A good reason to not become a legitimate contractor...

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emahler

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Why is it that townships (particularly Construction Departments) do not work with contractors who do things the right way?

Perfect example...we just installed a sub-panel and a bunch of ceiling outlets and cord drops for one of our customers.

Put the permit in for the cord drops first...then added the sub-panel.

Township calls and says that the fee for the drops is $76 and the fee for the sub-panel is $77....total of $153.

Go to the customer and get a check for $153, bring it over to town hall, give it to the fat-ass, I mean lady, behind the counter.

This was Monday.

Today we get a call from the township that the fee for the sub-panel was actually $80 and that we need to give them $3 more. They won't issue the permit until the $3 is paid. Spoke with the construction official who is a failed contractor, and his attitude was,"i don't care, that's the price"

well here is the problem with this whole scenerio...it's not the $3...it's the $100+ that it's going to cost for someone to drive to the townhall and drop off the $3.

So, for anyone on here who is an inspector or a construction official...work with the contractors, realize that your decisions have direct impact on our P&L.

I am off to call the DCA (not sure it will do any good, but I'll feel better) and file a formal complaint.

Oh, and they don't have a posted permit fee schedule anyplace. You drop off the permit, then they call you in a week or so with the price.

Makes you want to drop your license and go bandit. They seem to spend more time hurting legitimate contractors than chasing illegitimate ones.
 
emahler said:
They seem to spend more time hurting legitimate contractors than chasing illegitimate ones.
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There is more money to be made off a captive audience ;)

Pick up a pie, a tall glass of ice cold milk and tom'row will be a better day :cool:
 
celtic said:
There is more money to be made off a captive audience ;)

Pick up a pie, a tall glass of ice cold milk and tom'row will be a better day :cool:
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If the construction official gets 4 flat tires on the way home, it'll be a better day.
 
It's for this very reason that I am nice to incompetent engineers, sooner or later they always seem to end up working for the city.
 
ITO said:
It's for this very reason that I am nice to incompetent engineers, sooner or later they always seem to end up working for the city.
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That's the truth...It seems that every EI or CO in every town around here is a former (or current PT contractor) who took the job for the 'benefits'

It's not even retired contractors anymore..

what's that old saying "those that can't do, teach", well it seems that these days, in construction, it should be "those that can't do, inspect"

It's just frustrating....
 
Nice helps, sometimes. :rolleyes: Some of these people are the most miserable humans on earth. :mad:
 
emahler said:
Today we get a call from the township that the fee for the sub-panel was actually $80 and that we need to give them $3 more. They won't issue the permit until the $3 is paid. Spoke with the construction official who is a failed contractor, and his attitude was,"i don't care, that's the price"

well here is the problem with this whole scenerio...it's not the $3...it's the $100+ that it's going to cost for someone to drive to the townhall and drop off the $3.
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How about offering him $10 if he'll lend you the $3 now.
 
emahler said:
what's that old saying "those that can't do, teach", well it seems that these days, in construction, it should be "those that can't do, inspect"

It's just frustrating....
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It's funny, I was thinking about taking the inspectors' test next year.:grin:
 
emahler said:
what's that old saying "those that can't do, teach", well it seems that these days, in construction, it should be "those that can't do, inspect"
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Most of the inspectors that I know were at one time contractors and couldn't make it. It's not that they don't know how to do electrical work it's that they couldn't make a profit. Being a good electrician doesn't make a person a good contractor.

I think it would be safe to say that most inspectors were good enough electricians but very poor business men. :rolleyes:
 
ITO said:
It's for this very reason that I am nice to incompetent engineers, sooner or later they always seem to end up working for the city.
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Hummm ... I envy you. I figure I may be working for them next year. I definitely follow your practice.

carl
 
emahler said:
well here is the problem with this whole scenerio...it's not the $3...it's the $100+ that it's going to cost for someone to drive to the townhall and drop off the $3
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Why would you expect them to understand that concept, they most likely went for the inspection job, because they already failed at running a business. Not to say they are bad at electrical, most are exceptional in that area, it's the business end they lack the smarts.

The state is a bit backwards, in improving the permit process also, there are many ways to make it work better, for small jobs, they can have online applications, and online payments. I think the reason they don't, is our jersey politicians, believe employing more is better. (Hmmm, wonder why the state is in a constant deficit)
 
480sparky said:
Maybe that's why they didn't make it as an EC. They didn't know how to be efficient.
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It's not that their less efficient, here in Jersey, most inspectors preform well on the job, it's more the way the construction departments are operated, they need to follow state guide lines, and some departments are so small they have a difficult time budgeting and manning a department.
 
Just tell him Paulie is comming down with the check!

The easy way that could of been done, was to issue the permit at the new price, and when you came in to pick it up just pay the $3 Don't think all construction departments are like yours, most I have found, will work with contractor, sometimes the inspector can't help in payment areas, because he may have a power freak construction official, that enforces a hard line policy.
 
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satcom said:
Just tell him Paulie is comming down with the check!

The easy way that could of been done, was to issue the permit at the new price, and when you came in to pick it up just pay the $3 Don't think all construction departments are like yours, most I have found, will work with contractor, sometimes the inspector can't help in payment areas, because he may have a power freak construction official, that enforces a hard line policy.
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that was what we asked...response was "we can't issue the permit until it's paid"

i think it was the attitude more than anything else. There is a reason that there are stereotypes about inspectors, construction officials and the girls that work in the office...
 
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