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

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emahler said:
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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This is where the online permit filing would help, you file online, to a state operated central clearing house, the application would be priced then uploaded, to the city or town for approval. These uploaded applications for small jobs, should be able to be processed same day. It would not eliminate anyones job, just make the process flow better.
It's the same with the tax records, that can be automated along with the filing, if the city or town does not have automated tax records then manual filing can be done at a latter time.
 
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or they could have a PRINTED PERMIT FEE SCHEDULE so that you just look it up and bring them a check...right now each town is it's own little fiefdom and dealing with them will drive you f'ing mad...there are 522 towns in the state, all of them have their own rules...tell me that makes sense.
 
Hear you on the subject emahler. I had a job where when I went in to pay the permit fee, they came up with 3100.00. Seemed like alot of $$$ to me for a 43 unit building, mind you I did a 24 in a neighboring town for 550... So to make a long story short a couple weeks go by and I get a call from the Inspector, seems the counter person made a mistake, He would like an additional 18K. Unbelievable. I forwarded him to the Builder and something was worked out. I know it was more than I could imagine paying for it.

I couldn't believe it, Just glad it was worked out between them, at first the Insp thought I was trying to pull a fast one. I kind of felt bad for the counter person, for a second. Insp was berating him on the phone, get this, on his day off...

Tom

So the town wanted 21K for the Elec and 21K for the Building, made no sense to me as there are far fewer Elec inspections as far as I can tell. Justify the Job?
 
Davis9 said:
Hear you on the subject emahler. I had a job where when I went in to pay the permit fee, they came up with 3100.00. Seemed like alot of $$$ to me for a 43 unit building, mind you I did a 24 in a neighboring town for 550... So to make a long story short a couple weeks go by and I get a call from the Inspector, seems the counter person made a mistake, He would like an additional 18K. Unbelievable. I forwarded him to the Builder and something was worked out. I know it was more than I could imagine paying for it.

I couldn't believe it, Just glad it was worked out between them, at first the Insp thought I was trying to pull a fast one. I kind of felt bad for the counter person, for a second. Insp was berating him on the phone, get this, on his day off...

Tom

So the town wanted 21K for the Elec and 21K for the Building, made no sense to me as there are far fewer Elec inspections as far as I can tell. Justify the Job?
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$500 a unit? for what?
 
FWIW I did a small $500 job recently in a local town and the fee was $53. Did a job at $10,000 in the same town and the fee was $64, cant figure it out fer nuttin'
 
In some jurisdictions in MD, we have to apply for the permit with the county, pay an exorbinant amount, about $1300 for a "Chili's" type restaurant, and then pay a private inspection agency to inpsect the job....their fee is "$15 less than what you paid the county". I can't imagine what the county was paid for doing.
 
is there anything we can do? who has oversight? we would be brought up before the board for unconciounable (sp?) business practices if we did what these townships do.
 
emahler - have you ever taken a few minutes to sit down with the local code enforcement officer of that township? I've made that a practice whenever I start work in a new town, and I find the 15 minutes spent well worth it. Up here in NH, you have to be careful, as each town my adapt slight modifications to the NEC. Just one town over from me they require the grounds in a JB to be crimped. I have to say, the town does have a two page document they hand out - one containing what they look for in an electrical inspection (that's where they mention crimping the grounds) and what the fees are.

I'd take some time, talk to the guy, and let us know how it goes. You might be surprised.
 
romexking said:
In some jurisdictions in MD, we have to apply for the permit with the county, pay an exorbinant amount, about $1300 for a "Chili's" type restaurant, and then pay a private inspection agency to inpsect the job....their fee is "$15 less than what you paid the county". I can't imagine what the county was paid for doing.
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where is that?
 
bjp_ne_elec said:
emahler - have you ever taken a few minutes to sit down with the local code enforcement officer of that township? I've made that a practice whenever I start work in a new town, and I find the 15 minutes spent well worth it. Up here in NH, you have to be careful, as each town my adapt slight modifications to the NEC. Just one town over from me they require the grounds in a JB to be crimped. I have to say, the town does have a two page document they hand out - one containing what they look for in an electrical inspection (that's where they mention crimping the grounds) and what the fees are.

I'd take some time, talk to the guy, and let us know how it goes. You might be surprised.
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we've been working in this town for almost 30 yrs without a problem. Know all the Electrical Inspectors. This was the construction official.
 
emahler said:
$500 a unit? for what?
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Still don't know.

Most other towns after doing some digging are 200 ish a unit for this type of project. You would think that the 1.2 million (est) in tax revenue this place creates the permit fees would be affordable...

Tom
 
Permit fees

Permit fees

Quoted a customer $140 for permits on a simple service change. That's what San Jose charged for the last one I did in that city 30 days ago. Pulled the permit on-line yesterday: $171. Fees went up Aug 11. Pulled permit in the County of Santa Clara for same work 2 miles away: $75!

I sympathize with the original poster. Often in government jobs you find people working in the office that would be fired for laziness, incompetence and lousy people skills in the private sector, but they have life-time employment in a government agency. Worst I found was pulling permits 20 years ago in Oklahoma City.

My wife works for a state agency, and the word is that you have to commit murder on 2 occasions to get fired: the first one gets you written up.:grin:
 
My favorite is a city that has one fee. Twenty five bucks. They just built a 14 million dollar museum and the electrical permit was $25, same as I pay for a 10x10 sunroom.
 
romexking said:
In some jurisdictions in MD, we have to apply for the permit with the county, pay an exorbinant amount, about $1300 for a "Chili's" type restaurant, and then pay a private inspection agency to inpsect the job....their fee is "$15 less than what you paid the county". I can't imagine what the county was paid for doing.
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I think some jurisdictions on the Eastern Shore
 
Emahler why do you write a letter to the editor of the local paper explaining that the City and counties inability to have a system to handle permits is why you have to charge so much for work. Hey it's free advertising if your letter gets published.

Oh,mmmmm yeah the permits and inspectors might not like that to much so future work might be a pain.
 
wireman71 said:
I'm surprised you have to pay in person. How about over the phone with credit card or online?
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I thought why not pay via the US Postal Service, since your times important, besides that makes it a legal Binding act in itself.
 
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