OT: Busted

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:37 pm

Sorry I just need to get this off my chest. We're in the prcoess of finishing our basement, in fact we're in the final stages of painting and trim work. I've done a lot of the work myself, hired someone for Dry Wall, had friends help with electrical and plumbing etc.

I'm probably 4-5 months in because I can only work on this in spare time having two young daughters. But the finish line was in sight.

However today one of my neighbors decided it would be in there best interest to call the building inspector on me. I hadn't even thought to get a permit, because frankly at least 6 of my neighbors have had their basements finished by contractors and none of them got one.

Since I'm so far along they will more then likely not make me tear anything down, I'll just have to pay fines and get a permit etc. It sucks, but it's not the end of the world.

The part that I'm having trouble dealing with is I always refer to my neighborhood as pleasant ville, we get along great with everyone and I never thought one of my neighbors would do this to me.

It's really hard to accept not knowing who would be so vindictive, like I said at least 6 other people have done their basements in the last 2 years and no one blew the whistle on them. So someone must really dislike my family to do this to us. Add this to the fact that I got in an accident on Saturday and did $5000 damage to my car and it's been a great few days.

I'm so annoyed right now I feel like calling on everyone in the neighborhood, you know if I go down I'm bringing everyone with me mentality, but I won't I'm just not built like that.

Anyway I'm not expecting any replies, I just needed to type this to feel better. Thanks for wasting 3 minutes of your life reading it.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:53 pm

If it takes someone three min. to read that...they need to go back to grade school and start over with the whole reading thing.

That does suck though. The thing I'm wondering is, how do you know it was a neighbor that ratted you out? I could have been a city official taking a walk in front of your place and saw you hauling drywall, or plumbing fixtures, whatever, inside your house and decided to do a little checking up. At least that is what you can hope for. I doubt the inspector/city official is going to be honest about how they found out either...so just assume that it was a fluke thing that happened and no one really DID rat you out.

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:57 pm

If it was a neighbor, what a dick.

Did you ever see "The Burbs"? Now those are the kind of neighbors you snitch on.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:22 pm

Danimal,

Just reading your story I'm pissed off for you.

Hopefully, like db said, it was someone other than your neighbor that reported things.

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:55 pm

That's too bad Dan. You said contractors have done some work in the neighborhood, but you've done your work largely on your own. I have heard of some less scrupulous contractors reporting homeowners who they perceive to be undertaking their own jobs. Not saying that it is the most likely alternative, but it's happened.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:56 pm

I seen this happen before. Usually, it's someone pro-union who's ticked, esp if he/she sees anyone helping-out.

edit:I'm not pro or anti union (could care less), just stating what I've seen in the past...

WillHunting · Post by **WillHunting** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:24 pm

Sorry to hear, I would be super pissed too if I was in your situation.... General rule of thumb, people suck, neighbors suck, almost everyone you do or don't know suck. F*ck'em.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:46 pm

Same exact thing happened to my sister and brother-in-law. A neighbor ratted them out because he was pissed they let their dog run free. At least that's what they were assuming. I know it delayed the completion of their basement, but the neighbor supposedly never pursued it to the end. Thus, they didn't have to pay for the permit. I guess perhaps he was just trying to get under their skin.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:00 pm

Thanks for all the comments everyone. My wife and I figured there is no way we'll ever find out who did it, DB is right the inspectors could be lying about a neighbor calling. Or it could be a contractor calling and saying they were a neighbor etc.

Bottom line is we'll pay some fines and it will slow down the competition of the basement. We're going to let it go it only took both of us having about 4 beers to come to that conclusion.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:12 am

I had shitty neighbors like that too. They smile and say hi to you, but once they perceive you're doing something to better your own situation which is also better than theirs, they'll stab you in the back no questions asked.

I guess it comes down to plain ol' jealousy. Maybe the neighbors you got are jealous of your family or your house or you have that they wish they had. Anyway, it'll come around and they'll get f***ed double eventually. It always happens that way.

AcemanPR · Post by **AcemanPR** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:13 am

Danimal,

Same thing happened to me about 3 years ago. I never thought to get a permit either and we're the only county around that requires one. So I went to the Building office to get the permit and pay the fine and they told me that I would probably have to tear down all the walls for the inspector to check out the electrical work. I had just painted everything the weekend before I received this notice. I was pissed and started talking to our builder and the guys doing our basement. They said that I paid my money to them and they would probably never follow up as they have bigger fish to fry. It's been three years and no inspector has come knocking on my door. I figure I could run into some issues when I go to sell the house, but that is 15 years down the road and by then, if there aren't any incidents, they would clear me anyways.

