Aaargh!

[madbaker]

Q: Name a job that is more annoying to deal with, and worse at scheduling, than a contractor.

A: A bureaucrat in charge of monitoring contractors.

I stayed home from work yesterday because the city inspector was showing up to sign off the garage repair. Of course, he was too important to give us a time window, but the contractor came by just before 8 AM.

And waited.

The inspector finally deigned to make his presence known at 11:30.

He glanced at the garage, glanced at the paperwork, declined to approve the repairs, and drove off. Total time spent: less than five minutes.

Was I supposed to bribe him? Sheesh.
I don't actually have any major problems with the contractor we used - the guys got the work done quickly, and although it was over the cost estimate, I [unfortunately] expected that.

What I'm reading: Lee and Miller, Balance of Trade

Comments

[farmount.livejournal.com]

Why in the name of the gods above did he decline to approve the repairs? That just sounds so.... evil!

[rustmon.livejournal.com]

Yeah! what the heck? When the guy came to my house, he spent 30 minutes going over everything in detail, and then more time going over it with me.

I'd be on the phone to his supervisor squid. That's just wrong.

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

He glanced at the garage, glanced at the paperwork, declined to approve the repairs, and drove off. Total time spent: less than five minutes.

Gad. Did he bother to tell you WHY he declined? That sucks!

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, call the supervisor. That's just not right.

Why?

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Apparently the engineer's drawings called for some sort of bolster that is physically impossible in our space. The contractor said that the previous inspector had noted the impossibility and agreed to not hold that against us. Then they rotated inspectors. The contractor is now going to the structural engineer to sign off eliminating the impossible piece, which then should take care of the issue.

So sayeth the contractor. Who knows? That's one reason why we're paying for permits and union labor. But.... aargh.