When good news pisses you off

The last time we left you (apologies for the blog-silence), we were expecting a plumbing inspection the next week. Well it happened, and it passed. Good news, right? It was. Until we found out the plumber, for who knows what reason, ran his mouth to the County Inspector about all the stuff he thought we were doing wrong, none of it related to plumbing. Why? I really truly wish I could tell you. But whatever the reason, it made the Inspector start making notes about this and about that, tear this down, rip that out, pay this fine, get this other permit, and on and on and on... all of it listed on an actual inspection certificate. I was furious.

I'll skip all the annoying stuff about trying to track down the Inspector, searching for hours for true "code" listings for our state, and all the advice I searched for from my builder friends. I finally got so fed up with the whole thing and knew I just needed answers from the source, so I went all the way to the top of the County Inspections office and called the Director. He agreed to come out himself, on his time, and look at my house to give me a clear direction. Risky move seeing how I'm just a rookie contractor, but it had to be done.

First thing out of his mouth as walked through the door was an apology for the actions of his Inspector. What a refreshing dose of humanity from an otherwise annoyingly paperwork-driven office. He walked through the house, picked out two large things that I had either done wrong or was about to do wrong, advised me how to do them right, and then left with an instruction to call him again directly when the tasks were completed. Make no mistake, he picked over my work with a fine tooth comb; he still has a job to do, right? But in the end he told me to ignore the Inspectors warnings and congratulated me on fixing up an almost-dead house.

So what to do with the Plumber? I want to fire him. Very much so. But trade work is backed up so far in this area we may never find someone to replace him. I do have a back up and if he can squeeze me into his schedule in the next couple weeks, he's got the job. Stay tuned for news on that front.