And I have a kitchen that needs updating in Washington (not too far from Bunsen, I’m pretty sure).
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I think we might be neighbors! 
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Please come to Denver (says me as I hum a Dave Loggins “Please Come to Boston” tune) … well actually a bit North of Denver. Just kidding - we know you have plenty of work in SD.
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what about legal action against the selling RE broker? I believe in California, brokers also have some responsibility for obvious stuff, and I would think a bedroom above a garage would be a natural permit question.
So, I talked to the City of La Mesa about the 60 days approval law. “We would love to meet that obligation if we had enough staff to make it happen”. In other words, they are all just ignoring it and blaming it on Covid or staff or something
Well, the State would be interested in that!
There is nothing in the State’s law that says they can renege and not comply with the law if the cities don’t have enough staff.
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I find the whole permitting process baffling/fascinating. I just finished renovations on my home in Texas, and the only approvals needed were for roof and windows, and that was just for aesthetic purposes. On the other hand, a permitting/inspection process would (hopefully) ensure quality work.
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“…a permitting/inspection process would (hopefully) ensure quality work.”
Not ‘quality’ at all. The permitting process is just to ensure stuff if up to current code, using minimal standards. The inspector doesn’t care if you put really cheap shingles on your roof, or if they line up aesthetically, just that they aren’t layered on top of 3+ other layers of shingles. The inspector doesn’t care if your walls are plumbed all that straight, or are paper thin, just that the electrical wire inside is sheathed and grounded correctly, and the right gauge; and/or, if exterior, are insulated to local requirements. Same with plumbing: if local code allows for pvc, the inspector doesn’t give bonus points for copper.
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The inspector is inspecting for safely concerns. That’s all.
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And to make sure you are doing what you said you were going to do.
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Quality work? Maybe. To code? In some instances! My husband, not knowing what the plumbing code said about splicing water mains but having good knowledge of inorganic chemistry, caught a major mistake that the inspector did not (and that could have turned into a ticking time bomb). There was construction going in the neighborhood that required a water main to be relocated. Mr B peeked into the hole in the ground and did not like what he saw. The permit was finaled according to the online records. He took some photos of the splicing and went to the city hall asking to speak to someone in the permitting department. Mr. B was simply curious if the codes were so stupid allowing the use of incorrect metals that would quickly corrode if put together in the dirt. Of course the connectors used by the workers were made of the wrong metal. Not to code! Lol. The permit was quickly unfinaled, and the builder had to redo the work using the correct materials. Mr. B, my local code enforcer, checked the work and approved, lol. Without him catching the mistake, the connections would have slowly corroded in the ground causing a water main break with a lot of interesting consequences, like a minor landslide. Yikes 
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Hooray for Mr. BB. That’s scary.
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Scary indeed! Just this spring, a (larger) water main break in a town south of us caused a mudslide that wiped out a $2M house and pretty much whatever was in it. Thank goodness the homeowners were not harmed.
Builders and contractors need to be watched…unfortunately. We were supposed to have a solid pipe from our curtain drain into the woods. Well…the builder didn’t bury it very well…and it was a perforated pipe. You betcha Mr. Thumper didn’t think highly of that! That builder DID come out and fix things.
I think we need a new thread on building SNAFUS because this is a bit off topic to this thread.
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Or a thread on inspections that were finaled but should have not been!
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I walked that block a hundred times back n the day. I was betting on erosion around the school parking lot storm drains. Those folks were lucky to have escaped. Do you know if anything was ever settled with the city?
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Still dealing with the mess, and it might drag on for a while. It is the classic chicken/egg issue: did the rain cause hill erosion to lead to the main break or did the main break and cause the mudslide? Glad the homeowner was allowed to retrieve their personal stuff from the condemned house before it was demolished.
ETA: for those who don’t know what we are talking about. Here is the article from our local paper with photos:
Let’s stay on topic please.
Just yakking, keeping the thread from slipping into the CC abyss while CB is sailing somewhere far away from her crazy customers’ reach.
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I am finally back from a sailing vacation and then turned around and went out for the planning session on our out of town project.
Permits finally issued for the little 200 sq ft addition (built 30 yrs ago) in La Mesa. Flew in last night, had first inspection this morning and we passed. We will move fast now because most of the work is done. I have to get this project done ASAP because we are starting the Grandma House on Monday. Even though I had the best schedule mapped out to keep the crew busy, one permit delay and everything is out of whack now. We are 4 weeks late getting the little 200 sq ft addition finished up. We had to stop work and go away for 4 weeks waiting for owner to go in circles on her permit and now she expects miracles and wants everyone back onsite to hurry up and finish.
I’ll load up the Grandma House pictures this weekend.
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