Getting A Building Permit

[billt460]

I mentioned a while ago that I had my driveway widened. Now I want to wall it in, and install a locking RV Gate so I'll have more enclosed storage area. (All 3 of my neighbors have done this). So I called my HOA expecting a nightmare. They were actually quite easy to deal with, and gave me a written letter of approval in less than a week. The head guy actually called me to thank me for sending him such a detailed drawing.

So yesterday I drove downtown to apply for, and get a building permit from the City Of Phoenix. Mind you all I want to do is extend the existing block wall along my property line to within 10 feet of the front of the house, (which is the closest allowed). And gate it off. That's it.

The first nit wit I had to deal with spent a half hour trying to tell me the dimension from the front property line to the front of the house was missing on the drawing. I told him the house has been there for the last 20 years. And I assured him that I have not moved it since. And politely informed him I was building the wall along side the house, and not in front of it. He finally approved what I want to do, and sent me to the second guy who actually issues the permit.

This nit wit issued the permit 3 TIMES, with either the wrong name or address on it. (Both were on the drawing I submitted). It literally took him almost an HOUR to finally get it right! Unbelievable. Finally, I got sent to the, "Payment Division", who took my money...... All $234.00 of it. She was the only one there who actually knew what she was doing. (The one move every city has down pat is collecting money).

By the time I got back to my car, the parking meter had only 6 minutes left on it. I put 2 hours worth of quarters in it to be on the safe side. I was glad I did, or I would have had a parking ticket added on to everything else.

The only joy I had, is there were literally thousands of teachers in red tee shirts marching downtown for more pay. While waiting for the light to change to cross the street, one of them asked me if I, "supported their position". I asked her who was teaching the kids while they were all out enjoying the Sun in shorts and tee shirts, whining and moaning for more money? (Most of the Phoenix Public Schools are all closed, because they all called in sick, forcing the kids to miss school). She just looked at me completely bewildered. Good God what a day. I was never so glad to get home!

 

[Mr Nice]

Those idiots would be working at Wal-Mart if they weren't working for the city.

Why get mad for something you can't control.

 

[Eddie]

Walmart probably fired them and they retired to a soft city job. ED

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
Walmart probably fired them and they retired to a soft city job. ED


People fired from Walmart go to Family Dollar.

 

[pandus13]

"They're ALL Sloths?"

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Those idiots would be working at Wal-Mart if they weren't working for the city.

Why get mad for something you can't control.


I wasn't as "mad", as I was shocked at the level of total incompetence, and lack of common sense displayed by everyone I came into contact with inside that building. Not that it proves anything, but every person I was forced to deal with was under the age of 30. It reinforces what everyone is saying about millennials these days.

 

[MNgopher]

Let me see if I've got it right- you went and got a building permit issued on the spot in less than two hours and you aren't happy about it...

Most building permits here take 5-10 business days unless its a simple mechanical permit or other simple permit.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: MNgopher
Let me see if I've got it right- you went and got a building permit issued on the spot in less than two hours and you aren't happy about it...

Most building permits here take 5-10 business days unless its a simple mechanical permit or other simple permit.


Building a 6 foot wall 45 feet long to already established standards is about as simple as it gets.

 

[Win]

The process you describe sounds easy.

Be grateful that you have never had the "experience" of getting a commercial project approved.

It's the bureaucrats that have been on the teat for thirty years that can be problematic, not newbies. The two classes of bureaucrats that are most difficult to deal with are local, and federal. Both act imperially, without any fear of consequence for what they do, or don't do. State folks are usually the exact opposite, and try to be helpful. In my experience.

If you wanted to legally by the book build a doghouse around here, you'd have to have a full set of stamped drawings from everybody under the sun, including where it was located on the property with all the dimensions. It's why the expression "easier to get forgiveness than permission" was coined.

 

[billt460]

What's funny is I was there almost 2 hours, and no one asked me one single question pertinent to the construction of the wall or gate itself..... Which I expected. For example. How deep are you going to pour the footing? How wide? What PSI concrete are you going to be using on said footing? What size and length rebar? What are the dimensions of the cinder block you will be using? Will they match what already exists? Who is the manufacturer of the gate? What are the dimensions? How will it be fastened to the wall itself?

That I could understand, and expect. But that would take common sense. Instead nothing. This city has block walls and gates in homes in most every subdivision built in the last 40 years. You would think they would have preprinted pamphlets stating exactly what is required for both materials and dimensions, in order to remain within code, and keep construction consistent and uniform. But no. Instead they question dimensions that have already been permitted and established over 20 years ago. And that have absolutely nothing to do with the project at hand.

 

[IndyIan]

Does Glendale have building codes or an inspector? If you do have codes its not the guys job in the office to make sure you follow them, probably it would be nice if they made you aware of them, but its up to you to make sure your construction is done right.
It makes no difference to the inspector if you do it wrong the first time or not. Who knows maybe they track violations and need some to justify their jobs.

 

[WyrTwister]

If the 2 people in question had a clue , they would be employed in the outside / real world , not employed by a government agency .

Same , to some extent , for union teachers .

As you may have guessed , I am not a union person & my part of our state is largely non-union .

If you are a union person , I have no fight to pick with you .

God bless you .

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: billt460
What's funny is I was there almost 2 hours, and no one asked me one single question pertinent to the construction of the wall or gate itself..... Which I expected. For example. How deep are you going to pour the footing? How wide? What PSI concrete are you going to be using on said footing? What size and length rebar? What are the dimensions of the cinder block you will be using? Will they match what already exists? Who is the manufacturer of the gate? What are the dimensions? How will it be fastened to the wall itself?

