04-10-2010, 01:47 AM
@KJLpahoa, " What needs changing is the whole Building Dept. from the top down."
Having been in a position to interact with the folks in the Building Division for the past few years, I think I can say, they themselves would agree with your statement. For the most part, they are good hearted and well intentioned. Most have an outstanding work ethic and many an established sense of 'customer service'. I have laughed and enjoyed my business with them. The few exceptions, I believe, is where the issues arise. They have had/or in one case still have, some staff who have no skills...excepting in being officious. The reality is, some believe they have more authority than they actually have and until you call them on it you are subject to it. Fortunately,it was not my job to call them on it. I could just go back to my partners and tell them what had happened and they'd go change my reality for me. Left me in the position of having fun while I was there. What I found was if I had fun and they had fun I learned a lot of stuff. I had wonderful assistance from them. Honestly. I figure, because I witnessed it first hand, the folks who work there and who want to be helpful are often mistreated by the public, so they get into 'do what I have to do' mindset. The public may be ticked because some inspector, or someone who reviews plans, or some other individual with power of approval, has forbade them something without explaining why. I personally know of one case where one of the staff required something before a commercial plan could be permitted that was not clearly articulated in code, the architect had already signed off on and the plan reviewer provided no assistance whatsoever in sourcing what they believed they derived their authority from. As it turned out, my husband was able to 'google' the problem, found a book online that addressed it, ordered it for the client, the client took the portion of the book into building div and was told by the individual they knew exactly where to get the info but it was not their place to tell our client. Weeks had already gone by, more money spent, and the kicker was, the way the client had it drawn on his plans was actually superior preference to the alleged 'preference' of the plan reviewer but because it was not clearly called out 'why' on the plans, the permit was held up. That kind of abuse leading to frustration is what winds up giving the whole division a bad name. There are a couple of folks who are like that there but more than that there are really great people who want to work with the public to build the most affordable home/business they can. They even look the other way if they can if insisting on something is going to be an unnecessary cost but in no way affects the safety of the structure.
I think what needs to happen is what has happened and is happening all over the nation; they need to become simplified and automated so you can bring in your plans and in a matter of days [some places hours] you have your permit. What happens elsewhere is the peculiarities of individuals do not come into play in those places. You bring your plans in conforming to their requirements; you pay your fees, you get your permit. The trade off here, and this is positive, is: you can actually go in and talk story with the plan reviewers, inspectors and supervisors and perhaps reach a compromise; or, you can work through the County at a different level to fix the persistent problems.
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
Having been in a position to interact with the folks in the Building Division for the past few years, I think I can say, they themselves would agree with your statement. For the most part, they are good hearted and well intentioned. Most have an outstanding work ethic and many an established sense of 'customer service'. I have laughed and enjoyed my business with them. The few exceptions, I believe, is where the issues arise. They have had/or in one case still have, some staff who have no skills...excepting in being officious. The reality is, some believe they have more authority than they actually have and until you call them on it you are subject to it. Fortunately,it was not my job to call them on it. I could just go back to my partners and tell them what had happened and they'd go change my reality for me. Left me in the position of having fun while I was there. What I found was if I had fun and they had fun I learned a lot of stuff. I had wonderful assistance from them. Honestly. I figure, because I witnessed it first hand, the folks who work there and who want to be helpful are often mistreated by the public, so they get into 'do what I have to do' mindset. The public may be ticked because some inspector, or someone who reviews plans, or some other individual with power of approval, has forbade them something without explaining why. I personally know of one case where one of the staff required something before a commercial plan could be permitted that was not clearly articulated in code, the architect had already signed off on and the plan reviewer provided no assistance whatsoever in sourcing what they believed they derived their authority from. As it turned out, my husband was able to 'google' the problem, found a book online that addressed it, ordered it for the client, the client took the portion of the book into building div and was told by the individual they knew exactly where to get the info but it was not their place to tell our client. Weeks had already gone by, more money spent, and the kicker was, the way the client had it drawn on his plans was actually superior preference to the alleged 'preference' of the plan reviewer but because it was not clearly called out 'why' on the plans, the permit was held up. That kind of abuse leading to frustration is what winds up giving the whole division a bad name. There are a couple of folks who are like that there but more than that there are really great people who want to work with the public to build the most affordable home/business they can. They even look the other way if they can if insisting on something is going to be an unnecessary cost but in no way affects the safety of the structure.
I think what needs to happen is what has happened and is happening all over the nation; they need to become simplified and automated so you can bring in your plans and in a matter of days [some places hours] you have your permit. What happens elsewhere is the peculiarities of individuals do not come into play in those places. You bring your plans in conforming to their requirements; you pay your fees, you get your permit. The trade off here, and this is positive, is: you can actually go in and talk story with the plan reviewers, inspectors and supervisors and perhaps reach a compromise; or, you can work through the County at a different level to fix the persistent problems.
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
"Q might have done the right thing for the wrong reason, perhaps we need a good kick in our complacency to get us ready for what's ahead" -- Captain Picard, to Guinan (Q Who?)