At the time, we had this a$$hole neighbor that was a builder himself. We never got along and he probably saw us putting lumber down in the basement and turned us in. We'll never know for sure, but I have my suspicions.

So Danimal, get the permit and pay the $250 in fines or whatever it is and I wouldn't even worry about calling any inspectors out after that is done.

kicko · Post by **kicko** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:57 am

Sorry to hear .... I'll never understand why people feel the need to rat even there is no harm, no foul to anyone else. I can understand if you were Bob the builder and working into all hours of the night making noise of all kinds but i'm sure your not. Well if you were not making noise then it has to be a builder that was bothered by your project. F'them pay the fine and enjoy the basement.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:25 am

that SUCKS.

sorry.

and i hope whoever called the feds on you steps in dogshit.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:05 am

That just plain stinks...

I'll never understand people so obsessed with the people around them even when it has no impact on them.

That said, when I read "BUSTED", I expected it to be a story about you, your wife, and perhaps some explicit internet sites.

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:13 am

Sport73 wrote:That said, when I read "BUSTED", I expected it to be a story about you, your wife, and perhaps some explicit internet sites.

That's exactly what I thought too. I guess we already have a thread for that though.

I know that we never got the permit on our house, and nobody ever said anything and we live around some major league d***** bags. I wouldn't even think to do that to somebody, even if I didn't like them at all.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:52 pm

and the WORST part of this..is that you just raised the value of yr house....and in turn theirs....

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:00 pm

I'd burn down their house, but that's how I roll.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:09 pm

Of course things could be worse. A horrible comedic actor could have crashed your 1 of 400 Enzo at a racetrack...costing you a cool 1.5 mil:

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/stor ... id=2814204

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:09 pm

fsquid wrote:I'd burn down their house, but that's how I roll.

i'd come at them like a spider monkey.

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:05 pm

Danimal wrote:Sorry I just need to get this off my chest. We're in the prcoess of finishing our basement, in fact we're in the final stages of painting and trim work. I've done a lot of the work myself, hired someone for Dry Wall, had friends help with electrical and plumbing etc.

I'm probably 4-5 months in because I can only work on this in spare time having two young daughters. But the finish line was in sight.

However today one of my neighbors decided it would be in there best interest to call the building inspector on me. I hadn't even thought to get a permit, because frankly at least 6 of my neighbors have had their basements finished by contractors and none of them got one.

Since I'm so far along they will more then likely not make me tear anything down, I'll just have to pay fines and get a permit etc. It sucks, but it's not the end of the world.

The part that I'm having trouble dealing with is I always refer to my neighborhood as pleasant ville, we get along great with everyone and I never thought one of my neighbors would do this to me.

It's really hard to accept not knowing who would be so vindictive, like I said at least 6 other people have done their basements in the last 2 years and no one blew the whistle on them. So someone must really dislike my family to do this to us. Add this to the fact that I got in an accident on Saturday and did $5000 damage to my car and it's been a great few days.

I'm so annoyed right now I feel like calling on everyone in the neighborhood, you know if I go down I'm bringing everyone with me mentality, but I won't I'm just not built like that.

Anyway I'm not expecting any replies, I just needed to type this to feel better. Thanks for wasting 3 minutes of your life reading it.

Dan,
Being a contractor since 1990 and currently a Building Inspector for the last 11 yrs. I feel your lament. My boss used to say.."Its not a sin to work without permit...its just a sin to get caught"