That I could understand, and expect. But that would take common sense. Instead nothing. This city has block walls and gates in homes in most every subdivision built in the last 40 years. You would think they would have preprinted pamphlets stating exactly what is required for both materials and dimensions, in order to remain within code, and keep construction consistent and uniform. But no. Instead they question dimensions that have already been permitted and established over 20 years ago. And that have absolutely nothing to do with the project at hand.


Their job is not to tell you how it's done. They're going to assume that you know how to do it. When they do the inspection, they expect it to be done right or if it's not, they'll just tell you to redo it. When you ask why didn't they tell you that in the first place, see the previous statement.

I have seen things poorly done that had city permits and all. I think sometimes the owners try to blame the city for signing off on it, but I think ultimately it falls on the owner and their insurance ends up paying out and nothing much happens with the city.

 

[28oz]

Originally Posted By: billt460


The only joy I had, is there were literally thousands of teachers in red tee shirts marching downtown for more pay. While waiting for the light to change to cross the street, one of them asked me if I, "supported their position". I asked her who was teaching the kids while they were all out enjoying the Sun in shorts and tee shirts, whining and moaning for more money? (Most of the Phoenix Public Schools are all closed, because they all called in sick, forcing the kids to miss school). She just looked at me completely bewildered. Good God what a day. I was never so glad to get home!


I just had the joy of spending the weekend in Denver for a good friend's wedding. At our hotel, there was some kind of teacher convention. We had to switch our room to the opposite end of the hotel to get any kind of peace and quiet. The amount of alcohol involved was staggering. The Stalin-esque slogan t-shirts they were all wearing was shocking............although not terribly surprising, I suppose. Do some teachers deserve a raise? Sure. Many only deserve a pink slip. Lived next to a teacher once. The complaints about pay were common.......especially during his 4 months of vacation every year where they constantly took off to Vegas or Disneyland.

 

[MNgopher]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359


Their job is not to tell you how it's done. They're going to assume that you know how to do it. When they do the inspection, they expect it to be done right or if it's not, they'll just tell you to redo it. When you ask why didn't they tell you that in the first place, see the previous statement.


Exactly. It sounds like the OP wants want the city to have a standard design that you build. That isn't the way it works - you as the applicant design, they indicate if it meets code or not. If you have questions on the code, ask. It isn't their job to design it for you.

 

[SevenBizzos]

Two hours for a counter review and permit issuance isn't the worst thing in the world. They don't need to ask you all those questions because they are expecting you to build the wall to code. It's not really a crazy question to request the setback to the front of the house. Your role in this is to get a permit and then have the wall built to code (by you or a contractor).

You probably ran into a bunch of young people because the "old" people (you know, the ones with the knowledge and experience), were too expensive to keep around. Looks like the teachers don't want to be the next ones.

 

[umungus1122]

A prime example of why I prefer to live as far from cities and neighbors as possible.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Their job is not to tell you how it's done. They're going to assume that you know how to do it. When they do the inspection, they expect it to be done right or if it's not, they'll just tell you to redo it.


That's just it. I asked them if I need to call them when it's complete, so they'll know when to come and inspect the final job. They said no. This type of job doesn't require a final inspection. I could build the thing out of Paper Mache and plaster, and they wouldn't know the difference. This was / is all about collecting the permit fee, and nothing else.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: 28oz
I just had the joy of spending the weekend in Denver for a good friend's wedding. At our hotel, there was some kind of teacher convention. We had to switch our room to the opposite end of the hotel to get any kind of peace and quiet. The amount of alcohol involved was staggering. The Stalin-esque slogan t-shirts they were all wearing was shocking............although not terribly surprising, I suppose. Do some teachers deserve a raise? Sure. Many only deserve a pink slip. Lived next to a teacher once. The complaints about pay were common.......especially during his 4 months of vacation every year where they constantly took off to Vegas or Disneyland.


What kills me are teachers, like everyone else who chooses a profession to work in for a living, knows what the salary is before they ever get educated, and apply for the job. Then, the first thing they do after they get it, is start complaining about the pay and benefits. If they feel teachers are so horribly underpaid, then choose a better paying profession. I grew up in Chicago. The teachers there were striking as much or more than they were working. This is still going on.

 

[28oz]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: 28oz
I just had the joy of spending the weekend in Denver for a good friend's wedding. At our hotel, there was some kind of teacher convention. We had to switch our room to the opposite end of the hotel to get any kind of peace and quiet. The amount of alcohol involved was staggering. The Stalin-esque slogan t-shirts they were all wearing was shocking............although not terribly surprising, I suppose. Do some teachers deserve a raise? Sure. Many only deserve a pink slip. Lived next to a teacher once. The complaints about pay were common.......especially during his 4 months of vacation every year where they constantly took off to Vegas or Disneyland.


What kills me are teachers, like everyone else who chooses a profession to work in for a living, knows what the salary is before they ever get educated, and apply for the job. Then, the first thing they do after they get it, is start complaining about the pay and benefits. If they feel teachers are so horribly underpaid, then choose a better paying profession. I grew up in Chicago. The teachers there were striking more than they were working. This is still going on.


+1 Absolutely agree. Personally, I could never be a teacher. I can barely stand my own kids, lol, but they know what they're getting into when they choose that profession.

I know what you mean about the permit. I recently got a permit to build a patio cover. The "inspector" told me to take my plans to a lumber yard to see if it was "OK". After relaying that request to the lumber yard people, they looked at me like I had two heads. They were gracious enough to give me a few pointers, but really only told me what I would need supply wise. The city was, however, very eager to take my fee.