http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2009/11/13/doing-business-with-city-of-austin-remains-difficult/ Austin Real Estate Blog Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:40:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2009/11/13/doing-business-with-city-of-austin-remains-difficult/#comment-132537 La Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:24:17 +0000 http://crosslandteam.com/?p=1438#comment-132537 I called the City of Austin permits department to find out what the city required (their website is cumbersome to navigate), touch-toned my way to the hoped-for department, listened to the busy-with-other-customers recording for a long time until the phone finally rang through only to get a busy signal. I googled the Dallas area permits information and easily found that, yes, the state of Texas requires its cities to issue permits and inspections for the particular replacement/installation I was searching for information on. Finding information shouldn't be so dang hard. I called the City of Austin permits department to find out what the city required (their website is cumbersome to navigate), touch-toned my way to the hoped-for department, listened to the busy-with-other-customers recording for a long time until the phone finally rang through only to get a busy signal. I googled the Dallas area permits information and easily found that, yes, the state of Texas requires its cities to issue permits and inspections for the particular replacement/installation I was searching for information on. Finding information shouldn’t be so dang hard.

]]> http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2009/11/13/doing-business-with-city-of-austin-remains-difficult/#comment-106256 simeon Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:28:17 +0000 http://crosslandteam.com/?p=1438#comment-106256 For my home remodel, I have had the main inspector change 3 times during the project. Each new inspector failed the approved work of the previous inspector and changed the requirements each time. My plumber had to redo the drain fittings in my bathroom remodel 4 times. After passing the first pressure test for the gas line, the second inspector failed the gas line work, and required a new dedicated gas line to be run all the way across the house to feed an on demand water heater. After a temp gas final inspection I was able to get the gas fired up again to heat the house. At the final inspection the inspector insisted on another gas pressure test (the third time) despite the fact that we already passed the last time. Mid December (40 degrees), I need to leave my house unheated all day because he wants to test again something that has already been passed prior. 100's of dollars to get the plumber to come out again and turn everything off and test it again. All told this bullshit has cost me an additional 10-15K in rework on my project. Each time the plumber shakes his head and does what the inspector wants. There needs to be defined rules. the rules should not be changed once the permit is pulled. It takes a long time to do a large remodel, and each inspector has some different way of interpreting these unpublished rules. Someone needs to take away their god like domination over this process and soon. Now I know why no one pulls a permit for anything. For my home remodel, I have had the main inspector change 3 times during the project. Each new inspector failed the approved work of the previous inspector and changed the requirements each time. My plumber had to redo the drain fittings in my bathroom remodel 4 times. After passing the first pressure test for the gas line, the second inspector failed the gas line work, and required a new dedicated gas line to be run all the way across the house to feed an on demand water heater. After a temp gas final inspection I was able to get the gas fired up again to heat the house. At the final inspection the inspector insisted on another gas pressure test (the third time) despite the fact that we already passed the last time. Mid December (40 degrees), I need to leave my house unheated all day because he wants to test again something that has already been passed prior. 100′s of dollars to get the plumber to come out again and turn everything off and test it again. All told this bullshit has cost me an additional 10-15K in rework on my project. Each time the plumber shakes his head and does what the inspector wants. There needs to be defined rules. the rules should not be changed once the permit is pulled. It takes a long time to do a large remodel, and each inspector has some different way of interpreting these unpublished rules. Someone needs to take away their god like domination over this process and soon. Now I know why no one pulls a permit for anything.

]]> http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2009/11/13/doing-business-with-city-of-austin-remains-difficult/#comment-101516 Bobby Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:42:40 +0000 http://crosslandteam.com/?p=1438#comment-101516 Wonderful point made. Sometimes the details get in the way of the bigger picture when it comes to designing/building for sustainability. Wonderful point made. Sometimes the details get in the way of the bigger picture when it comes to designing/building for sustainability.

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