Getting called out on a complaint is by far the worst aspect of my job,and more than likely someone whether it was a nieghbor or contractor ratted you out. It is possible that the inspector was in the area for something else and seen the drywall truck or even construction debris out front. Whatever the case the inspector would have no reason to lie. Some municipalities require the compaintant be listed as matter of public record,and some don't. But if it were me, I'd just get on with what you need to do to get the matter resolved.
Contact the inspector that placed the violation,and ask him what inspections will be required after you obtain your permit. Don't do as someone else posted and not get the inspections,thats why the permit is purchased so someone can make sure the work meets code. Don't go off on the inspector,as he doesn't want to be in this situation anymore than you do. (i.e. treat him the way you would want to be treated),and chances are,if he's worth a s*** as an inspector,you should get thru this with minumum removal of material. Not getting the inspections will probably result in the permit expiring,and down the road repeating the same process,and perhaps bringing the whole thing down. You don't want that.
Not knowing exactly what you have converted the basement into,keep in mind that electric if installed wrong could lead to fire potential,if converting to bedroom space,smoke detectors,and egress issues come into play,etc. There is more that meets the eye than a lot of people don't take into account. And if anyone were to spend a week with me down here in Fla. after Hurricane Charley blew thru town a couple of years back,you would fully understand why I have a job.
Good luck,and keep us posted,and if you got any questions,I'll try to answer them.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:21 pm

Thanks for the advice. We were very respectful of the inspector and actually went to see him the same day we got the notice. he said it was the first time in his 20 years that someone came in on the same day, usually they take a few days to come up with a story.

We simply said we didn't know we required a permit. We did a patio 2 years ago and called for a permit and it was not required. Before I decided to do this myself as a learning / fun project, we actually got quotes from contractors and every single one of them said we didn't need a permit where we live.

So the basement is really just 3 rooms and 1 closet. One is a theater room, the other a card room and the third much larger room is a play area / bar area. The only plumbing we have is a sink. I know with 100% certainty that everything was done to code.

Like i said we just completed drywall and painting. Basically we were told to fill out a blue print and get a permit and then we would pay fines. Since we already did drywall there isn't much to inspect, but that they would come out and inspect anyway.

I asked directly if i should stop and if anything would need to be torn down. The inspectors told me to keep going, the more that is done when they come out the less likely they would tear something down unless they found bad electric etc. So we are continuing to finish the job and by time the permit comes in and they come out we will be done is my guess.

Here is the thing and no disrespect to you. But if this were about safety they would have told me to stop and informed me that at least parts of the drywall would need to come down. They did nothing of the sort, which tells me it is only about them getting their money. Regardless I am at their mercy and will be kissing ass the whole time.

Also for the record, all reports are confidential so they couldn't tell me. But I found out who did it anyway, the prick had the nerve to call me.

It was a contractor we didn't hire and who we told other people not to bother have come give them a quote because he "doesn't do anything in writing" These people told him that we DIDN'T recommend him and this set him off. The people in question live 2 doors away and he happened to be at their house the day my dry wall guys were cleaning up.

So i get a call today at work saying and i quote "see what happens when you f*** with my business" and then he hung up. Of course i have caller ID and was able to put two and two together. The guy isn't very bright or thinks he is untouchable or has a huge ego that he had to let me know it was him. I don't think there is anything I can do to screw him back, but if I do run into him well...

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:24 pm

Told you it wasn't your neighbors who did it.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:04 am

You have his phone number, there is plenty you can do to screw him.....

eman · Post by **eman** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:19 am

What drama this has turned into...

I'd recommend taking the high road. Send the guy a letter and let it go. It doesn't help matters to perpetuate your displeasure.

On a side note, my neighbor is building a shed (to store his lawn tractor) on my property line. I believe local zoning laws call for any building to be at least 5 feet from the property line. When I questioned him about it he played stupid and said he should check with the local planning commission to determine the law - I say he should have thought of this first.

I don't mind what the guy builds but I don't want problems if I go to sell my property. He said he would check and determine the zone regulations. In the meantime I'm going to pay a surveyor to come out and mark my lot. I could have sworn it was marked a few years ago but now some of the markers have mysteriously been removed.

dave360 · Post by **dave360** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:12 am

Danimal wrote: But I found out who did it anyway, the prick had the nerve to call me.

It was a contractor we didn't hire and who we told other people not to bother have come give them a quote because he "doesn't do anything in writing" These people told him that we DIDN'T recommend him and this set him off. The people in question live 2 doors away and he happened to be at their house the day my dry wall guys were cleaning up.

So i get a call today at work saying and i quote "see what happens when you f*** with my business" and then he hung up. Of course i have caller ID and was able to put two and two together. The guy isn't very bright or thinks he is untouchable or has a huge ego that he had to let me know it was him. I don't think there is anything I can do to screw him back, but if I do run into him well...

This sounds like a scene right out of the Sopranos. Good Lord.

Digital Sportspage

OT: Busted

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