 i paid for the City to record the document (highway robbery!! Actual cost to record 3 pages is $28) to wrong project. I have to go back into City and pay again before final issuance. Uggh</p>
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<p>I don’t understand. You paid $100 to record the document and the Zoning guy credited it to the wrong project?? So why do you have to pay again? Will you be paying $200 for something you should only be paying $100 for, due to his error?</p>
<p>I’m sure I’m missing something.</p>
<p>In order to get shower approved in Non Habitable structure I have to let the City record a permanent document against the property stating accessory structure cannot be used as sleeping quarters.</p>
<p>The Zoning guy prepared the document and I had to get it Notarized and bring it back. The City records it and charges an extra fee of $100 to record it. In order to get Zoning approval he had to issue an invoice that I took to cashier and brought back receipt to get stamps on plans.</p>
<p>Evidently he created invoice against wrong project nbr. He promises he backed everything put for a refund to my credit car but now iI have to go back in and get correct invoice and pay again</p>
<p>Sounds a lot like our state’s bureaucracy. Must be related! You have to pay some things in person in cash, not by phone and credit card or check, and it’d your issue if they mess up and make more work for you. Sheesh! </p>
<p>Well, at least he caught it and I’d supposedly reversing the charge. Guess it would be too much for him to put the money in the right account–argh!</p>